For those of you who read my posts, you know I have started trying to sell online. This is something I have looked at doing for quite some time but never really put the idea in motion. Well, a few weeks ago, I thought “why not” and signed up for a Printify account and connected it to Etsy. That’s what all the folks on YouTube do so why wouldn’t it work for me? After all, I don’t expect to make a million dollars, just a few extra dollars to offset expenses. I became absorbed. Working several hours a day to get listings, doing what the folks that actually make a LOT of money say to do.

I thought things were going great until… I added an item to my Etsy store and it wouldn’t update. What the heck? Then, I saw the big red banner: Your Etsy store has been suspended. What? Why? No explanation, no email, not even a hint at what was wrong. So back to YouTube I went. Seems a lot of people were having their “stores” suspended without explanation. And, this has happened before.

So, I read through all the policies and could find nothing I had violated. People were speculating various reasons, none of which were likely, and actually many of the speculated reasons were unfounded. So, finally most people figured it was a bot issue. Looks like bots were identifying things that weren’t really issues and suspending stores without cause. To make matters worse, appeals for suspensions were also being denied. For some, this was devastating. Many were using their stores as their sole source of income, so having their stores closed took away their livelihood. Luckily, that was not my case. I was just starting. The only thing I had lost was some time and effort.

So, I asked myself what I could do. I think eCommerce is the way to go, but without the Etsy platform, where do I look. So I went back to Printify and looked at the platforms they connect with and a couple stood out. Printify has a pop up store. OK, that’s easy but it doesn’t have the functionality for customization. One click and I was connected. Then I looked up WooCommerce. Holy Cow! That allowed me to sell on my website! What a game changer.

Once I had all of this connected, what was I supposed to do? I had no idea how to actually get things listed. So, back to YouTube I went. I found a ton of information to be able to get my “stores” set up, and FREE. I found that WooCommerce has a way to allow for personalized items. So, back to work I went. I already had several items from before Etsy closed my store so I published them. Hopefully, I set everything up right. Best of all, I have control over my stores, not a marketplace, like Etsy.

Ok, so what about Etsy? Should I try again and just see if the “bots” are at war? Sure, what do I have to lose? Well, I signed up again and within 24 hours, Etsy suspended the store. Obviously, Etsy is not for me so I will not try again. There are too many other options out there.

So, I’m sure you’ve asked why would I want multiple stores to monitor and try to maintain. Simple. If I lose one for some reason, there’s another to fall back on. As the old saying goes, “it’s never good to have all of your eggs in one basket”.

Each store name in this post is a link to go to those stores to make it easy for you to find them. Also, clicking on the “shop” link at the top of this page will take you to the store on this website.

I hope you take a look at my “stores”. I have put in a lot of hard work to get them running and, as I said before, the more I learn, the more you will see. I hope to add some really cool stuff soon. After all, I enjoy life. As always, live life and have fun!

Disclosure: For me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, and testimonial to products or services. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.