Can You (Still) Make a Full-Time Living on Etsy?

I have a confession to make: etsy, I’ve been ignoring you.

While back in the day (2008-2012) etsy was most of my income, ever since they started offering instant digital downloads two years ago, I’ve put the shop on auto-pilot. I average $250-$300 per month in digital sales, which isn’t too bad considering I do almost nothing to keep the shop updated (most of my income these days comes from licensing and wholesale printed collage sheets).

I also seem to have lost faith that etsy is still a viable income source for small-time designers, even asking back in May “Is Etsy Dead?”

In talking with other full-time sellers, their experience seems to be a mixed bag. While most had their best etsy year in 2012, and all have opened their own shopify stores as back-ups, there are still plenty who have stemmed the tide, who have made all the crazy changes (titles, tags, photos) necessary to keep relevant in a sea of mass-produced goods.

So I’m curious: now that both my boys are in school and I have a bit more time, can I bring my etsy shop back from the grave? Is etsy still a viable option to make a full-time living?

Because I know I do well with 100-day challenges, I’ve decided to spend the next three months and totally re-vamp the etsy shop. I’m going back to the basics: new product images, better item descriptions, re-doing tags and titles, growing two specific social outlets (Facebook and Instagram) and most excitingly: lots of new collage sheets. I currently have 386 items in stock and would love to have 700-1000 by day 100. I also have a very ambitious financial goal: from $7-10/day to $70-100/day by the beginning of March. Gulp.

And because I’m the type of person who loves and is inspired by seeing hard numbers, I’ll post here every day to share my daily sales, stats, and goals with the hope that it can inspire (or perhaps warn) others. Here we go:

Day 1 (December 1st)
Etsy sales: $3.96
Etsy Views: 184
Total Etsy Items: 386
Updated Etsy Items: 0/386
Facebook Likes: 318
Instagram Followers: 496

I’d be curious to hear how etsy is doing for others. Do you think etsy is still a good option? Is there anything you’ve done or noticed that works (or doesn’t)? I feel like I’m starting all over, which is in many ways very exciting. Thanks for coming on this journey with me.

How Much Money Will I Make Selling on Etsy?

Call me materialistic (or perhaps practical), but whenever I start researching a new online venture, one of the first things I want to know is "How much money will I make?" It helps me determine whether the new site -- say istock photo -- is worth some of my interest and time. And if so, what are realistic goals to set for attention spent, income potential, and growth. And frankly, I can never find the answer.

So without further ado, here are some completely reliable and some completely guessed-at etsy stats.

If you are relatively new to etsy and have a nice, but somewhat common product (such as wire-wrapped earrings) with decent but not great photographs and spend 10-15 hours per week on your shop, you annual gross income from etsy will be:

$512.72

Yep, that's all. And that's before expenses. It's less than $1 per hour, and you'd make more money weatherizing your house or cutting out an extra latte here and there.

But wait, if you instead have a somewhat unique item, with great photographs and spend more than 20 hours per week, you could make up to:

$3618.13 per year

Which really isn't too bad, but again, there are much easier ways to make money. Like having a couple of great garage sales or clipping a whole lot of coupons.

Okay, okay, but what if you get really, really lucky, have a completely amazing product, work 80-100 hours per week and become one of the top etsy sellers? Can you really Quit Your Day Job and support your whole family?

Sort of.

Last year, the top three handmade sellers on etsy each grossed around $100,000. Several supply shops probably did even better. But after that, it drops off pretty quickly, with most other sellers in the top 100 making closer to $10,000. With about 90,000 active etsy sellers (according to a recent etsy talk), your odds of making $10,000 per year are better than winning $10,000 through the PowerBall, though not by a ton.

So if you're not in it for the money, why in the world would anyone want to sell on etsy? Quite frankly, it's fun. It's a community of other creative women. It's flexible--and can be done from home, as a second "job," or while little ones nap. People will pay you for your arts and crafts, which is greatly rewarding. And even a smallish amount of additional income can sometimes make a big difference. Plus, in addition to direct income, your etsy shop can help bring recognition to your goods outside of etsy, such as wholesale accounts and blog mentions.

There's been quite a bit of talk lately about whether etsy is a "female ghetto," or promoting a false sense of hope of the ability to make a living from crafts. I find that most of these articles are filled with inaccuracies and generalizations. At the same time, I think it's important to have realistic goals of what etsy specifically can do for you. Piddix is currently #6 in sales in the handmade category, and while honestly I could make significantly more money in less time at a "day job," I wouldn't trade it in. In no way is etsy a way to get rich quick, but with way too much work and hopefully an equal amount of fun, it can definitely be a way to supplement an income by doing something you find rewarding.