Stop The Rage Against The Machine

Ever hung around inside popular Etsy Facebook groups claiming to be full of top sellers? I have. They are not pretty places.

These spaces intended to be helpful and full of advice quickly become cesspools of negativity filled with disgruntled and frustrated sellers toggling thru a series of textbook rookie rants. Enter frantic seller A, polling the group to see if anyone else’s sales have fallen off a cliff today and cursing Etsy for all that it has failed to deliver. Or frightened seller B who has been white knuckling their stats and “working on SEO everyday” but now throwing their hands in the air and quitting Etsy because, for all their efforts, not a single cha-Ching have doth heard.

Or maybe it’s a good day and only a few outraged sellers will post their shocked and appalled opinion at their latest 1-star review, seeking defense from their FB comrades. Defense is, of course, graciously given and the OP also generously receives in the comments draft upon draft of horrifyingly unprofessional potential public responses to said reviewer (and, ahem, all of your future customers.)

A quick peruse of the Etsy forums and you’ll find much of the same- a stream of consciousness that is plagued by negativity, outrage, and a general complaints against Etsy and its latest shenanigan that has upended the lives of its sellers.

Please don’t think that I’m immune from frustration, because I’m not. Anyone who spends enough time selling in a marketplace will come up against frustrating algorithm changes, policy changes, customer service issues and more. It’s not that I don’t understand what it can be like out here. After all, I’m in the deep end of the pool.

But what separates amateur sellers from professional ones is that we keep the bigger picture in view at all times. As a new seller, I recommend grabbing a post it note and writing this reminder to yourself:

Etsy Does Not Hate Me. It Is A Machine. Think Like The Machine.

Place it on your computer or near your desk so you read it often. When the latest change from the top comes down the pipe and you feel your blood pressure rising for the additional obstacle placed in front of you, you’ll do well to be reminded of this.

Stop The Rage Against The Machine, And Start Strategizing Your Allyship.

The truth is, you and Etsy are aligned in your goals. Completely. Businesses exist for profit, and both you and your shop and Etsy with its greater shop, or marketplace, are always aiming towards a higher profit. If profit isn’t your goal, then you are not in business. It’s truly that simple. Profit is not a dirty word. It is the kinship that exists between you and Etsy, your common goal and thus, your peace treaty.

So when Etsy releases an update that feels “against” you, remember that Etsy is a machine. It does not have feelings, it has optimizations. All of its optimizations are profit driven. All of them. This means, that when the Etsy machine tweaks or changes something, it is doing so because it is believed that doing so will drive more sales/profit to their shop, the Etsy marketplace.

The Good News Is: Your Shop Is In Their Shop.

If you think like the machine then you can turn your lights on to profit when everyone else is raging about closing up their shop, turning their lights off or going out to lunch indefinitely. To have success on Etsy you must accept that your goals are unified and strategize for the long term. To absorb the many benefits of doing business in a powerful marketplace like Etsy you must also be prepared to absorb the growing pains. But they are just that, growing pains, that are meant to build the platform bigger and stronger and that is good news for your shop in the long term. So when you see others ranting and raving about the latest Etsy change, do your best to withdraw from the noise and instead choose to consider it like a strategist. How can both you and Etsy gain the most from this change? How can you give your shop a further edge by embracing the changes at Etsy instead of pushing against them? How could your shop be contributing to its own problems, are you certain the problem you face is even rooted in marketplace changes? The answers don’t always come easily but a seasoned seller and strategist will find them and maximize them to their advantage.

The Sooner You Learn To Approach Etsy Like A Top Seller,
The Sooner You’ll Find You Are One.