Episode 195: Selling on Etsy in 2025? Here’s What You Need to Know
In this episode of the Gloria Chou PR Podcast, I sit down with Dylan Jahraus—host of the #1 Etsy podcast and founder of the Ultimate Etsy Course—to unpack the biggest Etsy updates of 2025 and exactly how to set up your shop for long-term success.
From SEO and pricing to AI tools and post-purchase wow moments, Dylan shares actionable tips that product-based founders can implement right now to stand out on Etsy—even without a big budget or paid ads.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to grow your store, this episode is your crash course in the new Etsy algorithm and the real reasons why some shops rise to the top.
What’s New on Etsy in 2025—and How to Take Advantage
Dylan breaks down Etsy’s newest policies, creative standards, and how AI is now being used to verify sellers and product listings. Learn how to stay compliant and take advantage of underutilized categories like “Handpicked by Seller.”
How to Actually Get Seen on Etsy (Without Paying for Ads)
Why your SEO and product photos matter more than ever
How pricing affects conversion rate and search ranking
Why fewer options = higher conversions
How to spot and ride trends before they hit Etsy
The New Strategy for Competing with Bestsellers
Want to compete with top-performing Etsy shops even if you're brand new?
Dylan walks through how to:
Use AI product photos to elevate your listings
Curate trendy, seasonal mockups
Build a value-forward product experience that stands out in search
Post-Purchase Strategy: How to Wow Customers and Get Repeat Buyers
Learn how to deliver a premium customer experience after the sale—including automated messages, helpful content, and how to get customers from Etsy to your Instagram and email list (without breaking Etsy’s rules).
Tools to Make Etsy Work for You
etSEO: Dylan’s custom AI tool for optimized, mobile-friendly, customer-centric listings
Vela: Mass-update tool for syncing Shopify and Etsy listings
Instagram + TikTok: Dylan’s secret to growing her audience from 0 to 50k in 2 months
Final Takeaway
You don’t need to pay thousands for ads or offer deep discounts to succeed on Etsy in 2025.
What you do need is:
✅ Trend-savvy product listings
✅ Smart SEO and pricing strategies
✅ A memorable customer experience
If Dylan can help thousands grow profitable Etsy shops, you can too.
Resources Mentioned:
Join the PR Secrets Masterclass
Join the Small Biz PR Pros Facebook Group
DM the word “PITCH” to us on Instagram to get a pitching freebie https://www.instagram.com/gloriachoupr
Connect with Gloria Chou on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gloriaychou
Join Gloria Chou's PR Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/428633254951941
Connect with Dylan Jahraus: Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/dylanjahraus
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dylanjahraus
Website / Ultimate Etsy Course:https://www.dylanjahraus.com
Additional Resources:
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TRANsCRIPT
00:00:00 Gloria: What's up, small business heroes? Welcome back to Small Business PR, where we make PR and marketing super accessible for the everyday small business hero. So Etsy, Etsy, Etsy. I kinda have an Etsy problem, self admittedly. I love shopping on Etsy. But today, we have the host of the number one Etsy podcast, Dylan Jahraus. She is also the founder of the Ultimate Etsy course. So check her out for all things Etsy. But I wanna take things in a different direction today. We've talked a lot on this podcast about the different platforms, Etsy, Amazon, Faire, but today is actually the day when a lot of Etsy new changes have been rolled out. And I really wanna talk to Dylan about what's actually working to get seen, the pricing, the SEO, even AI. So if you are thinking at all about using Etsy now or ever or even if you're just curious on what's working, this episode is for you. So welcome to the show, Dylan.
00:00:49 Dylan: Thanks for having me, Gloria. I'm excited to be here and to share all these updates with your audience.
00:00:54 Gloria: So you're very niched on Etsy. Can you tell me why Etsy versus other platforms? Right? Because we have Amazon, we have Faire, why Etsy?
00:01:01 Dylan: So I also sell on Amazon and Shopify and we teach how to sell on other platforms as well. But Etsy really is one of the fastest places to build a brand. So Etsy alone, it's a search engine. It's very powerful, ranks high in Google. And for anyone who's looking to make a big splash, Etsy is great for even just top of funnel for your brand. So the customers on Etsy are also very different than those customers on Amazon. They're not expecting that Amazon Prime delivery this afternoon. They are willing to be a little more patient and pay a higher price for something that's more special and really a great customer experience.
