Sell on Etsy? Build a Consent-Based Email Course You Own Outside It
About Alex: a pen name. There is no shop behind it, and no results are claimed. This is a method plus opinion, and I mark which is which.
In short
Keep two groups apart: people who bought from you on a marketplace, and people who chose, on a page of your own, to get your emails. Only the second group goes on your list, and you keep a record of how each one agreed. (The strict version of that rule is my judgement; Step 1 explains how much of it I could check.)
What you get from reading it:
- A five-line Source Rule and a consent text you can paste
- A consent log that you can reconcile with your email tool
- A four-email course plan with one product mention, in the last email
You sell on Etsy. Etsy holds the shop page, the order messages and the buyers' details. If its rules changed tomorrow, or your shop were suspended, you would have no way to tell anyone where you went. That is a reason to build something of your own: a place where a person can choose to hear from you again, and a record showing that they did.
There is a trap on the way. The only email addresses you have came with orders, and some of those buyers may well have loved your work. The temptation is to paste them into an email tool. Step 1 is about exactly that.
Who this is for. Sellers on Etsy or a similar marketplace with no list and no website. If you already have a list, ask where each address came from; an address with no record of how that person agreed is outside this method, so do not send the course to it. To start from the basics, read How to Grow Your First Email List as a Product Seller.
What it costs. The writing is free. Sending can cost: the systeme.io help says an @gmail.com address has not been usable as the sender since 16 July 2024 and recommends an address on your own domain [S17], and a domain is bought from a registrar (prices not checked). Other tools differ; read any tool's help and pricing pages first.
Legal note. Nothing here is legal advice. Wherever the guide touches a law or a platform rule it says what was read, and where I could not read the text it says so. For your own case, check the rules that apply to you.
One imaginary seller carries the examples. Nadia sells printable weekly meal planners on Etsy. She is invented, and so is every number attached to her.
Step 1: Write your Source Rule
Five lines, written before you collect anyone, decide who may be on your list. A rule written while it is still calm and cheap settles the question long before an address sits on a list among hundreds of others.
What I could and could not check
Two things matter here: what Etsy's rules say, and what the law says. They are different questions, and I could answer only one from official text.
Etsy: not read. I requested Etsy's Seller Policy, its Seller Handbook and its help pages on 26 October 2026. Every Etsy page returned an access error (HTTP 403) to my requests, so I have no Etsy text to quote. What I have is search-tool summaries of Etsy pages.
They say, in paraphrase: marketing email needs the buyer's express consent, a clear affirmative action; an address obtained through an order is not consent to market; unsolicited promotions through Etsy Convos (Etsy's in-site messages, as I read the summaries) are not allowed; and without consent a seller may not add an Etsy member to a mailing list.
Treat all of that as unverified, from search summaries.
The summaries also showed a Seller Policy version "effective through July 8, 2026", so the current wording may differ. If you can open Etsy's pages, read them and replace my summary with the exact sentences.
US law: read. The FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide (dated August 2023, edited January 2024; read on 26 October 2026 through a fetch tool that returns extracts) says the Act covers commercial email, "doesn't apply just to bulk email", and, in a point about subscribers and members of a sender's own program, that "you don't need to get members' consent to send them marketing emails", while they keep the right to opt out [S12]. I read the Act as built around opting out rather than prior consent, but that sentence is about members, I did not read the whole page, and I would not rely on it for people who never joined anything of yours. The guide also lists more rules (honest headers and subject lines, identifying ads); read the whole list.
So the law the FTC describes appears to rest on opt-out, a lower bar than the marketplace rule the unverified summaries describe. A marketplace rule can be stricter than the law, and you are bound by the marketplace's rule on its platform. Other countries may differ; I checked none.
My rule, and why it is stricter than I can prove
The rule below does not depend on the exact Etsy wording. I would follow it even if Etsy's text were looser, because a record of a deliberate act costs almost nothing and "they bought from me" is hard to defend. It is my judgement, not a quotation.
| Where the address came from | Clean? (this guide's label) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Typed into a form on your own page, then a button under your consent text | Clean | The person did a deliberate act and you can show it |
| Order records, including a downloaded order list | Not clean | Unverified summary: transaction addresses are for order business |
| Someone who bought from you | Not clean as a source | Unverified summary: a sale is not consent |
| Someone who favourited, followed or messaged your shop | Not clean | Unverified summary: no adding without consent |
| A person who emails asking to join | Send the page link; let them use the form | The form creates the record |
| A friend or relative you type in yourself | Not clean | They did not do the deliberate act |
| A bought or scraped list | Outside this guide | No source supports it |
A buyer who later finds your page and signs up through the form is clean. What made them eligible is the form, not the purchase.
