“Etsy’s bringing in less and less. We could do more to grow our Etsy sales, but they also make boneheaded decisions.” (Matt Snow, co-founder, Boredwalk)
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Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Background: A Side Project on Etsy
- The Strategy: Build the Owned Channel Before You Need It
- Step 1: Validate Cheap, on Etsy
- Step 2: Launch the Independent Store Before It’s Urgent
- Step 3: Bring Production In-House
- Step 4: Shift Marketing Spend to Owned Channels
- Step 5: Diversify Acquisition So No Single Channel Owns You
- The Results
- Key Lessons
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Bottom Line
Introduction
In this case study, we’re going to show you exactly how a two-person Etsy shop turned into an apparel brand pulling in roughly $3.5 million a year in revenue. This is a documented, publicly interviewed business, not an anonymous success story. Matt Snow and Meredith Erin have talked through their numbers on the record more than once, which means the timeline and figures here can be checked against their own words.
Here’s the step-by-step breakdown of what they did, and more importantly, when they did it. The timing turns out to matter more than the tactics.
Background: A Side Project on Etsy
Boredwalk started as a side project. Matt Snow and Meredith Erin had already been running a smaller graphic tee label called Ex-Boyfriend as a hobby out of Baltimore starting in 2009, splitting revenue between online sales, boutique wholesale accounts, and live events (Voyage LA). When they relocated to Los Angeles to be closer to apparel vendors, they narrowed their focus to e-commerce and launched Boredwalk on Etsy in January 2014, after spending four to six weeks researching design trends and building out a catalog of long-tail, niche graphic tee designs (Starter Story).
The starting point looked like a lot of Etsy shops still do today: two founders, no outside funding, and a marketplace storefront as the only sales channel. Etsy gave them fast access to buyers already searching for exactly what they were making, without needing to build an audience from zero.
What makes this case worth studying isn’t that Etsy worked. Plenty of shops get early traction there. It’s what they did next, and how early they did it.
Most of the “leave Etsy” content aimed at sellers focuses on the moment of departure: the fee hike that finally broke the margin, the suspension that forced a scramble, the algorithm change that tanked search visibility overnight. Boredwalk’s story is useful precisely because it skips that crisis narrative. There was no single triggering event. The founders built their exit ramp years before they needed it, while the marketplace channel was still healthy.
The Strategy: Build the Owned Channel Before You Need It
Most sellers wait until Etsy fees, policy changes, or algorithm shifts start hurting before they look for a way off. Boredwalk didn’t wait. They opened their own Shopify store in March 2016, just over two years after the Etsy launch, while Etsy was still their primary channel (Starter Story).
The easy part to miss: they weren’t in crisis when they did it. The Shopify store sat there for a while without much traffic pushed toward it. That gap between “the store exists” and “the store matters” turns out to be the whole strategy. Building the owned channel early meant it was ready to absorb growth the moment they started directing marketing dollars away from the marketplace.
Step 1: Validate Cheap, on Etsy
What they did: Launched on Etsy with a large catalog of designs built from weeks of trend research, rather than a handful of untested products.
Why this over the alternative: Building a standalone store first would have meant paying for traffic to prove out designs nobody had asked for yet. Etsy’s existing search demand let them test which designs actually sold before investing anywhere else.
How they executed it: Four to six weeks of design research up front, then a full catalog launch instead of a slow trickle of new listings.
This step is the one most “leave Etsy” advice skips. Etsy is a legitimate, cheap way to find out if a product category has real demand before you spend money proving it elsewhere.
Step 2: Launch the Independent Store Before It’s Urgent
What they did: Opened a Shopify store in March 2016, roughly two years after their first Etsy sale.
Why this over waiting: A store built under pressure, after a suspension, a fee hike, or a policy change, is a rushed store. Building it early meant the technical and catalog work was already done by the time it needed to carry real volume.
How they executed it: They set up the store as a parallel channel rather than a replacement, so Etsy kept generating revenue while the new site slowly took shape in the background.
Step 3: Bring Production In-House
What they did: Invested roughly $20,000 in production equipment to manufacture and ship their own designs instead of relying on a print-on-demand partner.
Why this over staying with a vendor: Margin on marketplace sales is already compressed by listing and transaction fees. Owning production meant the margin they clawed back from leaving a percentage-based marketplace didn’t get handed straight to a fulfillment vendor instead.
How they executed it: The equipment purchase came once order volume justified the fixed cost, not before. This is a sequencing detail worth noting: they didn’t over-invest in infrastructure while still validating demand on Etsy.
