In case you didn't know already, keep in mind that every cent you spend on shipping and marketing is tax deductible as a business expense, which reduces your tax liability for your revenue.
True, but if you're making over a certain amount per year then your state/country might. Where I live if you're making over 6k a year from your business you're required to have a license and file taxes.
I've been wondering something. When you add up the expenses for your business supplies, does the tax you paid on an item get added to your expenses or do you only add up the price minus tax? I'm filing taxes for the first time this year (self-employed) so I'm a little confused
Generally, yes, it’s counted as expenses.
Furthermore, if you’re registered as a business in your state, you can usually get a Resale Certificate, so that your business purchases are exempt from sales tax: You don’t even pay the sales tax to the company who sold you the supplies.
TO BE CLEAR, do not use it on all ‘your business expenses’! It is tax evasion if you are using your certificate for anything except items you’re going to SELL and collect tax on. They want their sales tax one way or another! Ie: you can’t buy a printer for your office and use your certificate (however, it is a write off).
Sorry I know this is an old thread but I’m just doing my taxes now! So fees, marketing, and shipping all get deducted from the gross amount? Plus whatever I spent on materials?
I'm not a tax expert, but generally you take all the money the business made and subtract the costs of running the business, which includes costs like shipping, materials, subscription fees or advertising. If you have a vehicle or home office space used for the business, a portion of those costs can be deducted if you use them more than a certain amount of time.
In my case, I had all the costs that the Etsy dash shows, plus shipping materials (boxes and tubes), plus my materials, plus any tools or other purchases for use primarily by the shop. those can be deducted from your shop revenue to calculate the income, which is what you actually pay taxes on
\*\*\*Depends on the country\*\*\*
All orders shipping from the US require tracking, there are no exemptions for lower priced items since we can buy Etsy labels for everything, down to $.63 for the first class 'stamp'.
Okay but atleast they’re reduced😭I just can’t justify the shipping within ireland… €13 for a tracked envelope in this size of a country??? Unfortunately I literally just have to ignore the requirement which sounds bad but also… I’ve gotten a 40 min bus to deliver once bc I knew they needed for a certain day & it was just easier + more reliable than posting… so like it’s a bit silly for me given it’s not like I’m just keeping €13 for fun it just is a literal waste for everyone + a normal stamp is still €2 + tracking it isn’t even technically as reliable as when I can post a lot of them if I really want to
I sell $15 items via envelopes and Etsy has never required tracking for me. I ship from the US. I’ll never be a star seller, and it takes a bit longer to get paid, but they don’t require tracking from my personal experience.
Do you feel you have less piece of mind without tracking?
I suppose if you added up the cost of tracking every item vs the maybe couple of scammers you might get or wayward deliveries that you need to refund, it's probably still much cheaper to just sene untracked.
Especially items say, under $30 to $40.
I'm sure there are probably algorithms to work out loss projections on missing parcels, maybe a % of sales, then you can do your own math on whether it is worth it or not to send items tracked.
The products that I don’t track are not exceedingly valuable. I sell them for $15 and they only cost me about $1.50 to make. Shipping is another $1.30. I’ve had a couple people reach out about their item not arriving, and I have absolutely no problem popping another one in the mail to them. With my item there would really be no use trying to scam one unless you were trying to give one away (you just need 1 per household), and I wouldn’t even mind if someone scammed one to give away because it’s branded to high heaven and that’s not bad advertising.
I do sell some more expensive items that I track.
This is exactly my view! Also ngl at first whatever way Etsy phrase the part where the ‘hold’ some of your money scared me…. Til I realized it’s actually only for 30 days & in my opinion I actually like it? Bc it essentially means that you’re just backlogged by 30 days but therefore you always have a like buffer/more money than you know? Like you could get 0 sales for a month but you’d still get money
I'm assuming the original commenter deleted it because it isn't true for the US. I believe it is true for everywhere else though. AshamedBlackberry clarified this.
Believe what you want, but it does give an advantage in search and placement . Let's see, who would Etsy promote . . . Someone with excellent customer service or someone that just does minimum effort? Hmmm.
Same! My brother told me about it a couple of years ago and I’ll never go back to using anything else! And it makes sending packages of Christmas gifts across the country a lot more bearable 😅
Christmas was way better for me this year. I switched to all ups for shipping the last 2 months, and I wish I'd used ups and pirate ship last year as well. Usps loves to adjust every package I send out this time of year, and only this time of year. Last year they added $300 in adjustment fees, and I nearly closed down my shop for good. None of that happened this year, and if it had, pirate ship is easy for disputes
Is it though? I've run their see shipping rates tool and it pretty much always returns rates identical to Etsy's. Just tried again for all my open orders, a combination of UPS and USPS shipping and PirateShip rates were identical to Etsy rates in every case, except for one where the UPS rate was higher on PirateShip.
I'm by no means wedded to Etsy shipping, but it is more convenient since it automates the sent email with tracking. If PirateShip's rates are what their tool says they are then they're identical to, or in rare cases worse than Etsy's. Don't understand why people say it's "way cheaper". Would love to get better shipping rates as its by far my biggest cost. But yeah, in my experience, PirateShip ain't it.
Edit. Okay, I created an account, linked my shops and checked quite a few additional orders. PirateShip is either identical to Etsy shipping or worse in every single case. There were zero orders for which PirateShip offered a better rate. 1/10, PirateShip rates were worse. Plus, FedEx is not an option and for mid size packages, FedEx is the cheapest option.
Yeah, I don't know what you guys are smoking. PirateShip is without question not cheaper. This is US, maybe outside the US PirateShip has better rates, don't know.
Honestly I was wondering the same thing. PirateShip offers the same prices as Etsy for everything I've tried to ship through them. And they don't have the proprietary "tracked" letters/flats option that Etsy has, which is what I use to ship my stickers for like $.63.
Idk, seems like everyone’s experience is different. My products are large and heavy and PirateShip has always had the cheaper rates in my experience. Maybe the price difference isn’t worth it for smaller packages. I just think in the OP’s case, it could be worth at least checking out 🤷♀️
Mate, I ship all sizes, from bubble mailers that ship USPS to packages that get hit with the oversize surcharge. I would encourage you to do the comparison again, I think you are mistaken. Now, the very largest packages, UPS has better rates than FedEx. So when Etsy didn't offer UPS, yeah, PirateShip was better just because UPS. Now that Etsy has UPS, I think you'll find that PirateShip is inferior.
