getting ready to quit etsy (more or less)

Everything has gone up in price this year.  

Supplies to make stuff average 25% increase.
Shipping has increased by about 15% at the start of the year and another $4 on top of that with fuel surcharges.  

And quite frankly, Etsy is annoying.  What used to take 1 min to pack and ship now takes about 30 seconds to package and 6 minutes to navigate all the stupid chastisements that Etsy gives me for not conforming to their standards.  It especially hurts as I'm losing money on shipping and I have to click through notices saying that I'm charging too much on shipping.  

The more I see Etsy change and grow, the more I feel they don't want non-USA sellers.

I should go through and increase my prices according to the increase in cost.  

Alternatively, I could just sell down what I have now and just keep my Etsy shop for my flax book.  

Possibly do a hefty discount on yarn and fibre.  

The idea needs exploring.  Would there be enough interest in the yarn and fibre to bother with a sale?  

...

More and more I feel it's better to put my energy into youtube than selling physical goods.  If I sell down my yarn, that means I have more space for youtube props and equipment

Try and ship something from the USA to Australia $75 for a book.
I have been in business for 45 years, your costs are important to keep an eye on.
People with no business experience will never understand your position.
I am guessing you need to think about where a good income will come from and improve that outcome.

I never worried about cost increased, I accepted them, I sometimes altered how I worked or made things to maintain profitability though.
I think concentrating on aspects of my business I cannot influence is pointless.

My health makes the amount of time I can work at something unpredictable.  This means, if I'm not well, I can't make the physical items.  

I can only sell a physical item once.

But digital items, I can sell multiple times for one time at creating it.

More importantly, something like youtube, people can consume without having to pay.  This matches my values that this information should be available to everyone for free.

Only they do pay by watching advertising.  This bring in income for me.  Less than etsy, but more consistent.  

Later on, I might make a class or something digital to sell that has more detailed instruction.  

The way I see it, definitely is a good idea to go from selling physical products to selling digital content/products.

I am in the process of scaling back from being a “farmer” to more of a homestead level.

And focusing more on selling “how to” stuff. Not sure yet where that idea will take me, but there are some brewing thoughts on it.

It's highly likely that Etsy's bots use shipping rates within the contiguous US states as their benchmark. These costs are, by international standards, ridiculously cheap. And, if I understand correctly, in the case of the USPS, running at a loss.

Perhaps they want to dissuade sellers from the old shell game of selling an item for $5 and tacking on $45 in shipping -- a padded price that tops up the profit margin.

As you correctly point out, none of this addresses the realities faced by non-US shippers.

I am surprised by your sentence.

More importantly, something like youtube, people can consume without having to pay.  This matches my values that this information should be available to everyone for free.

I agree with information being free, but you deserve compensation for its preparation.
And an adequate level of compensation.
You have a problem of the 'working poor', where people need two jobs because they are not paid a fair wage.
That disgusting and has crept to Australia, and the corporations dont cut their margins, they make obscene profits by not paying a fair wage in the first place.
Obviously if your health prohibs physical work, the digital is a no brainer, but what are you selling anyway?

etsy is getting worse for us here in the u.s., too. my wife’s art business is moving mostly to its own webstore, but without having a fairly sizeable following i could see that not working as well.

do you think the added time and other resources being refocused towards youtube can help bring your revenue from there up, at least closer to what etsy has been doing for you?

I think I put the sale on for my homegrown fibre and most of my yarn.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/crowinghenfarm

Do you see a discount on some of the items?  

I haven't upped the prices on the items I get through the wholesaler yet.  Kind of hoping they will sell before I get around to that.  

Yup! It's there. 😁

So what is wrong with Esty?
Surely it gives you exposure you would be hard pressed to create yourself?

John C Daley wrote:
Surely it gives you exposure you would be hard pressed to create yourself?

Let's have a look-see

Over the last 30 days, etsy brought in 20% of my traffic to my store.  That's quite high for them.  It's usually under 10%.  Looking at the stats, I'm bringing in over 80% of my customer base.  

If I work at etsy search engine optimization (etsy seo) every day for about 5 months, I can get it up to 50% of my traffic coming from etsy.  But it dies back down about a week after I reduce my daily effort.  Or I could before they changed the algorithm to punish people who don't give free shipping to the USA.  

No, etsy has never been very good at giving me exposure.  And they aren't for most people.  To 'win' at Etsy, one needs to bring their own customers to the platform.

What they are good at is managing the transaction and increasing buyer trust.

John C Daley wrote:So what is wrong with Esty?

I don't think there's anything wrong with Etsy.  The direction they are going in, doesn't match my needs or my plans for the future.  

The cost of doing business has increased dramatically the last few years and yet, Etsy has chosen to go in a direction that punishes sellers for being honest with their shipping costs (instead of hiding them inside the price of the item).    Their policy favours USA sellers and I don't live in the USA.

I can sell my items wholesale locally - well, I have to pack it in the car and drive downtown.  I only go that way every few years.  

But I'm also getting away from selling physical goods.  It takes space and time to manage.   Digital content is far more interesting to me.