How To Turn Off Free Shipping on Etsy

Etsy is a popular marketplace where people can find vintage and handmade crafts, items, and supplies. The platform has a wide range of products that fall into categories such as home decor, furniture, toys, art, jewelry, clothing, etc.

Similar to other online marketplaces, Etsy offers an option to sellers to enable free shipping. Sellers who offer free shipping generally benefit from improved product rankings in the search results.

Moreover, it also helps to manage the buyer’s expectations and they are less likely to abandon their cart when shipping is free. However, there are many sellers that don’t want to offer free shipping to buyers due to various reasons, namely increasing shipping costs or the hassle that comes with calculating it.  

In this guide, we will guide you through the steps on how to turn off free shipping on your Etsy seller account, for single and multiple listings.

Turning Off Free Shipping on Etsy

Etsy offers sellers two choices when it comes to removing free shipping from listings. You can either remove it for a single listing or for all listings. Find out how to do this in detail by following the guide below.

How to Remove Free Shipping For Single Listings 

We have created a step-by-step guide that you can follow if you wish to remove free shipping from a single listing below.

1. Head to Etsy.com and sign in to your Etsy seller account. 
2. After signing into your account, click on the shop icon to access the “Store Manager” page. 
3. Scroll down a little to find the “Listings” option, where you can see all your product listings on your seller page. 
4. Find the specific product listing for which you want to turn off free shipping for and click on the gear icon at the bottom of the listing block. Then, click on “Edit” once you’ve done that.
5. Next, scroll down the page to the “Delivery” section.
6. Click on “Edit” on the active shipping profile and choose “Duplicate” if you only want to update the current listing.
7. In the “What You’ll Charge” dropdown section, select “Fix Price“.
8. Enter the price in the “One Item” and “Additional Items” fields and click on “Save Profile“.
9. Select “Publish” to apply these changes.

How to Remove Free Shipping for All Listings 

In order to remove free shipping for all your listings on Etsy, you will have to follow an additional procedure to the one mentioned above. The step-by-step guide for removing free shipping for all Etsy listings is outlined below:

1. Follow the steps mentioned above.
2. After that, choose “Listings” from the “Store Manager” page in order to see all the listings on your Etsy shop.
3. In the top left section of the page above the product listings, select the empty checkbox.
4. Choose the “Editing” option and click on the “Change Delivery Profiles” option.
5. When a pop-up appears on your screen, choose the new delivery profile to begin finalizing the changes.
6. Click on “Apply” to save the settings.

Take note that if you have more than 40 product listings, you need to click on the arrow button adjacent to the checkbox and choose “Select ‘X’ on All Pages” before step 4.

Turning Off Free Shipping Guarantee

You’ll also have the option to turn off the free shipping guarantee as a seller. The shipping guarantee automatically enables free shipping for items individual items or total orders worth at least $35.

To disable this functionality is Etsy, simply follow the below steps:  

1. After you have logged into your Etsy seller account, click on the “Shop Manager” icon located at the top-right corner of the page. The Shop Manager is the Etsy seller interface that presents you with all of the options.
2. On the “Shop Manager” page, you will be able to see a vertical bar on the left side of the page. Choose the “Settings” option that is located towards the bottom of the vertical bar.
3. Select the option “Delivery Settings” from the list to proceed. 
4. Click on the “Free Delivery Guarantee” tab and scroll down to the bottom of the page. 
5. You will notice a statement at the end of the Free Delivery Guarantee page that mentions that your shop offers a free delivery guarantee. Under that heading, there will be a “Yes, Turn Off Guarantee” button. Press the button to turn off free delivery for your shop’s listings. 
6. Click on “Turn Off My Guarantee” if the website asks for confirmation from you again afterward.

Take note that you can always offer free shipping on Etsy again by simply turning on the free shipping guarantee.

Reasons For Turning Off Free Shipping

Aside from some significant benefits of offering free shipping on Etsy, there are also some essential reasons why you may want to turn this feature off.

• Fluctuating Shipping Cost – fluctuating or unstable shipping costs can affect a seller’s profit margins and potentially incur losses, as they are all factored into the overall selling price of the item. Shipping costs depend on various factors; market conditions, how far the delivery address is from the shipping site, the weight of the items, and how fast the delivery needs to be. 

• High Cost of Returns and Refunds – If you are a seller that wants to offer returns to your customers to build trust, offering free shipping with your products on top of this can affect your profit margin. The costs of returns and refunds can reduce your profitability. It’s important to budget the type of expenses in your overall calculations.

• Complex Calculation Process – In order to offer free shipping with your products to customers, you will have to calculate potential associated costs such as standard platform fees, product costs, and shipping fees. Miscalculations or failing to calculate fees correctly can cost your business.

Offering Free Shipping Without Losing Money With These Tips

Although the abovementioned factors are valid points for turning off free shipping, many sellers reap its benefits. There are ways to effectively minimize the risks or drawbacks of offering free shipping that we want to share with you below.

Increase Product Prices 

To offset fluctuating or unstable shipping costs from carriers, you could consider increasing the price of the products in your store. While this may be frowned upon by some, it can give the impression that the products are of high value, especially if you have good photos of the product, quality packaging, and a well-written description.

The way you market your product can affect the buyers’ perception of your product and helps to justify the product price without losing your competitive edge on Etsy. On the other hand, it will also offset any potential losses you may incur with free shipping.

Communicate with Your Customers 

The best way to increase product prices without losing loyal customers is to communicate the change to the customers upfront and explain why these changes are being made. 

It is best for a store owner to explain how the change will benefit the buyer (better services and products) in a confident and positive tone so that they are reassured and continue to trust your services, and to thank them for their support. 

Calculate Your Costs

To offer free shipping in the first place, a seller must understand and calculate the cost of each product with its shipping rate. Even though shipping costs may fluctuate, you should be adding a buffer.

Instead of turning off free shipping for these reasons, you could instead allocate more time to thoroughly calculate each component of your costs to come up with an all-in price for your product.