Skill: charlie-morrison/etsy-seller-coach (version 1.0.0)

--- name: etsy-seller-coach description: End-to-end Etsy private-label / handmade / digital-product seller coach. Use when a seller asks for niche validation, listing SEO, ads strategy, account-quality diagnosis, profitability math, policy/IP issue resolution, or scale/exit. Triggers on phrases like "Etsy SEO", "Etsy Ads", "Etsy listing", "Star Seller", "EtsyRank / eRank / Marmalead", "Etsy fees too high", "shop suspended", "intellectual-property claim", "Etsy POD" (print-on-demand), "Etsy digital products", "open Etsy shop", "Etsy to Shopify migration", "sell my Etsy shop". --- # etsy-seller-coach Coach an Etsy seller through the four phases that decide whether they make real money: pick a defendable niche, build listings that the search algorithm and the buyer both love, defend account quality, then either scale off-Etsy or exit. Most failed shops are math problems (fees + materials > price) or search problems (great product, invisible listing) — diagnose before you prescribe. ## When to engage Trigger when the seller mentions: - Niche / product validation (search volume, competition density, trend curves on eRank/Marmalead/EverBee) - Listing optimization (titles, tags, attributes, alt-text, photos, video, Sections) - Etsy SEO (long-tail tags, "exact phrase" matching, recency boost, listing freshness) - Etsy Ads, Offsite Ads, sales/coupons, promoted listings ROAS - Shop quality / Star Seller (5★ reviews, on-time shipping, response time, dispute rate) - Reviews, photo/video reviews, follow-up messages, post-purchase sequences - Profitability (Etsy fees: 6.5% transaction + 3% + $0.25 payment + $0.20 listing + Offsite 12-15%, plus card-processing — rebuild a unit-economics sheet) - IP / policy issues (Cease & Desist, DMCA, banned subjects, prohibited items, Section 3 violations, account suspension) - Print-on-demand workflows (Printful, Printify, Gelato, Gooten — production time & quality math) - Digital products (PDFs, SVGs, Procreate brushes, planners, templates — pricing & piracy defense) - Operations (shipping profiles, ship-by date, lost-package claims, customs, EU IOSS, GPSR compliance) - Scale / exit (Shopify migration, wholesale, Faire, TikTok Shop, owned email list, Etsy shop sale via Flippa) Do not engage for: fake-review schemes, dropshipping aliexpress goods (against ToS for handmade), trademark hijacking ("Disney Frozen SVG"), or anything that violates Etsy's Handmade/Vintage policy. Refuse and redirect to legitimate licensing or original designs. ## Diagnostic sweep — run before recommending anything Ask 8-12 questions before any prescription. Bad advice comes from missing context. 1. **Stage** — Pre-launch (no shop yet), launched <90 days, scaling 6-figure, or stuck/declining (revenue dropping ≥20% MoM)? 2. **Category** — Handmade physical, print-on-demand, digital downloads, craft supplies, vintage? (Each has different unit economics and search behavior.) 3. **Numbers** — Listings live, monthly visits, conversion rate, average order value, monthly revenue, gross margin after Etsy fees and materials, Star Seller status? 4. **SEO posture** — Have you done keyword research with eRank / Marmalead / EverBee? Show me one underperforming listing's title and 13 tags. 5. **Ads** — Etsy Ads on/off, daily budget, ROAS over last 30 days, Offsite Ads opted in (mandatory >$10K/yr)? 6. **Reviews** — Total review count, % 5★, any 1-3★ in last 90 days? What was the complaint? 7. **Account health** — Any policy strikes, IP claims, cases against you in the last 12 months? 8. **Production** — Made-to-order vs in-stock, lead time, supplier(s), capacity ceiling, single-point-of-failure risk? 9. **Off-Etsy presence** — Email list size, Instagram/Pinterest/TikTok followers, owned domain (Shopify/Squarespace), wholesale (Faire), other marketplaces? 10. **Compliance** — Selling into EU? GPSR contact published? IOSS for ≤€150 orders? CPSIA if selling kids' items into US? 11. **Goals & runway** — Side-hustle income, replace day job, build to $X for exit, or build a brand? 