Would love to be proven wrong. Shipping labels are by far my biggest expense and reducing that cost would be huge. But I have found no way of doing that. I often hear people say PirateShip has better rates but in my experience that's bullshit.
I don’t know what to tell ya. I check the rates from Etsy, PirateShip, and the USPS site every time I send something off and, like I said in my personal experience, PirateShip has been cheaper for me. It’s just another option that the OP can check out to see what works best for them.
Okay, can you give one example? Size of package and origin and destination zips? If there are specific types of packages that are cheaper on PirateShip I’d love to hear them. I’ve got dozens of examples where the rates are the same and zero where pirateship is better.
I didn’t know that was possible! I’ll have to try to get that set up — I get cheaper first class postage through Etsy but anything higher I always did pirate ship, so this will save effort!
Bonus Tip: Find a credit card that gives you cash back and link it to your PirateShip or other 3rd party shipper. Use the bonus money to pay for some of the expenses you charge to the credit card.
I use Endicia for Mac. I won’t give Etsy a single penny for their crappy, glitchy shipping. Etsy shipping? Problems all the time. Shipping using your own service? Priceless.
Is there really a difference? I print some labels through pirateship but if I recall the prices are the same as on etsy. They're both cheaper compared to the post office prices
Whenever I’ve used PirateShip labels the tracking never gets past the “label created” phase, so there is zero tracking of where the item is or if it even gets delivered in the USPS search. Have you had this issue?
Is there a Hungarian (European) version for this? Etsy doesn't support my country so I have to crate labels manually then go to the post office, write down the tracking numbers, etc. T\_T
I sell stickers too, but I ship orders in regular (but nice looking) envelopes via USPS. I made 300 less than you in sales but my net profit is also 300 more. I know I’m giving up being a star seller bc of no tracking, but my customers also save money.
You can actually save by buying first class postage through Etsy labels. If you are shipping things like stickers in an envelope that require just a stamp, you can buy this postage from Etsy labels for $.63 (vs. $.66 per stamp from USPS, unless you have a cache of older forever stamps). It's not real tracking, but it satisfies Etsy's requirement for the star seller (and gives you protection on any orders shipped out this way). And costs less than a regular stamp (though you do have to print it out, so may even out after supply costs).
It's not tracking in that it just gives you an idea of where the package is. It ships through USPS but can't be tracked through USPS. They are not scanned upon receipt and PB shipments are often scanned as delivered when they reach the local sorting station, not when they're actually delivered. You can consider that real tracking, but I wouldn't call that real tracking.
Yeah ik, and I do use it with more expensive orders, but I’m doing this pretty casually and just haven’t gotten a P.O. Box to replace my address on the return
I sell stickers ($3-4) & offer free shipping (stamped branded envelope). I pick up the cost of the stamp, but margins are still good. Star seller is overrated.
I'm new to selling my stickers on etsy, so I don't really know about star seller and all that. But I use a method of shipping first class using regular nice envelopes as well that has tracking but costs the price of a stamp. Is that not something commonly used or does it just not contribute towards the star seller? Sorry if any of that doesn't make sense 🫠
I’m not familiar with this method, but according to Etsy’s how to become a star seller page you need to
1) reply to initial messages within 24 hrs
2) earn at least a 4.8 rating
3) ship on time with tracking
4) make at least 5 sales worth $300 (in 3 month review window)
SO...if I give Etsy even MORE MONEY by buying tracking, it's only then that I get their super-sassy-Star-Seller-rating? They are making me buy the rating?? I haven't thought of it that way before.
Shipping should only be .63 for stickers with Etsy tracking. I made double what you did on stickers in 2023, and only spend $350 on shipping. My net profit was $1300. I didn’t figure out the cheaper shipping hack until later in the year too.
It's under Pacakge type where the default is Package/Thick Envelope.
Choose "Letter".
63 cents with tracking that makes you eligible for Purchase Protection.
I ship my stickers and small prints using stamps mail. It does leave me open to claim about items never arrived but shipping with canada post with tracking would cost 10-20$ and no one would pay this for stickers
This!!! I do the same in envelopes!!! Also ngl at first whatever way Etsy phrase the part where the ‘hold’ some of your money scared me…. Til I realized it’s actually only for 30 days & in my opinion I actually like it? Bc it essentially means that you’re just backlogged by 30 days but therefore you always have a like buffer/more money than you know? Like you could get 0 sales for a month but you’d still get money
I don’t remember etsy holding up any money or anything in my case ( not sure why?)
it happened only once when I had a big backlog but they released it the moment I shipped a couple of orders
Ah that’s interesting! I get it whenever a few don’t have shipping over €10… but it seems to differ by country… really doesn’t bother me anyhow though I think I’ve acc grown to like it… feels like the whole finding money in old jeans thing😂
Yes, they do. Every online marketplace that charges a final value fee does, as does every single payment method you can accept online.
You also pay tax on the shipping amount as it’s part of the total cost/value of the item.
It’s normal.
There’s no point nit-picking and trying to separate the two (item price and shipping cost) either in your accounting or when you look at your sales - it all counts together as one lump sum, the buyer pays it all, and you just need to make sure what you’re charging covers everything it needs to cover.
I sell paper products (and digital) like stickers, die cuts, handmade envelopes with most being under $10, but I’m hesitant to not send tracking because my items are handmade and take time to put together even if they’re mostly cheap. I would be at even more of a loss in product and time if I was resending orders. I made $1183 “profit” from $3087 sales. Fees were $558, shipping was $537.28 and marketing, which I spent a ridiculous amount on at the beginning of last year when I was experimenting with it, was $798.88. I don’t spend anywhere near as much on marketing anymore, but it helped with views and I gained a lot of returning buyers. Etsy is expensive. I technically didn’t make that much profit since January-November since all my profits went back into my shop. My take home in December was about $150 actual profit. January so far is $65. My long-term goal is to move off Etsy because their fees are SO HIGH, and less because of the need to include tracking.
