I dropped this on TikTok live last night and the comments went off — so let's talk about it properly in here.
Here's what a lot of Etsy sellers don't know:
Running a perpetual sale on Etsy may actually be false advertising.
And depending on your location — it could be illegal.
Here's the rule 👇
For a price to be considered a legitimate "sale" price — your ORIGINAL price has to be the real price for at least 51% of the time.
That means if your listing has been "20% off" for the last 4 months straight — that discounted price IS your price. There is no sale. You're just misleading buyers.
Etsy has been quietly cracking down on this. And consumer protection laws in several states are serious about false advertising.
Do this audit today:
- ✅ Go through your active listings
- ✅ Check any listing currently showing a sale price
- ✅ Ask yourself — has this listing spent MORE time at full price than on sale?
- ✅ If not — end the sale and reset your pricing strategy
So what actually works instead?
- Launch mode pricing — start low, raise every few sales 📈 (for new sellers with less than 50 sales)
- Run real limited time sales — 48 to 72 hours max
- Use seasonal moments to justify the discount — holidays, launches, milestones
Perpetual sales feel like a conversion hack but they're eroding buyer trust AND putting your shop at risk.
Protect your shop.
Sell smarter. 🖤
Drop your questions below — have you been running a long term sale?
Let's talk about it. 👇