How to Delete Your Etsy Shop – A Step-by-Step Guide for Sellers

Etsy has been a top marketplace for handmade, vintage and craft sellers for over 15 years. But recently, [insert statistic about seller churn, fee increases, etc] leading more sellers to look for Etsy alternatives or leave the platform altogether.

If you’ve decided it’s time to say goodbye to your Etsy shop, this step-by-step guide will walk you through permanently deleting your shop or temporarily closing it if you think you may return someday.

Reasons Sellers Close Their Etsy Shops

There are a variety reasons Etsy shop owners decide to leave the site:

High seller fees – In addition to listing fees, Etsy charges transaction fees of 5% of the item price plus shipping and payment processing fees per order. These fees can quickly eat into profits, especially for lower priced items.

Low sales – The competitive Etsy marketplace makes it difficult for new shops to get discovered. Shop owners can struggle for months with very few sales.

Oversaturation – With over 5 million active sellers on Etsy, standing out requires strong SEO and marketing expertise that many shop owners lack.

Etsy policy changes – Etsy fee increases, algorithm changes affecting search placement and Offsite Ads policy have negatively impacted many sellers.

Personal reasons – Shop owners may need to focus attention on other priorities in their lives or close up shop for an extended vacation or due to health issues.

Whatever the reason, deleting your Etsy shop is a relatively straightforward process if you follow these steps.

How to Permanently Delete Your Etsy Shop

Ready to close up shop for good? Here‘s what to do:

1. Login to your Etsy account and click Shop Manager in the top right corner then go to Settings.

2. Click on Options then select Close Shop.

3. Select the reason you are closing your shop from the dropdown menu and click Close Shop.

Once you complete the steps above, Etsy will officially close your shop within 30 minutes. So if you change your mind, you have a short window to cancel the closure request.

After your shop is closed, any current product listings will immediately disappear so they cannot be purchased.

However, any reviews you’ve accumulated for those listings will still be publicly visible on your profile. So if your reason for leaving is to erase negative reviews, closing your shop will not achieve that goal.

Download Important Data Before Closing

Before shutting your doors for good, be sure to download any sales reports, product images or other vital data.

This will help provide business records for tax purposes and allow you to potentially reopen on another platform someday with your catalog intact.

Alternatives to Closing an Etsy Shop

If your reasons for leaving Etsy are related to lack of sales, high fees or oversaturation, you still have options besides completely shutting down that are worth considering first:

Optimize your Etsy shop – Improving your SEO, photo quality, listings and achieving "Star Seller" status can significantly boost sales. Etsy provides resources to help sellers enhance their shops.

Try other sales channels – Keep your Etsy shop but also begin selling on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to diversify sales channels. Consider craft fairs, pop-up shops or consignment in boutiques too.

List high-profit vintage or handmade products – Switch your production focus exclusively to more profitable, higher priced vintage items or handmade pieces rather than inexpensive commercially manufactured products to improve profit margins.

Take a temporary vacation – Use Etsy‘s vacation mode to take time off while preventing new orders rather than fully closing.

How to Temporarily Close an Etsy Shop

If poor sales or other issues are only temporary, use Etsy’s Vacation Mode instead of permanently deleting your shop:

1. In your Shop Manager, click Settings then Options.

2. Toggle Vacation Mode on.

3. Customize the vacation announcement buyers will see and set an auto-reply for messages received during your time off.

4. Click Save and your vacation mode is live!

Vacation Mode blocks new orders while allowing you to easily reopen your shop fully operational whenever you return.

However, your listings will not appear in Etsy search results during this time.

An alternative to Vacation Mode is to leave your shop open but set shipping dates into the future. Add an announcement explaining you are temporarily unavailable and be sure to follow up quickly with buyers when you reopen.

Final Thoughts

Closing your Etsy shop isn’t a decision to take lightly, but sometimes it becomes necessary. Use this guide to permanently delete or temporarily pause your shop. And consider alternatives to closing completely if possible.

With strategic changes or taking time to reboot, your shop may thrive upon your return. But if you’ve weighed the pros and cons and are committed to moving on, the steps above make it simple.

Wherever your handmade and craft selling journey goes next, I wish you great success!