If you just opened your shop and are struggling to make your first sale on Etsy, then you’ve come to the right place. With all of the competition on Etsy, it’s hard not to feel discouraged and overwhelmed—I’ve been there! The first sale may be the hardest, but don’t worry, it will come. As long as you stay persistent, determined, and follow the tips in this guide, you’ll be on your way to hearing your first Ca-ching in no time!

Setting Up Your Etsy Shop for Success

It may be obvious for some, but fully completing Etsy’s shop setup is important. Many people skip the steps of properly setting up their storefront and could be missing an opportunity to get in front of the right audience and make an impression.

Add a Shop Title

More than just setting up your banner and logo, things like your Shop Title can help play a role in your shop’s visibility. By using keywords that users may be searching for, you have the chance to be seen. Of course, you’ll only want to use keywords that serve your shop.

For example, if you’re a shop that sells candles using only natural and ethically sourced materials. Your shop title may read something like this, “Eco-friendly candles and gift sets for all occasions”.

Complete the About Section

At the end of the day Etsy is known for selling unique and handmade goods. Shoppers go to Etsy to buy from real people and to get things they can’t find elsewhere. Helping to paint the picture of why your products are so special and that they come from someone who cares about its quality makes a world of difference. The more you can bridge that gap by telling your shop’s story, the more likely you’ll be able to make a connection with potential buyers. Etsy’s seller handbook has great suggestions for crafting your shop bio.

Add a Video to Your Listings

In 2025, we can’t get away from short form video. It’s everywhere from Instagram to Amazon—and yes, your Etsy listings! Over the past few decades we’ve seen a rise in new mediums and ways of communicating with one another and short form videos seem to be making text and reading a real thing of the past. You may have been able to convince potential customers in shop descriptions a few years ago, but now they want you to prove it through video. Does your product really glisten in the sun? Can you actually set it up as easily as you claim? Adding video to your listing can help do what static photos can’t. Take advantage of the 10-second video to both capture and sell on all of your listings.

Make Sure You Have Enough Listings

Although there is no definitive amount of listings you should have, the more the merrier. By having more listings, you increase your chance of being found when people are searching for products on Etsy. I would recommend starting your shop off with at least 3-6 quality listings. The key here is to work at your own pace. It isn’t worth adding a listing that doesn’t fit your brand and doesn’t truly showcase the quality of your work.

Set Your Shop Policy, Shipping Settings, and FAQs

It may not be the most fun part of setting up your Etsy shop, but it is very critical. If you’re a truly handmade business, then you’re likely selling medium-to-high price tag items. It doesn’t look so great on the buyer’s end, if you don’t have even a simple return or exchange policy set. By taking the time to provide information on what someone can do if they should need to return the product helps to provide transparency and builds trust. Even if you should choose to not offer a return or exchange option, it will at least let the buyer know what to expect. 

It’s no secret that Etsy tends to favor listings with quick turnarounds. This may not be possible for all makers, however, if you can properly assign processing and shipping times to your products, this will help to set expectations. Especially when it comes to the holiday season.

The FAQs section is a great place to answer questions about your shop or products that a potential buyer might have, but is hesitant to reach out and ask. If you set the buyer up for success and reduce any friction, they’ll be more likely to purchase. Even if you don’t have any frequently asked questions yet, since you haven’t sold any products, you can still act as a buyer and come up with your own.

Photograph Your Way to Profit

For those that have experience taking top-notch photos and can work their way around a DSLR camera, you’re a step above the rest. If you read that last sentence and asked what a DSLR is? There is still hope! These days, most people have access to a great quality camera on their smartphones. However, the camera alone cannot create a stunning picture. It just takes some practice. Here are some quick tips for taking the perfect product picture:

Use Natural Lighting

If your house is like mine, finding a room with adequate lighting may be a challenge. But knowing when the sun is most active is a start. You don’t want to take photos of your products when the sun is directly in your window, which can result in harsh lighting. This will blow out your picture and lose all of the great detail in your product. Your best bet is to find a spot where there is just enough light to illuminate the room, but it appears soft in your photos. Alternatively, you can find soft light boxes that allow you to adjust the temperature of the light between warm and cool tones, to achieve the perfect photo.

Create Your Own Backdrop

I highly recommend creating your own backdrop for your product photography. Developing a backdrop that aligns with your branding and colors will help to make your listings and shop look cohesive and intentional. This can be easily achieved if most of your products are small enough to fit on a table. However, it may be easier said than done if you sell very large products. In that case, finding a clean and non-distracting background will go a long way.

