Etsy announced a program called Share and Save that will give Etsy sellers opportunities to get reduced fees on their listing sales if they share the links on social media and other promotional methods.
This is very similar to the Etsy affiliate program, but there are some big differences, so read on to find out about those and whether it’s worth it for you to sign up for this program or not.

Some of the links in this article are paid ad placements or affiliate links that will pay a small commission if they’re used to purchase something. To see the entire affiliate policy click here. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

What is the Share and Save program on Etsy?
The Share and Save program on Etsy is a way for Etsy sellers to share links like they normally do to get people to come to their shops, but to also get a reduced transaction fee because they’re the ones who are driving the traffic to their Etsy shops.
This is similar to an affiliate program, but affiliate programs usually allow you to promote other people’s products, and sometimes allows you to promote your own products.
The Etsy affiliate programs, which are run through Awin and Creator Co, do let you promote your own products, so they’re unusual that way, and it does let you promote other people’s products, so that makes them better.
The Share and Save program only lets you direct traffic to your own shop, and because it’s a rebate and not an affiliate payment, Etsy keeps referring to it in their Terms Of Use as a refund, not an affiliate payment.
To see the full Artisan Shopping Directory sections, including signups for discounts, click here.
Can anyone sign up for Share and Save?
Etsy has said that the Share and Save program will be available to all sellers unless you’re already an Etsy affiliate through Awin or Creator Co.
You can opt out or you can opt in, it’s not required, but it’s something that every Etsy seller can participate in if they want to unless they’re already an Etsy affiliate.
In the Terms Of Use Etsy says that if you are a participant in the Awin Etsy affiliate program, or in the Creator Co affiliate program, you can’t participate in Share and Save, but that’s really not a big deal.
The two affiliate programs are actually better as far as being able to drive traffic to different parts of Etsy and to other people’s shops as well as your own.
So the Share and Save program is really a way for people who don’t qualify for the affiliate programs to still get a little bit of a refund on their listing fees if they do drive their own traffic to Etsy.
Should I participate in the Share and Save program on Etsy?
If you’re an Etsy seller who is not already an affiliate, and who drives their own traffic to their Etsy shop, it makes complete sense to use the Share and Save links to get a little bit back on your listing fees.
If Etsy brings you organic traffic, you’re basically paying them the full transaction fee because they’re the ones bringing you the traffic and they’re doing the work.
But if you bring your own traffic then this is a way to get a little bit of a credit for that.
Some reasons why you wouldn’t want to participate is if you have a website that you want to drive traffic to instead of sending people to your Etsy shop.
Remember that you’re getting a credit on your transaction fees, but it doesn’t completely cover the cost.
You’ll still be paying fees on Etsy even if you send your own traffic using the Share and Save program.
For now they’re giving 4% back to people who drive traffic to their own listings, but the transaction fee is 6.5%.
This really is just a discount, it’s not completely getting rid of your transaction fees. But if you’re not sending traffic anywhere other than Etsy it’s a pretty good deal.

Where would you share the Share and Save links?
You can put the links anywhere that you do normal Etsy marketing, as long as you’re following the rules of the platforms, and as long as it’s what Etsy calls an “authorized platform.”
This is usually any social media accounts that you own, meaning your business accounts or personal accounts.
You can’t share the links on Etsy, so sending a link in an Etsy message isn’t allowed and probably won’t be paid. You also can’t put the links in your Etsy listings, just don’t post them on Etsy itself!
You could put them in your emails, text them to your friends, post them as the link on your social profiles (there’s one for your shop homepage,) put them on your business cards, or post them as links in your social media posts.
Be careful to check the rules of the individual platforms, though, those can vary!
You can post your links anywhere that you’d put the normal links to your shop or products, basically.
How to sign up for Share and Save.
To sign up for the program you go to your shop dashboard in the marketing tab and click on “share and save.”
A window will open up that will let you opt in. Make sure to read the Terms of Use before choosing to participate!
That’s basically it, this is an opt-in or opt-out situation! There’s no application to join, it’s open to any Etsy seller who’s not already in one of the affiliate programs.
Click here for the complete Terms Of Use.


