How to Upload More Than 5 Files to Etsy

Despite it’s many upsides for digital product sellers, Etsy still has some very questionable policies – including their file limits. New sellers often find themselves asking how to upload more than 5 files to Etsy. If you’ve come to this article – just know that you are not alone.

Etsy has two requirements for digital downloads:

1. No more than 5 Files can be added
2. All 5 Files must be less than 20mb each

I have already written an article explaining how to get around the 20mb file size limit on Etsy. This article will instead focus on uploading more than 5 files to Etsy.

How to Upload More Than 5 Files to Etsy: Zipping your files into a compressed folder

The quickest and most straightforward method, is to simply zip your individual files into a folder. You can do this for free on both Windows and Mac. Again it is important to keep each of these compressed folders under 20mb, so you may have to make multiple folders, and experiment with which files go in which folders. This can also be useful if you files types are not supported by Etsy.

How to Zip folders on Windows

1. Gather all your listing files into one folder. If necessary, you can organize them into a maximum of five separate folders.
2. Right-click on the folder to access the menu.
3. In the menu, move your cursor to “Send to” and then choose “Compressed (zipped) folder.” This action will generate a new folder with a “.zip” extension, containing all your files in a compressed format.

How to zip folders on Mac

1. Organize your listing files into a folder. If necessary, you can divide them across up to five folders.
2. Right-click (or Ctrl-click for Mac users) on the folder to bring up the contextual menu.
3. Choose “Compress [folder name]” from the menu. Your Mac will create a compressed folder with a “.zip” extension, containing all the files in a reduced file size format.

Customer difficulties with zipped folders

One extremely important note to understand, is that many mobile devices are not compatible with zip folders. Depending on the types of digital downloads you sell on Etsy, this may or may not be a problem. A person purchasing commercial use SVG’s will most likely be using a computer, but a customer purchasing a printable will be more likely to be using their phone.

It is important that you leave a message to your buyers, letting them know that files may be incompatible, and that you are willing to email them the files directly. In my own experience, one in every 15-25 of my customers is mobile only, which means I have to email them the files directly.

Using a Third-Party Hosting Service to Host your files

If you still have too many files for Etsy, your best bet is host your files on a third-party service such as Google Drive or Dropbox.

Using third-party platforms like Google Drive or Dropbox for storing and sharing large files with your Etsy customers should be considered a last resort.

While it enables you to bypass Etsy’s file size limitations, it introduces additional steps for the customer. Furthermore, there’s an increased risk of your files being accessed by non-customers if the download link is shared beyond your customers.

How to upload more than 5 files to Google Drive:

To upload large files to Google Drive, follow these steps:

Step 1: Upload your large file(s) to Google Drive, ensuring they are in a dedicated folder. This folder should be clearly named for both you and your customer.

Step 2: Create a shareable link for the folder. On Google Drive, this is done by clicking on the folder, selecting ‘Get Link,’ and changing access to ‘Anyone with the link.’

Step 3: In the ‘Digital files’ section of your Etsy listing, upload a text (.txt) file or a PDF containing the download link for these files.

Ensure this file is clearly labeled and includes detailed instructions for your customers on how to access the linked content. Once you have completed this step and finalized your listing details, you can then publish your Etsy listing as you normally would.

How to upload files to Dropbox:

The process for dropbox is a little more difficult. To upload large files to Dropbox, follow these steps:

Step 1: Upload your large file(s) to Dropbox, ensuring they are in a dedicated folder for each listing. This folder should be clearly labeled for both you and your customer.

Step 2: Click the 3 dots on your intended folder, and navigate to “Manage Permissions”

Step 3: Click on the settings for ‘Link for viewing‘. Do not select link for editing, or customers will be able to add to or delete items from your folder.

Step 4: Make sure ‘Who has access’ is set to ‘Anyone with Link’. For customer ease, Expiry, Require Password and Disable Downloads should all be disabled.

Step 5: Navigate back to your subfolder and click ‘Copy Link’

Step 6: Add this link to a .txt file or PDF and upload it to your listing. Ensure that the file is clearly labeled and contains comprehensive instructions for your customers to access the linked content.

Conclusion

Although Etsy has some silly file size requirements, this article should show help you understand how to upload more Than 5 files to Etsy. Again, please note that both of these methods will add extra steps for customers – which is never a good thing. Be prepared to provide quick and helpful customer support, in order to increase your chances of good reviews on Etsy.