SOURCE RULE v1 (date: ____)
1. A person is added only after they
type their own address into the
form on ______ (my page address).
2. They press a button under consent
text version ____.
3. I record a log row the same day.
4. I do not add addresses from orders,
messages, followers or lists.
5. No log row, no course email.
A wrong first attempt (imaginary)
Nadia opens her order history and sees buyers who were happy with her planners. These are my customers, she thinks, surely I can invite them. She downloads the order list and gets ready to paste it into an email tool.
Then she reads her own line 4. She has no official text either way, so she treats a source she cannot confirm as not allowed. She keeps the file out of the tool. The same buyers can still become subscribers, but only by finding her page and pressing the button.
The rule is ready when it has all five lines and line 4 names orders, messages and followers.
Sources: [S33] (unverified, search summaries), [S12]. Hands-on verification: pending (V01).
Step 2: Set up one page of your own
You need one page with a public address, an email field and a button, not a full website. It holds the course promise, the form and the consent text. No tool has been checked against the list below, so confirm each line in the tool's own help or pricing page.
PAGE TOOL CHECK (tool: ____)
[ ] 1. Gives my page a public address
[ ] 2. Lets me put my own text under
the button
[ ] 3. Puts a working opt-out link and
my postal address in each email
[ ] 4. Shows when each person joined,
or lets me export that date
Sender address needed, and must I own
it: ______
If no tool ticks line 4, you will fill the log by hand, which is workable while the list is small. If line 3 is unknown, hold off sending anything, because Step 3 needs the footer. The free-plan build guide describes one tool's requirements.
The page spec has three parts:
PAGE SPEC
1. Headline + three lines: what the
person can do after the course
2. Form: one email field, one button,
the consent text (Step 3) directly
under it, and a short privacy line
(what you keep, why, how to
remove it)
3. Who you are: shop name, link to
your shop, a contact address
PRIVACY LINE (adapt; not legal text)
Keep: your email, sign-up date
Why: to send the course, show consent
Seen by: me and [tool name]
How long: unknown, check local rules
Remove: write to [contact address]
A visitor sees a headline, one email box, a button, consent text under it, and a line saying who you are. Get Your First Email Subscribers From Pinterest covers one way to bring people to it.
This step is done when every Tool Check line carries a tick or a written "unknown" and the spec has its three parts. If you cannot build the page yet, the spec alone counts.
Sources: [S17]. Hands-on verification: pending (V03).
Step 3: Write the consent text and the email footer
The consent text should be short enough for a stranger to read in ten seconds. It is what the person agrees to, and what you point to if someone later asks why they get your emails.
CONSENT TEXT v1 (first used: ____)
By pressing "____" you agree that
[shop name] will email you this free
[number]-email course at the address
above: the first on the day you sign
up, then [__, __, __] days after you
sign up. One email mentions [product].
The course ends after email [n]; you
get nothing more unless you ask.
Unsubscribe any time with the link in
each email. Privacy notice: [link]
If your tool counts each delay from the previous email, convert: delays of 2, 2 and 3 days put emails 2, 3 and 4 on days 2, 4 and 7 after sign-up.
Design rules (my judgement, not from any platform's text). Nothing pre-ticked: a tick box starts empty, or use a button labelled with the action ("Send me the course"). Disclose the product mention up front.
It may cost some sign-ups (I have no number), but a person who meets a pitch they were not told about may feel misled, and your records would not show they agreed to it. Let the course end, so there is no open-ended frequency to state. And do not tie it to purchase.
Version it. The first time you publish the text, call it v1 and save a dated copy. If you change the wording, the new one is v2. Each person's log row records which version they saw.
Single or double opt-in. Double opt-in adds a confirmation email: the person must click a link before they are on the list, which adds the click to your record. systeme.io's help describes it as set per form, with contacts who do not click the link within 24 hours deleted automatically [S04]; other tools differ.
The footer
The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide (read 26 October 2026) says a commercial message must include "a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out", must include "your valid physical postal address", and that opt-out requests must be honoured within 10 business days [S12]. Those are US rules; this guide does not cover other countries.
The page, as the fetch tool reported it, accepts a current street address, a registered post office box or a registered private mailbox; I did not see the full page, so check that line yourself. If you work from a kitchen table, solve this before sending. Until you have an answer, send nothing.
FOOTER (every email)
You get this because you signed up
for [course name] on [shop name]'s
page on [date you signed up].