How does the program work?

Tracked links that give you credit for sales.
Once you sign up for the program, Etsy gives you tracked links for the listings and pages that you share wherever you want to share it to drive traffic to your shop.
The links will show up in your shop listing manager, but the basics are that if you use a link that has the (yourshopname).etsy.com structure, it will count as a Share and Save link if you’re opted into the program.
Any links that you’ve put out on social media in the past will also be counted as Shar and Save links if they have that url structure, so that’s good!
You can use links to your listings, your shop homepage, and shop sections.
Once someone clicks that link and goes to your shop, they have 30 days to buy something from your shop. If they do buy something during that time you’ll get 4% back on your transaction fees.
Offsite ads take precedence.
The Terms of Use specifically mention that if someone clicks an offsite ad then buys from your shop, you’ll still be paying that fee, even if they clicked on your Share and Save link in the 30 days before that.
The “last-click wins” thing is pretty common in most affiliate programs, but it’s also pretty generous that Etsy gives you a 30-day window to get that person back to your shop.
Not all sales qualify.
Etsy says that you can’t buy things from yourself (obviously) and get a refund.
You also don’t get credit for sales that people make in other sellers’ shops even if the customer used your link to come to Etsy.
And if a purchase is refunded, the refunds for the transaction fees will also be reversed.
How do credits appear?
When you do get a credit, it will appear as a credit against your transaction fees on your Etsy bill, so there are no checks that come in the mail, there’s no payment to your bank account, it’s a direct refund from Etsy to you through your finance section and your transaction fees.
With the Share and Save program you get the credit right away and it goes straight toward the transaction fees in your account, there are no minimums required.
You need to understand though, that not every click through these links is going to result in a sale in your shop, so you might put out a lot of links and not get a lot of return back.
But if you’re going to be sending traffic to your Etsy shop anyway it doesn’t hurt to use the links that they give you so that you will get a credit if somebody does buy something using your link.
What to watch out for with the Share and Save program on Etsy.
The things that you need to be careful about are making sure that you’re following the rules about linking to products and affiliate links on other platforms. The Terms of Use for this have an entire section that makes it clear that you’re the one who’s responsible for making sure you’re following the rules of posting appropriately, so Etsy isn’t responsible if you violate a platform’s rules.
Since I couldn’t really get anywhere with Etsy support when I called to ask them about this, I went to the FTC website and their guidelines for endorsement disclosures.
It said that a disclosure is required when the customer wouldn’t be aware of the relationship between someone posting the link and the link owner. But that if the customer understands the relationship, no disclosure is necessary.
So when you’re posting Share and Save links, and you’re saying “here’s a link to my product,” the customer is going to understand the relationship, and you don’t need to post an affiliate disclosure.
But don’t forget that you need to check on the platform that you’re posting on to make sure that you’re not going to get your account shut down by violating their rules.
How to opt out of Etsy’s Share and Save program.
To opt out of the Share and Save program, you have to go to the marketing tab and choose the Share and Save page.
Then scroll down to the FAQ section and find the question about how to opt out.
Click on that and it will open up to show the opt out button, which you can click to get out of the program.
You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to participate, though, people aren’t opted in automatically.
So if you don’t want to take part, just don’t opt in to begin with and you’ll be fine!
Summing up.
Basically, if you send traffic to your Etsy shop anyway, this is a good way to get 4% back and refunds on your transaction fees.
But if you’re already an Etsy affiliate through Awin or the Creator Co program, those programs are better.
They let you share both your links and links to other people’s products, so there’s a lot more to it, and you have more opportunity to make bigger commissions.
But if you don’t get much traffic from your social media, the affiliate programs might not be good for you because they do have minimum payout requirements.
Also, don’t join this program if you have a website and that’s where you send all of your traffic.
Remember that this is just a refund against your transaction fees, it’s not an additional payment.
You’re still going to be paying Etsy transaction fees, it will just be a little bit less on those sales that are made through your links.
It’s better to continue sending people to your website so that they get used to shopping there where you’re not paying yourself any fees for transactions at all.