Did you ever wonder why some Etsy shops are crushing it with hundreds of sales every single day, while other shops are like books collecting dust, high up on a bookshelf in a deserted house?

Like my Italian grandmother’s “Secret recipe” homemade gravy, is there something secret that all of these shops know about and are keeping from the rest of the world?

In this post, I’m going to debunk a few myths and uncover some truths about what it takes to be on the top of the food chain in Etsyland.

Before I dive in however, let me just tell you a bit more about me (wink, wink) to give you a bit of insight about my credibility.

To spare you from all of the details, one of my (7) Etsy shops- Beaded Tassel Co. has grossed over $181,000.00 in the past few years. This my friends, is part time income.

My shop according to Erank.com is in the top 1% off all Etsy shops. (Proud mama). You can read more about it in one of my other blog posts here or you can visit my shop “Beaded Tassel Co. on Etsy”.  

But the purpose of this post is to give you insight about the very upper echelon of all sellers on Etsy, not to talk about my personal shop.

Let’s move on, shall we?

I love to dissect and “reverse’ engineer what’s going on with successful business owners.  What are they selling?  How many products do they have? What is their branding? and so on.

I recently shot a quick YouTube video for my audience which analyzed a few of the top Etsy sellers to see if there is any common thread.  Seriously the top Etsy seller is doing over 1000 sales per day on Etsy.  You can check out the YouTube video here.

That along with my 23 years of business experience being a multi-business owner on many different platform has helped me discover some “high quality meat” that you can chew on.

Let’s break this down a bit so we can easily digest the information: The 5 myths and the 5 truths about the most successful sellers on Etsy.

The 5 myths about the most successful sellers on Etsy.

1. They all have spectacular branding and a creative business name.

As I was checking the latest stats on Erank.com (a site which gives you tons of stats about your Etsy shop, other sellers stats, keywords and more), I stopped at a shop that ranked number 2 in the previous days sales.  With all due respect to this shop, the branding was how do I say, ummm blah.  

Basically none, zilch.  A brown simple logo with the name of the shop in the middle.  The Etsy banner is a huge sale sign and that is the extent of their branding (as of this blog post).

Now, hang on a second, I teach in my courses the importance of branding and having an exciting, cohesive look to your Etsy shop as a foundation for everything.  So what gives?

I truly believe that in today’s competitive world, branding, cohesiveness and clarity are imperative because otherwise, we may get lost in the shuffle of the thousands of other businesses out there.  Branding helps with clarity and clarity gives customers confidence while uncertainty kills sales.  

But apparently, this shop found a way to climb to the top WITHOUT having impressive branding.

So, let this inspire you.  Don’t stress over your branding.  Spend your time creating product and getting it out there!  

     2.  They all have been on Etsy “Before” all of the algorithm changes.

NOPE. While most of the shops have been selling for beaucoup years on Etsy, I came across several shops that are selling hundreds of products per day that are less than 2 years old.

So no, you don’t need to be “grandfathered” in to make any type of waves in Etsyland.  

The key is finding what people ACTUALLY want and giving it to them!

Myth debunked.  

     3.  Those shops “Just got lucky”.

While I believe some Etsy sellers can have a stroke of luck, I don’t think luck has anything to do with most of these top sellers. 

Take for example The top seller on Etsy “Planner Kate” (as of 9/2019).  Kate has over 1600 items in her shop and as over 53k followers on Instagram.  She apparently is taking her business seriously AND by the amount of items in her shop, my guess is hardwork, not luck, has everything to do with her success.

     4.  They all sell physical items.

Times have certainly changed.  One of the fastest growing sectors for products that consumers want to purchase is in the digital space.

Did you know that there is a GINORMOUS demand for digital products?  Products such as downloadable prints, t-shirt designs, planner inserts and the list goes on.

Many of the top sellers are selling digital products and the trend isn’t going anywhere but up.  In fact, I recently opened up a P.I.E. (passive income etsy shop) which literally earns money on autopilot, without the hassle of production or shipping.  Check out my upcoming training on how to do this yourself. The Easy as P.I.E. Etsy shop.

     5.   The top Etsy shops have thousands of products in their shops.

O.K. Listen closely.  

Most of the top sellers on Etsy have over 1000 items for sale in their shops.

BUT… there are a few shops such as, LOUMARKSPHOTO  that only has 164 items up for sale.

After doing a bit more research on this shop, I wondered where all of her traffic was coming from because under 200 listings is chomp change in terms of the quantity of products for sale.  

My suspicion was correct, after clicking on her Instagram link, I noted that she had over 56K followers with a link to her Etsy shop.

Myth debunked again.  

Now that we have debunked a few of those myths that are floating around, let’s talk about what we can all learn from these observations.

5  Truths to owning a Top Etsy shop

     1.  There is no “ONE SIZE FITS ALL” answer to why an Etsy shop is successful or not.

As we can see by all of the different myths that we debunked, there are exceptions of all of the rules.

We saw shops with lackluster branding, shops that have been in business for a short period of time and shops with less than the “ideal” number of items up for sale.

What does this tell us?

That sometimes, we can’t explain things.

Yes, we try to make sense of it all and get ONE concrete answer that will put our inquisitive minds at ease.  

But the fact of the matter is, we don’t know the whole story.  Which brings us to point number 2.

     2.  We don’t know the backstory.

What did these shops do to get to where they are now?

Believe me, they just didn’t pop onto Etsy and start generating sales overnight.

When I started my shop “Beaded Tassel Co”, I committed to listing items every day until I hit around 500 items.  THAT was my “secret sauce” which catapulted my shop to over 15,000.00 sales. Consistency and a desirable product.

There is a driving force behind the success of each and every one of an impressive Etsy shop.

Maybe for one shop, it’s the sheer amount of items available for sale.

Or, for another shop, it’s the fact that Instagram plays a huge marketing role for traffic.

Or, for another, it’s the solid email list with a raving fan base.

Or maybe a combination of all of these things.

     3.  The top shops sell in all different types of niches.

Let’s keep this simple.

People are looking for stuff to buy in all different types of niches.

Think about it.

One day you get on the internet to buy personal care products, but the next day you may need a unique birthday present for your Aunt Rita.

We are buying stuff.  All kinds of stuff.

These shops are giving people what they are looking for.

Pretty simple when you break it down like that, huh?

Find out what people REALLY want, and give it to them!

     4.  These shops are busy “doing” and not grumbling.

Maybe you are a bit of a “negative Nelly”.   Maybe you are in a Facebook group or on an Etsy forum complaining about all of the algorithm changes. Yada, yada, yada.

But, if you are a shop doing five, six hundred or over a thousand sales per day on Etsy, do you think these shops are complaining about the Etsy algorithm change or the latest update?

NO! No and NO!!!

These shops are busy filling orders and getting fresh new products up or connecting with their audience.

Get busy doing, or get busy dying.

(Tough love).

     5.  Patience grasshopper, patience.

I would like to point out one very important detail. (In case you may have missed it).

ALL of the top Etsy shops have been in business for more than a year.

So for all of you lovelies that open a shop and expect the world in 3 weeks, well, it’s time to stop thinking about the sprint and start retraining your mind to run the marathon.

This is one thing I know for sure, almost every successful business I know, including my own, has run a marathon.  

It may be months or years for some, but success will come with action.

Energy flows where focus goes.

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