Your Etsy Cheat Sheet
15 Etsy terms you need to know as a seller
I created this as a resource that I think will save you money by making sure your prices are for profit. If you've ever wondered, "Where the heck is all my money going?" this is for you.
Below are all the definitions, plainly put. Sometimes, trying to sift through the Etsy Seller handbook (which I recommend reading) can feel overwhelming and overly technical.
So consider this your cheat sheet. Let's get to it.
Please feel free to print this, copy and paste for personal use, or bookmark it!
Listing definitions + Fees explained
Tags
“A tag is a word or short phrase that describes your item. Etsy matches tags with shoppers’ searches to find relevant results.” —Etsy seller handbook
You get 13 tags. Use them all. These can be added on each listing and should be updated for each product.
Pro tip: it’s not a hashtag, use spaces! Instead of “pinkscarf” try “pink scarf”
I also explain Tags on page 11 of the Etsy Powerpack!
SKU
SKU stands for “stock keeping unit” I honestly just Googled this, it’s not that important. But WHAT it is: SKUs help you organize things on the back end. These aren’t visible for customers, it’s internal use only!
This is helpful in differentiating similar products. SKUs can be anything. My dumb examples (my actual first SKUs (lol)): V222, V111
So basic but it helps at a glance confirming products, getting inventory, and telling options apart—especially when one listing has multi variations!
Attributes
Attributes, like tags, are optional but recommended. Anything that can be filled out, always should be! So what are they?
While tags are open ended for you to type in, attributes are options Etsy gives you to select. You can choose things like primary color, secondary color, holiday, occasion, season, etc.
It’s even goes as detailed as:
FOLD for paper
NECKLINE for shirts
WIDTH, HEIGHT, DEPTH for wall hangings
And other things like SUSTAINABILITY, STYLE, and THEME!
Shipping Profile
Shipping setting you can use across multiple listings! These are the best and save SO much time when setting up new listing.
For example, I have a shipping profile that applied to most of my listings because they all have the same turnaround. I set it up once, and bulk select what it applies to!
This makes vacation easy too! Instead of vacation mode, you can adjust your shipping profile and it will change the timeline for all applied listings! This + an auto convo response is smooth emailing for vacay.
Material (Tags)
Etsy doesn’t use these to populate search like Tags, but as I said before, If you can fill it out, it only helps!
Material tags are helpful for the customer to know exactly what they’re getting.
Featured Listings
Ever noticed the star you can select from the “listings” page? You can choose up to 4 (5 if you use Etsy Plus) to highlight in your shop.
Featured listings will show up at the top of your shop.
Renewing Listings
When you add a listing to Etsy, it’s active for 4 months and then it will “renew” the listing. When you make a listing you can choose:
Auto-renew, which will automatically renew your listing.
Manual renew, which will expire your listing and require you to reactivate it. If it sells out, it will not renew.
Think of this as stocking your shelves. Every 4 months you pay $0.20 per item for Etsy to put your products on their shelves. They can do this for you automatically, or you can choose to do it yourself.
Title
Your title is what you call your product, but a step further, it’s what someone else would call your product.
This means if you have fun collection names, Art title, etc you might not necessarily want to list those as your title.
Titles along with tags help populate search. Titles also help with search OFF Etsy! (This is how you show up on Google, for example)
Note: you have 140 characters. While your product might only be 3 words, you can use this space for SEO! AND this doesn’t mean you have to stuff it with words for the hell of it.
Conversion Rate
The number of people who came to your shop and BOUGHT. If you have 100 visits and 1 person bought, you would have a 1% conversion rate.
There’s not a hard fast rule for what a conversion rate should be. Experts try to quantify it, but it depends SO much on what you sell and your price point.
For example, $1,000 wedding invitations vs. $3 sticker isn’t a fair comparison. One is an impulse buy; one is an investment. These two items will most likely have wildly different conversion rates.