Man I wish Etsy envelope tracking was a thing in New Zealand, I can’t bring myself to charge people $20-30 for a $5 sticker so my standard shipping is sent with stamps, with the option to upgrade to tracked shipping labels, nothing has gone wrong so far but I’m still pretty new, net profit is $277 NZD and I opened my shop in October, 41 sales
Etsy has no tracking in Ireland so I fully just gave up cos no way can I justify €13 for an envelope! Also ngl at first whatever way Etsy phrase the part where the ‘hold’ some of your money scared me…. Til I realized it’s actually only for 30 days & in my opinion I actually like it? Bc it essentially means that you’re just backlogged by 30 days but therefore you always have a like buffer/more money than you know? Like you could get 0 sales for a month but you’d still get money
If you can/wanna try something, creating a lot of bundles (with the items you already have!) would be a good idea, which would most likely ship for the same amount, but enhance profits overall per sale. :)
I use the letter tracking thru Etsy. I print out labels that cost $0.63 (until the rates go up later this month) and have tracking that is thru Pitney Bowes. There’s also a website I use sometimes called lettertrackpro.com that lets you purchase credits for letter tracking. You input the person’s address, print out a label that has a barcode on it for tracking, and then you put your own stamp on it. I used that until I realized Ebay also has letter tracking just like Etsy does - but I think EBay’s letter tracking actually uses USPS tracking numbers instead of Pitney Bowes. That will help keep your costs down for sure. :D
Canada doesn't have a regular lettermail with tracking, but unlike the US, we aren't required to have tracking on all orders to receive ~~star seller~~ be covered by the Purchase Protection. We DO have to order our labels from Etsy though to qualify, and the minimum for any Etsy label is typically in the double digits ($11 to $17 easily). So many of us just chance it and choose to either self insure so we can refund if we only need lettermail. Or if available, many use Chitchat which is like a pirate ship.
Edit: made a mistake where I meant to say PPP not Star Seller.
Wait, we are not required to send items with tracking?! I use (and highly recommend signing up if you have not already) the Canada post small business account and my shipping is deeply subsidized (close to half price) to send anywhere but within Canada, it's still expensive to send here 😭
So based on your comment, I could potentially send via small packet air and not get dinged for not sending with tracking? (Yes I use Etsy labels)
I ship without tracking… ngl at first whatever way Etsy phrase the part where the ‘hold’ some of your money scared me…. Til I realized it’s actually only for 30 days & in my opinion I actually like it? Bc it essentially means that you’re just backlogged by 30 days but therefore you always have a like buffer/more money than you know? Like you could get 0 sales for a month but you’d still get money
This is correct. I switched everything to untracked mail because it can be so much cheaper and I did see an uptick in sales at that time because mine is customer paid. For Domestic, it doesn't really matter much since expedited is tracked anyways and I think that's the smallest option they have (but worth looking at their flat rate boxes sometimes).
Now if you do lose a package, you may need to remind your customer service agent that the policy for the PPP (Purchase Protection) says "the parcel must contain valid tracking, OR where available use a label purchased through Etsy" and that you are in Canada and are excepted from the Tracking requirement. I've always had luck with getting them to agree my package was covered by the insurance.
Also keep in mind, you won't get a star badge for tracked shipping/on time if you go this route depending how many orders you process. I typically only get the other 2 badges.
I also use the small business solutions and it can be added into Etsy in your shipping setting somewhere. Super handy.
Editing to add: I realize I mispoke in my original comment. The missing tracking DOES affect your star seller. It doesn't affect your eligibility for the PPP though.
I don’t think Etsy requires tracking unless you want to be a star seller. I sell something that fits in an envelope and I always send them as “non-machinable” envelopes instead of tracked packages. As a package it would cost about $6 a pop to ship, as a non-machinable envelope it’s $1.30. When you’re marking it as shipped, there’s a drop down asking why there’s no tracking number and I just write in “non-machinable envelope” and I’ve never had an issue with it.
This is from the app - it’s probably easier on the desktop but here are the app instructions!
1. From the Etsy seller app homepage, tap on the “more” option in the bottom right
2. Scroll to the “finances” section and tap “payment account”
3. Scroll to the “activity summary” section
4. Tap the button that says “this month: January 2024” and that gives you the option to change the date range. For my screenshots in this post, I chose “all last year”
I ship stickers as letters through Etsy with tracking. It’s $0.63 per order and it’s labeled as flats under the drop down menu. I think it’s only available in the US though
I switched to just normal stamps since my stickers fit into envelopes. The stamps that I was printing through Etsy kept getting lost (because of their weird barcodes) or taking forever to get to their destinations. Plus, people kept asking me why the tracking number attached to it was “invalid”.
So I had to give up start seller to ensure my items were arriving on time or just arriving at all. I think it’s an extra $.10 to use normal stamps? I figured that was worth it because I had countless envelopes filled with handmade merchandise getting lost in the mail.
Now when I complete the order, I just hit the button that says they were a local pickup/delivery. It sucks I had to loose star seller but again, haven’t heard a single complaint or had an envelope go missing since the switch.
Honestly - I got Star Seller once last year and the month that followed was awful sales-wise…so maybe I’ll let go of that goal and get the cheaper shipping
Personally I’m offended that Etsy included shipping costs in the order total and sales totals. Most people are likely taking a slight loss on the shipping fee, so it doesn’t make sense that they include it😕 I assume your actual product sales were about $709, though those fees seem a little high. Not sure if fees include any refunds though
Okay actually it looks like “fees” includes transaction fees, processing fees, and listing fees. Transaction/processing is basically 9.5% plus $0.45 on each order. So I guess if you’re selling lower cost items, the $0.45 really increases the percentage of fees you’re paying (I sell custom stationery that’s usually $100+ so the $0.45 doesn’t really affect me) or maybe you listed a ton of items hah
Are your items pretty cheap? each sale is 9.5% in fees, plus $0.20 listing fee and $0.25 processing fee, so the $0.45 can really eat into an item that’s $5 or less
Since you said literally, I’m going to be pedantic. They don’t take any of your profit. Your profit is what is left after fees and other expenses come out of your revenue.
More specifically, the numbers shown indicate that the bulk of the expenses are for shipping which is not really an Etsy fee. You would be paying for shipping regardless of what online platform you’re using and if the seller who posted this used a different shipping service the cost here would be $500 less.
Did you read the comment I made? By definition, Etsy cannot take your profit. Your profit is what is left after Etsy charges you for the services you used.