00:01:37 Gloria: Oh my gosh. I actually never thought about that. That is actually really true. That's amazing. You've sold me on that one. Yeah. I think you're right. I think with Amazon, it's just, like, race to the bottom in terms of pricing and then also a lot of returns. But on Etsy, I do feel like people are a little bit more patient and have a little bit more of an understanding, right, that it's small business. So Etsy has, again, at the time of recording, you said rolled out a ton of new things. Can you just tell us really quickly, like, what is happening with these Etsy changes?
00:02:04 Dylan: Yes. So Etsy has caught a lot of flak in the last couple of years with complaints from sellers saying it's not seller-friendly anymore, and then from buyers saying, oh, it's flooded with these spam shops who are dropshipping stuff from China. And so a lot of complaints from both sides. So they're really trying to be more clear in their policies. And last week, some of the directors met. They did a live session that I think was preplanned pretty heavily, but it was really talking about the new creative standards for what is allowed to be sold on Etsy.
00:02:35 Dylan: And they talked about also their new way of filtering through who can sell on Etsy and, like, the verification that will be required. There's going to be more AI involved in reviewing your products, in reviewing your shop and filtering things. So there's a lot of changes that will, I would say, tighten up the controls around who can sell and then what you can sell on the platform.
00:02:58 Gloria: So it seems like there's a lot of opportunities and also disadvantages too. So if I'm starting off, on Etsy, if I'm a kind of a newbie, what are some of the things that I need to do right now just to set myself up for success? Because I don't wanna be on page 100, and I also don't wanna pay thousands for ads. And I know that if you do pay, money speaks, but there's got to be some ways that we can use these changes to our advantage. So what are they?
00:03:18 Dylan: Yes. Absolutely. So some of these changes really are around the categories you can sell in. And one of my favorite new categories is the handpicked by a seller category. And this is one of the new categories where there's still such a lot of gray area actually, where you're basically essentially buying and reselling. So for people who think of Etsy, ten years ago, they're thinking my crafts, my quilted, my knitted items, crafting at home. It's not a scalable business. It's just a little hobby. Well, now, doors have opened to sell almost anything on the platform as long as you categorize it correctly.
00:03:53 Dylan: And with this new category, they actually launched it July 9th of last year. It's handpicked by a seller. You can actually source. You could curate a collection of themed items and then package and resell it. So I love this category because now it's really a new competitive playing field of sourcing and having a good eye for curating, which it's one of my favorite things to do. It also is very focused on trends. And if you are trend forward and picking up on trends that aren't yet on Etsy, you'll have a huge advantage with this.
00:04:26 Gloria: Oh, I love that. You're speaking my language with the trends. So I love the curation. I love the trends. Is this like an SEO search that we do? How do we know what people are buying? Let's say, if I have jewelry or if I have candles, but I have 60 different items, how do I know which one? Do I put the trend in the keyword? Like, how do I work this trend thing?
00:04:43 Dylan: So one of the things I like to remind people of is where to look for trends. Because a lot of people who think about selling on Etsy, they're gonna look up what is trending on Etsy. Well, by the time something is trending on Etsy, you're six to eight months too late. So Etsy is actually one of the last places to get trends, not one of the first. So we like to look outside of Etsy for those ideas. A couple of my favorite places right now to pick up on trends are well, Pinterest is pretty strong, but TikTok shop as well. Things go there first.
00:05:15 Dylan: And then influencer. The influencer space, I love looking to… especially those they started off in as mommy vloggers, like, 2016. I'm talking about like Erin Williams, Tara Henderson, even Dani Austin, that whole crowd. And looking at the influencer market and what they're pushing is really insightful when it comes to what trends would do well on Etsy.
00:05:36 Gloria: Oh, such great tips. So let's say I have, like, something that's trending. For example, Beyonce right now has her Cowboy Carter tour, and so there's a lot of, like, rhinestones and cowboy western things. And how do I compete with all the rest of the people on Etsy selling something similar?
00:05:51 Dylan: Yes. So there's many ways to compete, but a couple that I like to talk about are your SEO for sure. You can win with SEO hands down, even if you have a shop with no sales in it. You can still win with your SEO. So you might not have the track record or social proof yet, but you could have winning SEO.
00:06:07 Dylan: And then we like to look at your value proposition. So if you are just starting out and you're like, I'm seeing this Beyonce trend – of course, be very careful with trademarks. We saw a lot with Taylor Swift's concert tour as well people had to be very careful, although it was very lucrative to hop on that. So you have to be careful, but then we look at your value proposition. So it's your combination of your listing photo and your price point. That's all people are looking at, and we have to remember that they're not reading this long flowery ChatGPT description. You're not even getting them to click in unless you win with that photo and price point.
