How to sell on Etsy and automate your shop with IFTTT

Selling on Etsy often starts as a simple idea. You have something to make, you list it online, and suddenly people are buying it. This easy process is why so many sellers choose Etsy as their first step into e-commerce. But once sales come faster, the challenge continues with constant upkeep on listings, messages, orders, and promotions.

Learning how to sell things on Etsy goes way beyond just opening a shop. For the best growth, sellers should work to create systems that let them grow without constantly being online. That’s where automation with tools like IFTTT comes into play.

In this article, we’ll walk through all of the steps of how to create an Etsy shop, some tips and tricks to make the most out of the platform, and some use cases to show how automation can help you run your shop more smoothly.

Why Etsy works so well for new sellers

Etsy is different from building your own online store, like what you'll be tasked with on platforms like Shopify. For those just starting out, this is pretty appealing.

Instead of starting from zero and driving your own traffic, Etsy places your products inside an existing marketplace filled with shoppers actively searching for specific items. This helps bring down the risk of listing your first product and makes it easy for people to discover your product.

On Etsy, the early focus shifts away from web design and marketing and toward product quality, pricing, and presentation. This makes Etsy an ideal place to test your ideas, as there isn't much overhead in case your first product isn't a hit.

However, there are a few drawbacks to be aware of. Etsy has control of the store layout, algorithms, and much of the buyer experience. Branding options are limited, and sellers pay listing and transaction fees. With this in mind, many sellers still like Etsy because the ability to start selling quickly is important.

How to create an Etsy shop and start selling

Thankfully, getting started on Etsy is simple and should only take ten minutes. Here's a rough breakdown of the steps you should take to get your first listing approved:

1. Create your Etsy account and open a shop

Selling on Etsy begins with a standard Etsy account. Once you sign up, you can open a shop directly from your profile. Etsy will ask for basic details like your location, currency, and language.

2. Choose a shop name

Your shop name is one of the first impressions buyers get. It should be easy to remember, easy to spell, and tied somewhat to what you sell or your brand image. You can change it later if you'd like.

3. Create your first product listing

Listings are where your product lives. Each product needs clear photos, a descriptive title, and an explanation of what the buyer will receive. At this stage, focus less on perfection and more on making the listing as honest as you can.

4. Set pricing, shipping, and inventory

Pricing on Etsy should account for material costs, time spent, shipping, and platform fees. Etsy also allows you to label processing times and shipping options, which keeps the buyer informed.

5. Set up payments and billing

To start selling, you’ll need to connect Etsy Payments and add a billing method for listing and transaction fees. This last step finalizes your shop’s ability to accept orders.

6. Add shop policies and an About section

Shop policies explain how you handle shipping, returns, and exchanges. The About section gives you a chance to tell your story, explain how your products are made, and create a more personal connection with customers.

7. Publish your shop and start promoting

Once your listings are live, your shop becomes visible within Etsy’s marketplace. Your first order may come from Etsy search itself, but sharing your shop on social media or with friends is a great way to get the ball rolling.

And just like that, you've taken the first step to getting your product out to the world!

How much are Etsy fees?

While Etsy is known for being beginner-friendly, it isn’t completely free to sell on the platform.

The most common fee for sellers is the listing fee. Each product listing costs $0.20 and stays active for four months or until the item sells.

When you make a sale, Etsy also charges a transaction fee, which is a percentage of the item price and shipping cost. On top of that, there’s a payment processing fee for handling credit cards, digital wallets, and other payment methods. These rates vary slightly by country.

Etsy Ads or Offsite Ads also add cost, but they are optional features to help increase visibility. We've covered a handful of different fees, and it's important to look carefully at your margins and ensure you are charging enough to make a profit.

Building an automated Etsy shop manager

Once orders start coming in, selling on Etsy becomes less about setting things up and more about maintaining momentum. Messages from buyers, shipping updates, reviews, and re-listing items all require attention. All of a sudden, your small shop needs to be operating at warehouse-level efficiency.

This is often where sellers feel stuck. They don’t want to stop growing, but they also don’t want to spend every day checking dashboards and manually posting updates. If you feel like you might reach this point in your journey, we urge you to give automation a try.

How does IFTTT work?

IFTTT (If This, Then That) is our powerful automation platform that connects over 1000 different apps and services together using conditional logic. Each automation is called an Applet. These can be as simple as connecting smart home devices and can be expanded to complex workflows between customer management systems, AI tools, social media, and much more.

With IFTTT and Etsy, you can:

• - Automatically share new product listings or blog posts to social media platforms
• - Track sales in tools like spreadsheets
• - Get SMS alerts for new sales
• - Create tasks in customer management systems and trigger reminders for follow-ups

Consistent automations with Etsy can help keep your shop top of mind without demanding constant attention.

How to connect Etsy to IFTTT

By integrating with IFTTT, you can automate all sorts of tasks that would normally have you hitting your head against the desk. Here's how to get started:

1. Create an IFTTT account: If you don't have an account, sign up on the https://ifttt.com.

2. Connect services: Use the search bar to find whatever services you are interested in. Click the "Connect" button and link your account by signing in. You can connect unlimited services for free.

3. Browse Applets: Head to the Applets tab in IFTTT and search through our library for an Applet that works for you. Don't worry, we have over a million (and counting) Applets for you to choose from.

You can also create your own with our easy-to-use Applet builder. Check out our full guide to learn how to start building Applets in just a few minutes.

How Etsy sellers use IFTTT in real life

1. Automatically announce new Etsy listings on social media

With IFTTT, sellers can use Applets that automatically post a message to platforms like X, Facebook Pages, or Pinterest whenever a new Etsy listing goes live. This automation makes sure that every product gets a promotional push without extra effort.

2. Log every Etsy sale into Google Sheets for easy tracking

As orders start to come in, keeping track of sales manually becomes old fast. Many sellers want a simple way to see daily or monthly order volume, and this automation is a great way to do just that.

Our popular Etsy Applet solves this by automatically adding a new row to a Google Sheet whenever an order is placed. Each row can include details like the order number, item name, price, quantity, and buyer country.

3. Get SMS for new orders

Not every seller wants to be glued to Etsy notifications or email inboxes. Still, knowing when a new order comes in can make a big difference. Etsy sellers use IFTTT to send an SMS notification to their phone for important events.

4. Turn Etsy orders into tasks or reminders automatically

Once someone buys a product, your responsibilities aren't over. You still need to package items, print labels, ship orders, and sometimes follow up with buyers. Some fantastic applications of automation include creating tasks in tools like Todoist, Google Tasks, or Notion whenever a new Etsy order is placed.

Growing without losing control with IFTTT

As your shop grows, it makes sense that your systems should grow with it. So why are so many sellers stuck in a cycle of booms and busts?

Automation allows you to scale without sacrificing quality or customer experience. Instead of replacing human interaction, IFTTT helps support it by removing those tasks that just feel plain boring.

Many sellers eventually expand beyond Etsy, building standalone stores on Shopify or selling on multiple platforms. Even then, Etsy often remains valuable for people to discover your products. We hope this guide has helped you learn how to sell on Etsy effectively and how to support it with smart automation.

If getting started with IFTTT for free sounds like a deal you can't pass up, click the button below to get started now!