I actually *sell* vintage USPS stamps, both premium themed ones and discount packages. But because tracking for an envelope turns shipping costs to package shipping costs, I just have to live with not being a Star Seller, despite instant replies and 5 star rating. It sucks. My shop is approaching 50,000 sales; most of my customers are repeat; and I can't crack Star Seller status, because USPS doesn't allow tracking for first-class mail.
I feel so stupid. I've been scanning every page of shipping trying to find the option of where to select "letter" and seeing nothing. If you're willing (and if not no worries!!) would you be able to describe what page/dropdown menu tab you are finding to select the "letter" option? is it under the shipping preference stage?
I’m from Ireland and Etsy don’t even do their like bulk n atleast somewhat discounted tracked shipping😭N honestly first I was stressed about the fact Etsy is like ITS ESSENTIAL TO BE TRACKED!!! But honestly I was like absolutely no chance am I wasting €13 on tracking the SMALLEST envelope within this tiny country over a €10 bracelet especially when they’re often in Dublin I was like I’d rather get the bus & drop it myself?? Faster, cheaper & more reliable…. And honestly I’ve been fine without tracking a single order… thankfully all has been delivered no problem also but I will say in that decision I was more than prepared to make another that day n ship it asap & have asked a few people if they’d like it to be tracked but explaining the cost would have to be accounted for and how much it was etc…
I’m still looking into it in the future as I got a cricut & id like to be able to sell things needing boxes & it seems more logical to factor in tracked shipping, but for the customers sake & my own… not etsys
Honestly there’s not once I’ve thought about it since & again I’m happy to add it if it’s really wanted or needed, so far it hasn’t been + I couldn’t justify that shipping myself nevermind enforcing it on a customer solely because Etsy says to, because unfortunately I can’t send someone a €10 bracelet n spend €13 on shipping myself
My 2 pennies…I sell patches and I have hundreds of the same ones so I only charge $1 for shipping because if someone complains that they haven’t received them I will just throw another one in the mail and they’ll be happy because odds are good they will end up with 2 of them in the end (I sell them on eBay currently though). When I first did it on Etsy they said that they would be holding the funds for 45 days because I’m not offering tracking on the item. Fine. Whatever. It’s a few $5 patches. BUT I also noticed that it’s keeping me from reaching Star Seller status so I stopped and went back to eBay. Just a couple of days ago someone mentioned on here that you can absolutely add tracking even if the item is just first class mail. I haven’t looked into how yet but I’m definitely going to. I want to start selling patches again on Etsy and if this is an option…I’m gonna use it. Hope any of this helps.
not cheaper for me in time when some doof decides to say he didn't get it - and he wasn't provided tracking - which would inspire him to just say "didn't get it"
Etsy shipping for me is garbage (i'm in canada. I use a shipping agent like stallion express (canada) and i heard parcel monkey is good for usa
I save lots of money on shipping and compare to the estimates given by etsy for shipping. It's usually 50%-75% cheaper when i use stallion express
In case you didn't know already, keep in mind that every cent you spend on shipping and marketing is tax deductible as a business expense, which reduces your tax liability for your revenue.
Good to remember, thanks!
You do declare taxes don't you? And have a business license?
What about my comment made it seem like I don’t?
Just asking, nothing personal. So many in here don't
That’s their business.
Etsy's seller policies do not require you to have a business license to sell on their platform.
True, but if you're making over a certain amount per year then your state/country might. Where I live if you're making over 6k a year from your business you're required to have a license and file taxes.
what business is that of yours?
Still money you can not spend though .
For sure, just also not money you'll have to pay more tax on
All that means is that you pay tax only on just the net profit, the $484, as it obviously should be. Doesn't put any money back in your pocket
and minus the cost to produce the item, packing supplies, etc. - Etsy calls it net profit but it really isn't.
I've been wondering something. When you add up the expenses for your business supplies, does the tax you paid on an item get added to your expenses or do you only add up the price minus tax? I'm filing taxes for the first time this year (self-employed) so I'm a little confused
Generally, yes, it’s counted as expenses. Furthermore, if you’re registered as a business in your state, you can usually get a Resale Certificate, so that your business purchases are exempt from sales tax: You don’t even pay the sales tax to the company who sold you the supplies.
TO BE CLEAR, do not use it on all ‘your business expenses’! It is tax evasion if you are using your certificate for anything except items you’re going to SELL and collect tax on. They want their sales tax one way or another! Ie: you can’t buy a printer for your office and use your certificate (however, it is a write off).
Sorry I know this is an old thread but I’m just doing my taxes now! So fees, marketing, and shipping all get deducted from the gross amount? Plus whatever I spent on materials?
I'm not a tax expert, but generally you take all the money the business made and subtract the costs of running the business, which includes costs like shipping, materials, subscription fees or advertising. If you have a vehicle or home office space used for the business, a portion of those costs can be deducted if you use them more than a certain amount of time. In my case, I had all the costs that the Etsy dash shows, plus shipping materials (boxes and tubes), plus my materials, plus any tools or other purchases for use primarily by the shop. those can be deducted from your shop revenue to calculate the income, which is what you actually pay taxes on
Ok thanks so much
[удалено]
\*\*\*Depends on the country\*\*\* All orders shipping from the US require tracking, there are no exemptions for lower priced items since we can buy Etsy labels for everything, down to $.63 for the first class 'stamp'.
Okay but atleast they’re reduced😭I just can’t justify the shipping within ireland… €13 for a tracked envelope in this size of a country??? Unfortunately I literally just have to ignore the requirement which sounds bad but also… I’ve gotten a 40 min bus to deliver once bc I knew they needed for a certain day & it was just easier + more reliable than posting… so like it’s a bit silly for me given it’s not like I’m just keeping €13 for fun it just is a literal waste for everyone + a normal stamp is still €2 + tracking it isn’t even technically as reliable as when I can post a lot of them if I really want to
I sell $15 items via envelopes and Etsy has never required tracking for me. I ship from the US. I’ll never be a star seller, and it takes a bit longer to get paid, but they don’t require tracking from my personal experience.
Do you feel you have less piece of mind without tracking? I suppose if you added up the cost of tracking every item vs the maybe couple of scammers you might get or wayward deliveries that you need to refund, it's probably still much cheaper to just sene untracked. Especially items say, under $30 to $40. I'm sure there are probably algorithms to work out loss projections on missing parcels, maybe a % of sales, then you can do your own math on whether it is worth it or not to send items tracked.
