Instant download

As some of you may know, I have been selling my bag patterns on Etsy as instant download since early this month.

When I first received the invitation from Etsy to try out this new feature for digital items, I went to the moon and back. I had been wondering when Etsy would include instant download. I sell at a few other sites which have instant download. Here they are if you're interested: Delighted, Craftsy and Pattern Spot.

So what's so great about instant download?

For me, I need not send my files via email to my customers. One disadvantage of sending via email is sometimes the emails don't reach the recipient and I get angry customers. I notice this usually happens for emails that end with edu.

For the customers, there is no need to wait for the files to be delivered. The customer, after completing payment, does the download herself. If you wish to familiarize yourself with the download procedure, please go here for Etsy help.

I don't know if Etsy has rolled out Instant download feature to all sellers yet. If not, it should be very soon.

My experience with Etsy's instant download feature? I'll be honest. I was nervous. I went to Etsy's forum to check on Admin's input and read other seller's experiences before I converted. Other than adding the words "instant download" and uploading my files to Etsy server, I only did one more thing. And that was to write an appropriate message to buyer for the digital download purchase.

In the beginning, I would obsessively check to see if my customers had downloaded the files. Etsy provides a Download status for sellers. I'm happy to report, all my customers have downloaded the files successfully to date. I'm also happy to report I no longer obsess over it.

This is truly the best thing Etsy has done (that benefited me). And currently, the fees for instant download is the same as for physical items. I hope there will be no increase. Fingers crossed.

And thanks to all my brave customers who tried out the instant download. Oh, 1 more Etsy sale and I hit 400! I know it's a small number but it took me a very, very, very long time.