The Sellers Who Sold $12 Billion on Etsy in 2021

Etsy published statistics on the 5.3 million sellers who sold $12.2 billion of goods on Etsy in 2021. “Notably, 79% of Etsy sellers are women, 84% are businesses of one, and 95% operate from their homes,” a spokesperson told EcommerceBytes.

Etsy randomly selected sellers with an active shop to take a 25-minute online survey in the fall of 2021 conducted by Ipsos in partnership with Etsy. The total global sample size was 6,407.

Etsy’s 2021 Global Seller Census includes insights on who Etsy sellers are, what moves them to open and run their shops, and the impact of their small businesses in driving local economic development and support to communities around the world.

One statistic that jumped out at us: “For nearly half, Etsy was the first place they sold their goods.” Half of all sellers cited financial challenges as prompting them to start their businesses.

And while 63% cited supplementary income as a motivation for starting a business, non-monetary motivations were cited even more frequently, with 65% citing the ability to express their creativity as a top motivation. Approximately 6 in 10 said it was extremely or very important to run a socially responsible (62%) and environmentally friendly (57%) business.

Also interesting were the following factoids:

• The vast majority of Etsy sellers source supplies domestically.
• While the majority are businesses of one,16% have help (either paid or unpaid), with most hiring fewer than 5 people.
• 3 in 10 sellers (29%) now export their goods outside their home country.

Etsy said its sellers contributed to the broader retail ecosystem, with the majority (56%) selling their goods via other channels as well, including other online sales platforms, social media, craft fairs, or through retail stores. Among multi-channel sellers, Etsy is their largest sales channel.

You can read more details in an introductory blog post which links to the full report.

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/.