Here is a comprehensive review, on Etsy affiliate program.
Etsy is one of the largest online marketplace for Arts and crafts, home made stuff, vintage items and furniture.
The online marketplace for Arts and crafts rewards creativity a lot.
Similarly, they leverage affiliate marketing to improve their brand visibility and marketing.
So, if you are a blogger or Youtuber in the DIY, Arts and Crafts niche, this can be another way to monetise your audience.
Here in this Etsy affiliate program review, you are going to learn about the cookie duration, commission rate and how to make money from the Etsy affiliate program.
Let’s delve in…
What is Etsy?
Etsy is an online store for arts and crafts.
Founded in 2005 and already housing over 70 million products.
It’s a market for vintage, home made products, crafts and artistic properties giving many people the chance to make money from their hand talents.
There are thousands of vendors registered on the site. Each with their own personal storefront, listing products on Etsy.
Let’s just hold this chatter here.
Does Etsy have an affiliate program?
Etsy, as seen in other arts and crafts stores, leverages on Affiliate marketing as one of the affiliate programs to drive in sales.
Etsy has proven to be a safe bet for arts and crafts vendors and buyers.
What about affiliates? Great question.
How Does Etsy Affiliate Program Work?
Etsy affiliate program is a commission per sale affiliate program.
For every product your referrals buy, you earn your own commission.
The affiliate program is hosted by Awin affiliate network. So, they provide all the promotional materials in your journey as an Etsy affiliates.
Similarly, you can find the affiliate program on other affiliate networks such as FlexOffer and CJ but Awin is still the inhouse supported network.
Regardless, if you are going to join Etsy affiliate program, you will have to pay $5, though it will be refunded in your first payment.
Etsy also uses a feature similar to StripeStripe in AliExpress affiliate program. This would allow affiliates to link to a particular products directly.
In the Etsy affiliate program, affiliates earn up to 4$ for every Etsy product purchased by referrals within the 30 days cookie duration.
What Products Can Affiliates Promote in the Etsy Affiliate Program?
Etsy has a wide variety of products for affiliates to promote.
The crafter marketplace is a place for affiliates to earn commission on all products.
Products you can promote are already divided into several categories including:
- Vintage wears
- Jewellery
- Electronics
- Arts and Crafts products
- Clothes
- Kits
- Toys etc.
With this list of products, Etsy affiliate program is most suitable for bloggers and marketers in the arts and crafts, wedding, retro/vintage and home decor niche.
Etsy Affiliate Program Commission?
The Etsy affiliate program has a commission rate of $4 for standard publishers and $2 for User Generated Content (UGC) publishers.
Standard publishers are those with a personal website or blog where they can use to promote Etsy products. Any sale made from their website would earn them $4.
UGC publishers are people that create content on social media and forums. Any sale this kind of affiliates earn from their contents on forum sites would only earn the $2 as commission. Examples of platforms that allow UGC are Facebook, Twitter, Medium etc.
Are you impressed? Of course, I don’t expect you to.
Looking at the fact that Etsy is one of the top companies for arts and crafts supplies, their commission rate is a disappointment.
However, whatever you think about the affiliate program would not change the fact that other affiliate programs in the same arts and crafts niche have lower cookie duration.
Comparing to online stores for DIY and craft:
Micheal’s affiliate program has a cookie duration of 2%.
And Hobby Lobby has their affiliate commission rate to be 3.2%.
That’s to tell you that the low commission rate is a trend in these niche.
Is it the same case for the cookie duration?
Etsy Affiliate Program Cookie Duration?
The cookie duration for the Etsy affiliate program is 30 days.
That is you have an extra 30 days to convince your referral to make a purchase on Etsy.
If the referral should make a purchase within the 30 days, the sale will be attributed to you.
However, any purchase made after the 30 days will not be attributed to you. Hence, no commission.
Hold on! Are you oblivious about cookie duration?
Regarding Etsy, Cookies are a set of data packets stored in the browser of affiliate referrals and used for tracking the activity of your referrals on Etsy website.
So, when a referral clicks your affiliate link to visit Etsy website, the data packets would be stored in the browser.
Any action they take on Etsy website will be monitored and tracked, within the next 30 days.
So, if purchases were made it would be traced back to you.
Likewise after 30 days, the cookies will no longer be active in your referrals browser. So, any action they take on Etsy website will not be traced back to you.
How to Sign up to Etsy Affiliate Program?
Since Etsy runs their affiliate program primarily via Awin Network, you can sign up directly via the network.
Similarly, Etsy has an affiliate page, as seen in the likes of Walmart affiliate program. And you can sign up directly from the page.
Also, if you are registered as a seller on Etsy before, you can still sign up to the affiliate program. Only that you will not earn any commission when you promote and get sales on your personal products.
Similarly, when signing up, you would have to pay a $5 sign up fee, which would be refunded soon.
In addition, if you want to get a better chance into the affiliate program, optimize your website and filter off inane words and adult contents.
However, unlike Canva affiliate program, it is not that difficult to get approval into the Etsy affiliate program.
Etsy Affiliate Program: Payment Structure
First of all, you need to reach a minimum threshold of $20 before you can receive your payment from Etsy in their affiliate program.
Though Etsy uses a Net-30 basis to validate the commission of their referral.
Hence, you need to wait 30 days after your referral to purchase any Etsy products for you to receive your commission.
Payment takes place 1st and 15th of every month. So, once you have reached the threshold before any of those days, you’d receive your commission.
Can You Make $1000 Monthly From Etsy Affiliate Program? Is It Worth paying $5 Sign up fee?
Yes, however, it’s not going to be that easy unless you have been hitting tons of visitors on your website monthly. Or massive impression on the affiliate program monthly.
Do your assignment very well, drive traffic to your website and choose high priced products that customers would live.
Looking at it, Etsy has a simple affiliate program that is offering one of the best regards in their niche.
And there are not many competitors with better commission rate or cookie duration, so, even if you are going to run away from the affiliate program, you might not get a better affiliate program to join.
But I have great alternatives to show to you, please read on.
Similarly, you can pay the $5 sign up fee if you wish to join the affiliate program but it’s not going to be an overnight exercise to make cool money from the affiliate program.
Pros and Cons of Etsy Affiliate Program
Pros
- Etsy is one of the top online marketplaces for arts and crafts.
- The variety and uniqueness of products on Etsy are beyond one’s imagination.
- It has a standard 30 days cookie duration.
Cons
- The 4% commission rate is low, but that’s the norm of the market.
- It is not free to join since you need to pay a refundable $5 when signing up.
Alternatives to Etsy affiliate Program
There are several handmade and arts and craft markets that run an affiliate program.
Instead of leaving you to fend for a close affiliate program that can serve as alternative to Etsy, you can check out the list below:
1. Hobby Lobby affiliate program
Commission rate: 4%
Cookie duration: 3 days
Read Hobby Lobby affiliate program review.
2. Walmart affiliate program
Commission rate: 4%
Cookie duration: 3 days
Read Walmart affiliate program review.
3. Overstock affiliate program
Commission rate: 6%
Cookie duration: 30 days
Read Overstock affiliate program review.
4. Micheal’s affiliate program
Commission rate: 2%
Cookie duration: 30 days
Read Micheal’s affiliate program review.
Wrapping Up
Etsy affiliate program is worth it, though not with one of the most flamboyant affiliate offers, but worthy amongst its competitors.
However, if you are not looking to join the affiliate program, check out our detailed reviews of high paying affiliate programs in the hand made product niche.
