Optimizing your shop with translations in multiple languages can help you reach more shoppers, globally and in your own backyard. Whether your shop’s default language is set to English or your local language, adding your own translations can help you take full advantage of Etsy’s global and local marketplaces.

We know from buyer research, as well as Etsy sales data, that buyers prefer products listed in their own language. Buyers interpret manual translations as more trustworthy than translations clearly written by a machine. Manually translated listings also let shoppers know that you speak their language. This helps buyers feel safe when ordering from your shop knowing that they’ll be able to communicate with you. By adding your own translations and choosing your own translated keywords you can also optimize your performance in search.

Translations you add yourself tend to be higher quality and sound more natural so they outperform machine translations. We suggest multilingual sellers add their own translations instead of relying on machine translation. Read on to learn how we’ve made the process of adding translations easier.

How to add translations

To get started, visit Shop Manager > Settings > Languages and translations.

First, follow the prompt to start translating your shop, and select Manage languages to add a new language to your shop.

Once you add a new language, you can translate the following elements of your shop directly from your “Languages and translations” section.

Info and appearance: Add translations for your shop title, shop announcement, and message to buyers.

Sections: Add translations for your shop section titles.

About shop: Add translations for your shop story headline, shop story, photo captions, shop members, and short bios.

Policies: If you wrote your own policies and are not using Etsy’s shop policies template, you will see the option to translate your policies. Add translations for your welcome message, payment policies, shipping policies, returns and exchanges details, additional information, and seller info.

Additional policies: Add translations for your additional Terms & Conditions and Right of Withdrawal (only applicable to German sellers).

To translate your listings, click the View listings link from the Listing translation section at the top of the page.

From your listings page, follow the prompts at the top of the page for guidance on completing each step. First, click on a listing you want to translate. Use the “Translations” section at the bottom of the listing form to manually add translations for your title, and description, and tags.

Add your own translations

For more information, read Translating your Shop and Listings.

Why translate your own listings instead of relying on machine translations?

Human translations lead to more sales than machine translations: We know from research that buyers perceive automated translations as less trustworthy, and our sales data shows that listings with manual translations sell more than machine translated listings.

Translated listings improve your performance in search: Translating your listings yourself ensures that they can be found using the right keywords in search. By adding manual translations, you optimize your shop and listings for ideal placement in search engines on and off Etsy.

Manual translations sound more natural: Adding your own translations gives you more control, adds personality to your listings, and lets buyers know there’s a real person behind your shop.

If you operate in a country where the local language is supported by Etsy and originally set up your shop with English as your default shop language, we strongly recommend adding your own translations for your local language to take full advantage of your local market.

If you originally set up your shop with your local language as your default shop language, adding your own English translations can open up your business to a whole new world of global buyers.

Translation tips:

By adding a language, you’re letting shoppers know you do business in that language (for example, accurately represent an item, complete a transaction, and provide customer service to the buyer in that language).

We understand, however, that writing translations may be challenging. Here are some tips to help with the process:

• Keep it simple: Try simplifying your descriptions in your translations to focus on the key features of your product. Write brief direct sentences, and avoid expressions that don’t make sense translated. Be careful with cultural references, subtle innuendos, jokes, and wordplay that might not work or won't be understood by someone in a different country.

• Get feedback: If you’re unsure, ask a friend fluent in the target language to review your translations for accuracy and tone.