#74 - Etsy’s Latest Earnings: What It Really Means for Your Shop (And How to Respond)

Feeling like your Etsy sales have dipped recently? You’re not imagining it and Etsy’s Q2 2025 earnings report confirms it.

In this episode, I break down exactly what’s going on behind the scenes at Etsy, why sales are down platform-wide, and what it means for you as a handmade business owner. We’ll talk about rising fees, buyer hesitation, and Etsy’s push toward AI and personalisation... all without the corporate waffle.

But more importantly, I’ll walk you through what to actually do about it. Whether you’re on Etsy, your own website, or both, you’ll leave this episode feeling calm, clear, and ready to take control of your strategy again.

✨ We cover:

• What Etsy’s report really reveals (and what most sellers miss)
• Why it’s not you - it’s the current buying climate
• 4 things you can do right now to strengthen your shop
• The truth about fees, platforms, and where to focus next

If you’re feeling a little lost or discouraged, this episode will help you zoom out, realign, and move forward with purpose. 💛

🔗 Links mentioned in this episode - What is a social media home hub and how do you find yours?

Welcome to the Handmade Bosses family 🌻

I’m Steph, & since 2016 I’ve been running my handmade business full time on Etsy. Now I’m here to help you do the same – whether that’s starting your first shop, boosting sales with Etsy ads, mastering SEO, refining your branding, or finally finding your niche.

If you already sell handmade products (or are dreaming of it) on Etsy, your own website or at in person events, you’re in the right place. This podcast is all about helping you turn your passion into profit & grow from a hobby into a thriving business that brings in consistent 4–5 figure months.

✨ Free resources to get you moving: handmadebosses.com/freeresources

✨ Ready to go deeper? Work with us here: handmadebosses.com/paidresources

I go live most Mondays on YouTube and inside our Facebook group for mini workshops. You can catch all upcoming events here: facebook.com/groups/handmadebosses/events

🎥 Subscribe on YouTube for weekly videos and lives: youtube.com/@HandmadeBosses

📸 Follow us on Instagram for updates and motivation: instagram.com/handmadebosses

Love,
Steph & Team HB xox 💛

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Transcript

The world of handmade business can be tough When trying to monetize what you love We've got truth bombs and motivation too To help you find your way through Passion to profit, let's start today Cause the world needs what you create Tune in right now, it's your shot To learn how to be a Handmade Boss Hey, hey everyone. Today we are breaking down Etsy's latest earnings report. But don't worry, this isn't going to be some really dry financial recap.

So as of a few hours ago, as of recording this, Etsy have actually released their latest Q2 2025 earnings report. so I hopped on the camera I hopped on the mic and I was like right let's get this out as soon as possible because I know that a lot of you have felt like Etsy is slow right now where are my views and not just Etsy even your own website even um you know social media platforms so this might reassure you a little tiny bit that hey it's something that we all go through so So I'm going to be walking you through what's going on behind the scenes at Etsy and how it actually affects your shop and what you can actually do about it.

Whether your sales have been up or down or just a little bit all over the place recently, this episode will help you feel clear, calm and a lot more in control of your strategy. So let's get into it. Okay, so part one of this is going to be what's going on with Etsy right now. So Etsy just released its Q2 2025 earnings report, which basically means they are publicly sharing how much they've made, how buyers and sellers behave, and what's sort of changing behind the scenes.

So as you can imagine, it's really useful information to know. So here's what stood out. Sales across Etsy are down. So it is confirmed sales have been feeling rather slow.

Shoppers spent about 5% less this quarter than they did last year. But, and this is a big one, Etsy made more money overall. Why? Because they've increased their fees, especially ad fees.

So now you know. Point number three is buyer numbers are flat. So the platform is not growing as fast and the buyers who are shopping, many are only buying once. Now, if you feel like it's felt harder to get noticed or make consistent sales, this report actually confirms that you're not imagining it.

It is a thing. So part two of this is what this means for you without the panic. Okay, so let's just go through because a lot of people are panicking right now. And to be honest with you, this happens every single summer, every single year.

I've been doing this for about 10 years now in terms of selling online, e-commerce, even retail stores, things in the summer are genuinely slower. But let's break this down into real life seller friendly terms. Number one is slower sales are platform wide and that means it's harder to convert those cold traffic or those cold browsers. So what this means is if your views and your favorites have dropped that doesn't mean that your brand or your business or your products are bad.

There's a lot of I feel like a genuine sigh of relief when you hear that. What it does mean though is that customers are more hesitant, okay? They are buying less often and need a lot more warming up before they buy. So your job is to nurture, is to build trust, is to focus on content that help people decide to buy from you, not just browse.

And I feel like this is something that we've been saying behind the scenes. in the HBSA, in my Monday Lives for about two years now, is that after COVID, when we had that buying frenzy, people are now kind of chilling out and they're now looking towards brands that they are vibing with more and the people behind those brands So all of this to say is that you can no longer just kind of throw up an Etsy shop and expect your brand to explode because that's not how people are buying. And this is not just Etsy by the way, this is like internet wide, this is worldwide, this is e-commerce wide, retail wide.

People need to know that they are spending their money in a place where they are going to get a lot of perceived value and they feel like they're making the right choice. They basically are very nervous. and they need a lot of reassurance from you. So the second thing I wanted to go over is Etsy's making more money off of each seller, okay?

So this is more fees, more ad charges, and this means that your profit margins might be shrinking even if your order numbers are staying the same. So what this means is, is that it's time to check in on your pricing and don't be afraid to adjust it. add your bundles, increase your average order value and track what's actually worth running those ads on. Which means we are not switching ads on across your entire shop.