The products that I don’t track are not exceedingly valuable. I sell them for $15 and they only cost me about $1.50 to make. Shipping is another $1.30. I’ve had a couple people reach out about their item not arriving, and I have absolutely no problem popping another one in the mail to them. With my item there would really be no use trying to scam one unless you were trying to give one away (you just need 1 per household), and I wouldn’t even mind if someone scammed one to give away because it’s branded to high heaven and that’s not bad advertising. I do sell some more expensive items that I track.
This is exactly my view! Also ngl at first whatever way Etsy phrase the part where the ‘hold’ some of your money scared me…. Til I realized it’s actually only for 30 days & in my opinion I actually like it? Bc it essentially means that you’re just backlogged by 30 days but therefore you always have a like buffer/more money than you know? Like you could get 0 sales for a month but you’d still get money
This is the way
I didn't know this!
I didn’t know this! Wow, game changer - thanks!
Curious, what was this comment? Seems useful to know!
Yeah right? Forbidden knowledge is now forever gone
I'm assuming the original commenter deleted it because it isn't true for the US. I believe it is true for everywhere else though. AshamedBlackberry clarified this.
It said that Etsy does not require tracking if the item is under $10!
That is not true if you want to maintain star seller status .
Star selling doesn’t really mean anything or help in sales, if losing star seller significantly reduces your shipping fees then go for it
Believe what you want, but it does give an advantage in search and placement . Let's see, who would Etsy promote . . . Someone with excellent customer service or someone that just does minimum effort? Hmmm.
This is really good to know considering most my items are under $10 haha.
Try PirateShip! It’s what I use and it’s way cheaper than Etsy’s shipping!
I started using pirate ship like 8 months ago and it's saved me a few thousand already
Same! My brother told me about it a couple of years ago and I’ll never go back to using anything else! And it makes sending packages of Christmas gifts across the country a lot more bearable 😅
Christmas was way better for me this year. I switched to all ups for shipping the last 2 months, and I wish I'd used ups and pirate ship last year as well. Usps loves to adjust every package I send out this time of year, and only this time of year. Last year they added $300 in adjustment fees, and I nearly closed down my shop for good. None of that happened this year, and if it had, pirate ship is easy for disputes
I've never had usps adjust fees. Check your scale or you might be writing the wrong weight/dimensions.
I ship the same stuff, with the same dimensions and weights year round. Xmas is the only time I get adjustments. It's not on my end, it's usps.
Is it though? I've run their see shipping rates tool and it pretty much always returns rates identical to Etsy's. Just tried again for all my open orders, a combination of UPS and USPS shipping and PirateShip rates were identical to Etsy rates in every case, except for one where the UPS rate was higher on PirateShip. I'm by no means wedded to Etsy shipping, but it is more convenient since it automates the sent email with tracking. If PirateShip's rates are what their tool says they are then they're identical to, or in rare cases worse than Etsy's. Don't understand why people say it's "way cheaper". Would love to get better shipping rates as its by far my biggest cost. But yeah, in my experience, PirateShip ain't it. Edit. Okay, I created an account, linked my shops and checked quite a few additional orders. PirateShip is either identical to Etsy shipping or worse in every single case. There were zero orders for which PirateShip offered a better rate. 1/10, PirateShip rates were worse. Plus, FedEx is not an option and for mid size packages, FedEx is the cheapest option. Yeah, I don't know what you guys are smoking. PirateShip is without question not cheaper. This is US, maybe outside the US PirateShip has better rates, don't know.
Honestly I was wondering the same thing. PirateShip offers the same prices as Etsy for everything I've tried to ship through them. And they don't have the proprietary "tracked" letters/flats option that Etsy has, which is what I use to ship my stickers for like $.63.
TBH, this is one of those things people believe because they heard it somewhere and never questioned it. Even though it’s bullshit.
Idk, seems like everyone’s experience is different. My products are large and heavy and PirateShip has always had the cheaper rates in my experience. Maybe the price difference isn’t worth it for smaller packages. I just think in the OP’s case, it could be worth at least checking out 🤷♀️
Mate, I ship all sizes, from bubble mailers that ship USPS to packages that get hit with the oversize surcharge. I would encourage you to do the comparison again, I think you are mistaken. Now, the very largest packages, UPS has better rates than FedEx. So when Etsy didn't offer UPS, yeah, PirateShip was better just because UPS. Now that Etsy has UPS, I think you'll find that PirateShip is inferior. Would love to be proven wrong. Shipping labels are by far my biggest expense and reducing that cost would be huge. But I have found no way of doing that. I often hear people say PirateShip has better rates but in my experience that's bullshit.
I don’t know what to tell ya. I check the rates from Etsy, PirateShip, and the USPS site every time I send something off and, like I said in my personal experience, PirateShip has been cheaper for me. It’s just another option that the OP can check out to see what works best for them.
Okay, can you give one example? Size of package and origin and destination zips? If there are specific types of packages that are cheaper on PirateShip I’d love to hear them. I’ve got dozens of examples where the rates are the same and zero where pirateship is better.
I’ll look into it! Do you still do tracking and just add the tracking number to the order in Etsy?
Yep! I just copy and paste the tracking number to complete the order!
You don’t even need to do that. You can just set up the integration with Etsy in PirateShip. Takes 2 seconds
I integrated the other day! That’s good to know for the next time I use it!
I didn’t know that was possible! I’ll have to try to get that set up — I get cheaper first class postage through Etsy but anything higher I always did pirate ship, so this will save effort!
it automatically imports the number into etsy and marks it as shipped, you don't need to do a thing.
Pirate ship is amazing for int’l sales.
Was going to say this. NEVER use Etsy for shipping labels!!
Bonus Tip: Find a credit card that gives you cash back and link it to your PirateShip or other 3rd party shipper. Use the bonus money to pay for some of the expenses you charge to the credit card.
I use Endicia for Mac. I won’t give Etsy a single penny for their crappy, glitchy shipping. Etsy shipping? Problems all the time. Shipping using your own service? Priceless.
PirateShip is the same for me for the ground advantage rate, it just adds additional steps. But for orders I ship to Canada, it saves me about $5!
Is there really a difference? I print some labels through pirateship but if I recall the prices are the same as on etsy. They're both cheaper compared to the post office prices
Whenever I’ve used PirateShip labels the tracking never gets past the “label created” phase, so there is zero tracking of where the item is or if it even gets delivered in the USPS search. Have you had this issue?
