It can be tricky to work out if an Etsy store has a good track record. Some of the key factors shoppers look for are:
- how long the store has been open for
- How many reviews they has
- How many sales they have made
The “total number of sales” is a quick and easy number to check to see if you can trust what the store is selling. If they have sold over 1,000 surely they must be doing something right, right?
But this begs the question…
How are Etsy sales counted? The “Sales” figure displayed on an Etsy store’s storefront is the total number of items bought. Multiples of a single item will only count as 1 sale. Therefore a single order with 3 different items in it will count as 3 sales, whereas a single order with 3 of the same item will count as 1 sale.
How to View How Many Orders A Store Has
There are two locations on an Etsy storefront where you can find the total sales.
The first is in the store’s header, next to the number of reviews and below the store name and location.
The second place is below the item listings and reviews in the store’s “About” section. This section will also show what year the store opened. This is great for working out roughly how many sales a day a store gets.
You can also find the total sales on each listing page. This is in the block directly above the item listing’s name.
Why does Etsy show number of sales a store has made?
The number of sales an Etsy store has made is a key trust indicator. The more sales a store has made – along side a 5 star overall review – the more likely a customer will trust the seller.
There are many trust indicators on Etsy, and these have been proven to increase buyer trust, as well as improve sale conversion (i.e. turning a “browser” into a “buyer”).
Can You Lie About Sales On Etsy?
No, there is no way for a store owner to lie about how many sales they have made.
The figures displayed on the store homepage, and on the listing page are controlled by Etsy and is based on actual sales data.
If a store owner is claiming more sales in the bio or store description then you should report the store to Etsy.
Are Etsy Sales numbers Accurate?
Yes, Etsy sales numbers are based on actual sales placed on the Etsy marketplace. They update in real-time so you can be confident that the numbers on the store are correct.
I have tested this myself by checking after sales to see if the sales count updates.
How Could Etsy Sales Numbers Be Faked?
Whilst it may not be possible to lie about sales on Etsy, you could try and manipulate your store to try and gain sales solely to increase your sales count.
A couple of ways you could increase your sales count:
- offer large discounts to friends and family and ask them to buy from you
- sell items at a loss to undercut your competition. This should attract more buyers
Offer large discounts to friends and family
I do recommend offering discounts for friends and families at the start of your store – however, this is with the aim of getting some reviews.
Whilst it is possible to use the tactic to increase your sales number it will be incredibly difficult to do it at the scale needed to significantly bump up your sales.
Sell items at a loss to undercut your competition
The idea with this is you sell at such a low price it attracts lots of buyers. Once you have acquired a whole bunch of sales, you increase your prices and you look like you sold the lot at the higher price.
This works in theory and is often done by newer sellers. However, the issue is that many buyers on Etsy are suspicious of prices that are “too good to be true”.
So as you can see, whilst there are ideas that can be used to manipulate the Etsy sales number, in practice, it’s very hard indeed!
Conclusion
An Etsy store’s sales are calculated by the number of items purchased. This number does not include multiples of the same product, and it won’t be related to the number of individual orders.
The sales count is a great way to judge how popular a store is. Whilst there are methods to try and skew the numbers, these are often impractical or not effective.
The sales count displayed on Etsy is based on real Etsy sales data and is extremely reliable.
