Etsy Marketplace GMS Drops 6% Compared to Q2 Last Year

by: LDWCallsOut

As usual, Silverman is full of it.  Since Etsy stopped removing shops and/or listings for not selling items designed and/or crafted by the seller, not 20+ year old vintage, and not crafting supplies in Summer 2015, a solid majority of items for sale on the site can easily be found at multiple other sites online.  Often for a lower price.  

Etsy's resellers took a hit in second quarter 2022 when the Chinese factories were slowed or closed due to COVID.  The hundreds of counterfeit luxury fashion brand reseller shops on Etsy that I personally follow daily have bounced back and restocked within the last month.  Etsy reseller shops can't do more business than their Chinese wholesalers can supply.  Something Josh will never admit.

by: The End

Don't give a damn about GMS.
Lose the fees, save the 3% take on the ITEM ONLY.
CRIPPLE WALL STREET.  DELIST Etsy.
If you knew how Wall Street works, you'd wipe it off the map.
Bring 'em to their knees.

by: Stone Cutter

*** Beware of Off-Site Ads ***

According to my seller “Stats” on Etsy, just this past week I’m getting 4X the amount of views from Off-Site Ads than I normally do. This makes me nervous since Etsy will charge me an additional 12% if they “claim” to have found buyers for me outside of Etsy. And this is how Etsy will make their numbers for Q3, by raping sellers for additional fees while sellers make no money.  

by: postbuster

They only have themselves to blame.

Seems that even when etsy is "successful" the sellers still don't benefit anyway.

I hope that this is a prequel to them crashing and burning.
As another poster said, they probably will drum up more schemes like the offsite ad scam to wrongfully take more money.

I wont encourage this kind of behavior or business practice.
They deserve far worse, Josh and the rest of corporate is a waste of time and a black hole for revenue.

by: Snapped

Etsy has been showing a couple ads on cable the past couple months.   The campaign focuses on a variety of buyers (I.e., the viewer) desiring the unique  home decor, customized items (presumably to order), quirky collectible things like pottery, glass ware, etc., and ‘vintage’ items to satisify various personal ‘styles’.  

However, a closer look at the items exampled, and it’s clear they can easily be manufactured and not necessarily ‘hand made’ - unless engraving a name counts as ‘hand crafting’.  What they avoid is any mention of the kind of items offered by ‘resellers’.  Anyway, they’re spending money.

Shopify - which is featured in a recent EB article reporting on significant layoffs just announced, is also spending TV money regardless, but their message is to potential sellers of ‘hardly used’ high end fashion.  Point, pose, click and cha-ching.  Perfect way to liquidate your excess excess.  Like cash back on that suddenly gonna be heavier credit card.  

Not a trading card, refurb’d tech toy or ‘authenticated’ collectible in site though.  Nary a peep from the boys on the bay, who when it comes to ads, make the sellers pay.   They always need more abacus time too; not quite ready for their close-up.

The other players, big A, the Wall, Bullseye, they’re ubiquitous in your face - cuz we’re all of us ‘consumers’ - and report card be hanged, they can afford to be.  

Those are all just the public ‘face’ though, in the end. Or lack of it, in some cases.  Just like the ‘numbers’.  Or lack of them, in some cases.  

by: Rexford

This only ensures that they will come up with another scheme to make up for the loss, on the backs of their sellers of course. They are beholden to Wall Street and the C-Suite's pockets.

by: The End

I don't understand why we don't have State Sanctioned selling venues.
Bars the riff raff from a taking over.
We need them as a staple of our personal economy.

by: The End

Yes, Josh Silverman and the like are :
RIFF RAFF.
Like traveling bums looking for a handout.
Let them STARVE.

by: NYSteve

WOW! its a 'duh', but there's nothing like seeing the videotape!

"Etsy, which reported Gross Merchandise Sales on the Etsy Marketplace was down 6% in the quarter compared to Q2 2021. But the April fee increase and fees from Etsy Ads helped the company grow its own revenue nearly 11%. That's following a trend set by eBay: sellers paying higher fees for fewer sales, in the aggregate."

looks like they found a weak spot, (the sellers) that they can continue to exploit for the foreseeable future!  (another 'duh')

by: Snapped

“ State Sanctioned selling venues..”

Hmmmm….

Not sanctioned though.  Operated by.  Not monopolized, like, well, you know who’s.   Rather, in competition with, as a consumer choice.  Imagine the ‘savings’ not having to feed Boardroom gluttony.  Imagine the ‘venue’ being more of a self service kiosk rather than a profit sucking leach affixed by the Bar.  

Like the Post Office, a 21stC ‘service upgrade” for E Pluribus Unum.  Actually, that would be a natural partnership…”Free” shipping!  And contrary to too much opinion, they really do have a robust and competent IT footprint.  You know who hasn’t twiddled with that yet.  Most ‘issues’ are more operator competence than system glitches.  Plus, they’ve been itchin’ to on ramp for banking services - already infrastructure ready.  Imagine (detractors notwithstanding) a Govt./industry partnership with an established payment services provider - you know the players.  

Meanwhile, create jobs (civil and commercial) instead of ‘programs’ to eliminate those debate grandstanders on both sides.  Create more affordable entrepreneurial opportunity instead of competition roadblocks tolled by payola and barred by intimidation and Big Box Bots.  Create profit instead of taxes (while increasing same already ensconced via ‘operations’) and that’s THAT argument mooted.  Might even trigger some consideration for consumer friendly legislating the rest of ‘commerce law’ into this century too - with all that suddenly free time.

