How To Close A Shop On Etsy


how to close a shop on etsy

The actual process of closing an Etsy store is quite straight forward. There are a couple important things you need to understand about closing an Etsy store though.

Your Etsy store and your Etsy account are two very different things. You can close your Etsy store but still, keep your Etsy account.

This allows you to keep the same account and use it as a buyer on Etsy.

What is really important to understand is that even if you close a shop on Etsy, it never really gets “deleted”. You can reopen your shop at any time as long as you did not delete your Etsy account.

We will look at how to close a shop on Etsy, but before you jump into it I urge you to read the whole article so that you get a thorough understanding of what’s the implications are.

How To Close a Shop On Etsy

Without further ado, let’s look at the simple process of how to close a shop on Etsy.

How To Close a Shop on Etsy in 5 Simple Steps:

Step #1:

Go to Etsy.com and log into the account with the Etsy account details that are linked to the store you want to close.

How To Close A Shop On Etsy - Step 1

Step #2:

In the Etsy Shop Manager, Click Settings >> Options

How To Close A Shop On Etsy - Step 2

Step #3:

Click on the Close Shop tab

How To Close A Shop On Etsy - Step 3

Step #4:

Select a reason why you are closing your shop.

Click Close Shop

How To Close A Shop On Etsy - Step 4

Step #5:

Wait at least 30 minutes and try to access your shop on your Etsy Shop URL
https://www.etsy.com/shop/YOURSHOPNAME

Help! I Don’t See The Option To Close My Etsy Store

If you started going through the steps above and you could not see the Close Shop option then there is a simple explanation.

  1. Do you have any outstanding fees?
  2. Do you have any unresolved cases?
  3. Do you have any open orders?

If you have any outstanding fees, simply pay it and you will immediately have the option to close your store. If you have unresolved cases you will need to resolve it before you can close your store.

If you have any open order then the best option is to place your store on Holiday Mode until the orders are complete. Holiday Mode will allow customers to see your store and contact you but they won’t be able to place any new orders.

Once your open orders are complete you should be able to close the Etsy store by following the 5 steps above again.

How To Close Your Account On Etsy

When you close an Etsy store all you really do is to make the store unavailable. The store still exists on Etsy’s servers which is why you are able to always reopen a closed store.

If you are trying to delete a store completely then you will have to delete the Etsy account that is connected to the store.

When you delete an Etsy account it will remove all the data related to that account permanently. This is in accordance to the GDPR and CCPA which are legislation to protect privacy and Etsy fully complies with this.

If you are worried that Etsy could hold the history of a shop against you then at least in theory they can’t since deleting your account should delete your entire history from their servers.

How to Close an Etsy Account (different from removing an Etsy Store)

Step #1:

In the Etsy Shop Manager, click on your Profile and select Account information

close Etsy account step 1

Step #2:

Select the Account tab and scroll all the way down.

close Etsy account step 2

Step #3:

close Etsy account step 3

Select a reason why you are closing your account.

Click Close Account

What they keep and what they delta is not 100% clear though. I would think that they will keep some sort of history about the listings and the orders as they are only legally required to delete any personal information.

One clue is that even after you removed an Etsy account it can still be recovered.

You can simply contact Etsy and they can help you reinstate an account that has had both the Etsy Shop and the Etsy Account removed.

This is very relevant if you had a store shut down or suspended by Etsy in the past and you want to get back on to Etsy to start selling again.

When You Should Close an Etsy Shop?

Starting an Etsy store often takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears. When you gave it your best and the store still did not do much then you have two options.

You can either try and fix it but if you are selling stuff that people simply don’t want to buy then you could just be fighting an uphill battle.

The most sensible thing is to simply close the store and move on – pour your energy into something new; something that people actually want to buy.

Here are the most common scenarios where you should actually close your Etsy store.

1. Stop Trading

The most common reason for closing an Etsy shop is if you want to stop trading completely. Running an Etsy store can be hard work – especially if you make your own products.

If your store is not very successful and you see only sporadic sales then it could actually be a drag to operate a business like that. Most of the time it is better to just close the shop and move on.

If you are selling products you can’t source anymore or products you can make (or ship) anymore then you should close your store as soon as possible since bd reviews and chargebacks can be a strike against your account.

2. Move Away From Etsy

In some cases, you may even decide to move your store away from Etsy. There are a number of reasons why some sellers do this.

You may want to break away and start your own brand and your own store where you have total control over everything about your store. Moving your store to Shopify or Woocommerce is a bold move but there are many successful Etsy stores that have done this.

If you are planning on doing this I would strongly recommend that you only close your Etsy shop (not delete your Etsy account). This will give you the option to always come back and reopen your store.

You may also want to consider Pattern. This is Etsy’s stand-alone platform which will allow you to build your own store on your own domain using Etsy’s checkout and Etsy’s backend platform.

