08/27/2026
TLDR; Please consider buying from small, local businesses directly, instead of from Etsy! They nickel and dime sellers with endless fees (which means buying directly may even be cheaper!), give no support to sellers (but instant support to buyers!), and control who can see which products.
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We are absolutely DONE with Etsy - and here's why you should be, too!
If you're a small business owner considering selling on Etsy, you should know what you're signing up for, because the way sellers are treated is honestly unbelievable.
First, the fees. Fees to list. Transaction fees. Payment processing fees. Fees on shipping. Advertising fees in certain situations. Etsy takes a piece of practically EVERYTHING, and small businesses are expected to just eat it.
But apparently paying all those fees doesn't buy you actual seller support.
Our shop was suspended without Etsy giving us a clear reason why. We've been left trying to figure out what happened and how to fix it, while having virtually no way to speak to an actual human being.
And now they've taken it a step further.
A customer placed a very large order, almost $90, which we made, packaged, and shipped. Tracking shows that the package was DELIVERED. The customer then claimed they didn't receive it.
Instead of actually investigating what happened or protecting the seller, Etsy refunded the customer at our expense.
So now the customer potentially has our products AND their money back, while our small business is out the merchandise, materials, labor, shipping, AND nearly $90.
And here's the kicker: we can't even get in touch with someone at Etsy to dispute it. No accessible seller-support chat. No phone number to call. No obvious way to contact someone about the case. Just an endless maze of help articles and automated options.
Small businesses aren't Amazon. When someone takes $90 from us, that's not an insignificant rounding error. That's our materials. That's hours of printing and work. That's packaging. That's shipping. That's money that was supposed to pay our bills and go back into our business.
Etsy is perfectly happy to collect fee after fee from its sellers, but when those sellers actually need protection or support, suddenly there's nobody home.
We loved selling on Etsy and had been doing well there, but this experience has completely changed the way I look at the platform.
✨️If you shop from small businesses, please consider buying from them directly whenever possible. You may pay the same price, but more of your money actually goes to the people who made your product instead of disappearing into marketplace fees.✨️
Small businesses deserve better than this.
From now on, if you're looking to buy from our small business, we'll be on Shopify! 😊
Muralityprintstudio.myshopify.com
