Delivery is one of the most important factors customers look at when deciding whether to make a purchase. For Etsy sellers, creating an effective and competitive delivery strategy is a key part of running your online business.
Delivery basics
The first step in creating your delivery strategy is to go over all your delivery logistics. There are many options to consider including carriers, pricing, and pickup, drop-off, or delivery preferences.
Whether you dispatch your orders yourself, or use a third party to help with fulfilment, as an Etsy seller, you're responsible for ensuring orders are sent to buyers.
When creating a delivery strategy:
- Consider what delivery options and timelines will work well for you, your products, and your customers.
- Create a workflow with expectations that you can easily meet, even during high volume times. This includes setting realistic processing times for your items.
- Gather materials, like packaging and boxes or envelopes.
- Consider using sustainable packing supplies with Eco-Friendly Packaging.
- Create your delivery policies.
- Set up your delivery profiles.
- Set aside time regularly to fulfil orders, manage packages, and update customers.
How to deliver on Etsy
Fulfilling orders and dispatching packages can be a time consuming task, so it’s important to create a strategy that works well for you on an ongoing basis. On Etsy.com, there are several tools to help streamline your delivery workflow, manage delivery options, and communicate easily with customers about delivery updates and arrivals.
How to create delivery profiles
Once your shop is open and you’ve added listings, you can add delivery profiles. With delivery profiles, you can use the same delivery settings for multiple listings, saving time when you are adding products to your shop.
- On Etsy.com, choose Shop Manager.
- Select Settings.
- Select Delivery settings.
- Choose the Delivery profiles tab.
- Choose Add a delivery profile.
When setting up delivery profiles, if you’re a seller in the US or Canada, you can also choose to use calculated postage when delivering with particular carriers. Calculated postage uses your location, the buyer’s location, and the item’s size and weight to automatically generate postage costsfor orders. Learn more about calculated postage.
Setting competitive postage prices
When setting postage rates, it’s important to consider how to be competitive and entice buyers. High postage prices can make customers less likely to buy. In fact, shoppers on Etsy are 20% more likely to complete their purchase when the item is delivered for free.
On Etsy, you can also sign up to offer a free delivery guarantee which will give your products priority placement in US shoppers’ Etsy search results. A free delivery guarantee lets shoppers in the US know that they won’t pay added postage costs on orders totalling 35 USD or over that are delivered within or to the US.
You can use the optional smart pricing tool to you adjust item prices to recover postage costs if you decide to offer free delivery. How you set prices for your shop is up to you.
Using Etsy postage labels
Sellers in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia can buy postage labels directly through Etsy. Postage labels save valuable time allowing you to print your labels at home and automatically generating information to share with the customer like tracking numbers and estimated delivery details. Learn more about postage labels on Etsy.
For sellers in other countries, you can purchase postage labels through your preferred delivery company. Many delivery carriers offer postage labels that you can purchase online and print at home.
Using a postage label purchased on Etsy can increase your chances of becoming a Star Seller.
How to set up delivery policies
After you set up your delivery strategy, it’s important to communicate policies in your shop policies page.
Tips for communicating delivery policies:
- List the carriers you use for delivery
- Be clear about the delivery options available to shoppers
- Be transparent about return delivery policies if you have them. For example, include if you or the buyer will pay for return postage.
- On Etsy.com, choose Shop Manager.
- Select Settings.
- Choose Policy Settings.
Learn more about delivery in the Ultimate Guide to Delivery.
Explore our Beginner's Guides to help you get started on Etsy.
Enrol in an Etsy U class to learn about managing a successful shop from experienced sellers.
There are some common issues that can occur when delivering a buyer’s order.
If you’ve already sent the buyer’s order, you can complete it and add tracking information, if it’s available.
Select an issue to learn more:
If you’re having trouble with a buyer’s delivery address, contact the buyer through Messages to verify the correct information. Etsy doesn’t have buyer information that isn’t submitted on an order.
If the buyer sends you their correct information, you can use that information to purchase postage. Unless you use Etsy postage labels, you can't edit their address on Etsy.