Well - Assuming the mere *shudder* concept could survive the political pains of begetting while that gauntlet is currently well gloved by Wall St., et.al.  Meaning, not until those who WE hired to represent what WE want rather than the other way ‘round spend more time doing their jobs than scheming to keep them.  

…..imagine that.

by: The End

SNAPPED :
"You Got It ! "
It would be a Department created specifically to KEEP OUT the CEO bums, hobos, and grifters.
It would be a firewall between us an the exploitation by the humanoids.
A nice, stress free place to list sell buy unwind and enjoy :o)

by: cheeky

@NYSteve Josh also mentioned this: Etsy Ads revenue has grown 516% over the last five years, even faster than Etsy Marketplace’s 253% GMS growth.  

by: The End

That's because JOSH SILVERMAN IS A HUMANOID.
Joshy boy rides the wave while the humans put in the actual labor.
His sickness doesn't mix with genuine effort.
Fumigate Etsy.

by: Stone Cutter

***elo7, Depop, Reverb***

For all of you who are digesting the numbers, don’t forget that Etsy now includes data for three other companies they acquired within the past 5 years.

CNBC reported yesterday, that Etsy’s recent acquisitions of elo7 and Depop, made Etsy good money this past quarter (probably from Ad revenue). Depop from the UK has yet to feel the squeeze from a lack of gas coming from Putin, while many U.S. economists say that the EuroZone will be paying 3X for energy this next winter.

How will Etsy deal with a more than likely global energy crunch that  will kill Etsys’ money making economies? And elo7 from Brazil? Really? Because there’s that much money in Brazil in the first place (scarcasm).

Today, many economists and market traders feel the worst of the U.S. economy will begin at the end of 2022 into 2023 as the “Feds”will continue to increase interest rates to starve out inflation.

What’s Etsy gonna do then? What’s Etsy gonna do when Sellers can no longer afford to purchase Ads.

by: postbuster

"What’s Etsy gonna do then? What’s Etsy gonna do when Sellers can no longer afford to purchase Ads. "

They will charge sellers anyway, even if it means they just take the money form your bank, or add it to your bill.

Wealthy A-holes never spend their own money.

by: HappyOne

Just me. Ebay raised fees charges on Sales Tax - put some items on Etsy 5% FVF - Etsy imposed successful seller 12% fee +6.5% on item and shipping - put some items on Mercari - straight 10% + $ processing fee like others. No FVF on shipping if Mercari shipping is used (with good extra protection). So Ebay lost my drop in bucket $9,000 to Etsy so now Etsy losing $1,500 - so far (5/22) to Mercari. Always greed; 10% + $ processing is reasonable. This should pay for any advertising and promotions.

by: Stone Cutter

***Reducing prices is not an option for Sellers***

If product prices become too expensive for a struggling consumer, and if Sellers can no longer make a profit due to Etsy’s expensive fee structure, Sellers will have no choice but to close shop.

As an artisan jeweler, this is the time of year that sellers begin to stock their shops for Fall, however, most good performing shops I follow are letting their shops sit dormant. Sellers are telling me it’s costing them too much money to produce products that just sit in their shop while Etsy takes too much in profits for the sales they do make. And this is the dilemma that nobody talks about...the financial strength of the Seller, and if it’s worth it to produce more goods.

The U.S. Federal Reserve announced that its target inflation rate of 2% could take two years to fix from the current rate of 6.8%. And the only reason Etsy did well during Covid was due to all that free money the government pumped into businesses and the consumer. Can Etsy truly succeed without government money and a shrinking  audience?

Etsy should indeed pay for any advertisement and promotions, otherwise Etsy will have an exodus of good performing shops.

by: LDWCallsOut

I see that business in counterfeit item reseller shops is booming!  Some of them are  moving as many units this summer as might be expected only during the winter shopping holidays.  Some are selling 200+ items during the first month they are open.  The demand for counterfeit bags, accessories, and jewelry is HUGE on Etsy.    A fake bag lists on Etsy from about $200 to $500, and many shoppers buy multiple items per purchase.  

Of course, you can buy the identical counterfeit bags for much less on an Asian site, but Etsy has spent the last decade seeking out shoppers who do not compare prices or look for value.  The current economic situation has not changed the kind of buyer spending $$$ in reseller shops on Etsy.

by: mazelgirl

I've stopped selling on ETSY.  I"m not one of their big sellers but I sold many thousands of dollars a year there--but just under the amount where you get forced into the ad program.  Not only did ETSY want you in their ad program they wanted you to offer free shipping

When I refused the ad program my views also stopped.  

I'm not crafts-I'm vintage...so everything I would have given to ETSY sold on other sites.

Too bad--I really liked ETSY..but there is no longer a reason for me to give them anything.  And since I'm not there listing I don't shop there either.

by: The End

I must say :
There is SO MUCH clicking junk in my shop's dashboard,
I would like to customize my shop by getting rid of the nonsense clicks.
And Etsy, STOP with the "Tips & Tricks". I'm busy running a real business.
Etsy is no longer for SERIOUS BUSINESS OWNERS.
It has become a torturous playground for the Etsy Morons that have nothing better to do than invent reasons we should "See this", achieve a phony "That".
I want to be able to rid my shop of all this buttinkski crap.
It's nicer....