What’s new

We recently announced new sales and coupons tools that allow you to easily create promotions for your shop. Running strategic sales can help bring in new shoppers, and retain existing customers. They can also encourage buyers to spend more in your shop, helping you meet your business goals.

We’re here to help you make the most of the new tools and help shoppers discover and buy the items you put so much care into creating and curating. To that end, we’ll be running a Labor Day sale from August 31 to September 4. Labor Day is on Monday, September 4, and is celebrated in the United States. During this popular shopping weekend, many retailers run special promotions and many shoppers are looking for a good deal.

During the sale, shoppers will be able to browse and discover a temporary shopping page displaying items discounted between 10% and 60% off. Buyers will be able to search and filter items on the shopping page by category and price point.

We’ll be driving traffic to the page through marketing emails, site banners, social media, and Etsy’s homepage. This experience will be visible only to shoppers in the US, but any seller around the world who ships to the US can participate. The Etsy Labor Day shopping page will only be visible to US shoppers between August 31 to September 4.

How to participate

Any seller in the US or seller who ships to the US can take part in the Labor Day sale. For a chance to have your items included in our marketing channels during the promotion, you must schedule your sale to run from August 31 to September 4 by the deadline of August 22. (Note: the new Sales and Coupons tool allows you to schedule sales in advance. Scheduling your Labor Day sale before August 22 will help us pull your items into our Labor Day shopping page and promotional materials). Check out this article for tips on getting featured on Etsy.

Any items that are discounted between 10% to 60% and meet the criteria outlined above may be selected for promotion on the Labor Day shopping page (sales with order minimums will not be considered). You can schedule your Labor Day sale in the Sales and Coupons dashboard.

What to promote

Labor Day is a major sale occasion in the US that marks the unofficial end of the summer season. Consider running a sale to clear out summer inventory, preview your fall inventory, or attract holiday shoppers looking for deals. Labor Day also overlaps with the back-to-school shopping season, so consider running a sale to attract shoppers looking for clothes, school supplies (e.g., planners, notebooks and backpacks), tech accessories, and dorm decor.

Planning your promotion

If you’re thinking about running a Labor Day sale, consider your margins and make sure the promotion will ultimately help your business. Consider the cost of supplies, labor, and shipping when determining your sale price or discount to ensure that you’re still making a profit on your promotion and meeting your business goals. If you can't afford to run a sale or if you feel that running sales isn't right for your business, you shouldn't feel pressured to do so.

Here are some resources to help you understand how to effectively price your items and incorporate promotions for your shop to help you meet your business goals:

• Running Effective Promotions with Sales and Coupons: Discover best practices for using the Sales and Coupons tool to run promotions in your Etsy shop.
• Putting on a Holiday Promotion: Start getting ready for the upcoming shopping holidays with this guide to running seasonal promotions.
• Are You Paying Yourself Enough?: Get tips on pricing your products in a way that accounts for your time and skill.