Are Etsy Ads Worth It in 2025?

About this video

Dylan Jahraus, who says she has over 13 years in e-commerce, about 8 years on Etsy, over a million dollars in profit, and a company of about 28 people coaching sellers, argues for organic traffic before Etsy Ads. She says ads should be icing on top of a strong organic foundation, not something a shop is handcuffed to, because organic traffic gives qualitative feedback about what customers liked or disliked, who the right customer is, and whether a product has product-market fit. Etsy Ads data, by contrast, shows spend, revenue, click-through rate, return on ad spend and the search terms leading to a listing, but gives no bid-threshold control, no information on who shopped or why they did not click, and nothing about how competitive the photo-plus-price value proposition is. She recommends exhausting organic methods — Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, blogging and email marketing — noting a pin can compound to 100,000 visits over a few years from warm leads at no cost. Her biggest warning is sellers who think ads are profitable when they are losing money: she cites a seller spending $100 a day, about $3,000 a month, on about $5,000 in revenue who thought he made $2,000, while product, fulfillment and fee costs of $4,000 meant he was actually negative $2,000 a month. She says ad spend must be counted as part of cost of goods sold, a variable cost, and the right return on ad spend depends on margin — digital products with lower costs can tolerate a lower return, while shipped physical products can go negative quickly. Ads also will not work without SEO first. If a seller is determined to advertise, she recommends starting with Facebook Ads instead of Etsy Ads, Pinterest ads or boosted Instagram posts.

Key takeaways

• Build organic traffic first so the business is not handcuffed to ad spend and margins stay stronger long term
• Etsy Ads shows spend, revenue, click-through rate, ROAS and search terms, but not bid thresholds or why shoppers did not click
• Count ad spend as part of cost of goods sold — her example seller spent about $3,000 a month on $5,000 revenue with $4,000 in other costs, losing $2,000 a month
• Ads will not fix missing SEO; she calls using ads before learning SEO a very expensive lesson
• If determined to run ads, she recommends Facebook Ads over Etsy Ads, Pinterest ads or boosted Instagram posts

Episode details: published July 1, 2024 · 7:36 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dylan Jahraus’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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