Check out my blog on Increasing your Conversion Rate on Etsy to learn three things that having clear Etsy listings will achieve and seven types of pictures that SELL your products. Whether you're just getting started, or a veteran Etsy seller, it's always a good time to check in and make sure your listings are set up to sell.
We're taught to believe that SEO is the one and only problem on Etsy. I'm going to help you identify whether the biggest area of opportunity is SEO or your conversion rate! See this blog for more >>> How to Know What Needs Work in Your Etsy Shop (SEO vs. Conversion Rate)
Revenue
This is all the money that you’ve made without any expenses. On Etsy specifically, this will be the total in SALES without any fees taken out. This is important to note because there are a lot of fees.
Listing Fee
The listing fee is the price to add an item to your shop. Think of this as paying Etsy to stock the shelves with your product.
Listing fee: $0.20 per item. You are charged this when you list an item AND when you renew an item or sell an item. Every time you want Etsy to put your product back in search, it’s $0.20.
Transaction Fee
Transaction fees are the cut that Etsy takes. Think of it like a finders fee and system fee. They connect you with a customer on their platform, which makes buying and selling really easy.
Yes, you can avoid this 6.5% fee by not selling on Etsy, but you’re also missing out on Etsy’s built-in 89.9MM active buyers
This 6.5% fee is for the total amount and includes shipping $, too.
Processing Fees
This is like a credit card fee and occurs with each transaction. For the USA, the fee is 3% + a flat $0.25 fee. Each country is going to have slightly different fees. Make sure you know what your fees are!
Processing fees are in addition to the 6.5% transaction fee.
Learn more about Etsy Fees on my blog here >>> Behind the Scenes of a $1,175 day on Etsy
Offsite Ads
Offsite ads are where Etsy advertises your product off of Etsy. Here are the fees according to the Etsy Help Section:
“The offsite advertising fee depends on the revenue you’ve made on Etsy in the past 365 days:
If your Etsy shop made less than $10,000 USD, you’ll be charged a 15% fee for an order attributed to an Offsite Ad on the amount you made from your sale before the advertising fee was applied.
If your Etsy shop made at least $10,000 USD, you’ll get a discounted fee of 12%.”
You CAN turn this off, but ONLY if you fall in the first group above.
Etsy Plus
Etsy Plus is an optional service that costs $10 a month. This gives your shop additional features. This is explained in depth on page 17 of the Etsy Power Pack,. But in short, this is what you get:
WHAT’S INCLUDED:
$5 ad credit per month
15 listing credits ($0.20 x 15 = $3.00)
Advanced customization
Restock requests
Other perks I don’t use! $5 ads, $3 in listings, means you pay $2 per month for a bonus!
>>> Listen to my episode about Etsy Plus on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and check out my Instagram post for more.
That was a lot!
Etsy is the easiest part of all my businesses because I have been doing the same thing for seven years. Having a system and foundation to build on has allowed me to pivot several times without seeing major revenue dips. Because the basics apply to EVERYTHING you sell; when you understand how to work Etsy, Etsy works for you.
Ready for it to work for you better than ever? Grab the free Etsy Power Pack! ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Ready for it to work for you better than ever? Grab the free Etsy Power Pack!
I have a huge ebook You’ll get instant access to…
49 STRATEGICALLY CHOSEN LESSONS ON SETTING UP YOUR ETSY, SERVING CUSTOMERS, MARKETING YOUR PRODUCTS, AND SCALING YOUR ETSY SHOP + BUSINESS.
YOU'LL GET ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS LIKE:
What exactly do I need to show up in Etsy Search?
What am I supposed to include in the pictures?
How and why should I link your Etsy on my website?
How do I set up an announcement?
How can samples help my Etsy shop?
What's Etsy Plus, and is it right for you?
What should I avoid as I start and grow my Etsy shop?
...and that's just from the FIRST SECTION!
And get some of my most saved Instagram posts, easy for you to refer to like:
Five types of content for your product-based business
BTS of my Etsy Ad Strategy
How Samples Help Grow Your Etsy Shop