Cassiy Johnson gets it: you scroll through YouTube and see oodles of Etsy success stories and a sadness washes over you because you feel like you missed the boat.
But you haven’t, she says. You can still make money on Etsy. This year, next year and beyond.
And if you do print on demand, you don’t need much money to launch and there’s hardly any risk.
Plus, you can be up and running faster than you can microwave a Hot Pocket. List an item today, get your first sale by tomorrow.
Pros of selling on Etsy:
- Etsy’s growing by 112% year over year. They’re running ads on TV, at sporting events, just dumping money into branding. More Etsy shoppers means more potential for you, the seller.
- Tools like Printify – the print on demand company Cassiy used to do over $750,000 in sales on Etsy – allow you to operate like a big retail brand while working from the couch in your jammies.
- Think about it: POD equals ecom minus manufacturing, inventory and shipping. Smooth as butter on a hot skillet.
- You can run ads directly on Etsy for right-now sales, and also to scale up.
- Worried about saturation? You can always make designs based on current trends, news, memes, pop culture, etc.
Cons of selling on Etsy:
- Competition, obviously. There’s nearly 10 million active sellers on Etsy. Your winning designs and products will get copied.
- Because of this, it takes a ton of time, energy, creativity, and consistency. You can’t just throw spaghetti at the wall and hope something sticks. Just ’cause it’s comfy and convenient doesn’t mean this isn’t a real-ass business.
- Paper-thin margins, if you’re not careful. Printify takes a big bite outta your profit, and rightfully so. Etsy takes another 6.5% of each sale. Then you’ve got software, tools, ads, mockups, photography, and more.
- Etsy’s house, Etsy’s rules. If they wanna raise their fee, they can. If they wanna hold your money, they can. If they wanna suspend your account, they can do that too.
- Customer service. Just imagine all the dumb questions and complaints you’re gonna get. And waking up to 1-star reviews sounds about as fun as parallel parking.
For Cassiy, the pros of Etsy (plus POD) far outweigh the cons. For me, I’m not so sure.
Cassiy poured in at least 20-30 hours a week, in addition to working a full-time job, her first year on Etsy.
She profited a little over $60k that year.
Not bad. That means she made roughly $45 an hour in her Etsy business – about $12 an hour more than the average person makes working a day job.
But there are side hustles with way more leverage than that, where you can earn hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars per hour worked. Maybe not right away but over time.
More concerning is that Cassiy’s Etsy store did get suspended in her second or third month, I think she said, and it took her weeks to get it back.
I just hate the idea of building a business entirely on someone else’s platform. Especially when that someone is a public company with a stock price that needs to go up to keep shareholders happy.
You think rich old white guys sitting on Etsy’s board give a damn if your “World’s Okayest Brother” t-shirt gets flagged for fake reviews, triggering an automatic suspension?
You’re adorable. I had no idea you grew up Amish.
Layer on the small amount you get to keep per sale and the depressing reality that if anything ever pops off in your store, a dozen sellers will copy it immediately?
And yeah, Etsy’s a no-go for me.
But if you wanna do it, Cassiy put together a damn-fine course called POD Roadmap.
Cost is $799 or four monthly payments of $225.
If you’re sold on the model itself, yes, I do think it’s worth it.
Cassiy’s great. I feel like she’s the type you could have housesit and you wouldn’t have to worry about her snooping through your underwear drawer or stealing any of your pain pills.
If you’re on the fence, though, tap below so you can compare it to what I do.