Sellers who drive traffic to their listings on Etsy that results in sales will qualify for a reduction in fees through a new program the company introduced on Wednesday. Etsy Share & Save is based on affiliate-marketing principles, but sellers are only rewarded for purchases of their own products.
“We’ll provide participating sellers with unique links they can share on channels outside of Etsy to promote their items,” Etsy explained. “When buyers visit a seller’s Etsy shop via their link and make a purchase, Etsy will take 4% of the order total off the seller’s bill, helping them save on fees.”
All sellers are eligible to participate – and the program is optional.
Etsy will host a workshop on Share & Save on September 21st, and in the meantime, sellers can learn more on the Etsy website, where it advised sellers that the Share & Save landing page was continuing to roll out throughout the day on Wednesday.
The accompanying Seller Handbook article has further details, where it explained the types of links sellers could share through the program:
- Links to your shop: These links take buyers directly to your Shop Home so they can browse all the items you have for sale. You can find the unique link to your shop in the upper right-hand corner of your Shop Dashboard, in your Stats, and on the Share & Save page in your Shop Manager.
- Links to specific listings: You can also save on fees when you share links to specific listings in your shop. This is great for sharing a trending item or a listing that’s on sale, or posting about new inventory. To get a unique link for a specific listing, head to your Listings in Shop Manager and click the gear icon on a listing and choose “Share.”
- Links for a promo code: Let your followers know about any special offers you’re running. You can share a unique link for any of your promo codes with your followers off of Etsy and you’ll save on fees for the eligible orders you receive. On the Sales and discounts page, just select the promo code you want to share and copy the trackable link.
- Links highlighting recent rave reviews: Toot your own horn! You can also share glowing reviews with a trackable link back to your shop. This feature is exclusive to the Etsy Seller app, so be sure to download the app ASAP if you haven’t already! You can share reviews from the Home tab of the app or from the “Reviews” section.
- Links for a section of your shop: Encourage buyers to explore a particular theme or category of your listings. It’s easy in the Etsy Seller app—just tap Listings, choose the section you want to share, and copy the URL.
Etsy explained that while the link never expires, buyers must place their order within 30 days of clicking the link for the order to be Share & Save eligible.
“You only get refunded for traffic you drive from other places to Etsy, ” it warned – “While Etsy messages and listing descriptions are still great ways to share details about your items with buyers, you can’t save on fees by sharing your trackable link in those places.”
One important note for sellers: “Share & Save eligibility per order is determined off of a buyer’s last click prior to purchasing,” Etsy said. “If a buyer’s last click before visiting your shop was on an Offsite Ad, that order won’t be eligible for Share & Save and the Offsite Ads fee will apply.”
this appears to be more of a “wolf in sheep’s clothing sort of offer. there is a thread on Etsy with posters much more knowledgeable than i on Etsy matters; here:
https://community.etsy.com/t5/Marketing-Your-Business/I-just-saw-this-quot-Save-on-Etsy-fees-quot-announcement/td-p/143275983
there seem to be two issues bubbling up that are concerning; arbitration and offsite ad fees. posters are questioning if Etsy is opting people back in to the arbitration by signing up for this “offer”, and vague wording possibly opting folks into offsite ad fees, even when opted out. and if an Etsy account is already opted INTO offsite ad fees, this “offer” may simply add to your fee woes.
the best post that illustrates this offsite ad fee penalty was posted by “Arcalliq”;
by Arcalliq Conversation Maker
yesterday
I might be completely wrong but this is where I see this problematic:
Imaginary situation:
– you post your magic 4% off link to your FB
– i click on and I like what I see but I’m ted busy so will buy tmrw /or i don’t have enough money right now to buy/ or I think I’ll buy it in couple of week for so and so’s birthday – trillions of options here why I might not buy immediately
-Etsy jumps in with retargeting ads
– next day I randomly open my e.g. yahoo mail box – and here it is! Etsy off side ad with your product
– This reminds me I wanted to buy it so I click on the ad – maybe to actually buy it or perhaps just to bookmark it for bit later
– few minutes, days, couple weeks later i might buy the thing
– you end up with off side ad fee for that sale
This can be particularly eye opening for people who would perhaps normally not post on social media. or perhaps not so frequently. But in their eagerness to save pennies, they might start doing it and end up being burnt by paying more fees than they ever did before.
*** Is This a Scam? ***
Within 30 seconds of reading the design of this feature, I came to the conclusion that Etsy could EASILY charge Sellers for “Offsite Ad Fees” instead of a reducing fees for Sellers.
SELLERS BEWARE!!
When Sellers send Buyers to Etsy, there is NO PROOF who drove that traffic. Etsy can EASILY claim it was their advertising dollars while charging Sellers an ADDITIONAL 12% for Offsite Ad Fees.
This new schema says everything…
I believe Seller growth on Etsy is beginning to wane, while more shops are leaving these high price ecommerce sites for their own website.
Meanwhile, the See’s Candies down the street is hiring at $20/hour with healthcare benefits. Within this past year Etsy’s biggest competitor is the strength of U.S. wages that have increased at a pretty good rate. Sellers will have no interest in Etsy if they can make more money, elsewhere.
Etsy got too greedy while Sellers make very little money. But hey! CEO Silverman keeps cashing out those stock options so it’s all good!
What a foolish company.
For once I’m excited about something new Etsy is trying. I work hard at promoting my shop off of the site and finally we will get some benefit for doing such work. I have been very reluctant to list new items on the shop this summer because of al the issues going on. I think I’ll get back to it this fall!