Etsy Sellers Have Come a Long Way, Baby

“You’ve come a long way, baby” is an old advertising slogan that could apply to the Etsy sellers of the 2020s. A post on Wednesday about some tweaks Etsy made are indications of how different sellers are today compared to years ago on the marketplace for handmade and vintage goods and supplies

“SKUs are now in your CSV reports,” Etsy announced. “SKUs will now appear on your Sales Listing, Order, and Order Items CSVs.”

That sounds very business-like. SKUs are numbers merchants assign to specific products to help them track inventory. The announcement serves as a reminder that Etsy sellers are no longer required to slowly crank out handmade goods one at a time (if they aren’t offering unique vintage goods).

The 1970s ad slogan for Virginia Slim cigarettes highlighted the progress women had made compared to a previous era. Etsy sellers have likewise evolved, though whether that’s “progress” is debated by those who bemoan the fact that Etsy allows sellers to design items and have them manufactured.

Among the other changes Etsy announced on Wednesday:

• It extended the length of sellers’ auto-reply from two days to five days.
• It increased the maximum number of orders per page from 20 to 50, and also added pagination at the top of the Orders & Shipping page.
• It removed a banner from the Orders & Shipping page displayed for orders that had a payment-processing delay.

You can find the details on the Etsy Announcement board.