The Newsstand April 2020

Etsy’s New Ad Policy Could Harm Small Businesses

Etsy recently announced changes to its fee structure for sellers, which includes automatically advertising sellers’ products and taking a fee for every sale it generates. Ads will appear on high traffic sites like Google, Facebook, and Pinterest and are mandatory for shops making more than $10,000 in sales each year. 

Sellers are furious over the new ad fees. “I want control of where and how I spend my money,” writes one seller in Etsy’s online forum. Another seller started a petition to change Etsy Ads back.

All sellers will be transitioned into the new advertising program when it goes live with those making less than $10,000 per year being able to opt-out. However, they will still be automatically included when the program rolls out.

The advertising fee is said to be taken from the total order, which means that Etsy will take a cut from shipping costs. While Etsy claims that the changes come at “no risk” to its sellers, other recent changes, e.g. when the platform began to push free shipping last year, have put more pressure on smaller businesses resulting in price increases.

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