Prefer to listen instead of read? This episode is also available as a podcast, so you can stick it on while you’re making, packing orders, or staring at your social media stats wondering what on earth is going on.

One of the most common beginner questions I get asked is "How many listings should I have on Etsy?"

Or, more specifically...

"How many listings do I need before I start getting sales?"

"How many do I need before I get more traffic?"

"How many do I need before people actually take my shop seriously?"

And depending on who you ask online, apparently the answer is 20.

Or 50.

Or 100.

Or 200.

Which, honestly, is not very helpful.

Because there isn't one magic number where you upload listing number 100 and Etsy suddenly goes "Congratulations! You have unlocked sales."

That's not how it works.

Now, more listings can help - but only if those listings make sense for your customer, your target market, your brand and the business you're actually trying to build.

So rather than me giving you another random number to aim for, I want to help you work out whether more listings should actually be your next job.

Because sometimes they should be, and sometimes adding another 50 products is just giving yourself another 50 things to manage.

Why do we get so obsessed with the number of Etsy listings?

I think one of the reasons listing count becomes such a big thing when you're new is because it's a really easy number to measure.

If you haven't got loads of sales yet, you don't have hundreds of reviews and you haven't got much business data to work with, you can at least look at your shop and say "I've got 12 listings."

Then you look at somebody else's shop and they've got 300.

Or 500.

Or 3,000.

And suddenly, your shop feels teeny tiny in comparison.

So it becomes really easy to think "That's why they're making sales. They've got more listings than me."

And yes, I have said for years that having more listings can create more opportunities to be found in Etsy search - but there is a really important bit missing from that sentence.

It can also be completely pointless if the listings themselves aren't very good...

Think of it a bit like Etsy search bingo

Bear with me on this one because apparently we're doing bingo strategy now. 😂

Each listing gives you opportunities to use relevant search language through things like your titles, tags, descriptions, attributes and the actual products themselves.

So if you have a wider range of genuinely relevant products, you potentially have more opportunities to match the different things your customers are searching for.

It's a bit like having more balls in the bingo cage.

More relevant balls in there gives you more chances of one of your numbers coming out.

But if every ball has exactly the same number written on it, having 100 of them hasn't really given you 100 useful opportunities... It's just given you the same thing 100 times.

Obviously, I'm not an expert bingo strategist, but you see what I mean.

And this is why I don't mean duplicating the exact same Etsy listing 20 times, changing the photograph slightly and thinking you've somehow cracked Etsy SEO.

That's not what we're doing.

We're talking about creating more useful ways for the right customer to find and buy from you.

More listings can give customers more choice... but more choice isn't automatically better

There is another reason having more listings can help.

It can give your customer more choice.

If somebody likes your style but the first product isn't quite right for them, another size, colour, design, occasion or related product might be.

That's useful.

But again, there is a point where people hear that and translate it into MORE PRODUCTS = MORE SALES.

And no...

Fifty rushed listings do not suddenly become commercially stronger just because they're there.

The question I'd rather you ask is "Does my current product range give the right customer enough relevant reasons to click and buy?"

That's a much better question than "Have I reached 100 yet?"

Imagine two different Etsy shops

Let's imagine Shop A has 1,000 listings (loads)!

But if we were scoring those listings, most of them are about a two out of ten...

The photographs are fuzzy or dark.

Some of the products are difficult to understand.

The titles and tags aren't doing very much.

The descriptions are short and don't answer the customer's questions.

There are loads of products, but very little thought has gone into making each listing properly work.

Now imagine Shop B...

Shop B has 100 listings, but most of those are around an eight out of ten.

The photographs are clear.

The products make sense.

They're relevant to the customer.

The search language is useful.

The information is there.

The products work together as a range.

Imagine Shop A is making two sales a week and Shop B is making 15.

You might look at that and think "Hang on. Steph just said more listings give me more chances to be found, so how is the shop with fewer listings making more sales?"

Because it isn't only about how many opportunities you've created - it's about the quality of those opportunities.

A thousand poor listings don't automatically beat 100 strong ones.

Wondering why your Etsy listings aren't selling?

I've put together a free 72-page guide to help you figure out what's actually stopping the sales and what to do about it.

✅ Find out why people aren't buying

✅ See what needs fixing first

✅ Get a clear plan instead of guessing

GET THE FREE GUIDE →

So when SHOULD you add more Etsy listings?

There are absolutely times when I would look at a shop and say "Yep. You need more products in there."

One of those is when the range is simply too small to properly represent what you're selling.

Imagine you walked into a physical shop and it was a decent-sized space, but there were 20 products dotted around the entire thing... You'd probably wonder what was going on!

Have they only just opened?

Are they closing down?

Have they run out of stock?

Have they just not bothered filling the shelves yet?

It doesn't necessarily create the strongest shopping experience...

But go to the complete opposite extreme and imagine walking into a shop where there are 20,000 products crammed onto every shelf, wall and available centimetre of floor - that's not particularly nice either... Now you can't find anything.

So we're not trying to make the shop as full as physically possible, we're trying to create a useful range.

I would think about adding more listings when your customer has a sensible reason to want more options.

Maybe you've got a product that's already selling and buyers would genuinely benefit from related versions.

Maybe there are complementary products that make sense alongside it.

Maybe there are variations of a proven product that serve slightly different needs.