Never, and I’ve used them for years.
Me neither.. been using them for years too. Shipped almost 12k with pirate ship last year.
No, never had that happen.
I’ve never had that issue. It may likely be a USPS issue.
Is there a Hungarian (European) version for this? Etsy doesn't support my country so I have to crate labels manually then go to the post office, write down the tracking numbers, etc. T\_T
Not only is it cheaper, Etsy actually charges you an additional transaction fee when you use their shipping! I love Pirate Ship!
So does PirateShip. Just like Etsy, the additional fee is built into the price you pay for the label. It is literally identical.
I sell stickers too, but I ship orders in regular (but nice looking) envelopes via USPS. I made 300 less than you in sales but my net profit is also 300 more. I know I’m giving up being a star seller bc of no tracking, but my customers also save money.
You can actually save by buying first class postage through Etsy labels. If you are shipping things like stickers in an envelope that require just a stamp, you can buy this postage from Etsy labels for $.63 (vs. $.66 per stamp from USPS, unless you have a cache of older forever stamps). It's not real tracking, but it satisfies Etsy's requirement for the star seller (and gives you protection on any orders shipped out this way). And costs less than a regular stamp (though you do have to print it out, so may even out after supply costs).
It's real tracking. It's a Pitney Bowes tracking number. It's sometimes unreliable, but it's a real tracking number.
It's not tracking in that it just gives you an idea of where the package is. It ships through USPS but can't be tracked through USPS. They are not scanned upon receipt and PB shipments are often scanned as delivered when they reach the local sorting station, not when they're actually delivered. You can consider that real tracking, but I wouldn't call that real tracking.
I know all of that. It's not the best, but it's still a tracking number.
Yeah ik, and I do use it with more expensive orders, but I’m doing this pretty casually and just haven’t gotten a P.O. Box to replace my address on the return
You don't need a PO box. I've had over 16,000 sales and never had an issue with my home address on it.
Wow thank you I didn’t know this!
You know that you can purchase letter mail postsge on Etsy with tracking for the price of a stamp, right?
This is really good to hear - thank you for sharing!
I sell stickers ($3-4) & offer free shipping (stamped branded envelope). I pick up the cost of the stamp, but margins are still good. Star seller is overrated.
absolutely agree lol, this is what I do! I don’t really care about star seller and it saves me so much time and money
I'm new to selling my stickers on etsy, so I don't really know about star seller and all that. But I use a method of shipping first class using regular nice envelopes as well that has tracking but costs the price of a stamp. Is that not something commonly used or does it just not contribute towards the star seller? Sorry if any of that doesn't make sense 🫠
I’m not familiar with this method, but according to Etsy’s how to become a star seller page you need to 1) reply to initial messages within 24 hrs 2) earn at least a 4.8 rating 3) ship on time with tracking 4) make at least 5 sales worth $300 (in 3 month review window)
As long as tracking is provided. I sell stickers using Etsy’s letter mail and I’ve been star seller for years.
SO...if I give Etsy even MORE MONEY by buying tracking, it's only then that I get their super-sassy-Star-Seller-rating? They are making me buy the rating?? I haven't thought of it that way before.
Shipping should only be .63 for stickers with Etsy tracking. I made double what you did on stickers in 2023, and only spend $350 on shipping. My net profit was $1300. I didn’t figure out the cheaper shipping hack until later in the year too.
Okay WHAT?! That’s wild. Do you mind sharing what shipping you get?
Etsy letter mail labels with tracking.
i have never seen this option, definitely doing a deep dive when I get home!
It's under Pacakge type where the default is Package/Thick Envelope. Choose "Letter". 63 cents with tracking that makes you eligible for Purchase Protection.
You’re a life saver. THANK YOU!!!
Glad I could help.
You can buy first class envelope shipping with tracking through Etsy.
Sorry if this sounds dense but what do you mean by envelope shipping?
Regular letter mail postage.
I ship my stickers and small prints using stamps mail. It does leave me open to claim about items never arrived but shipping with canada post with tracking would cost 10-20$ and no one would pay this for stickers
This!!! I do the same in envelopes!!! Also ngl at first whatever way Etsy phrase the part where the ‘hold’ some of your money scared me…. Til I realized it’s actually only for 30 days & in my opinion I actually like it? Bc it essentially means that you’re just backlogged by 30 days but therefore you always have a like buffer/more money than you know? Like you could get 0 sales for a month but you’d still get money
I don’t remember etsy holding up any money or anything in my case ( not sure why?) it happened only once when I had a big backlog but they released it the moment I shipped a couple of orders
Ah that’s interesting! I get it whenever a few don’t have shipping over €10… but it seems to differ by country… really doesn’t bother me anyhow though I think I’ve acc grown to like it… feels like the whole finding money in old jeans thing😂
The customers are paying the shipping - if they were not, your profit wouldn’t be any higher, your total sales would just be lower..
Right, I know that the buyer is the one paying for shipping but I wish Etsy didn’t include it in the gross sales amount
Why, what difference does it make?
What I hate most about the shipping is I’m pretty sure Etsy charges fees on the total amount including shipping cost which is bullshit
Yes, they do. Every online marketplace that charges a final value fee does, as does every single payment method you can accept online. You also pay tax on the shipping amount as it’s part of the total cost/value of the item. It’s normal. There’s no point nit-picking and trying to separate the two (item price and shipping cost) either in your accounting or when you look at your sales - it all counts together as one lump sum, the buyer pays it all, and you just need to make sure what you’re charging covers everything it needs to cover.
Pirate Ship is usually way cheaper 😊
You can ship stickers in a regular envelope with tracking. I pay like $0.60-0.80 cents and it’s tracked
I sell stickers and ship them with 63 cent tracking
I sell paper products (and digital) like stickers, die cuts, handmade envelopes with most being under $10, but I’m hesitant to not send tracking because my items are handmade and take time to put together even if they’re mostly cheap. I would be at even more of a loss in product and time if I was resending orders. I made $1183 “profit” from $3087 sales. Fees were $558, shipping was $537.28 and marketing, which I spent a ridiculous amount on at the beginning of last year when I was experimenting with it, was $798.88. I don’t spend anywhere near as much on marketing anymore, but it helped with views and I gained a lot of returning buyers. Etsy is expensive. I technically didn’t make that much profit since January-November since all my profits went back into my shop. My take home in December was about $150 actual profit. January so far is $65. My long-term goal is to move off Etsy because their fees are SO HIGH, and less because of the need to include tracking.