Set the Stage

It’s not enough to take a few photos of your product from different angles. When creating your listing photos, you’ll really want to think of the user experience. What might the person who buys your product do with it? How might they style it? Where might they put it in their home? 

If you can answer these questions with the perfect photo, it will help your potential buyer envision it in their own hands, home, or closet and bring them that much closer to checkout. 

For example, if you’re selling a mug, set your photo background to look like a breakfast table scene. Add some plates with toast or a newspaper with reading glasses to help people envision this mug on their own table in the morning. 

Get Your Shop & Listings Found

So you’ve set up your shop to 100% completion, you’ve nailed the perfect listing photos, but still aren’t gaining traction? It may be your SEO.

Mastering Etsy SEO

Understanding search engine optimization is crucial to making your listings visible. It’s how anything gets found in the endless sea of websites, images, videos, and listings called the world wide web. Thankfully, you don’t have to be a marketing genius or a tech wizard to nail SEO. You just need to know how to research.

There are plenty of third-party tools like Marmalead and Erank that can help you find common search keywords and keyphrases that you can add to your listings to help them show up higher in search results. Some tools are paid, while others offer free versions, and free trials. You can check out some of my preferred keyword tools here. However, you can also go the completely free route and use Etsy, Google, and even Amazon to help you break down and master SEO for your listings.

Choosing the Right Keywords

How does one go about using the right keywords? I recommend starting with the platform you’ll be selling on, Etsy. By using Etsy’s search bar, you can take the role of a potential buyer and begin searching for your product. 

By using Etsy’s search bar to start typing out a phrase, Etsy will populate the search bar with commonly searched items that may fit what the buyer is looking for. Use these keywords and phrases to your advantage.

Let’s say you sell hand sculpted coasters and you have a listing for a rainbow colored ceramic coaster. Now, let’s say you’re a potential buyer specifically looking for a rainbow coaster. A potential buyer would likely type the exact phrase “rainbow coaster”, “colorful coaster”, or variation of this phrase or phrases into the search bar.

For your SEO, you’d want to incorporate the main keywords of your product and what one would search, such as “Rainbow” and “Coaster” in your listing title, your listing description, and your tags. A potential buyer may not be familiar with materials and the word “Ceramic”, but adding “Ceramic” into your title could help your listing become visible for someone else searching just “Ceramic Coasters” or “Ceramic Rainbow Decor”. 

Possible Listing Title: Ceramic Rainbow Coasters

Possible Listing Tags: “rainbow coaster”, “ceramic coasters”, “colorful ceramic”, “rainbow decor”

You’ll want to hit on every possible iteration of what someone may be typing into Etsy’s search bar and even Google to find your listing.

Keyword & Listing Tag Tips

Although including common searched keywords and phrases is the goal for nailing SEO, keyword stuffing and incorporating words that are unrelated to your product can actually hurt you. By keyword stuffing, the search algorithm may not be able to connect the dots between all of your selected keywords and figure out what you’re actually selling. Thus, your listing may never actually make an appearance on the search results. 

Alternatively, using keywords that are popular, but do not fit your product can also negatively affect you. You may hit the first page of the search results, but if you’re using keywords like “Rainbow Scarf” or “Ceramic Bowl” for your “Ceramic Rainbow Coasters”, then the user is not going to purchase your product because it wasn’t what they were searching for. You may see this in the form of high traffic or impressions for your listing, but low–to no sales.

When formulating your SEO Title, try not to repeat existing keywords. This redundancy will not help your listing. In fact, including a keyword once and leaving space for another suitable keyword could help you to rank higher in search.

Promoting on Social

In a social media world, it’s hard to stand out without a social presence. You’ll have to decide which platform makes the most sense for your business. It would be negligent to say that running a small business and juggling social media is an easy feat. It takes time and skill to manage both, but the effort can be very rewarding. 

With over 9 million listings noted in 2023 and still climbing in 2025 , Etsy’s marketplace alone may never be able to give your shop the exposure it needs to be sustainable. However, taking the time to promote your business on your own terms can definitely help to move it forward.

Takeaway

I hope this guide on how to make your first sale on Etsy was both insightful and motivational. By following these tips, staying persistent, and continuously improving you’ll be setting up your Etsy shop for success. Making your first sale is a huge milestone and will be the first of many. Remember the first sale is the hardest, but it is certainly not impossible!