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If you’re a new Etsy seller who is looking to list digital products, understanding “What To Put For Quantity On Etsy For Digital Products” is essential. It is one of the most common questions I see new sellers ask, on both the Etsy forums and in my private Facebook group.
It can often be a source of confusion for new sellers – but one of the simplest decisions you will have to make. There are also some points of confusion (which even I got wrong for a while), which I will also clear up in this article.
What Is Quantity On Etsy And How Does It Work For Digital Products
Having to set a quantity makes a lot more sense when you look at it in terms of selling physical products. You may only have one Vintage typewriter to sell, or enough materials to make 10 more crocheted purses.
As Etsy was originally a physical product marketplace only, they still make you input a quantity for digital items. It does cause a lot of unnecessary confusion, but it does make sense when you look at Etsy as a whole platform.
On Etsy, your Quantity can be set from anywhere between 1-999. This does not mean that your digital product can only be sold 999 times, as you can add to the quantity as you continue to make sales.
In almost all cases as a digital seller, you will take as many sales as you can get. After all, once you have created the product, each sale is pure profit.
How To Set Your Digital Product Quantity On Etsy
You are required to set your quantity any time you create a listing for a new product. You will find the quantity input under the ‘Inventory and Pricing’ Section. It should also be noted that the quantity can be changed at any time by editing the listing.
What Should I Put For Quantity on my Digital Product Etsy Store?
There are two main strategies for selecting your Quantity on Etsy. It really depends on what stage your shop is, and how much attention you are giving to your shop and your individual listings. The set and forget strategy, and the low quantity strategy.
Set and Forget Strategy
The set and forget strategy involves setting your quantity to the maximum (999) allowed quantity. If you are looking to sell your products as many times as you can, then there is no real reason not to set your quantity as high as possible on Etsy.
This way, your product can keep selling over and over, without risk of running out of stock (frequently).
This strategy involves a lot less work. It means you can set your quantity, and leave it without constantly having to check whether it is sold out or not. This does not mean that your product won’t sell out. This strategy is especially useful if you have hundreds or thousands of products to worry about. But it does mean that you won’t have to worry about it as often.
As you can see below, in a screenshot from one of my Etsy stores, products do have the chance to sell more than 999 times, so you do have to maintain a certain level of vigilance.
Low Quantity Strategy
There is another strategy which involves setting your quantity at a low number (5 or under), so that Etsy shows a tag that says “Only 1 Left – Order Soon”. The theory is, if a customer is shopping and sees this, they may quickly purchase to ensure they don’t miss out.
I do personally question the effectiveness of this strategy, as it makes a lot less sense as a digital product buyer. Again it makes a lot more sense when looking at physical products – For example, there is a vintage sweater you love and there is only one left. You would be a lot more inclined to buy immediately if you think there is a chance someone else is interested.
Which Strategy Do I Recommend
In almost all situations, I would recommend using the set and forget strategy, which involves setting your quantity to 999. This strategy gives you one less thing to worry about when running your digital product store on Etsy, and will allow you to focus your attention on creating new products, building an email list, and getting more reviews on Etsy.
If however, you are a new store with limited products, you may decide to use the low Quantity Strategy. You do have to be more vigilant, in order to ensure you don’t miss out on any sales due to your product running out of stock. It is important to note that Etsy will not notify you if you run out, and unless you check your store everyday, could lose a number of sales opportunities.
One Common Misconception With Quantity On Etsy
One important note to make while setting your quantity on Etsy is the listing Fees. There’s a common misconception among new Etsy sellers (myself included for the first few thousand sales), that by setting the quantity of a digital product to a high number (such as 999), they would only have to pay a single listing fee. This is not true.
Although digital products have the advantage of selling over and over, each sale of a product is treated as a new listing. This means that each time you make a sale, you pay another 20c listing fee.
This should not affect your decision too much, however if you were considering using the low quantity strategy, but thought you would have to pay more in listing fees, this is not the case.
No matter how you set the quantities, you will always pay the same amount in fees. I have written a full Etsy fee breakdown if you wish to learn more about Etsy’s fees for digital sellers.
Conclusion: What To Put For Quantity On Etsy For Digital Products
Setting your quantity on Etsy should depend on the amount of Manual work you are willing to do. If you are a new shop owner, you may find it beneficial to use the limited quantity strategy, which can assist in encouraging sales. Even so, the evidence this strategy works is limited for digital products, and it may be more work than it is worth.
Most established shops will use the ‘Set and Forget’ method, which involves setting the quantity to the maximum (999) and having one less thing to worry about. This is especially true when the number of products starts to climb, and your daily sales rise into the dozens or hundreds.
It is important to note that each strategy will cost the same amount in listing fees, and the decision should come down to whether having a ‘limited items’ badge is enough of a tradeoff for daily checks of your listing.