Etsy are emailing sellers to inform them that after the 25th of July 2019, Etsy automatic renewals will be set for all listings. After the 25th of July 2019, when you create a new listing, Etsy will set it to auto-renew by default.
Etsy have updated their Fees & Payments policy to clarify this and explain how you can view and cancel Etsy automatic renewals for your listings.
The Etsy automatic renewals feature will automatically renew your listings at the end of the four-month listing period, unless you choose to not use automatic renewals for a particular listing or for your shop. You will be charged the listing fee of $0.20 for each of these listings until you cancel automatic renewals. You can see automatic listing status in your Listings Manager, and may cancel automatic renewals at any time by selecting “Manual” instead of “Automatic” in the “Renewal Options” in the Listings Manager. Once you cancel, you will only be charged for the current listing period.”
– Etsy Fees & Payments policy
This is similar to eBay’s new policy of scrapping all short duration fixed price listings and forcing sellers to use the Good til Cancelled listing format. It has the advantage of longevity which helps SEO and lowers the risk of a consumer seeing a product on Google or any other search engine just to find that the listing has ended when they land on the marketplace eager to make a purchase.
It’s worth pointing out that the new Etsy automatic renewals only applies to listings that end without a sale and is distinctly different to automatically renewing the listing when an item is sold. If you are a seller of unique one off items, fear not – unless you set your listing to renew when sold, the new Etsy automatic renewals feature won’t have you overselling by mistake.
The change does mean that sellers will be billed fees each time Etsy automatic renewals refresh their listings.