Unsubscribe: [opt-out link]
[Shop name], [postal address]
Nadia's v1 (imaginary): button "Send me the 4-email course", with the consent text above filled in for 4 emails on days 0, 2, 4 and 7. She saves it as consent-v1-2026-11-02.txt and leaves out the product sentence, which breaks the second design rule. Step 4 shows what that costs her.
Read your text as a stranger would. Does it say who is sending, how many emails and when, that one mentions the product, when the course ends and how to leave? If you cannot decide how many emails, write the course plan (Step 5) first, then return.
Sources: [S04] [S12]. Hands-on verification: pending (V03).
Step 4: Start the consent log
The consent log is a spreadsheet showing, for every person on your list, when and how they agreed, and what happened if they left. Your tool may not record which text version each person saw, and a plain spreadsheet survives a change of tool. Keep it where only you can open it, because it holds personal data. How long to keep records depends on where you live; check locally.
Keep the row of someone who unsubscribed, marked as removed. In my judgement that row is what stops you adding them again by accident. Copy this header into the first row:
ID | Submitted (date, time, zone) |
Email | Consent text version |
Confirmed (date, or n/a) | Status |
Removed on
Status is active, removed, or not added. If the version is unknown, write unknown. Add columns only if you will use them.
Nadia's imaginary log for 2 to 15 November (the email column is left out here):
| ID | Submitted | Text | Confirmed | Status | Removed on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N-001 | 2 Nov 09:14 | v1 | 2 Nov 09:20 | active | none |
| N-002 | 2 Nov 18:40 | v1 | 3 Nov 07:55 | removed (opt-out 9 Nov) | 9 Nov |
| N-003 | 3 Nov 12:05 | v1 | not confirmed | not added | none |
| N-004 | 4 Nov 21:30 | v1 | 4 Nov 21:33 | active | none |
| N-005 | 6 Nov 08:10 | v2 | 6 Nov 08:12 | removed (opt-out 12 Nov) | 13 Nov |
| N-006 | 8 Nov 16:45 | v2 | 8 Nov 17:00 | active | none |
Reconciling means checking that your log and your tool agree. Nadia's sum: 6 submitted, minus 1 not confirmed, minus 2 removed, leaves 3 active (N-001, N-004, N-006). Her tool should show 3 contacts. If it shows 4, a row is missing, someone was not removed, or her tool counts unsubscribed people; she checks which.
Why two versions? On 5 November Nadia noticed that v1 said nothing about the product mention, although her plan includes one, so she added a sentence and called the new text v2.
The three people who confirmed under v1 (N-001, N-002, N-004) did not see it. Her rule, her own judgement: v1 people still on the list either get email 4 without the mention or are asked again with v2. The version column lets her tell the groups apart.
N-005 opted out on 12 November and was removed on 13 November, one day later, inside the 10 business days the FTC guide gives [S12].
A healthy log has one row per person on your list, each with a version and a date, and an active count that matches your tool. If you find someone on the list with no row, do not email them; remove them, and let them join through the form if they want the course.
Sources: [S12]. Hands-on verification: pending (V03).
Step 5: Decide what to do about past buyers, then plan the course
Past buyers: one written decision per channel
Step 1 leaves past buyers with one route: they find your page and join through the form like anyone else. The open question is how they find it. Etsy may allow some channels (a shop announcement, a link in a listing, a note with a delivery) and not others. I could not read Etsy's text, so I do not guess. Settle it one channel at a time:
CHANNEL CHECK (date: ____)
Channel: ______ (shop announcement,
listing text, order message,
delivery note, my social account)
Does the Etsy text I read mention
this channel? yes / no / can't find
The sentence, copied exactly:
"______"
Where I found it (address): ______
Decision: use / don't use
Choose "use" only if the copied sentence clearly allows what you plan. "Can't find" or an ambiguous sentence means "don't use" until Etsy's seller support has answered in writing.
Nadia (imaginary) fills in three checks. A Convo to past buyers: the unverified summaries say Convos may not carry unsolicited promotions, so "don't use". A line in her listing text, and a shop announcement: no sentence found, "don't use, for now". She accepts a slower start, and order messages stay order messages.
If every channel ends in "don't use", you still have routes outside Etsy; the list-building guide above covers some.
The course: help first, product once
The risk to plan against is a course that turns into a catalogue, so fix the job of each email before writing text.
