Offsite Ads

 Etsy, enable creative entrepreneurs to compete on a global scale in an ever-evolving retail landscape. Our sellers are just as unique as the goods they create -- some run their shops full time, while others use Etsy as a side hustle or creative outlet. Some work solo from their kitchen tables and others have bustling studios and full-time employees. But, no matter how different they are from each other, the single most important thing Etsy can do to help all sellers is to bring them more buyers. And one of the very best ways to do that is to harness the power of marketing. 

Etsy’s marketing journey

Etsy focused on helping sellers drive traffic to their listings, while simultaneously investing in brand-building marketing initiatives, like TV advertisements and online video. 

We know that 80% of our sellers want to grow their businesses and digital ads are a cost-efficient, effective way for them to drive more visits and traffic to their listings. Last year, we introduced Etsy Ads, which combined our on-site Promoted Listings and offsite Google Shopping advertising products into one easy-to-use service. Etsy Ads significantly simplified sellers' advertising experience, enabling them to spend less time on advertising and more time creating amazing items. Now, we're further evolving our offering to continue to empower sellers to drive traffic to their shops while also mitigating the risk that can be associated with online advertising.

Next Steps

Two updates to help Etsy sellers increase traffic to their shops while removing risk. First, we’re introducing Offsite Ads, a new service where we will use Etsy’s budget to advertise sellers’ items on sites like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Bing. Sellers won’t pay for advertising unless they make a sale, giving them access to some of the highest-trafficked platforms on the internet without any upfront costs. Instead, we’ll employ a success-based model. When an Etsy-funded ad leads to a sale, the featured seller will pay an advertising fee ranging from 12%-15% of the order value -- capped at $100 per order -- depending on the volume of sales they’ve made on Etsy.  

In addition, we’ve listened closely to our sellers’ feedback on how to better meet their needs for reaching the tens of millions of buyers who are already shopping on Etsy. We’re excited to share that sellers’ Etsy Ads budgets -- which previously went to both onsite and Google Shopping ads -- will now only go toward promoting their listings on Etsy. This will allow them to better control how they promote their goods directly on our platform.