Etsy digital downloads as a gift-shelf for the e-books (decision gate)

Topic: whether to list the Cedwyn e-books (and a printable family-history extra) as Etsy digital downloads, where gift buyers search, and how to run it if we do. Written 26 Oct 2026, skills harvest. A new public sales channel = PROPOSAL only.

What the sources show (26 Oct 2026)

• Fees (Etsy fees policy, via search snippet; etsy.com pages refused the box with 403): USD 0.20 listing fee per listing, renewed every 4 months or when it sells; 6.5% transaction fee. UK payment processing is 4% + £0.20 (Craftybase 2026, read in snippet). UK Regulatory Operating Fee rose from 0.32% to 0.48% on 22 June 2026 (Etsy Help article + ChannelMax, snippets). Offsite Ads: 15% on attributed orders; you can opt out under USD 10,000 a year of sales; above that it is compulsory at 12% (Etsy Help + Craftybase, snippets).
• Who may sell what (Etsy Creativity Standards, snippet): "Digital downloads of sellers' original designs: original content created by the seller". Sellers on r/EtsySellers report the 2025 wording requires a "unique graphic design" and no scans of someone else's work or vintage items. PLR/resale e-books are not allowed (spreadsheetshub, snippet). So our own written text and designs qualify; pages that are mainly archive scans don't.
• Practitioner case: InsightsByJess case study (read) of a new digital-download shop that made USD 168,000 in its first year. It was a spreadsheet/template shop, not books, so treat it as a ceiling, not a forecast. The pattern was a niche storefront, a twist on a known product, and strong listing images. Etsy's search volume for heritage e-books: not checked.

Net on a £9.99 sale (our arithmetic, FX not checked): 6.5% £0.65 + processing £0.60 + regulatory £0.05 + listing ~£0.15 ≈ £1.45 in fees → about £8.54. If an Offsite Ad gets the credit, about £7.04. VAT handling for UK/EU buyers of digital items on Etsy: not checked (our own reg37/VAT notes are in uk-digital-checkout-reg37-consent-vat.md). Direct Stripe is cheaper, so Etsy only pays if it brings new buyers we would not otherwise reach.

How to run it (if approved)

1. Gate first: go ahead only if (a) the direct shop has its first sales, so we know the offer converts, and (b) there is a product that is clearly the seller's own design. Opt out of Offsite Ads at the start so the fees can be predicted.
2. Gift-led products, not the whole catalogue: list 2–3 items. (i) The bundle as a "Welsh family-history gift" PDF+EPUB. (ii) A printable A4/A3 illustrated chronology poster or family-tree-style timeline of Tŷ Mawr (own design, no archive scans). (iii) The Spanish title for Welsh-Patagonian buyers.
3. Listing: title words in front, as buyers search ("Welsh history ebook gift, Vale of Glamorgan farm, PDF EPUB instant download"). Use all 13 tags (not checked as the current maximum). Show 5+ images: a cover mock, 2 inside spreads, the table of contents, and a "what you get" tile. Price the same as the direct shop (no undercutting the site). In the description, say what the files are and how to open them on Kindle/Kobo (link to our delivery how-to content, not outbound).
4. Turn the marketplace buyer into ours: put a first-page note inside the download pointing to the free chapter and the newsletter on Cedwyn. Etsy rules on off-platform marketing inside files: not checked. Check before you add it.
5. Measure for 60 days: views → favourites → orders per listing in Etsy stats; tag the inside-file link with UTM utm_source=etsy (see utm-discipline-ga4-funnel.md). Stop if orders are fewer than 1 per 30 days per listing.

How we apply it to Cedwyn

• Fit: Christmas and St David's Day gift searches (see ebook-gifting-christmas-gift-path-guide-email.md, heritage-anniversary-hashtag-calendar.md). The best Etsy product is a designed printable (timeline poster or house-history card set) built from our own chronology, with the e-book bundled. Pages that are mostly record scans fail the Creativity Standards and stay on Cedwyn.
• Action now (no public change): draft listing copy, tags and 5 image specs into the project workspace (or the project workspace). Add a PROPOSAL line to the project workspace: "Etsy digital-download gift listing (2–3 items, Offsite Ads off); needs approval + an Etsy seller account (identity/bank set-up is the owner's)."
• Rules: public text never names the owner. Banned words stay out of listings. No insignia. Prices only as approved (£9.99 / bundle £31.99). Zero ad spend.

Sources

• etsy.com (Etsy fees policy; 403 to the box, figures from search snippet)
• help.etsy.com (snippet: UK 0.48%)
• channelmax.net (snippet)
• help.etsy.com (snippet: 15%)
• craftybase.com (snippet: UK 4% + £0.20)
• etsy.com (snippet: original designs)
• reddit.com (seller reports on "designed by seller"; snippet)
• insightsbyjess.com (read; USD 168K first year, templates)

Raw Markdown: etsy-digital-downloads-gift-shelf-gate.md · version and changes: changelog · machine index: agents.json