Why Etsy Success Feels Like Winning the Lottery

If you feel like the platform hates you, it does.

Author

Miroslav Novohradsky
September 28, 2025

In partnership with

Etsy feels less like a marketplace and more like an unpaid internship at the Hunger Games.

You go in thinking it’s about selling cute digital planners, and suddenly you’re in a knife fight with 20,000 other sellers all selling the exact same “minimalist beige aesthetic” calendar.

It’s capitalism with crochet edges.

The platform looks friendly… handmade, artisan, whimsical fonts… but under the pastel doilies, it’s basically Amazon with bangs.

Etsy is that toxic friend who convinces you to “just try selling digital prints for passive income,” and then you’re six months deep into SEO rabbit holes, tweaking your tags like a raccoon rearranging garbage.

And let’s be honest: Etsy’s search algorithm has the vibes of a drunk toddler throwing spaghetti.

You put in “wall art,” it serves you 2000 variations of “Live, Laugh, Love” fonts made by AI interns in Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile, your product? Buried somewhere under “sherpa dog sweaters.”

So yeah, is Etsy supposed to be this hard? 

Or is this some elaborate initiation ritual, where only the sellers willing to bleed for keywords get through?

Hmm… it’s the latter.

Etsy is less a platform and more of a Thanos snap.

Half of you are gone before your first renewal fee clears.

A SPECIAL OFFER FOR YOU FROM OUR SPONSOR

$10,000 free ad credits to test catalog ads on TV

LIMITED TIME ONLY.

Marpipe, the leader in catalog advertising, partnered with Universal Ads to launch catalog ads on streaming TV for the first time ever.

This isn’t your typical “brand awareness” TV play - this is pure performance marketing on premium streaming inventory.

If you’re running catalog ads on Meta or Google, you know they work. Higher ROAS, better performance, consistent results.

The problem? You’ve been stuck on small screens.

Not anymore.

Turn your existing product feed into high-performing video ads and launch them on TV as effortlessly as you do on social.

We’re so confident it’ll be your next big growth channel that we’re offering $10,000 in free ad credits with no strings attached to test it out. Be an early mover on a massive wave before everyone else catches on.

Ready to claim your $10,000?

⚡ Watch This Hack

Okay, rant over. Let’s get practical before you rage-quit your Etsy dashboard.

You know what doesn’t have to be hard?

Making your product mockups look pro. Etsy buyers aren’t buying your “digital wall art”, they’re buying the fantasy of it hanging in their overpriced AirBnB loft.

Here’s the hack I want to talk about… rounded image corners in Canva. It’s a two-click trick that instantly makes your thumbnails look like you didn’t design them on a Nokia flip phone.

I walk you through it step by step in this quick tutorial → How to Round Image Corners in Canva (Super Easy Trick!).

Seriously, this one Canva tweak makes your shop look less “Pinterest fail” and more “Instagram ad ready.”

And yes, I’m aware that sentence sounds like selling your soul, but Etsy’s buyers already belong to Zuckerberg anyway.

📝 The Seller’s Survival Note

Dispatch from the Etsy trenches: “Sketching Won’t Make You a Real Designer.”

That’s the article I dropped this week, and it hits Etsy sellers where it hurts.

Too many creatives think doodling in their Moleskine is enough to qualify as a business plan.

No, your sketchbook isn’t Etsy SEO, and your pretty Procreate sketches aren’t going to outrank printables from some SEO warlord in Latvia.

The battlefield lesson?

Selling design products is 80% packaging, 15% keyword necromancy, and maybe 5% actual talent.

That 5% matters, sure, but if you think your drawings alone will carry you, Etsy will eat you alive, spit you out, and upsell your tears as “boho watercolor clipart.”

A SPECIAL OFFER FOR YOU FROM OUR SPONSOR

How 1,500+ Marketers Are Using AI to Move Faster in 2025

Is your team using AI like the leaders—or still stuck experimenting?

Masters in Marketing’s AI Trends Report breaks down how top marketers are using tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Breeze to scale content, personalize outreach, and drive real results.

Inside the report, you’ll discover:

  • What AI use cases are delivering the strongest ROI today

  • How high-performing teams are integrating AI into workflows

  • The biggest blockers slowing others down—and how to avoid them

  • A 2025 action plan to upgrade your own AI strategy

Download the report. Free when you subscribe to the Masters in Marketing newsletter.

Learn what’s working now, and what’s next.

🔍 Nexus Deep Dive

You think Etsy’s algorithm is cruel?

Buddy, that’s nothing new.

Capitalism has been hard-mode since soda was invented.

Back in the 1800s, Coca-Cola was literally laced with cocaine (marketing slogan: “Argument powder, now in cherry flavor!”).

But did they dominate because of taste? No.

They dominated because they figured out how to emotionally brainwash preteens with coupons, logos, and billboards big enough to traumatize livestock.

Etsy’s doing the same.

Their “handmade” image is just the crochet version of Coke’s “wholesome Americana.”

Except instead of bottling plants near soldiers, Etsy just bottlenecks your traffic into whoever can spam the most keywords.

Want proof Etsy is just soft-core late-stage capitalism in an apron?

Look at how McDonald’s kiosks trained us to upsell ourselves.

Etsy’s “renew your listings” button is the same scam.

They don’t care if you sell, it’s about keeping you renewing, clicking, paying, tweaking. Etsy is less a platform, more a casino for introverts.

🤯 Wait, What?!

Absurd fact to end on: people spent $3 billion on Etsy digital downloads last year… but most sellers earn less than $100 annually.

That means Etsy is basically a pyramid scheme, except instead of protein powder, you’re shilling “editable wedding menus.”

Simple translation for you… the big money isn’t in selling your art, it’s Etsy selling you the dream that you can sell your art.

So, is Etsy supposed to be this hard?

Yes.

Because if it were easy, you’d already be rich, and Etsy would be out of a business model.

Have a productive day,

Miroslav from The Design Nexus

TOOLS YOU SHOULD TRY

Even if you sell products other than mugs or t-shirts, it doesn't mean it will cost you more.

There are tools that can help you with the tasks, and most of them have free versions.

Disclaimer: Within the article, you will find affiliate links. If you decide to purchase through these links, I want to sincerely assure you that I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Reply

or to participate.