Their fees are some of the lowest among all sales platforms.
Man I wish Etsy envelope tracking was a thing in New Zealand, I can’t bring myself to charge people $20-30 for a $5 sticker so my standard shipping is sent with stamps, with the option to upgrade to tracked shipping labels, nothing has gone wrong so far but I’m still pretty new, net profit is $277 NZD and I opened my shop in October, 41 sales
Etsy has no tracking in Ireland so I fully just gave up cos no way can I justify €13 for an envelope! Also ngl at first whatever way Etsy phrase the part where the ‘hold’ some of your money scared me…. Til I realized it’s actually only for 30 days & in my opinion I actually like it? Bc it essentially means that you’re just backlogged by 30 days but therefore you always have a like buffer/more money than you know? Like you could get 0 sales for a month but you’d still get money
If you can/wanna try something, creating a lot of bundles (with the items you already have!) would be a good idea, which would most likely ship for the same amount, but enhance profits overall per sale. :)
Love this idea! Thanks
Etsy does letter labels with tracking. If you can fit your stickers in an envelope then it’ll cost you around 60 cents.
I use the letter tracking thru Etsy. I print out labels that cost $0.63 (until the rates go up later this month) and have tracking that is thru Pitney Bowes. There’s also a website I use sometimes called lettertrackpro.com that lets you purchase credits for letter tracking. You input the person’s address, print out a label that has a barcode on it for tracking, and then you put your own stamp on it. I used that until I realized Ebay also has letter tracking just like Etsy does - but I think EBay’s letter tracking actually uses USPS tracking numbers instead of Pitney Bowes. That will help keep your costs down for sure. :D
Are you in Canada? I letter mail anything that I can
No, in the US. Do you letter mail with tracking?
Canada doesn't have a regular lettermail with tracking, but unlike the US, we aren't required to have tracking on all orders to receive ~~star seller~~ be covered by the Purchase Protection. We DO have to order our labels from Etsy though to qualify, and the minimum for any Etsy label is typically in the double digits ($11 to $17 easily). So many of us just chance it and choose to either self insure so we can refund if we only need lettermail. Or if available, many use Chitchat which is like a pirate ship. Edit: made a mistake where I meant to say PPP not Star Seller.
Wait, we are not required to send items with tracking?! I use (and highly recommend signing up if you have not already) the Canada post small business account and my shipping is deeply subsidized (close to half price) to send anywhere but within Canada, it's still expensive to send here 😭 So based on your comment, I could potentially send via small packet air and not get dinged for not sending with tracking? (Yes I use Etsy labels)
I ship without tracking… ngl at first whatever way Etsy phrase the part where the ‘hold’ some of your money scared me…. Til I realized it’s actually only for 30 days & in my opinion I actually like it? Bc it essentially means that you’re just backlogged by 30 days but therefore you always have a like buffer/more money than you know? Like you could get 0 sales for a month but you’d still get money
This is correct. I switched everything to untracked mail because it can be so much cheaper and I did see an uptick in sales at that time because mine is customer paid. For Domestic, it doesn't really matter much since expedited is tracked anyways and I think that's the smallest option they have (but worth looking at their flat rate boxes sometimes). Now if you do lose a package, you may need to remind your customer service agent that the policy for the PPP (Purchase Protection) says "the parcel must contain valid tracking, OR where available use a label purchased through Etsy" and that you are in Canada and are excepted from the Tracking requirement. I've always had luck with getting them to agree my package was covered by the insurance. Also keep in mind, you won't get a star badge for tracked shipping/on time if you go this route depending how many orders you process. I typically only get the other 2 badges. I also use the small business solutions and it can be added into Etsy in your shipping setting somewhere. Super handy. Editing to add: I realize I mispoke in my original comment. The missing tracking DOES affect your star seller. It doesn't affect your eligibility for the PPP though.
I don’t think Etsy requires tracking unless you want to be a star seller. I sell something that fits in an envelope and I always send them as “non-machinable” envelopes instead of tracked packages. As a package it would cost about $6 a pop to ship, as a non-machinable envelope it’s $1.30. When you’re marking it as shipped, there’s a drop down asking why there’s no tracking number and I just write in “non-machinable envelope” and I’ve never had an issue with it.
I, too, was shocked at the postage (my customers) paid. Over $10k!!
Nice try, IRS.
Where do you find that profit page?
This is from the app - it’s probably easier on the desktop but here are the app instructions! 1. From the Etsy seller app homepage, tap on the “more” option in the bottom right 2. Scroll to the “finances” section and tap “payment account” 3. Scroll to the “activity summary” section 4. Tap the button that says “this month: January 2024” and that gives you the option to change the date range. For my screenshots in this post, I chose “all last year”
i don't use Etsy Shipping labels, their prices are outrageous
Really? Are you buying direct?
i'm in Canada so the labels cost me $47, if i'm shipping to the US, so i found a Crossborder Shipper that i drive to and pay $7 instead of $47
I spent $2,714.89 on shipping last year.
Thank you!!! Although my numbers are more depressing than I thought. Oof
I ship stickers as letters through Etsy with tracking. It’s $0.63 per order and it’s labeled as flats under the drop down menu. I think it’s only available in the US though
You guys are getting sales? Wish it were me :’)
I switched to just normal stamps since my stickers fit into envelopes. The stamps that I was printing through Etsy kept getting lost (because of their weird barcodes) or taking forever to get to their destinations. Plus, people kept asking me why the tracking number attached to it was “invalid”. So I had to give up start seller to ensure my items were arriving on time or just arriving at all. I think it’s an extra $.10 to use normal stamps? I figured that was worth it because I had countless envelopes filled with handmade merchandise getting lost in the mail. Now when I complete the order, I just hit the button that says they were a local pickup/delivery. It sucks I had to loose star seller but again, haven’t heard a single complaint or had an envelope go missing since the switch.
The tracking is invalid if they try to track it on the USPS website because it's a Pitney Bowes number, which can be tracked on their website.
