Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your question about the Etsy Offsite Ads programme. It's a common question among sellers, and understanding how it works and if it's worth it for *your* specific situation is key.
What exactly are Etsy Offsite Ads?
Think of Offsite Ads as Etsy acting like your own little ad agency, but for their platform. They take your listings and run advertisements for them on various big external platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Bing. It's paid traffic that Etsy generates, directing people to your shop listings.
From my experience running paid campaigns across many platforms, this is essentially Etsy leveraging their scale and ad accounts to potentially put your products in front of people who aren't already searching directly on Etsy. It's a way to tap into audiences on social media or those searching on Google for products like yours.
Let's look at the numbers with Offsite Ads...
You mentioned you've heard it can "cost too much" and "didn't help". This comes down to the core question of return on investment (ROI), which is what we constantly look at in paid advertising. Etsy charges a transaction fee (usually 12-15% depending on your sales volume in the past year) on any sale that originates from an Offsite Ad click within a certain timeframe. This fee is *on top* of your standard Etsy fees.
The question isn't just "did I get a sale?", but "did I make a profit from that sale after all the fees, including the Offsite Ad fee?". For example, if an item costs £50 and your profit margin before any Etsy fees is £30, but the Offsite Ad fee is 15% (£7.50), plus the other standard fees (listing, transaction, payment processing), does enough profit remain to make that sale worthwhile? Some sellers with very low margins might find the additional fee eats up too much of their profit.
I've seen this challenge in running campaigns for various eCommerce clients. Sometimes, the cost per acquisition (the cost to get one sale) can be high depending on the competition and the product. The 15% is essentially your CPA for sales through this channel, dictated by Etsy. You need to see if that CPA is sustainable for your business.
Your listings need to be spot on...
The other side of "didn't help" is often what happens *after* someone clicks the ad and lands on your listing. Even the best ad in the world sending lots of traffic won't result in sales if the product listing itself isn't compelling. Based on what I've seen with other online stores, people drop off for many reasons.
Are your product photos excellent and professional? Are your product descriptions detailed, persuasive, and do they answer potential customer questions? Is your pricing competitive? Is your shop trustworthy looking with reviews and clear policies? If the answer is no to any of these, traffic from *any* source (Offsite Ads, organic search, social media) won't convert well. It's like having a beautiful shop window but the products inside are poorly displayed.
So, before you even think about paid traffic, making sure your conversion rate is as high as possible by optimising your shop and listings is crucial. Otherwise, you're paying for clicks that won't turn into sales.
The best way is to just test it...
Ultimately, the performance of Offsite Ads is going to vary wildly between different shops, different products, and different niches. What works for a seller of cheap, mass-produced items might not work for an artist selling high-ticket, unique pieces, and vice versa. The only real way to know if it will help *your* specific shop is to try it out.
Turn it on for a defined period, maybe a month or two. Track the sales that Etsy attributes to Offsite Ads in your dashboard. Calculate the fees associated with those specific sales. Then look at your profit margin on those items. Are you making enough money after all the fees to justify those sales? If yes, great. If not, then it might not be the right channel for you right now, or perhaps it indicates an issue with your pricing or margins.
Here's a quick overview of the recommended approach:
| Action/Step | What to Do | Outcome Goal |
| Evaluate Listings | Ensure photos, descriptions, pricing, and shop trust signals are strong. | Maximise chance of traffic converting to sales. |
| Enable Offsite Ads | Turn the feature on in your Etsy settings. | Generate external paid traffic to your shop. |
| Monitor & Track | Keep a close eye on Offsite Ad attributed sales and the fees charged over a period (e.g., 1-2 months). | Understand the volume of sales and the direct cost associated with them. |
| Calculate Profitability | For Offsite Ad sales, subtract all fees (Etsy fees + Offsite Ad fee + production costs) from the sale price. | Determine if sales generated through Offsite Ads are actually profitable for you. |
| Make Decision | Based on profitability, decide if Offsite Ads is a worthwhile channel for your business strategy. | Continue using if profitable, or disable if not. |
Evaluating performance metrics and understanding whether paid traffic is truly profitable requires a bit of digging into the numbers, which can sometimes be overwhelming.
Often, getting an outside perspective from someone who deals with ad performance metrics day in, day out, can help clarify whether a channel like Offsite Ads is working effectively for you, or if there are other strategies (like optimising your listings, exploring other marketing efforts, or even running your own targeted ads if that makes sense for your products) that might yield better results.
We're happy to offer some additional thoughts specific to your shop if you'd like to book in a free consultation.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
