free shipping will be the end of the world. . .

Sometimes the Etsy forums can get a bit overly dramatic.  😏  

Etsy has been pushing shop owners to offer free shipping in various ways for a while now.  I am regularly resistant to such things but I have done sales for free shipping on larger purchases, I offered free shipping with lower minimum thresholds around the holidays.  

However, I have not done free shipping the way Etsy wants or recommended because I have not added the full cost of shipping into the price of every single item. 😕  I don't like the notion of putting the full cost of shipping into every item price because if someone happens to order more than 1 item them they are actually overpaying for multiple shipping charges.  I know it's all profit for me but it has always struck me as dishonest and a bit unfair so I won't do it. 

Etsy's latest announcement that priority search placement would be given to listings with the new "free shipping guarantee" set-up have set the forums ablaze with threads shouting of unfairness, manipulation, blackmail, the death knell of small business, blaming amazon, hating etsy execs, defiant refusals, etc.,

I personally am a bit torn on the subject because from my reading and interpretation it does not have to be straight free shipping on every item/listing, there seems to be an option to have the "free shipping guarantee" set to give free shipping on orders over $35. 

I do not know or understand why they are using the word guarantee in this context other than it's a comforting and reassuring word for consumers.  😉  I think I can set it up to give free shipping with a minimum purchase which would be no different than the sales I've ran in the past, the only difference is Etsy wants us to use the new "tool" and set it up through shipping settings instead of using the sales&coupons tool under marketing. 😐  Other than which tool we use and the method Etsy displays it I really think there is no difference, at least not that I have found yet.  

I have not set up my "free shipping guarantee" yet, although the new tool did finally appear in my shop dashboard, I have seen threads where people are having some glitches and issues so I think I'll way a bit. 😁  The priority search placement doesn't kick in until the end of the month anyway and I already use "promoted listings" ads to get to the front of search.