Welcome to selling on Etsy! Operating an Etsy shop is a fun and exciting process that we hope you'll love.
If you haven't yet, you will need to register for an Etsy account. Learn more about registering for an account.
Once you've registered for an account, you'll need to upgrade your account to seller status. Go to the Sell tab at the top of the page, and then click the button on the right. You will need to enter personal information and billing information. Billing requires that you keep a valid credit card on file. Learn more about becoming a seller on Etsy.
This guide will walk through setting up different areas of your shop. All of these functions are found under Your Shop & Your Account.
Public Profile
Go to Your Account > Profile. Here you can add an avatar, your location and write a Bio. All members (shoppers and sellers) have a public Profile page.
Profile Picture: This is a small square image that represents your identity on the site. It's also called an "avatar." Your image should be 75 x 75 pixels in size, ideally. You can upload an image from your computer, or connect to your Facebook account to import your Facebook profile picture. Learn more about avatars.
Full Name: You may choose to put your name on your Profile. This is meant to be your personal name, not your shop's name or a "doing business as" (DBA). Adding your name is optional.
City: Adding your location will help shoppers find you in geographic searches. Type in your city, state/province and country, then choose your location from the list of suggested cities. Learn more about adding your location to your Profile.
About: Shoppers are interested in you and your process, so tell them all about yourself. Learn more about writing a Bio.
Activity Modules: There are several different modules you can choose to display on your Profile to share Etsy activites like: your Favorite Items, your Favorite Shops, your Team memberships, or Treasury lists you've created. Check the boxes to display the various modules.
Additionally, you may display your Gender, Birthday and Favorite Materials on your Profile page.
Click Save Changes when you are done editing your Public Profile.
Shop Appearance
The Appearance page has settings that determine how your shop will look. Find it at Your Shop > Info & Appearance (under Shop Settings on the left).
Shop Name: if you'd like to brand your shop with something different than your username, you can change your shop name. Please note that this won't change your username and you'll only be able to do this once. Learn more about Shop Names.
Shop Title: This is a short description of your shop or the kinds of items you offer. Learn more about Shop Titles.
Banner: A banner is a 760 x 100 pixel graphic displayed at the top of your shop pages. Learn more about adding a banner.
Shop Announcement: The Shop Announcement is an area of text that appears atop your shop home page. You can use your Shop Announcement to alert shoppers to important information (for example: if you are holding a sale or special promotion, or if you'll be gone on an upcoming vacation). Learn more about Shop Announcements.
Message to Buyers: The Message to Buyers is a short message that will be automatically included in the Etsy transaction notice to any buyer who makes a purchase in your Etsy shop. Learn more about the Message to Buyers.
Click Save Changes when you are done.
Payment and Currency
A vital part of setting up your shop is determining your payment methods and shop currency.
To select the payment methods for your shop, go to Your Shop > Shipping & Payment > Payment Methods. You can choose PayPal, personal check, money order, bank transfer (if available in your country) and/or other. You can select just one payment method or choose to offer several options. This is a global setting for your shop; all of your item listings will include these payment options.
If you select PayPal, simply enter the email address associated with your PayPal account here so Etsy knows where to direct payment from buyers.
If you select a payment method that needs to be mailed to you, like check or money order, you must enter a mailing address here. This address will only be shared with a buyer who purchases from your shop and chooses that payment method.
If you wish to accept bank transfers, which may not be available for sellers in all countries, you will need to provide your account holder name, bank name, account number and routing number. Additional information, such as the Swift ID or IBAN number may be needed if you choose to accept bank transfers from customers outside your country. This information will only be shared with a buyer who purchases from your shop and chooses that payment method. Learn more about using the bank transfer option.
If you select "other" as a payment method, you will need to include information and instructions in your listings and shop policies about your alternative payment method.
Each shop owner also has the option to list their items in their preferred currency. If the seller does not choose a specific currency for their shop, the default is United States dollars (USD).