COURSE PLAN
Promise (from the consent text): ____
Email 1 day __ Job: deliver the
promise + first small task. __ min
Email 2 day __ Job: ____ (finishable)
__ min
Email 3 day __ Job: ____ (finishable)
__ min
Email 4 day __ Job: ____ + one product
mention. __ min
Total reader time: __ min
My rules for the product mention: it is true (what the product is and does, nothing more); optional (the reader can finish without it); once (one email, two or three sentences, one link); last (after the reader has finished something useful); and free of pressure (no countdowns, no "today only"). Each email carries the footer from Step 3.
Nadia's promise (imaginary): "Plan a week of dinners in under an hour."
| Day | Job the reader finishes | Minutes | Product mention | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Write down the five dinners you cook | 10 | none |
| 2 | 2 | Turn those five into one shopping list | 15 | none |
| 3 | 4 | Check the list against the pantry | 15 | none |
| 4 | 7 | Review the week, change one dinner | 10 | one, 2 sentences |
Total: 10 + 15 + 15 + 10 = 50 minutes, so "under an hour" holds. Email 4 ends with: "If you would rather have the planner as a printable, there is one in Nadia's Etsy shop. The course works without it." That is 1 mention in 4 emails.
Before writing any email, check three things: each email has a job the reader can finish, the minutes add up to your total, and the mention sits in exactly one email. If you cannot find four finishable jobs, make it three emails and update the consent text, which makes it a new version.
Sources: [S33] (unverified), plus method. Hands-on verification: pending (V02).
Step 6: Optional dry run with two addresses of your own
After your tool is set up, sign up with test address A, then address B from another provider, and log both marked TEST.
Open the first email on both: is the opt-out link there, does the postal address show? Unsubscribe B and check that it stops receiving mail and shows as removed. Reconcile: submitted 2, removed 1, so 1 active. Write down every column your tool could not fill. If B still receives email after unsubscribing, treat it as a blocking fault before any real subscriber joins.
Sources: none; this step is a test script. Hands-on verification: pending (V03).
Can I send a one-time "I started a course" message to past buyers? I found no official text that allows it and could not open Etsy's pages, so I do not recommend it. Ask Etsy's seller support. EU or elsewhere? Not covered here; the privacy line in Step 2 is a starting point, not a privacy policy.
Your next step
If you did the steps, you have everything in the list at the top, and nothing asked you to email a single past buyer. The first real subscriber will be someone who chose to be there, and whose choice you can show.
Pick by where you are. If you want to turn the plan into a working page and campaign on one tool's free plan, the free-plan build guide walks through a signup page and one welcome email, and Build Your First Free Welcome Email Automation With Systeme.io goes on to the automation.
If you are unsure whether a list is your next lever at all, Why Your Shop Isn't Growing helps you find your weakest stage first. Only later does the free-or-paid decision matter.
Sources and checks
Read on 26 October 2026.
- FTC, "CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business" (page dated August 2023, edited January 2024) [S12]. My direct request returned an error page, so I read it through a fetch tool that returns extracts, not the raw page. Taken from it: the opt-out explanation and postal address requirements, the 10 business days for opt-outs, that the Act is not limited to bulk email, and a sentence saying members' consent is not needed for marketing email (about members of a program). Saved as notes in the batch raw folder. The postal-address options are from the tool's summary, not an exact quote.
- systeme.io help pages "How to set up double opt-in" [S04] and the sender-address page [S17], read on 25 October 2026: double opt-in is set per form with unconfirmed contacts deleted after 24 hours; @gmail.com has not been usable as the sender since 16 July 2024. Not tested in a live account.
- systeme.io deliverability help [S20], read 25 October 2026: advises a domain with an active homepage. Not tested.
Not read. Etsy's Seller Policy, Seller Handbook and help pages all returned HTTP 403 on 26 October 2026, with a browser user agent and through a fetch tool. Everything attributed to Etsy in this guide [S33] comes from search-tool summaries and is unverified.
systeme.io's deliverability page advises a domain with an active homepage [S20].
Opinion. The Source Rule's strictness, the four design rules, keeping removed rows, the product-mention rules and the course plan are my judgement.
Still to run. A person who can open Etsy's pages should compare the Step 1 summary with the current text (V01); real sellers should try the steps (V02, V03).
- V01 Etsy's current Seller Policy and Seller Handbook text on marketing email is read as full pages by a person who can open them, and the Step 1 rule summary is compared with it [PENDING]
- V02 At least three real marketplace sellers write a Source Rule and a Channel Check and report where the current marketplace text differed from this guide [PENDING]
- V03 A real seller runs the Step 6 dry run with two test addresses on a real page tool and reports which log columns the tool could not fill [PENDING]
What this guide does not claim
That it is legal advice, that any law or Etsy rule is as summarised here, that any imaginary seller or number is real, or that following it will bring subscribers or sales.