00:06:43 Dylan: So a couple things I recommend doing are really making sure that your mockups or your photos are much more trendy than the competition. So most of the time, bestsellers, the way they've gotten there is through their revenue history, which usually it means they've been on Etsy for a while with that listing. So what you can do is come in with a more trendy mockup, some more trendy props in it, a little more elevated feeling, and then pack that with value. Let's say you're doing accessories. Let's say bracelets or something for the concert. We saw this with the Taylor Swift letter bracelets. Instead of showing one or two, show 20. And they're seeing the price of 1 with 20 in the photo. So that's an easy, easy way to compete.
00:07:26 Gloria: Oh, I love that. Okay. So elevated photos. And now there's a lot of AI tools that can make the product photos stand out to make it more modern, simplistic, or whatever the new kids are doing these days. I have no idea. But let's talk about pricing because you… you do say that pricing actually plays a role in how you get found, and that never really occurred to me. So can you tell me more about pricing and how that relates to your searchability?
00:07:47 Dylan: There's two components when it comes to pricing. We talked about the value proposition is your photo plus your price point. So when you are a new seller, I don't care what people say. You know, I hate the advice I hear people saying just, you know, price what you're worth, even if you have no sales, like, your time is valuable. Well, if you have no customers, you have no business. So we need to price to get those first 20 sales. So my recommendation, and I really adopt the philosophy that Alex Hormozi has of just, like, give it away just to acquire some customers, get some reviews, get some social proof, that order velocity will really accelerate things. So we want to price very competitively right away for the first 20 orders. I recommend just breaking even on your first 20 orders as long as it's not too time intensive. And then we can elevate the price. It's kind of like when a new ice cream shop or Froyo place opens, it's like the opening sale. Everyone gets announced for free or whatever.
00:08:45 Dylan: And then the second component of pricing is your order velocity and your conversion rate. So what we like to see is actually the lower the price point, the higher the conversion rate should be. Everyone asks me this question. I have a 4% conversion rate. Is that good? And my answer is it depends. If your item is $200, that's pretty amazing. But if you have a $2 item, that's a terrible conversion rate. This is like the idea of when you're making a purchase. Let's say it's a McDonald's Diet Coke. That's an easy decision. I don't know if you're a fan of those, but should be a high conversion rate. Whereas, like, a new Range Rover would be a much lower conversion rate. That's something you're gonna think about and sleep on. So really, the higher your conversion rate, the higher your order velocity, the higher you will rank on the platform.
00:09:33 Gloria: Oh, okay. So, basically, Etsy wants to see that you are priced competitively and that there's a shorter amount of time between the first, second, third, and fourth purchase. And so how do we do that? Right? The levers we can pull are pricing and then photos. Are there any other levers that we can pull to signal to Etsy that we are a shop that people like so that it can keep getting pushed higher and higher?
00:09:52 Dylan: Yes. And this one is one that people are so scared about and it's driving your own traffic. They think, oh, if I get my listing on Pinterest and drive my own traffic, my conversion rate might go down and then Etsy won't wanna promote me. Well, Etsy actually rewards you for driving traffic. They want you to drive your own traffic. They even give you a special link called a share and save link where you don't have to pay fees on transactions that you drive yourself. So absolutely be driving your own traffic. Facebook, Pinterest are great. Facebook works faster. Pinterest takes longer. Instagram, it's a little more variable. TikTok, definitely more variable. But, yes, drive your own traffic.
00:10:36 Gloria: Oh, okay. That's really good. Anything else in terms of descriptions and, like, different colorways and options, like, that can be in my favor so that I can outcompete the others?
00:10:43 Dylan: This is a huge mistake a lot of sellers make when they're starting out. They think more options is better. That's actually gonna hurt your conversion rate. So if you are offering, this is kind of a Lululemon analogy or Vuori analogy. If you go into those stores, one of the reasons that they do so well is they curate. They do the hard work for you. They don't offer 50 options, 50 colorways. They make a lot of those decisions for you and they curate only good options.
00:11:26 Dylan: So when you are creating a listing, instead of offering 30 different sweatshirt colors that have 50 different font options, that decision is gonna send someone running. They don't wanna make a hard decision right now. They just wanna click buy on their phone. So curate it down to, you know, I would say definitely less than 10. If you can, less than 5 colorways, and no more than three font options.