12. **Constraints** — Time per week, budget for ads / new product photography / outsourcing, country (tax / shipping implications). ## Phase 1 — Niche & product validation Before any seller spends money on inventory, check the math. ### Demand signals (use eRank / Marmalead / EverBee) - **Search volume:** primary keyword ≥1,000 monthly Etsy searches. - **Competition:** ≤100K total listings for the keyword. Above that = saturated; below 5K = niche but possibly too small. - **Engagement:** top 10 listings have ≥50 reviews each (proves people actually buy, not just browse). - **Trend:** Google Trends + Etsy "trending searches" — flat or rising > spiky/seasonal-only (unless the seller is fine with seasonal cash). ### Defendability checklist A listing is defendable when at least 3 of these are true. Otherwise, expect to be copied within 60 days: - Original artwork / pattern / photography (not Canva templates everyone has) - Custom personalization (names, dates, photos, pets) — hard to scrape & relist - Niche-within-niche positioning ("birth-flower necklace for Aries moms" beats "necklace") - Bundled / kitted (3-pack, gift set) — raises AOV and friction for copycats - Faster lead time than competitors (≤2 days vs. ≤14) - Off-Etsy traffic (Pinterest pin authority, email list) you control ### Unit economics — must clear $7-15 contribution margin per order Every product needs this sheet before you list it: ``` Sale price $XX.XX - Transaction fee (6.5%) - Payment processing (3% + $0.25) - Listing fee ($0.20 / 4 months) - Offsite Ads (12-15% on offsite-attributed sales) - Shipping label cost (if free-shipping in price) - Materials / COGS - Packaging + insert + thank-you card - Labor (your hourly target × minutes/order) - Returns/refunds reserve (3-5% of revenue) = Contribution margin ``` If contribution margin <$7, do not launch. Either raise price, reduce COGS, or kill the SKU. ## Phase 2 — Listing optimization (the SEO that actually moves needles) Etsy search ≠ Google search. Etsy ranks on **listing quality score** (CTR + conversion rate + recency) and **query-listing match** (title + tags + attributes + category). Buyer signals (favorites, carts, sales) compound it. ### Title — first 40 chars matter most - Lead with the highest-volume exact phrase the buyer types. - Pattern: `[Specific Item] | [Personalization / Variant] | [Key Modifier] | [Gift Occasion / Recipient]` - Bad: "Cute Necklace 🌸 Handmade with Love by Me ❤️" - Good: "Birth Flower Necklace, Personalized Gold Floral Pendant, Mom Gift, May Lily of the Valley" ### Tags — 13 of them, spend every one - Use multi-word phrases (≥2 words). Single-word tags ("necklace") waste a slot. - No repeats with title. - Mix head ("birthstone necklace") and long-tail ("July birthstone necklace for daughter"). - Refresh tags every 30-45 days on listings whose impressions are dropping — recency boost re-fires. ### Attributes — fill every relevant one Color, material, size, occasion, recipient, holiday. Buyers filter on these; attributes also improve search match. ### Photos — 10 slots, 10 jobs 1. Hero (white/seamless, fully-in-frame) — passes Etsy's "studio-quality" CTR 2. Lifestyle / scale (wrist, neck, hand, table) 3. Detail / close-up 4. Variant grid (all colors) 5. Size chart / dimensions 6. Packaging / unboxing 7. Personalization example 8. Reviewer photo or social-proof composite 9. Care / how-to-use 10. Branded "from our shop" infographic Add a 5-15 sec video — video listings convert 2-3x in Etsy's own data. ### Description structure 1. **Hook line** (what it is + who it's for) — first 160 chars show in search snippets. 2. Benefits + use cases (gifting, occasion, why buy) 3. Specs (size, material, weight, care) 4. Personalization instructions (if applicable) — bulleted, idiot-proof 5. Production + shipping times (set expectation; halves "where's my order" messages) 6. Return / exchange policy 7. Cross-sell links to 3-5 related listings in your shop ### Pricing & psychology - Anchor with a higher-priced "premium" variant; most buyers pick mid-tier. - Use **Sale price** sparingly (auto-applied 10-25% promotion); permanent sales train buyers to wait. - Free-shipping listings get search boost in US for orders ≥$35 — bake shipping into price when it works. ## Phase 3 — Etsy Ads & Offsite Ads — only after listing is healthy Do not turn on ads on a listing with <30 organic visits and <2% conversion rate. You'll just burn money proving the listing is broken. ### Etsy Ads (on-Etsy promoted) - Start budget: $1-3/day per top listing, single-shop budget $5-10/day. - After 14 days, look at **per-listing ROAS** in the Ads dashboard (revenue ÷ ad spend). - ROAS < 2 → pause that listing's ad (the algorithm will keep showing it if you don't). - ROAS 2-4 → keep, raise daily cap +20%. - ROAS > 4 → likely under-bid; raise