Okay, well, I lied...
I decided to not wait until all of the listings expired to close the Etsy store. I went ahead and deactivated all of the remaining 30 listings and just closed up shop.
I opened the Etsy store in the beginning of 2017 with the hope that it would take off. We didn't do too bad at first with views, sales, etc., but over the years and with the changes made to Etsy itself since the new CEO took over, everything I was trying to build wasn't going anywhere.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the CEO is the cause of all of my issues, but his implementation of a number of policies, fee hikes, and the like made it more difficult for people like me to get out there.
The best year we had was during the Covid pandemic. After the pandemic, everything went downhill and it never bounced back to even what it was prior to the pandemic. I'd change titles, pictures, tags, etc., but nothing seemed to work.
There is also the concern of scam drop shippers on the site. These people sell things from their "base" in the states, and then have the items sent from a shop overseas - most of the time - from what I understand - these items are from China.
To be fair, I use what's considered a drop shipper - a print on demand service - however, in my view, using a POD is a bit different that what some of these other shops are doing.
I've also recently seen a number of stories on a few platforms where people's shops are being suspended/deactivated for no reasons. You can't even appeal in some cases and Etsy's customer service emails have stated that they won't discuss the matters further.
It's a shame, really. I liked Etsy when I first signed up. I never thought I'd "make it big" like some do, but I had hoped that things wouldn't end up the way they have.
I'm not happy about closing the shop. I wish it would've worked out, but at this point, it's time for me/us to move on and focus on our website here.