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As someone who has 2 Cricut machines and sold Cricut projects to pay off her car loan 1 year early and also pay off thousands of dollars in credit card debt, I eventually realized that selling on Etsy was not for me.
My goal with selling on Etsy was to make money. I mean, why else do people sell things?
I found myself better suited to sell my Cricut projects in other ways.
And let me first say that this article is not meant to dissuade you from selling on Etsy, it’s a look into my journey selling on Etsy.
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How I got started on Etsy and what I sold
I started selling on Etsy in 2018. My first Etsy shop was selling SVG files only. I enjoyed that process and I loved the passive income.
Eventually, I started selling the physical products I made with my Cricut machine. I created a second Etsy shop because I didn’t want to mix selling digital SVG files with selling physical products.
In the physical Etsy shop, I mostly sold confetti of various sizes, adhesive vinyl decals, and cake toppers, all made using my Cricut machines. These things were easy to make and didn’t require a lot of time.
Leaving Etsy
Negative reviews
I made the tough decision to close my digital SVG Etsy shop because of negative reviews from customers who didn’t know how to download and use SVG files, despite there being instructions with the SVG files.
Customer reviews have the power to encourage or discourage new customers from purchasing from you. When customers first land on your product listing, they will scroll through your pictures, maybe read the description, and then read the reviews for your Etsy shop.
If you have low stars and negative reviews, many customers will leave your product and go to another Etsy shop.
With Etsy, there is no way to delete or hide negative customer reviews, even if the customer is wrong.
The only thing you can do is reply to the customer offering an explanation, support, or a refund.
Let me say that I don’t think it would be a good strategy to delete all negative reviews because the shop owner needs to be made aware of issues that they can change.
However, when the issues that customers are complaining about are due to their lack of knowledge and understanding, this penalizes the shop owner.
Now, there are plenty of Etsy shops that sell SVG files, have great reviews, and have lots of sales. I acknowledge that and I will say that you have to look at that shop as a whole.
Look at how long they’ve been on Etsy, how many products they have in their shop, and look at their reviews. If you go through the entirety of their reviews, I’m sure somewhere down the line, they have low stars, but as they keep selling SVG files, the positive reviews override the negatives.
So, in that case, it is a matter of perseverance and great customer service for the Etsy shop owner.
I chose not to persevere on Etsy, but go elsewhere to sell my SVG files. I’ll get to that a few paragraphs down.
You may be wondering about my Etsy shop where I sell physical Cricut projects. I still have that Etsy shop and it has great reviews, but I mostly sell through other ways which I’ll get to a few paragraphs down.
Get a free SAMPLE of the How To Sell Your Cricut Creations ebook when you sign up for the InsideOutlined Free Resource Library.
Competition
Competition on Etsy is fierce, but honestly, competition selling any product on any platform is fierce.
Even if you pay for ads on Etsy, there’s a possibility that customers will find your product, but end up purchasing from another Etsy shop.
The same can be said for having your own Shopify store, but with Shopify, only your products are visible to the customer, not 5 other Etsy shops.
On Etsy, you also have to stand out from the many products that are similar to yours.
If a customer types in “personalized baby blanket” in the Etsy search, not only will they see results from handcrafters like yourself who may use HTV, embroidery, sublimation, or some other form to create the baby blankets, they will likely see results from companies that mass produce personalized baby blankets.
So no longer are you competing against individuals who run Etsy shops, you’re competing against companies that have more manpower than you do and who can make the exact product you’re making in less time and for a cheaper price.
Get a free SAMPLE of the How To Sell Your Cricut Creations ebook when you sign up for the InsideOutlined Free Resource Library.
Why I stopped selling on Etsy and what I do now
So now you’re ready for the answers to why I stopped selling on Etsy, where I sell today, and how it’s different from selling on Etsy.
I currently sell my SVG files and physical Cricut projects on my Shopify store. I still have my physical Etsy shop that brings in a few sales per month.
I decided to stop selling on Etsy for several reasons including:
- Etsy changes its algorithm every so often and you can go from making many sales to only making a handful of sales overnight.
- There’s not much customization that you can do to your Etsy shop, including Etsy subscription platforms.
- Etsy’s fees start to eat into your profits and their fees continue to increase.
- You can’t really build a brand on Etsy. Most people who order on Etsy don’t remember the shop name, they just say “I got it on Etsy”.
- Etsy shows the products of other shop owners at the bottom of your product listings, therefore Etsy doesn’t care who the customer buys from, they just want the customer to make a purchase on the platform.
- I knew I wanted to work with businesses and nonprofits and wanted to present my business as being “professional” but only having an Etsy shop and not a standalone website would make it look more like a hobby.
- You can’t offer extensive customized forms to allow customers to easily enter their personalization for an order.
- You can’t get rid of negative comments that have nothing to do with your product or service.
- Etsy makes it hard for you to email your customers and build your own email list.
I decided to sell my products on Shopify for several reasons including:
- I don’t have to worry about Etsy changing their algorithm and messing up my sales
- I built up my Cricut business to where I could afford to pay the monthly Shopify fee
- I’m able to send people directly to my Shopify store and they can browse my products instead of seeing products from thousands of other Etsy shops
- My online store looks more professional and I can build my website to look how I want it
- I work with businesses and nonprofits because they see my business as a business and not a hobby where I sell on Etsy
- I can create customized forms that allow customers to enter their customizations for orders easily
- I can control which reviews are posted on products
- I can email my customers to stay in front of them to market new products
- I can run Google ads and social media ads on my store
In summary, I think Etsy is a great place to get started selling your Cricut projects to make money, but I don’t think that should be the only place you sell your Cricut projects.
If and when you can afford to, I encourage you to subscribe to Shopify or Squarespace to start selling your Cricut projects for the reasons I listed above.
Again, Etsy is perfect because the price to get started on Etsy is very low, but please don’t put all of your eggs in the Etsy basket. One change of their algorithm and you can go from making lots of sales to only a handful.
If you’re ready to set up your Etsy shop or Shopify store, schedule a FREE 15-minute coaching call with me so we can put together a quick action plan for you.