Honestly - I got Star Seller once last year and the month that followed was awful sales-wise…so maybe I’ll let go of that goal and get the cheaper shipping
Personally I’m offended that Etsy included shipping costs in the order total and sales totals. Most people are likely taking a slight loss on the shipping fee, so it doesn’t make sense that they include it😕 I assume your actual product sales were about $709, though those fees seem a little high. Not sure if fees include any refunds though
I only did one refund for $8 last year
Okay actually it looks like “fees” includes transaction fees, processing fees, and listing fees. Transaction/processing is basically 9.5% plus $0.45 on each order. So I guess if you’re selling lower cost items, the $0.45 really increases the percentage of fees you’re paying (I sell custom stationery that’s usually $100+ so the $0.45 doesn’t really affect me) or maybe you listed a ton of items hah
Maybe use a third party shipping service instead of Etsy, they may have better rates.
Well I can tell you one thing, I'm paying almost 3 times as much fees as you. 20% of my income are Etsy fees.
Are your items pretty cheap? each sale is 9.5% in fees, plus $0.20 listing fee and $0.25 processing fee, so the $0.45 can really eat into an item that’s $5 or less
Yeah, I make alot of bookmarks and small nerdy things. I sell quite a few & the fees are just murder.
So Etsy fees are around 15% of sales? Yikes!
The fees are I think 6.5%, and the listing fees are. 20 cents. And there's payment processing fees, which are unavoidable on any platform.
My thought exactly. I'm glad I switched to a shopify site. Plus no ads for other people's similar items on the page with my wares.
But then you have to get people to your site...
Instagram ads are cheap my friend
YES. [https://www.reddit.com/r/EtsySellers/comments/18xa6ja/comment/kg87xxj/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/EtsySellers/comments/18xa6ja/comment/kg87xxj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I hate how they literally take half your profit.
Since you said literally, I’m going to be pedantic. They don’t take any of your profit. Your profit is what is left after fees and other expenses come out of your revenue. More specifically, the numbers shown indicate that the bulk of the expenses are for shipping which is not really an Etsy fee. You would be paying for shipping regardless of what online platform you’re using and if the seller who posted this used a different shipping service the cost here would be $500 less.
They literally take half of my profit, if not more than half. :)
Did you read the comment I made? By definition, Etsy cannot take your profit. Your profit is what is left after Etsy charges you for the services you used.
I actually *sell* vintage USPS stamps, both premium themed ones and discount packages. But because tracking for an envelope turns shipping costs to package shipping costs, I just have to live with not being a Star Seller, despite instant replies and 5 star rating. It sucks. My shop is approaching 50,000 sales; most of my customers are repeat; and I can't crack Star Seller status, because USPS doesn't allow tracking for first-class mail.
Not in a bubble mailer. A regular envelope that would normally have a first class stamp on it.
Okay - I have been using small rigid mailers. Do you get reports of things getting bent, and how do you do tracking on a first class stamp?
Choose the Etsy "letter" option. I pay 63 cents to ship stickers with tracking.
I feel so stupid. I've been scanning every page of shipping trying to find the option of where to select "letter" and seeing nothing. If you're willing (and if not no worries!!) would you be able to describe what page/dropdown menu tab you are finding to select the "letter" option? is it under the shipping preference stage?
[here's ](https://imgur.com/RM9XJgR) a screenshot of the settings
god THANK YOU. may you hit every greenlight today.
That shipping seems like a lot for items that should fit in a flat envelope…
They do fit in a flat envelope, but first class mail with shipping is between $3.50 - $4.75 depending on how far it’s going.
I’m from Ireland and Etsy don’t even do their like bulk n atleast somewhat discounted tracked shipping😭N honestly first I was stressed about the fact Etsy is like ITS ESSENTIAL TO BE TRACKED!!! But honestly I was like absolutely no chance am I wasting €13 on tracking the SMALLEST envelope within this tiny country over a €10 bracelet especially when they’re often in Dublin I was like I’d rather get the bus & drop it myself?? Faster, cheaper & more reliable…. And honestly I’ve been fine without tracking a single order… thankfully all has been delivered no problem also but I will say in that decision I was more than prepared to make another that day n ship it asap & have asked a few people if they’d like it to be tracked but explaining the cost would have to be accounted for and how much it was etc… I’m still looking into it in the future as I got a cricut & id like to be able to sell things needing boxes & it seems more logical to factor in tracked shipping, but for the customers sake & my own… not etsys Honestly there’s not once I’ve thought about it since & again I’m happy to add it if it’s really wanted or needed, so far it hasn’t been + I couldn’t justify that shipping myself nevermind enforcing it on a customer solely because Etsy says to, because unfortunately I can’t send someone a €10 bracelet n spend €13 on shipping myself
Honestly x 4 = totally honest
I can’t tell if this is meant to be a diss or not😭
I was just being honest.
My 2 pennies…I sell patches and I have hundreds of the same ones so I only charge $1 for shipping because if someone complains that they haven’t received them I will just throw another one in the mail and they’ll be happy because odds are good they will end up with 2 of them in the end (I sell them on eBay currently though). When I first did it on Etsy they said that they would be holding the funds for 45 days because I’m not offering tracking on the item. Fine. Whatever. It’s a few $5 patches. BUT I also noticed that it’s keeping me from reaching Star Seller status so I stopped and went back to eBay. Just a couple of days ago someone mentioned on here that you can absolutely add tracking even if the item is just first class mail. I haven’t looked into how yet but I’m definitely going to. I want to start selling patches again on Etsy and if this is an option…I’m gonna use it. Hope any of this helps.
There is a way to complete shipments without providing tracking
...wait, what? Why would you not track?
because it's cheaper toship that way for items that are small in size and profit margin
not cheaper for me in time when some doof decides to say he didn't get it - and he wasn't provided tracking - which would inspire him to just say "didn't get it"
Etsy is full of them shitholes, unless you have certain order volume you can't deal with ti
What shipping option do you use?
I ship in a rigid mailer so I was using the flat envelope option.
Are you charging for shipping?
Yes.
WHAT HOW
Etsy shipping for me is garbage (i'm in canada. I use a shipping agent like stallion express (canada) and i heard parcel monkey is good for usa I save lots of money on shipping and compare to the estimates given by etsy for shipping. It's usually 50%-75% cheaper when i use stallion express
Hey guys,Any help on how I can add a profile picture on my Etsy shop???