How Many People Are Online on Etsy?

About 1.1 million people are browsing Etsy at any given moment. The online marketplace for handmade, vintage, and unique creative goods has grown into a major e-commerce platform with over 90 million active buyers and 7.5 million active sellers. Etsy receives approximately 400 million monthly visits, with shoppers spending time browsing unique items they can't find on Amazon or other mainstream retailers.

How the Concurrent Figure Is Derived

SimilarWeb shows Etsy averaging 400 million monthly visits, with roughly 13 million daily visits. Shopping sessions on Etsy tend to be browsing-heavy, averaging about 7 minutes as users explore handmade items, read product descriptions, check seller reviews, and compare options. This browsing-intensive behavior (compared to goal-oriented shopping on Amazon) means sessions last longer. The concurrent estimate of 1.1 million accounts for this pattern across primarily US and European shoppers.

Shopping Patterns on Etsy

Etsy traffic peaks during evening hours (7-10 PM) when people browse for pleasure. Weekend mornings are also strong for casual browsing. The holiday shopping season (October through December) is Etsy's biggest period, with traffic roughly doubling compared to the average month. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day also create significant spikes as shoppers seek personalized gifts. Etsy reports that personalized and custom items are among its best-selling categories year-round.

Etsy's Founding Story

Rob Kalin, Chris Maguire, and Haim Schoppik launched Etsy on June 18, 2005, from an apartment in Brooklyn, New York. The idea was to create an online marketplace focused on handmade crafts and vintage items, providing independent artisans with a platform to sell directly to buyers. The name "Etsy" was reportedly chosen because Kalin wanted a nonsense word that would be easy to brand.

Etsy grew steadily within the maker and craft community, going public in April 2015. Under CEO Josh Silverman (who took over in 2017), the company professionalized its operations and broadened its appeal while maintaining its handmade-and-unique ethos. The pandemic was a watershed moment: face mask sales brought millions of new buyers and sellers to the platform, and many stayed.

What Sells on Etsy

Jewelry is Etsy's top-selling category, followed by home decor, clothing, craft supplies, and personalized gifts. Custom and made-to-order items (personalized necklaces, custom portraits, monogrammed items) are a major draw that differentiates Etsy from other marketplaces. Vintage items (at least 20 years old) are also popular, particularly vintage clothing, furniture, and collectibles.

Digital products have become a significant and growing category. Printable art, digital planners, SVG files for crafters, and Canva templates generate passive income for sellers with no shipping required. Some digital product sellers on Etsy earn six-figure annual incomes.

Seller Community

Etsy has approximately 7.5 million active sellers, the majority of whom are small businesses run by one or two people. The average Etsy seller earns about $2,000 per year, though top sellers generate millions. Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee per item and a 6.5% transaction fee on each sale. Etsy Ads allows sellers to promote listings within search results for an additional cost.

Etsy's Broader Marketplace

Etsy also owns Depop (a Gen Z-focused fashion marketplace), Reverb (musical instruments), and Elo7 (handmade goods in Brazil). These acquisitions expanded Etsy's reach into adjacent creative commerce markets. The core Etsy marketplace, however, remains the company's primary revenue driver, generating over $2.5 billion in annual revenue.