5 reasons I am Glad Etsy Disabled my Shop (and why I Opened a Gumroad Account instead)

There’s a reason why content creators and influencers are often warned not to ‘put all their eggs in one basket’. We’re only ever one hacker away from our work being lost forever. Our accounts can be disabled by any faceless moderator employed by the multi-million-dollar apps we use to reach our audience and sell our wares. I’m sure you’ve heard of at least one influencer or creator whose account was lost at some point for whatever reason, and it may have even happened to you.

Well, it happened to me and my Etsy shop in particular. Without going into too many details, Etsy did not like the fact that I am a digital nomad. And when I reached out to them asking them how to update my account information, asking for help as I wanted to pay my taxes properly and hook up my SSN and everything, they disabled my account. A Star Seller account that had been operating since 2007. In one evening, almost a decade of work, sales, and reviews had disappeared, without even a legitimate reason (the email they sent me said that I need to have the documents that I was in the process of uploading and getting verified). And once your shop is disabled, and if your appeal is not accepted, you’re banned from Etsy for life.

And yet, the click-bait title of this article implies that this was somehow a net positive. Of course, losing my Etsy shop was a pretty big blow. But I’ve moved on, and in doing so, I’ve come to realize that maybe Etsy was never really for me. I’ve filed an appeal and may get my shop back eventually, but do I want it back? We don’t have to tie ourselves to the biggest apps and websites to make good money or sales. We just have to keep creating our best work and reaching out the people who really love us – our fans.

Without further ado, I present to you the 5 reasons I am Glad Etsy Disabled my Shop (and why I Opened a Gumroad Account instead):

1. Etsy Payments: Geographical Constraints for Global Creators

Out of 195 countries in the world, only certain ones are ‘allowed’ to sell on Etsy. To be more precise only about 52 countries can use Etsy payments (some with further restrictions). You’re not allowed to open a shop from a country that doesn’t accept Paypal payments, and if you have one running that was open before this policy was in place, it can pretty much be shut down any moment. Not having Etsy payments means your shop cannot accept credit or debit card payments, and only PayPal can be used in your shop.

To contrast, Gumroad has a much bigger selection of options for countries. You need either a bank account or a PayPal for receiving payments, however, credit and debit card options are available (as far as I know) for all shops. The only countries you can’t open a Gumroad shop in are countries that PayPal is not available in, because at that point, they simply won’t be able to pay you.

While I understand that there are international trade laws and all sorts of technical money and tax related things that place restrictions on sales and eligible countries, the fact remains that, for digital creators, Gumroad is way more flexible than Etsy regarding your location and country. For Etsy’s size and popularity on a global level, it is very limited in where sellers are actually allowed to live. It’s also nigh impossible to change your shop location should you relocate to a country with a different currency or taxation rules. You can find loads of articles and Reddit posts online of people warning others to not even log into their Etsy shops while traveling. In our current world of digital nomads and frequent travelers, this just seems crazy to me. You can also contact Etsy support – but you may just find your account suspended/ disabled, like what happened to me.

2. Etsy Billing

Ah, Etsy billing. The single most annoying thing about Etsy that I have never been able to understand. You make your sales on Etsy, gather up your money, and then by the end of the month, Etsy bills you. It’s basically the time when you pay the fees and commission Etsy places on all items sold in their marketplace. A totally fair thing for Etsy to charge, however, I could never understand why this had to be paid separately at the end of the month. Most shops and marketplaces I’ve worked with calculate the fees automatically, so you only get paid what you’re owed, and you’re done once the money hits your bank account. But no, Etsy managed to make the most convoluted system ever, and after you get paid, you basically have to send some of the money back. It also creates a system where you can be late for those payments, and then get penalized for not paying, which just seems counter-intuitive for everyone.

After my Etsy shop was disabled, I was sent my bill. And because I had sent in an appeal to try and get my shop opened again, I had to pay the bill though it was the last thing I wanted to do. It’s like being kicked out by your landlord then having them call you the week after to pay some old utility bills while you’re back in your parents’ house, sleeping in the basement.

With Gumroad, this element simply does not exist. You are either paid directly through PayPal as the sales come through or sent payouts to your bank as long as you’ve gone over the $10 threshold. They also have a handy chart breaking down the gross and net amounts, taxes, fees paid to Gumroad, and any refunds issued for your records.

3. Etsy’s file-size limitations are ridiculous

It is the year 2023, and the maximum file size for digital items on Etsy is 20mb. That’s not a typo. You get twenty whole megabytes. They have also generously allowed sellers to upload up to 5 (five!) Of those 20mb files, coming to a grand total of 100mb, split up in the most annoying way.

This is a nightmare for people who primarily sell digital items. My coloring books and packs can range anywhere from 50 – 120mb, and I like to provide a variety of file types for download (a PDF ebook plus individual PNGs for example). And while you can provide a link for buyers to a Onedrive where they can access unlimited downloads, not all buyers are tech-savvy enough to do that. There are other workarounds as well, but my point is: why should I need a workaround in the first place?

Gumroad has no file-size restrictions that I have been able to discover. I have finally been able to offer all my coloring books in multiple formats, and expand my free coloring page collection to include nearly 180 coloring pages. And I didn’t even have to split it into multiple zips! Incredible.

4. Etsy is first and foremost a physical goods marketplace

No matter how you look at it, digital goods on Etsy are kind of an afterthought. We’ve already discussed the ridiculous file size limits, but it goes beyond that. At the end of the day, Etsy’s primary reason for existence is physical hand-made goods (and not random crap made in China that sellers attach to a hook and call hand-made earrings, but a million of those shops still exist and mine got disabled, no I’m not bitter, why do you ask?). In that sense, Etsy really lags behind when it comes to features for digital goods and services.

Gumroad offers loads of features, such as a ‘pay what you want’ with an option for a minimum accepted payment. You can offer memberships/ subscriptions, or have buyers pay to access courses and videos. As your fans subscribe to Gumroad, you gain access to their emails, giving you the ability to contact them directly in their inboxes. I have found that with Gumroad, you’re more in charge of your shop, what you offer, how you price it, how you run sales and process refunds than you ever were with Etsy.

I often found myself being contacted by buyers on Etsy with issues that only Etsy would be able to handle, yet Etsy would send them to me to handle it, which was frustrating as my answer had to be ‘please contact Etsy’ which just made me look like a shoddy seller. But with Gumroad, I’ve been able to issue partial refunds for people who weren’t able to apply a discount code, and generally just feel more in control of what I’m selling.

5. I’ve learned a valuable lesson moving forward

Back to the putting all your eggs in one basket. This isn’t only a post about the superiority of Gumroad. A quick search online reveals that, should your shop experience what Gumroad considers ‘too many returns’ (for whatever reason, maybe you’re being targeted or bullied) they can and will simply shut your shop down. For small creators that aren’t on the radar of these giant corporations, it’s easier to shut down suspicious activity than to look into what’s really going on, they simply can’t be bothered.

And that’s why I’ve gone ahead and reserved my ‘Yampuff’ handle on various websites I may be operating in the future. Should I open a Storenvy, a Ko-fi, or a Patreon? I don’t know yet, but I am ready to.

As it takes me literal ages to untangle the mess Etsy put me in (changing all the links on my website to lead back to my Gumroad rather than Etsy, wondering if I should edit my coloring books as most of them mention my Etsy shop name, going through my blog and YouTube accounts to do the same, etc) it comes to mind that the only steady thing that has gotten me through all of this are the fans that have been so supportive, many of them who have followed me since my DeviantArt days. And while Etsy and any other app can always shut down our shops and accounts, the genuine connections we make with other people through our art will always remain.

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