Etsy sellers complain about rising commissions: I wanted to make money during the peak season, but it became increasingly difficult!

Etsy sellers complained that high commissions and inflation hurt sales during the peak season. Since April this year, the handicraft platform Etsy has increased its transaction fees from 5% to 6.5% per transaction, marking a 30% increase in costs for sellers on its platform. As sellers did not buy in, they triggered a series of protests.

Etsy said Black Friday is traditionally a prime sales period when sales on its platform surge, which helped push its stock price higher after the Thanksgiving weekend.

But many sellers on the site claim they have had to resort to heavily discounting items and driving traffic to increase store exposure in order to have a chance of setting sales records during the peak holiday season traffic.

Inflation is widely considered to be the main reason for the slowdown in sales, and higher sales expenses and transportation and delivery costs are another straw that has hit sellers.

To this end, Etsy has created a pricing and promotion tool playbook to support sellers during the peak season. Etsy has also launched a new EtsySeller app with more tools and features to help sellers sell more easily anytime, anywhere.

It is learned that Fawn S., an Etsy seller in Indiana, said that Etsy's sales commission changes in April "undoubtedly had a negative impact on my sales and overall exposure. Traffic has also decreased, and I can only launch promotions and cross-promote on multiple social media to drive traffic back." Fawn complained that it is becoming increasingly difficult for stores selling low-profit products to make a profit.

“It was tough for about six or seven months,” said Jessica Jewett, another seller. “I either had to stop offering free shipping or quickly restore prices after a short promotion to draw in traffic.”

Editor ✎Estella/

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