Sure, it’s fun to browse around Etsy and see what kind of merchandise you can discover in different categories, and from what Etsy recommends for you. But what if you’re looking for something in particular? Etsy makes it relatively simple to find a specific kind of item based on its class, category, price, colour, and more! You can also search for specific shops and the users who run them, too!
To search on Etsy:
- Go to www.etsy.com in your web browser (you can log in, but you don’t have to).
- Click in the box beside the Etsy logo labelled “Search for Items or Shops” and start typing in what you want to find.
As you type, Etsy will come up with a list of suggestions as to what kinds of items you may be searching for. For your most probable results, Etsy will even let you search for those results within a specific class of items (i.e. “Handmade”, “Vintage”, or either). Click a suggestion to search for items that contain those search terms.
If you’re looking for a specific shop or the name of a user who runs a shop, instead of an item, you can click Find Shop Names Containing [Your Search Terms] at the bottom of the suggestions list.
If you want to search for any item that contains your search terms, click the Search button.
- You will be taken to a screen that will display your search results; this one is for items. Click one to go to that item’s page.
You can click one of the options under “Show Results For” to filter your results by a category or subcategory. You can also click an option in the breadcrumb trail across the top to go back to a previous category or subcategory.
You can also click the drop-down menu beside “Sort By” and choose:
— Most Recent to sort by how recently the items have been listed
— Relevancy to sort by how closely the items match your search terms
— Highest Price to sort items from most expensive to least expensive
— Lowest Price to sort items from least expensive to most expensive - You can sort your results in other ways by using the “Refine Your Search” options along the left-hand side.
Filters available to you include:
— Whether items are classified as “Handmade”, “Vintage”, or either
— Minimum and/or maximum price for items
— Colour of the item (click Clear to see items of all colours)
— Whether or not the seller accepts Etsy Gift Cards
— Whether or not the seller will allow you to custom-order the item
— Sellers in a specific city, territory, or country (click Anywhere to see all sellers)
— Items that ship to a certain country - At the bottom of the page, you can click on an option underneath “Related to [Your Search Terms]” to search for items using search terms similar to the ones that you entered.
You can also click one of the options beside “Looking for Shops?” to take you to a shop page that contains your search terms (or click See More to switch to searching for shops).
Finally, you can click the left and right arrows here to move back and forth through pages of results, or click a number to go to that specific page of results (the one highlighted in black is the current page you’re on).
- Searching for shops is much the same as searching for items, except that it’s simpler. You can just see the shop name, the shop’s owner, a preview of some of their wares, and how many items they have publicly listed. Click on any of these to take you to the appropriate page.
You can also click the drop-down menu beside “Sort By” and select:
— Relevancy to sort shops by how closely their names match your search terms
— Most Recent to sort shops by how recently they were opened (with newest ones first)
— Alphabetical to sort results by shop name, from A to Z - You can also use the usual results page controls at the bottom of the page, and you can click Find Items Containing [Your Search Terms] to switch (back) to searching for items.
That’s a quick primer on how to search for items, shops, and users on Etsy!