Maybe people are repeatedly asking whether you offer something related.

That gives us a reason.

Build around the products that are already giving you evidence

This is one of my favourite ways to expand an Etsy shop.

Instead of sitting down and thinking"Right. I need 30 new listings. What random things can I make?"

look at what's already happening...

Let's say you have what I would call a master product.

It's a product that sells regularly.

Customers like it.

It gets attention.

You've got actual evidence that people want the thing.

That's useful...

Could you build around that?

Could there be relevant variations?

Could there be complementary products?

Could that successful product tell you something about the style, customer, use or occasion that people are already responding to?

Now you're doing two useful things at once.

Firstly, you're creating more opportunities for what I called our little Etsy search bingo earlier.

But secondly, you're expanding around something buyers have already shown you they want.

And thirdly, your product range starts to feel more connected and considered.

That's very different from making random stuff because somebody told you successful Etsy shops need 100 listings.

Think: Useful range expansion.

Not: I need to hit an arbitrary number.

When would I NOT add more listings?

This is where I want you to be a bit careful.

If your existing listings are barely getting seen, I wouldn't automatically assume that adding loads more is the answer.

First, I'd want to look at why those listings aren't being found...

Are the products relevant to what people are actually looking for?

Does your search language make sense?

Are your titles, tags, descriptions and attributes helping Etsy understand what you're selling?

Because if you currently have 30 listings and they're all about a three out of ten, adding another 30 listings that are also a three out of ten hasn't really solved anything - You've just paid another load of 20-cent listing fees for more weak listings... Lovely!

This 20-cent bad boy is not going to save us by itself. 😅

Equally, if people are already seeing your products but aren't clicking them, quantity may not be your biggest problem.

Now I'd be looking at things like your first photographs, the product itself, how clearly it's being presented and whether the right customers are seeing it.

And if people are clicking but not buying?

Again, adding another 30 listings might not be the job - We might need to look at the buying decision...

Is the price making sense?

Do people trust the shop?

Are there unanswered questions?

Is delivery clear?

Does the product feel relevant to them?

More listings can't automatically fix those things.

More products can actually make a confusing shop MORE confusing

I'd also be careful if your shop already feels like several different businesses have all been shoved together...

Let's say you've got jewellery over here.

Then some wallets.

A few journals.

Some digital downloads.

Then something completely unrelated because you fancied making it one weekend.

Adding another 30 random products isn't necessarily going to improve that.

It might just make it harder for somebody landing on your shop to understand what do you actually sell, and is this shop for me?

That doesn't mean you have to sell one incredibly specific product forever...

I'm not saying you're only allowed to make one type of earring until retirement.

But your range should make enough sense that the customer can understand why those products belong together.

Before you make more products, work out which job needs doing

So if you're looking at your Etsy shop thinking "I've only got 25 listings. I need 100."

I'd stop there for a minute... Why? What are you expecting those extra 75 listings to fix?

If the problem is that your range genuinely feels too thin and buyers don't have enough useful options, then adding products may be a sensible next step.

If you've got one or two proven products and you can build a useful range around them, brilliant!

If customers are asking for related things that you don't currently offer, that gives us useful evidence too.

But if the current listings aren't being found, clicked or bought, I would look at why before multiplying them... Because if the foundation isn't working, creating more of the same foundation doesn't magically make it stronger.

The order I want you thinking in is:

Strong product.

Strong listing.

Then multiply what works.

Not:

"Make 100 things and hope one of them saves the shop."

So how many Etsy listings do you actually need?

There isn't a single correct number.

Sorry... I know that's deeply annoying when you clicked on something called How Many Listings Should You Have on Etsy? 😂

But I'd rather give you an answer that's actually useful.

Twenty brilliant listings can tell us far more than 100 random ones you've rushed out because somebody on YouTube said Etsy likes big shops.

And equally, if you have 20 strong listings, they're selling, customers want more choice and you've got obvious ways to expand the range, then yes, I'd probably start adding more.

The number itself isn't the strategy...

What matters is whether each additional listing is giving you something useful.

A new route into the shop.

A relevant choice for the customer.

A variation that people genuinely want.

A complementary product.

A sensible expansion of something that's already working.

If you can't explain what the new listing is adding, don't make it purely to move your listing count from 49 to 50... Etsy does not release balloons from the ceiling when you reach it.

What I'd do with your shop now

Have a look at the listings you've already got.

Don't compare the number to somebody else's shop.

Look at your evidence.

Are people finding them?

Are people clicking?

Are people buying?

Which products are doing particularly well?

Does your product range feel connected?

Are there obvious gaps where your existing customers would genuinely benefit from another option?

Then decide.

You might come away thinking "Yep. My listings are good, I've got products people want and I can see several sensible ways to expand."

Great!

More listings could be the right next move.

Or you might realise "Actually, I've got 60 listings and most of them aren't doing much at all."

In that case, I'd work on understanding why before creating another 40...

Because the goal isn't to own the Etsy shop with the biggest number next to “items”.

The goal is to build a shop containing products the right people can find, understand and actually want to buy.

So don't chase 50.

Don't chase 100.

Don't chase 200 because somebody online told you that's when Etsy finally starts taking you seriously.

Build enough useful, strong listings to properly serve the customer and your business.

Then, when you've got evidence about what works, multiply the strong stuff.

That's a much better target.