Everyday Limes

How to Shop on Etsy 2023

Ever since the big Etsy boom of 2020 when the world shut down from Covid, and everyone flocked to the Handmade / Vintage sales site to try and make something out of nothing. In this mad rush to start businesses on Etsy, drop-shippers made their way into the site and have made it extremely hard for the average consumer to tell if what they are shopping for is really handmade or vintage. This being the case, I thought I would put together a list of best practices for shopping on Etsy during this 2023 Holiday Season.

Now why is important to not buy from drop-shippers on Etsy? Well, they aren’t handmade or vintage. Its as simple as that. Etsy is a market place for everything handmade and/ or vintage. It is not a place for people to sell bulk items they are reselling from Ali Baba. That should be left on eBay or Amazon, which are sites designed for these types of businesses. Keeping Etsy human and as close to its origin story as possible is the absolute best thing for the small businesses that are trying to make something unique and special. Something unique and special that they want to share with love with you.

Right now with all the drop shippers on the platform, it is very hard to make sure you are supporting those small business owners, but this list will help. Etsy is working on removing these bad apples by using AI technology and other such methods but it is an enormous task. We can help by not supporting these non-handmade or vintage shops.

Thank you! Thank you for reading this article so far and endeavoring to help your community members, your local small businesses and your local communities thrive. By taking the following steps while you are shopping makes all of us, as makers and Etsy sellers so happy. By following this list we feel your appreciation for the hard work it takes to run an Etsy shop in this crazy world.

How to Shop on Etsy in 2023:

1. Reverse Image Search – This is a process in which you can use the image that a listing has to see if it is sold anywhere else on the web. I have included a link to an article from Business Insider that details how to do this on desktop, Andriod and iPhones.

• https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/google-reverse-image-search
• Below is an image of a listing for a funny Xmas sweater on. I literally right clicked on the image and clicked search image with Google and I found it on TONS of websites – 6 alone in this screen shot. This item is so not handmade by this shop.

2. Go to the main page of the shop that you are looking to buy from. This will tell you a lot about the shop and whether this truly comes from a small business.

• Do they have a photo of themselves above their name on the right hand side?
• Scroll down to the bottom and read their story, look at the pictures that they have in their bio. Are they in them? do they show their personality? Do they show their process?
• Click on their social media links. Check them out! If you are giving this person your hard earned money, its okay to do your research.

3. Read the reviews, see what other buyers are saying about the items and how they are delivered and the quality. Did the shop owner respond to the reviews?

4. If you are on the fence at this point, message them. If they are a handmade or vintage small business they would love to hear from you! They would love to know that you are interested in their products and would love to answer your questions. Personal connection is what Etsy is all about and is so important in keeping Etsy human.

As Etsy progresses, I believe they will catch up to these shops. And the more we, as a conscious consumers, make purchases according to our values and ethics, Etsy will soon return to what makes it such an amazing place to find creative, unique and thought provoking gifts and items for your life.

Remember that your buying power is way stronger than you think it is, because when you buy from a person who put their heart and soul into what you bought, they do a little happy dance and it makes their day!

Share this article to help support small businesses this holiday season! And thank you for reading, your time and consideration is extremely appreciated.

Thank you!

💚Ali Marie💚- Owner of Everyday Limes

If you like the pieces I selected for this post, please do me a favor and click on the links to buy. Everyday Limes gets a small commission when anyone uses our links to purchase and that helps me create more content like this.