Pattern is a great option for starting a stare in general because it is so robust and easy to use. If you are already familiar with Etsy then this is a no-brainer if you want to break away from Etsy.

Another reason why you may want to close an Etsy shop is to start selling exclusively on Amazon Handmade. This is Amazon’s version of Etsy and is arguably their biggest competition.

While you could sell on both platforms to leverage both these massive marketplaces it may not always be ideal and depends largely on the products you offer.

3. Start Fresh With a New Etsy Store

If you want to start fresh and use a lot of the existing products in your current store but have a fresh approach then closing the store and the account will be necessary.

Etsy does not like duplicate listings or duplicate stores that sell almost exactly the same things. If even they don’t make many (or any) sales it is still much safer to close the store and the account and start completely fresh.

When You Should NOT Close an Etsy Shop

I would rarely recommend you close an Etsy shop completely by closing the Etsy account as well as the shop. There are a few scenarios where you should absolutely not close your Etsy shop.

1. Access To Past Data

Simply closing the store is always the safe option because it allows you to still access past orders and the data from past orders.

One important consideration is that you will need to access your sales data for tax time. Another is that your sales data is worth gold.

Seeing what items sold or did not sell and whom it sold to can help you a lot in improving your products and making better decisions even if you start selling away from Etsy.

2. Ability To Reopen Your Shop

I’ve seen this in my own eCommerce businesses a LOT. You get frustrated with something and you make the bold decision to pull the plug.

Then, 2 years down the line you start getting a bit more clarity or the market changes and you realize that there is still a lot of potential in that store that you closed – often on impulse.

If you can just go back and easily re-open the Etsy store then you can be back in business fairly quickly. Often times just one or two small things can make an Etsy store profitable again.

Maybe you find a new supplier? Or you realize that you actually made a big mistake across your whole store which is why you did not get enough sales.

3. Your Store Got Suspended or Etsy Closed Your Shop

If your Etsy store got suspended or if Etsy closed down your store then you most probably did something very wrong.

Many Etsy sellers are paranoid about getting their stores closed down for no reason but that is a complete myth. Etsy will rarely just shut down a store with no communication or reason behind it.

The most common reason why stores get suspended is because of copyright and trademark infringements.

Most of the time you will be warned and if you comply and work with Etsy you should be able to get your store back.

If your store has been suspended before, is full of bad reviews or if you had infringement warnings before then it makes sense to just close the Etsy store and the account and start it again on a new and fresh account, right?

Nope.

It’s not that easy. This is considered a circumvention of Etsy’s policies and will usually lead to an instant suspension.

Unless you make significant changes to your products you will probably just be caught again. This is no way to run a business – always worrying about when it could come to an end.

Never close an Etsy store on bad terms if your only intention is to open it again under a different name and different profile.

If you believe that the suspension or infringement warnings where wrongfully made then you are far better off working with Etsy to resolve it than to try and start a new store that simply does the same thing again.

4. You Are Getting Decent SEO Traffic

If I get a decent amount of search engine traffic to any Etsy store then I will rarely close it. Etsy is a beast when it comes to SEO and it has a lot of authority and can help you to quickly rank for fairly competitive buyer keywords.

Search engine traffic to products is the closest thing to free money you will get online. You simply have to put a reasonable product in front of this traffic to see sales.

If you get more than 100 clicks per day to your Etsy store (or listings combined) then there is still life in your store. You simply have to find the right products.

Be sure to always use Google Analytics on your Etsy store.

etsy google analytics

5. Good Store History

If you have a store with a good history then closing it is not a smart decision. An aged store with a lot of good reviews is an asset.

Have you considered selling it? It could be worth quite a bit.

An aged store with a lot of positive reviews means that even if you start adding new (and different) products it could still give you a significant advantage in Etsy’s search results.

etsy store

Closing a Shop On Etsy – Conclusion

Closing a shop on Etsy is a fairly simple process. When you close the store you will always have the option to re-open it as long as the Etsy account associated to the store is not closed as well.

If you want to or have to top trading then it makes sense to close the store. You can always put your store on Holiday Mode which will keep the store live but remove the checkout. That way you can’t get any new orders.

If you want to have a crack at it away from Etsy hen Shopify is a great option. You can also use Pattern which is Etsy’s own eCommerce platform. Both will give you total control.

Be sure to keep your Etsy account even if you closed the store. That way you can always come back and reopen your store if things don’t work out.

If you have an Etsy store that has been suspended or that had copyright notices then closing it with the intention of starting something similar on a new account and a new store is not a smart idea.

There’s a lot of opportunities to comply with all Etsy’s rules and still, be very successful. The lure of a shortcut by selling products that infringe on other’s copyrights is very tempting.

Don’t fall into that trap. It is hard work selling authentic products. Tough it out and you will succeed.

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