00:11:51 Gloria: So good. It's also easier for you on the back end. I mean, I think about my own buying decision. There's always a perceived value when there's less choices. And when it's a print on demand and there's, like, 50 choices, it's kind of like Vistaprint or I'm at Walmart printing something. Right? So I absolutely do agree with what you're saying and just choosing the colors that are in season or at the zeitgeist of what people are wanting right now. We are seeing a lot of beige and greens. And so I actually was picking out some customized engraved cups for my New York event, and we have someone who's selling on Etsy. And she actually liked the fact that she only has 4 colors and not 20. I was like, thank god. So that's really helpful. Anything else before the sale? Because this is all kind of before the sale. Right? And then we can talk about, like, any changes after the sale. But anything else that's really working well? I mean, one question that comes to mind is ChatGPT and AI tools. So how can I use those AI tools to be in my favor, or is there any kind of algorithm things that I can do to just work smarter and not harder?
00:12:33 Dylan: Yeah. So there's a couple things. I think ChatGPT, you really have to know how to use it and how to manipulate it and what prompts to provide it to get a really valuable output. And I think a lot of people, they use it for descriptions. So they'll say, give me a description for, like, a t-shirt with a flower on it or whatever it is, and then it gets this long flowery description. They copy and paste it. These descriptions are not at all optimized for mobile. 70% of people on Etsy are shopping on mobile. Like, we've really got to be careful with how you're using ChatGPT.
00:13:07 Dylan: We actually built an SEO tool called etSEO where you just upload your picture and it gives you a fully optimized listing, but it's optimized for mobile and then it's customer-centric, which means this is not product centric SEO. This is customer-centric. And it's how customers search because customers, let's say it's father's day coming up. So they're looking for a Father's Day gift. They're not gonna be searching for an 11 inch mahogany hammer with script engraving on it. They don't know what they're searching for. They're just looking for a Father's Day gift around $50. That's how customers search. So we built a tool that provides that, but I do recommend being careful with ChatGPT.
00:13:50 Gloria: Got it. So in terms of customer-centric, so instead of the hammer mahogany, it would be like Father's Day gifts under $50 for outdoor lovers. Maybe something like that?
00:13:58 Dylan: Exactly. Yeah. Like tools for dad. Custom engraved tools. The shopper, they don't even know maybe that they're looking for a hammer. Maybe they would like a screwdriver set.
00:14:07 Gloria: Exactly. Yeah. I actually am a great example of this because I was looking for a gold bracelet, and I had no idea all these different chains, it gets really complex. So it is true that half the people don't even know what they're looking for, and it's just a description that the normal person without industry knowledge would be. But sometimes we get so bogged down with jargon, right, because we are the owners. That is so, so brilliant. Any other changes? What about, like, after someone purchases? Are there any changes in 2025 that we need to be knowing about in terms of, like, fulfillment, upsells, customer retention?
00:14:38 Dylan: So on Etsy's side, most of their changes were really around traffic and getting found and how to protect your shop and protect yourself as a seller so that you stay in good standing. But I do think that more important than ever is going to be what I call the invisible playing field of customer experience because this is something that is very hard to copy. The competition, they won't really see it unless they experienced it after a purchase with you. So it's a great way to compete is through your experience.
00:15:13 Dylan: I used to work for Zappos which is the shoe company, Tony Hsieh, delivering happiness. And I really learned a lot about a wow customer experience there. And I think that is just a playing field that you can compete with. And the customers you want, like, the most profitable customers out there right now who spend the most money, they require like, premium customer experience. So if you wanna attract them, that is, I would say, a non-negotiable this year.
00:15:41 Gloria: Right. So how can we do that? Do we do personalized letters? Is there anything on Etsy that makes it easier to remind us to check-in with them?
00:15:46 Dylan: Yeah. So there are little auto-responses that you can set up and pre-handle any questions that are frequently asked to get them a quick response. But also with every message you send, you wanna have plenty of touch points after they purchase. So you wanna say, thank you for your order. Production is starting now. Or maybe it's a digital product so you could say it's in your inbox. Here's a YouTube video on how to use it. We're just going above and beyond, pre-handling possible questions and anticipating questions with our answer. So you don't just answer the question they have. You're answering that and then answering the next possible one as well.