To change the currency for your shop, go to Your Shop > Shipping & Payment > Currency. Select your preferred currency from the list. Click Change Shop Currency. This is also a global setting for your shop. All new listings you create will use this currency. Learn more about shop currency.
Shop Policies
Your Shop Policies page provides information shoppers need to know in order to make an informed purchase from your shop. Shop policies are not required, however we strongly recommend that each seller define some basic policies for payment, shipping and returns/exchanges. These policies will help you and your customers resolve possible disputes that may arise. For example: knowing in advance whether an item can be returned might save you and your customer a lot of time and can help make the transaction go more smoothly.
You can edit your Shop Policies page by going to Your Shop > Info & Appearance > Policies. If you leave a section blank, it will not appear on your public Shop Policies page. When you are finished, be sure to scroll down and click Save Changes.
If you're not sure what to put in your Shop Policies, check out Service Tips for Sellers: Creating Policies That Work on Etsy's blog for some starting points.
Shipping Profiles
Shipping Profiles are a way to save a specific set of shipping information, which you can then quickly apply to any item listing during the listing or editing process. Shipping Profiles work well if you have similar items that ship for the same costs. Determine your shipping costs for an item of a specific size, weight and shipping method, then create a Shipping Profile you can quickly add to your new listings for such items.
To add or edit a Shipping Profile, go to Your Shop > Shipping & Payment > Shipping Profiles.
After you edit a Shipping Profile, it does not automatically update in your listings. To do this, or to add a new profile to existing listings, go to Your Shop > Currently for Sale and edit the listings you'd like this new shipping profile to reflect.
It is optional to use Shipping Profiles; you can also set your shipping costs individually when you list a new item or edit a listing. Learn more about Shipping Profiles.
Shop Sections
Sections is a way to organize the items in your shop to make the shopping experience better for a buyer. Your list of Shop Sections appears in the left sidebar of your shop pages. Using Sections can help shoppers easily see the variety of items listed in you shop. You can create your Sections before or after you have items listed in your shop. Learn more about Shop Sections.
To make and edit Shop Sections, go to Your Shop > Sections. To add a new section, click create new section and type in the name of a new section, then click Save. You can change the order in which sections appear in your shop by dragging and dropping the move icon for the section. Sections that do not have any item listings will not appear on your public shop page.
To put your items into Sections, choose the All Items section on this page. Click the checkbox next to the listings you want in a specific section, then select the section name from the dropdown and click Save. You can also move or remove listings from a section this way.
Featuring item listings in your shop
Once you have items listed for sale in your shop, you can choose to feature four item listings at the top of your shop page, just below your Shop Announcement. Learn more about listing an item for sale.
To select featured item listings, go to Your Shop > Currently For Sale. Click the star next to the listing you would like to feature. You may select as many listings as you like, but only the top four will be displayed as featured at one time.
You can rearrange your featured listings by going to Your Shop > Featured Listings. Click the gray up and down arrows to change the order of the featured listings. The top four listings will appear in your shop as featured. When a featured item sells, expires or is removed, it will be replaced by the next item in your featured queue. If no other listings are queued up, a blank space will show on your shop page.
Learn more about featuring listings in your shop.
Rearrange the listings in your shop
When you have several items listed for sale, you may want to rearrange the order of the listings in your shop. Learn more about listing an item for sale. By default, listings are displayed with the most recently listed items near the top/front of your shop. If you choose to rearrange your shop, your custom listing order will become the default for shoppers.
To activate this function, go to Your Shop > Options and change your settings to enable Rearrange Your Shop. Then, visit the public view of your shop page by going to your unique Etsy URL (in the format http://www.etsy.com/shop/shopname). In the sidebar you will see a link to Rearrange Your Shop; click this link to begin rearranging. Click and drag your listings to the order you prefer. You can even move item listings between pages in your shop. When you are finished, be sure to click Save Changes. Learn more about rearranging the listings in your shop.