Free shipping is a tricky business for some Etsy sellers. Sure, Etsy tries to guide you to include it on your listings, but it simply doesn’t work for some stores.
This is usually true for those who sell either very cheap items, or very expensive ones. Either way, sellers do sometimes need to charge for shipping.
This article will show you how I would set this up in the Etsy admin.
How to remove free shipping on Etsy
The best way to remove free shipping is to update the delivery profiles on the listings themselves. To do this for a single listing do the following:
- go to Etsy.com and sign in to your store account
- go to the Shop Dashboard by selecting the shop icon, then select Listings to see all your listings
- scroll through and find your listing, then open the listing menu by selecting the gear icon at the bottom of the listing block and select Edit
- Scroll down to the Delivery section
- Select Edit on the active shipping profile. Select Duplicate if you only want to update the current listing
- Update the What you’ll charge dropdown to Fix price
- Enter the price in the One item and Additional items fields
- Click Save profile
- Click Publish
If you want to do this for ALL products I suggest do the following:
- follow the steps above to create a new shipping profile
- select Listings to see all your listings
- select the checkbox in the top left just above the product listings
- if you have more than 40 listings select the arrow button next to the checkbox and select Select x on all pages (“x” is the total number of listings on the store)
- Select Editing options and then select Change delivery profiles
- On the pop-up use the dropdown to select the new delivery profile
- Select Apply
This will set all listings in your store to use the new delivery profile.
Can you exclude items from free shipping on Etsy?
Yes, you can exclude certain items from free shipping on Etsy using shipping profiles.
It is possible to use the steps in the section above to create multiple shipping profiles – one for free shipping and one for charged shipping. Below is an example from one of my stores.
Currently I don’t have any listings in the charged shipping method, but if I wanted to start charging for certain items, I can just assign them to the SHIPPING profile.
Should you remove free shipping on Etsy?
I would strongly recommend you don’t remove free shipping from your listings on Etsy.
Free shipping is known to improve conversion rates, and customers are willing to accept a higher ticket price for it. Simply by adding the shipping price to the listing price is often enough.
Etsy also adds extra messaging around those listings that do offer free shipping. If you’re the only one on the search results that doesn’t, then its not going to end well for you!
Whether you like it or not, you are competing against the likes of Amazon. Free shipping has gone beyond a “perk” and is now just expected by buyers. Don’t get left behind, set your listings with free shipping.
Conclusion
Free shipping can be tricky for many sellers. Especially those on the extremes (e.g. really low value and very high value). Adding delivery costs onto the listing price doesn’t feel like an option, especially when you are competing against others who don’t.
If you are currently offering free shipping and want to trial without it, follow the steps in this article and you will be all set!
