Etsy is a great platform to sell vintage items, digital products, as well as hand made products and merch. However, if you want to sell on Etsy, you need to make some initial investments. Listing fee is just a small part of your investment, you need to focus on running ad campaigns to generate sales. For a new seller advertising can be costly, and spending heavily on ads might not even cover your costs. Advertising on Etsy is not mandatory but to improve your visibility you will have to advertise. Etsy uses cost-per-click (CPC) ads. Therefore, you pay only when you get clicks on your ads. The average conversion for CPC ads on Etsy is about 2.5 percent. Therefore, with advertising, you also need to use SEO and other form of Digital Marketing.