00:16:22 Gloria: So good. I mean, this should be applied throughout any business. It doesn't matter what you have is getting people to remind them of the value that they just invested. I mean, that's absolutely brilliant. This is all so good. Is there anything else? I think that etSEO is really cool as well. Any other tools out there that people can get started to help them do some of this leg work for them?
00:16:39 Dylan: There are tools like Vela, for example. Vela is one of my favorite tools to mass update listings, sync listings between platforms. So let's say you have Shopify as well and you have Etsy. Maybe you're doing a full rebrand of your photos or something, you wanna be making these updates quickly. You can do that in minutes with something like Vela, and they have a great free trial. So love that. You can test it out, do some updates in a week, and see how you like it. So that's one of my favorite tools.
00:17:07 Dylan: And then I think it's really more important than ever to be building your email list and getting customers off of Etsy to your other places. So I love recommending Instagram as a bridge. So legally, you cannot send Etsy shoppers to your website. That would be fee difference attempts from Etsy's point of view, but you can send them to your social media. So I recommend with every order, even if it's a digital product saying, thank you, Gloria, for your order. I'm putting a sneak peek of that on Instagram linked here. And then you do a story where it's just a little screenshot of the mockup saying thank you, Gloria, for the order. It's on its way. With every transaction, your review rate will be so high, and now you've gotten them onto Instagram where then you can get them to your email list or Shopify.
00:17:54 Gloria: What's the best way to get someone onto your email list at that point?
00:17:57 Dylan: A couple things. It depends on your model. I love right now a drop model where we are launching new collections. So see yourself maybe like Nordstrom, and you're launching new collections throughout your shop every week. A drop is a great way where you can get the thing here, get the new info here first. So early access, basically. You can do coupons. I hate relying only on coupons and promotions, though. So I say, use that sparingly. Give them other value through the email list, education. Maybe it's aspirational, maybe it's connection, community. So all of those are other ways to get them on your list.
00:18:32 Gloria: Yeah. I agree. I think the discount you start training people to think just, again, race to the bottom. Right? That you're just not going to value it. So I love a little behind the scenes, and I think marketing is going towards where, like, we want to hear your values and, like, your origin story. And that's really what people want and people are buying purposely based on whether or not they resonate with you. And there's no better way to do that than to be a real person behind the product. So I think that's beautiful. Is there anything else you want to leave our audience with? This has been, by the way, so helpful. I feel like this is a Etsy shop 101. I don't have a physical product, but after this, I feel like, hmm, I could probably start one. So is there anything else you wanna leave our audience with?
00:19:10 Dylan: I would just say that no matter what you sell, even if it's a digital product or a service or a physical product, you can always use Etsy as top of funnel for your business. And it is a way to get found. It's a way to get new eyeballs. And I encourage you to even think about it like Pinterest right now because you publish the listings. They can stay forever. It helps your ranking in Google. There's so many benefits to it. So even if you don't want this huge Etsy presence, at least use it to funnel eyeballs to your business.
00:19:42 Gloria: So good. Dylan, you are the Etsy success coach, and I wanna know how people can find you and get into your world.
00:19:49 Dylan: So Instagram is great. @dylanjahraus on Instagram. Our website, we have more info on… on how we help people there. And then TikTok is our new playing field. We have a TikTok strategy. If you are trying to grow on TikTok, go to my TikTok. Check out what we've done. We went from nothing to 50K in the last two months, and it's mind blowing to me. So we have a really great strategy we've locked in. You can see it pretty clearly with what we're doing. And check it out if you wanna grow on TikTok.
00:20:19 Gloria: What's your TikTok handle?
00:20:20 Dylan: @dylanjahraus.
00:20:21 Gloria: Okay. I wanna go to it. That's amazing, girl. Two months, 50K. That’s awesome. Cool. Well, thank you all so much, and I'm really excited for all of these tips. I think that as people get over this big box culture, people are flocking to Etsy. People want to support independent things. And I'm only gonna be seeing kind of more and more opportunity on Etsy. So thank you so much for giving us some real practical tips that we can use today. Appreciate you so much.
00:20:47 Dylan: Thanks for having me.
00:21:52 Gloria: Hey, Small Business Hero. Did you know that you can get featured for free on outlets like Forbes, The New York Times, Marie Claire, PopSugar, and so many more even if you are not yet launched or if you don't have any connection? That's right. That's why I invite you to watch my PR Secrets Masterclass where I reveal the exact methods thousands of bootstrapping small businesses use to hack their own PR and go from unknown to being a credible and sought after industry expert.
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