Tuesday 17 March 2015

My Etsy shop now has Instant Downloads!

2015 March 17 Etsy instant download printable digital hfcSuppliesWhen I last wrote about EU VAT, in January I was still waiting to see exactly what Etsy would be doing before I made any changes to the digital items listed in my shop.  In February, Etsy posted this update on their blog, stating that they would be responsible for collecting and remitting VAT on Instant Downloads for all sellers.  The new system for collecting VAT from buyers is still not up and running as I write this, but Etsy have said that they will be paying VAT due on sales until their new collection process has been set up.  Therefore, I have decided to go ahead with making the changes to my shop!

Since 1st January, I limited the number of countries which my non-customised printables (including scrapbooking paper sets) were sold to, so that I could exclude sales to EU countries (except UK).  I am in the process of changing these listings to Instant Download which has several benefits;
  • Etsy will handle the VAT, so I don't have to
  • The digital items will be available to buy from all European countries again (yay!)
  • The download will be instantly available; no more delays in me sending emails caused by global time differences.  So, hopefully, more happy customers!  As soon as payment has been confirmed, customers will be sent an automatic email with a link to download the files from Etsy.
Although it is quite a time consuming process for me uploading all the files to Etsy now, it should save me time in the long run.  I'm still working my way through my listings, but aim to have all non-customised digital items available for instant download soon.  That will include; scrapbooking papers, collage sheets, digital stamp sets, labels, tent cards, name place cards, bunting and straw flags.  All items with customisable options will remain as they are; I will continue to send emails with a download link for these.

If you are unfamiliar with how Etsy’s Instant Downloads work, you can see this article from their help section here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/help/article/3949?ref=help_search_result

1 comment:

  1. Awesome! Those on-screen options should really work out well for you. Makes your site easier to navigate, thus synthesizing your software's interface with the buyer-seller dynamic. Great job on that one! Thanks for sharing that, Hazel! Kudos and more power to you!

    Andrea Hart @ LeetWeb

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