My income is not huge. My wife is the bread winner of the family, that's not going to change anytime soon, but what I earn is essential to what we do and how we live as family.
I do multiple things to earn a living, one of the main ones I do is to sell garden and homestead type products online. Up until now that has mainly been through Etsy, but last night it felt like I got shafted from Etsy.
Apparently I crossed a threshold of sales, I should add that this is turnover not profit. My profit is quite low as every sale basically has £10 postage on it due to it's size. But I work it all out to earn an hourly rate, taking into account Etsy's commission.
Up until now that commission has been around 8%. But suddenly I have been put into their offsite advertising program which I can't opt out of. This means that any sales that result from one of their clicks (or a sale up to 30 days later if they have clicked) then costs me a further 12% commission.
Now this makes it hard for me to work out my costs. Basically I need to put 20% (8% + 12%) on to cover Etsy's fees in case they decide that the sale comes from one of their ads - and I have to trust them on this as well.
This seems unfair to both me and my customers. I don't want more advertising, currently I struggle to keep up with the sales I have.
Unlike many sellers on their I make all my items. I don't buy in from underpaid workers from elsewhere or any mass produced products. Each one is made by me in my workshop, alone. Maybe this is the mistake I'm making. Someone has already told me to get them made elsewhere and sell them on, but that's not what I want to be about. I like my children seeing me make and sell things and the fact that they can see that people want the things I make. This, to me, is just as important as the money it brings in.
I will be keeping my Etsy shop but also advertising on another site called NuMonday which just charges me a yearly fee.
I'm fine with paying to use a service, but I want it to be clear from the start and not to move the goal posts. Unfortunately it seems Etsy is more concerned about it's shareholders than anyone else, certainly not it's artists and makers, and not it's customers.
Many companies follow this set up, they give good terms, destroy the opposition then control the market and do what they want.
I shouldn't be surprised. A capitalist economy is an economy controlled by those that have the capital. Don't be fooled into thinking it's anything else.
I'll be posting some of my products on here over the next week and links of how to buy them in the hope that they come higher in searches. I'll also update my homestead shop page soon as well. Either that or send me an email and I'll deal with you directly.
The world is full of people thinking they deserve a cut for someone else's sweat, ideas, creativity or ingenuity.
Sorry this is not my usual upbeat tone! Back to normal tomorrow!