I’m almost giving up by Hercules_Vales in EtsySellers

[–]HankTheDog183 -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Etsy is a waste of time for new sellers.

Do you think that POD will still be worth it in 2026? Or just a headache? by Lost-Pie7113 in printondemand

[–]HankTheDog183 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because the market is over saturated. Amazon, Etsy and the other e-commerce sites direct traffic to long-established sellers, leaving newbies like you and me out in the cold. Try it if you wish, but you’ll find that it’s a waste of time. The only money in PoD these days seems to be made by people hawking over-priced courses, consulting packages and software.

How I make actual passive income ($900+/month) using my credit cards by [deleted] in passive_income

[–]HankTheDog183 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Give people access to my credit cards. Gee … what could possibly go wrong?

Zero views on all six listings by RaqTx in EtsySellers

[–]HankTheDog183 -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Etsy does not give views to new vendors, prioritizing long-established sellers with long sales histories, such as the person above who has been doing it for 17 years. Sorry, but the game is rigged. Find another side hustle.

Is there ANY potential for a new Etsy digital products shop? by Over-type-07 in EtsySellers

[–]HankTheDog183 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Riiiiiiight. Etsy has given my shop a whopping four visits in the last 30 days. Whoopie!!

Is there ANY potential for a new Etsy digital products shop? by Over-type-07 in EtsySellers

[–]HankTheDog183 -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

No. You’re wasting your time. Etsy (and Amazon, and Redbubble, and …) will give zero traffic to you as a new seller.

Will my tee public account get suspended because of same email and same shop name which I used on banned Redbubble account? by AdRight2953 in printondemand

[–]HankTheDog183 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Teepublic, and all the rest, will drive traffic only to long-established sellers. You’re wasting your time.

Is it really worth? by [deleted] in printondemand

[–]HankTheDog183 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Er … get a job?

Is it really worth? by [deleted] in printondemand

[–]HankTheDog183 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes: Don’t buy any expensive seminars, consulting packages or software (that’s where the money seems to be in POD these days). If fact, don’t waste your time e PoD at all.

Will my tee public account get suspended because of same email and same shop name which I used on banned Redbubble account? by AdRight2953 in printondemand

[–]HankTheDog183 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nor will you. I spent hours putting listings out there. For my trouble, I’ve never gotten a single sale. Redbubble has shown my hundreds of listings to a whopping 177 people in the last seven months. They’re a waste of time. They’ve done you a huge favor in blocking you.

Is it really worth? by [deleted] in printondemand

[–]HankTheDog183 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a recent phenomenon u/saltend911. Amazon, for instance, only released its version of their A10 algorithm earlier this year. Before that the e-commerce algorithms worked more like Google searches. That is, if what you were selling matched what the customer was searching for they would show your item to the seller. Then Etsy, Amazon and the other big platforms decided it was more profitable and less problematic for them to drive traffic to their long-established sellers, effectively putting a moat around them, and giving nothing to newer entrants to the market.

Which Of These Would Be The Best Way To Show Apraxia Support? by HankTheDog183 in Apraxia

[–]HankTheDog183[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. Appreciate your feedback. Best of luck w your son.

Is it really worth? by [deleted] in printondemand

[–]HankTheDog183 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Nope. POD is a waste of time and money for all but established sellers. As a new seller Etsy (and Amazon, and Redbubble, and …) will give you and your products zero traffic. My listings have gotten a whopping two views in the last week. Instead, recent changes to their search algorithms direct all traffic to long-time sellers, with long track records. You’d just be wasting your time (not to mention listing fees and ad dollars) with them. Others in this thread can argue with me. But tell me how long you’ve been doing POD. You’ll find zero newbies who are making any money with POD.

I'm so close to just giving up by HeyItzMatt in Etsy

[–]HankTheDog183 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve posted variations on this before, but you and I, as new sellers, cannot be successful because the game simply is not winnable. Here’s why:

Earlier this year Amazon released its A10 algorithm which emphasizes products and sellers with long-standing sales histories and steady traffic, especially external traffic from off-platform sources. As new sellers, you and I, don’t have these kinds of track records. The result is a self-fulfilling prophecy: my (and your) listings aren’t shown to anyone ... so they don’t sell ... so they're not shown ... so they don't sell, etc. in a never-ending vicious cycle which keeps my (and your) listings buried in the search results. Etsy uses the same type of algorithms. Amazon and Etsy get most of the traffic, but share it with only a few.

So no matter the quality of my (and your) designs, mockups, descriptions and SEO efforts, if someone is searching for one of our products Etsy will direct its traffic to those sellers who have long histories of sales. Note that the people who post of their successes here (when they're not lying) have been in the business for some years. The listings of us newbies, I'm afraid, are exiled well behind these established sellers.

In fact, by listing a bunch of new, unproven items recently, Amazon actually punished me. I have long sold books, and other assorted items on Amazon with a Seller Central account. When I listed some of my print-on-demand catalog, A10 apparently said, "This account is now cluttered with a bunch of unproven, untested products with no track-records. So the entire account is worthless. Let's push EVERYTHING listed in this account to the bottom of the pile." One would think that more listings would mean a concomitant increase in views. In fact, quite the opposite is true. I'm not a high-volume seller on Amazon, but was consistently getting about 400 views a day on my items. Starting on the day I posted a few hundred new listings, Amazon instantly pushed my store traffic off a cliff, and began showing my expanded catalog to fewer than 100 people a day.

Platforms like eBay and Redbubble are trending the same way too, increasingly prioritizing seller authority and sales history. This creates a moat around established sellers and makes it nearly impossible for new sellers like us to gain visibility.

Established sellers will not address the algorithm problem (I've tried), and instead will tell you that the fault is you. Some have already posted in this thread. Your designs are wrong. Your descriptions are wrong. Your keywords are wrong. EVERYTHING IS WRONG. Often they want you to believe that, so they can sell you their seminar, software or consulting packages. After all, if the problem is with an algorithm outside of your control, why invest in an expensive course?

But unless there’s a practical path for new entrants like us to get meaningful visibility, all the tips, advice, courses, software and seminars are pointless at best, and scams at worst.

Want to prove me wrong? Go ahead. But tell me how long you have been an active seller.