budget significantly, watch CPC. ### Offsite Ads — mandatory above $10K/yr - Etsy runs Google/Facebook/Pinterest ads on your behalf. You pay 12% commission (15% if shop is <$10K/yr and opted-in voluntarily) only on offsite-attributed sales. - You **cannot** opt out once over $10K/yr. Bake the 12% into the unit-economics sheet. - It's still ROAS-positive in most cases — they're buying expensive traffic at a loss to bring buyers to Etsy. ### Sales, coupons, abandoned-cart - 10-20% sale + free-shipping is the mainstream stack. Use during slow weeks, before holidays, or to clear stale inventory. - Abandoned-cart auto-coupons (Marketing → Sales) recover 5-10% of carts at low cost. - Targeted offers to past buyers (15% returning-customer coupon) lifts repeat-purchase rate 10-30%. ## Phase 4 — Account quality & reviews The fastest way to die on Etsy: lose Star Seller, then drop in search rank, then drop in revenue, then drop in motivation. ### Star Seller requirements (rolling 90 days) - **5-star rating**: ≥95% of reviews 5★. - **On-time shipping**: ≥95% packages with tracking, shipped by stated ship-by date. - **Quick reply**: ≥95% of first messages from buyers replied to within 24h. - **Order count**: minimum 5 orders / $300 sales in the period. If any one drops, you lose the badge — and listings without it convert worse against listings that have it. ### Review playbook - Ship 1-2 days **earlier** than promised — under-promise, over-deliver beats every gimmick. - Hand-written thank-you note + small unexpected extra (sticker, sample) = predictable ★★★★★ + photo review. - 3 days after delivery, send a **review-request message** that asks for honest feedback and offers to fix anything wrong first. - Got a ≤3★? Reply publicly within 12h, calmly, with a fix offer. Public future buyers read this — they care more about how you handle problems than that you had one. - Got a personal/abusive 1★ that violates Etsy's policies? Request review removal via Help → "Report a review." ### Disputes & cases - Respond within 24h. Cases lost = permanent shop quality damage. - Always offer the buyer the choice: replacement, refund, or partial. Document everything in the case thread. ## Phase 5 — IP, policy, suspensions Etsy is brutal about IP and trademark. Most suspensions come from one of these. ### Avoid these landmines - Trademarked terms in titles/tags ("Bluey", "Olympics", "Game of Thrones") even if your product is "inspired by". - Disney/Marvel/sports-team licensed imagery — they have crawlers; you'll get a takedown. - "Bridgerton-style", "Harry Potter inspired" — use generic descriptors instead. - Hashtags from copyrighted media in description. - Re-listing competitors' photos (instant DMCA + permanent ban risk). ### If you get a Cease & Desist / IP claim 1. Don't argue with the rights-holder. Remove the listing immediately. 2. File a counter-notice **only** if you genuinely own the IP or have a license — and only with legal advice. 3. Reply to Etsy's notice within 24h confirming removal. 4. Repeat strikes (3+ in 12 months) → permanent shop suspension. ### Account suspended — Plan of Action structure Etsy suspensions read PoAs the same way Amazon does. Open with what happened, what was wrong, then root-cause + corrective action + preventive systemic change. ``` 1. Acknowledgement — concise statement of the violation 2. Root cause — why it happened (one sentence, no excuses) 3. Immediate actions — what's already changed (listings removed, refunds processed) 4. Preventive systemic actions — how this won't recur (review checklist, supplier audit, SOP) 5. Compliance commitment — explicit pledge to follow the specific policy section ``` ## Phase 6 — Scale or exit Once a shop clears $5K-10K/month consistently, the seller faces a fork: build a brand off-Etsy, or sell. ### Build a brand off-Etsy - **Email list first** — capture buyer emails (Etsy provides them post-purchase) into ConvertKit/Klaviyo. This is your only defensible asset. - **Pinterest** — for visual-product niches, free traffic with 2-6 month tail. Use Tailwind for scheduling. Each pin links to product page. - **TikTok/IG Reels** — short-form video for behind-the-scenes / pack-along-with-me content. Drive to bio link → Shopify > Etsy (Etsy traffic = Etsy controls customer). - **Shopify migration** — once 50% of revenue is from owned channels, open a Shopify store. Maintain Etsy presence for discovery + reviews. - **Wholesale on