No, no, no, because you might as well just be burning your money or flushing it down the toilet. And I just wanted to do a little side note here. A lot of you might be kind of saying or thinking, oh, Etsy's fees are insane. I'm gonna go elsewhere, okay?

Now, the thing with that is that you are gonna be paying around about the same per order, per thing, per whatever. You are gonna be paying around about the same. Let me explain. So even if you have your own website, let's say you go to Shopify, okay?

And you have set up your own website. You are paying transaction fees. You're paying credit card fees, whatever payment gateway you are using. You are paying monthly fees to use the platform.

Now, once you set up your website, it's not like Etsy where you have a pool of ready-made people coming to you with a buying intent, a.k.a. they are coming to the platform to search for something to buy. So then you have to look into, okay, either I spend money on ads to drive traffic to my own website, to my Shopify site, or I can spend a lot more time on my content trying to get organic eyeballs, basically free eyeballs coming into my shop. Now, as you can imagine, if your business is basically employing you to do that, it doesn't matter which way you look at it, whether you're spending money on doing Facebook ads or Google ads or whatever, bringing people into your website, your Shopify site, or whether you decide you're

going to spend an extra five to six hours a week, that's one whole working day, posting more content to get more people in. So as you can imagine, when you start to actually work out the fees on your own website versus Etsy versus, I don't know, not on the high street versus Amazon versus all of these places that, you know, every guru and their mum always tells you to do, you are going to be paying about the same amount. Now I pay for a lot of tools, as you can imagine, across the businesses that I have, I have a lot of tools.

And let me tell you that my fees have increased for probably about 70% of them. So it is not just an Etsy thing, it is not just something where this means that your knee-jerk reaction is you must leave Etsy and you must go off and do other things. I mean you do you, do whatever feels good for your gut. But as they say, don't cut your nose off to spite your face.

Um, and also just please make sure that you are making a decision rooted in the facts rather than the feelings. So that's all I really wanted to say that is I'm not kind of rooting for one versus the other. Yes, I teach Etsy, but I also teach doing it on your own two feet, doing it on your website. I can teach both and I do teach both.

Now I also teach how to market your business, how to build your brand. I do all of those things. Okay. As you've seen, But the issue that I'm seeing is that people are jumping ship from one platform, hoping that the next platform is going to be the answer.

And honestly, six months down the line, they are regretting it. Alright, so I did get a wee bit sidetracked, but I just really wanted to say that. So point number three is they are investing, this is Etsy, they are investing in AI and personalization. So this means Etsy is putting money into search, discovery, and product suggestions.

That's great if your listings are being optimized in the right way, as you can imagine. So your photos, your titles, your tags, and your product range matter more than ever. We want clear categories, clear branding, help the algorithm understand what your shop is all about. Help it to help you, basically.

Okay, so part three of this is what you can do right now. Okay, so there's four things I wanna go over. So the first thing is I want you to revisit your listings. I want you to make sure your best sellers are easy to find, they are well optimized, and have strong first photos.

Okay, so that's the first thing. Now, even if the idea of doing that across your whole shop is mind-boggling, just pick 10 and just spend the day going through them at your own pace, okay? Number two is to simplify your strategy here. If you've been trying to be everywhere and spreading yourself incredibly thin, I want you to focus on one to two channels that actually convert, aka find your home hub.

And if you don't know about that, I have a episode all about that. I'll pop it in the show notes, which one that is, but you just want to find your one platform that you want to go all in with. Number three is to get personal. Etsy's report shows that at the moment repeat buyers are becoming rarer.

So use packaging, follow-up emails or loyalty offers even to turn a one-time buyer into a fan. Now point number four is look beyond just the one platform. Now, if you love Etsy and you're saying, you know what, that's great. I'm just gonna, you know, adjust my pricing.

I'm gonna ride it out. I've been going long enough to know that the summer is always slow. I always feel this internal sense of panic, but then September hits and it all starts back up again. That's amazing.

That's fine. That's fab. However, if you are thinking, okay, I feel as if I need to do something, just a little something to just kind of have that backup. It might be time to start that email list, quite honestly.

It might be time to improve your social media presence. It might be time to explore Pinterest. Diversify, but do it gently. Do one thing at a time and spend six months at least mastering it.

And just another thing is that if your sales are slower than last year, that's not failure, that's feedback. And that's the kind of feedback that can help you to strengthen your systems, to improve your business, to tweak your offers and build a brand that's resilient, not just reactive. So my quick closing thought here is the platform might shift being Etsy, could be not on the high street, could be Amazon. Like I said, it could be anything.

The platform that you're on, whatever that is, might shift. The fees might rise, the trends might change, but you with your products, your voice, your care, your love are the constant thing. Okay. And make sure that that is the constant thing.

All that to say, keep showing up, keep learning and know that just by listening to this and thinking about your next step, you're basically already moving forward. So boss, thank you so, so much for joining me. I know it was a bit of an off the cuff kind of shorter one, but I really wanted to get this one out just so you guys were feeling a lot more reassured and you kind of know what the state is right now because you know, it's not just Etsy that's going through this.

There's a lot of other places that are feeling the same pinch. We all knew it was coming. It's here now. So let's just recalibrate, readjust and realign ourselves.

So thank you so much. Thank you so much for tuning into how to be a handmade boss. And if you're eager to boost your Etsy sales within just seven days, then be sure to join my most popular free training at handmadebosses.com forward slash conversion. You can also find the link in the show notes as well.

Keep an eye out for our next episode where we'll be continuing our journey towards handmade business success together. And until then, keep crafting and stay inspired because the world really does need those special creations that only you can make.