Etsy Nudges Buyers to Meet Free-Shipping Threshold

Since Etsy doesn’t own the items on its marketplace, it brought out the “stick” this summer to compel sellers to offer free shipping or guaranteed free shipping program on orders $35 and above. Basically, Etsy told sellers to offer some form of free shipping or else get penalized in search results.

In a post on Monday, Etsy announced it is prompting buyers to add more items to their shopping carts to meet the $35 free-shipping threshold. One way is through a new pop-up window on listings pages that “nudges” buyers to add more items to their cart for sellers who offer the free-shipping guarantee.

“A free shipping order minimum that encourages shoppers to spend more in your shop means you could make more per sale,” Etsy wrote to help persuade sellers.

Etsy also said that as of the end of the year, 74% of listings shoppers viewed were for an item with free shipping, and 65% of US buyer GMS (Gross Merchandise Sales) shipped for free. “More and more shoppers on Etsy are purchasing items that ship for free since we introduced our free shipping initiative,” the company said – though that’s not unexpected given it prioritizes free-shipping listings in search.

Etsy also shared some holiday-sales figures and said, “during the fourth quarter of 2019, which includes the holiday season, Etsy sellers sold $1.49 billion in goods, more than any other quarter in Etsy history. We call this gross merchandise sales or GMS. That’s a 19.6% increase in GMS compared to the same time period in 2018.”

Active buyers grew to nearly 46 million.

Etsy also touted its Offsite Ads program announced on Wednesday and said it was focusing on new ways to help small business owners succeed in 2020.

“We have new teams dedicated to building the resources, tools and programs you need to grow your Etsy shop for the long term. Keep an eye on your Shop Manager over the next few months for news about these exciting new programs and tools.”

You can find the full announcement on the Seller Handbook on Etsy.com.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.