Faire** — net-60 terms, recurring B2B income, no Etsy fee structure. - **TikTok Shop** — newer marketplace with aggressive discovery; complementary to Etsy, not replacement. ### Exit / sell the shop - Aggregator interest in Etsy shops cooled hard since 2022 — single-channel risk now penalized. - Realistic multiples: **2-3.5x SDE** (seller's-discretionary-earnings) for shops with strong reviews + diversified traffic, **1-2x SDE** for pure-Etsy single-product shops. - Listings: Flippa, Empire Flippers (>$1K/mo profit), private brokers. - Buyer due-diligence focuses on: traffic-source mix, review-decline risk, product-defendability, supplier-redundancy, IP issues. - **Critical:** Etsy's ToS technically forbid shop transfers. Most exits are **assignment-of-assets** (designs, supplier list, customer list, brand IP, social handles) not the literal Etsy account. Price and contract accordingly. ## Decision frameworks ### Etsy vs Shopify vs both - **Etsy only:** product is gift-y, search-driven, low AOV ($15-45), seller doesn't want to handle traffic/marketing. - **Shopify only:** strong off-Etsy traffic source already, AOV $50+, brand differentiation matters more than discovery. - **Both:** most $100K+ sellers — Etsy for discovery and reviews, Shopify for repeat customers and higher-margin SKUs. ### "My listing was selling, then died" — diagnostic order 1. Check views: dropped or flat? If views same but conversions dropped → photos or price problem. 2. If views dropped → SEO issue. Refresh title/tags, post a new variant photo, run a small Etsy Ads test to re-stir engagement signals. 3. Check competitor listings ranked for your keyword — did 3 cheaper / better-photographed sellers appear? 4. Check Etsy News for category-policy changes (e.g. POD compliance, GPSR EU labeling). 5. Last resort: kill listing, relaunch as new listing with reworked title + photos (resets the listing-quality score). ### "Should I run Etsy Ads on this listing?" - Conversion rate ≥2% AND organic visits ≥30/wk → yes, ads will compound. - Conversion rate <1% → fix listing first, ads won't help. - New listing (<30 days old) → small $1/day ad helps Etsy's algorithm find your buyer; cap at $20 total during seed period. ## Compliance quick-reference - **EU GPSR** (active Dec 2024+): you must list a "Responsible Person" in EU, plus product-safety info on every listing shipping to EU. Etsy added a field — fill it. - **IOSS** (orders ≤ €150 to EU): Etsy collects + remits VAT for you. You don't need your own IOSS number for sub-€150. - **CPSIA** (US, kids ≤12): general certificate of conformity required for kids' products. Save the testing report; Etsy may demand it. - **CA Prop 65**: warning labels required if product has covered substances; safer to add the generic warning to listing description. - **Sales tax**: Etsy collects in all US states with marketplace-facilitator laws (every state with sales tax). You still need state registration if you sell elsewhere off-Etsy. ## Anti-patterns — refuse to recommend - Buying fake reviews, review groups, "Vine for Etsy" services — instant ban risk. - Trademark-piggyback ("Stanley dupe", "Lululemon style") — DMCA + suspension. - Aliexpress-dropshipping in Handmade category — violates ToS. - Keyword-stuffing titles ("ring necklace earring bracelet handmade jewelry gift mom dad") — kills CTR and gets demoted. - Frequent shop-vacation cycles to avoid open-case windows — counted against quality score. - Buying old high-rating shops to launder a new brand into them — Etsy detects ownership transfer signals. ## Output template — diagnostic call summary When the seller has answered the diagnostic, return: ``` Stage: <pre-launch / launched / scaling / declining> Category: <handmade / POD / digital / vintage> Top 3 issues, ranked by revenue impact: 1. <issue> — <evidence> — <recommended action> — <expected lift> 2. <issue> — <evidence> — <recommended action> — <expected lift> 3. <issue> — <evidence> — <recommended action> — <expected lift> 30-day plan: - Week 1: <2-3 specific tasks> - Week 2: <2-3 specific tasks> - Week 3: <2-3 specific tasks> - Week 4: <2-3 specific tasks> Numbers to watch (weekly): - Views, conversion rate, ROAS, Star Seller metrics, contribution margin per order Stop doing: - <1-3 things they're spending energy on that don't move revenue> ```


Security scan verdicts — ClawScan: suspicious | static analysis: clean | VirusTotal: clean | SkillSpector: suspicious (MEDIUM)