If you can’t get in touch with a buyer to correct their address, you can cancel the order. Choose the … icon by the order and select Issue a refund. You must issue a full refund to cancel an order. Then select the … icon again and choose Cancel a transaction.
The buyer’s address is too long or contains special characters
If an address line has too many characters, you can move some information to the second address line. If characters have non-standard accents or punctuation, you can replace them with non-accented characters without contacting the buyer.
You can edit the buyer’s address when you create their postage label:
- From your Orders page, choose Get labels on the order you want to edit.
- Select Edit next to Deliver to to edit their address.
- Edit the buyer’s address.
- Choose Save.
Then you can complete your label purchase.
You can’t edit a label you already purchased. If you need to change the buyer’s delivery address after buying a label, you need to request a refund for that label and then buy a new label.
Etsy doesn’t collect the buyer’s phone number. If you need the buyer’s phone number, contact the buyer over Messages. Let them know that you need their phone number to complete their delivery information for dispatch.
If you use an Etsy postage label, the order automatically moves to the Completed tab and the buyer is notified that the order is dispatched on the date on the postage label.
If you dispatch using a different delivery method, you can complete the order. To complete an order:
- Find the order on your Sold tab.
- Select the timer icon on the order, then choose Complete order (if you don’t have custom progress steps, you won't need to choose Complete order after selecting the timer icon).
- You can then:
- Choose a Dispatch Date. We won’t send a Dispatch Notification to your buyer until the package’s Dispatch Date.
- Add a personal Note to Buyer.
- Add a tracking number, if one was provided by your delivery company.
You can include a tracking number when you complete an order.
You can also add new tracking after completing an order on the Completed orders page:
- Select the … (ellipsis) icon next to the order.
- Choose Add tracking.
My USPS tracking information isn’t working
If tracking information isn’t working on USPS’s site, tracking may be provided through Pitney Bowes. We partner with Pitney Bowes to supply tracking information for tracked letters and flat packages. The tracking number won’t work on USPS’s site, but you and the buyer can access tracking information by choosing the tracking link through Etsy.
Etsy won’t accept my tracking information
If you get a “Tracking not supported” error, this may be due to the carrier requiring security validation on their site. You can send track through a link in the "Note to buyer" or a Message.
The order status is incorrect
If an order was delivered, but is showing the incorrect status, this is usually an issue with how the status is displayed. The package status displayed on Etsy can't be edited, but this doesn't affect payment for the order and the buyer will still able to leave feedback.
If you receive an EU order that requires this number, you can see this on your Orders & Delivery page and in your order confirmation emails.
Use Etsy’s IOSS number only for this purpose and ask your courier to electronically submit this info (instead of writing it on your package or label), if available.
The currency on the packing slip will be the buyer’s preferred currency. This can be different than the currency of their country or your shop. The order receipt displays your shop’s currency.
While delivery issues can happen, by working with the buyer on a solution, you can often ease a frustrating situation and use it to build customer loyalty. You can offer a refund, replacement, and/or work with the delivery service to file a claim if you purchased insurance. As the sender, you’ll need to file a claim for insurance coverage. If you purchased an Etsy postage label, learn how to file an insurance claim.
Work with the buyer and advise them to check in with their local post office as well as their neighbours.
In the event that the buyer files a non delivery case, we need to see proof the item was sent to the address on the Etsy receipt or the address agreed upon in Etsy Messages. Comment in the case log with proof of delivery:
- A delivery service receipt
- A tracking number and/or tracking information that shows the package was delivered to the buyer
- A customs form (for international packages)
- A scanned copy of the dispatch confirmation or departure information
Etsy can’t influence a package that’s in transit, nor intervene with delivery carriers. The ideal outcome for any missing or returned order issue is a resolution directly between the buyer and the seller, in which both are satisfied with the outcome. Delivery issues must be resolved between the buyer and seller directly. If you're experiencing an issue with delivery, we suggest working with the buyer through Messages to reach a solution.