Legal disclaimer: Boredwalk’s revenue and investment figures come from the founders’ own on-the-record interviews. Individual results vary widely by product category, competition, and execution. Nothing here is a guarantee of similar outcomes for any other seller.
Step 4: Shift Marketing Spend to Owned Channels
What they did: Redirected paid acquisition spend toward their own site instead of relying on Etsy’s internal search traffic.
Why this over Etsy Ads: Every dollar spent inside Etsy builds Etsy’s traffic patterns and Etsy’s customer relationship, not the seller’s. Money spent driving buyers to an owned store builds an asset the seller actually controls: an email list, a returning-customer base, and data on what converts.
How they executed it: By the time Starter Story checked back in with Boredwalk in 2020, the founders reported their own website was generating over 95% of order volume, with Etsy reduced to a minor channel (Starter Story).
That 95% figure didn’t happen because Etsy sales collapsed. It happened because the owned channel grew faster than the marketplace channel did, over roughly four years of steadily redirected marketing spend. The Etsy shop stayed open the entire time. It simply stopped being where most of the revenue came from.
Step 5: Diversify Acquisition So No Single Channel Owns You
What they did: Layered paid social, email, SMS, and affiliate marketing on top of their own site instead of depending on one traffic source.
Why this over concentrating spend: The same risk that applies to relying entirely on Etsy applies to relying entirely on one paid channel. A business built on rented attention, whether that’s a marketplace algorithm or a single ad platform, can lose momentum the moment that channel changes its rules.
How they executed it: A 2022 update reported $275,000 in monthly revenue (a $3.5 million annualized run rate) and 85% year-over-year sales growth, with the founders attributing a chunk of that surge to paid social spending combined with several product launches, while continuing to build out SMS, email, and affiliate channels as backup (Starter Story).
The Results
85% year-over-year revenue growth, reaching a $3.5 million annualized run rate, after moving from an Etsy-dependent shop to an owned-channel-first business.
| Milestone | Date | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Etsy launch | January 2014 | Two founders, marketplace-only sales |
| Own store launch | March 2016 | Shopify store opened alongside Etsy |
| Revenue check-in | 2020 | $150K/month; own site drives 95%+ of orders |
| Revenue check-in | 2022 | $275K/month ($3.5M ARR); 85% YoY growth |
| Team size | 2022 | Grown to 10 people |
Paid social spend paired with new product launches on a channel they fully owned drove the single biggest share of the 2022 growth spike, something that’s hard to replicate to the same degree inside a marketplace listing.
Key Lessons
Start on a marketplace, but don’t stay dependent on one. Etsy’s built-in search demand is genuinely useful for validating a new product line cheaply. The mistake is treating that validation channel as a permanent home.
Build the owned store before you’re forced to. Boredwalk opened Shopify while Etsy was still working well for them. Waiting until a suspension or a fee increase forces the decision means building under pressure, with no runway to get it right.
Owning production protects margin that owning a marketplace listing can’t. The $20,000 equipment investment only made sense once volume justified it. Sequencing matters: validate first, then invest in infrastructure.
A returning-customer list is worth more than marketplace search rank. Email, SMS, and affiliate channels compound over time in a way that marketplace visibility doesn’t carry over if the algorithm shifts.
Diversification applies to marketing channels too, not just sales platforms. The same argument for leaving Etsy applies to relying on a single ad platform. Spread the risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this Boredwalk case study something any Etsy seller can replicate?
The sequence, validate on Etsy, then build an owned store early, applies across product categories. The specific numbers (revenue, ad spend, equipment cost) will differ by niche, competition, and execution.
How long did it take Boredwalk to reduce its Etsy dependence?
Roughly six years passed between the January 2014 Etsy launch and the 2020 point where their own site accounted for 95%+ of order volume. The Shopify store itself was live from March 2016, about two years in.
Does this approach work for handmade sellers, not just print apparel?
The underlying logic (validate cheap, then build an owned channel before it’s urgent) applies regardless of product type. Handmade sellers face the same marketplace fee structure and the same argument for not depending on one channel.
What tools did Boredwalk use to build their own store?
Shopify, according to their own interviews. The specific platform matters less than the decision to build it early and keep investing in it as volume grew.
What would Boredwalk have done differently, based on their own account?
Their public interviews suggest they could have driven traffic to their own store faster after the March 2016 launch instead of letting it sit relatively idle for a period. Earlier owned-channel investment likely would have compounded sooner.
What’s the biggest mistake to avoid when trying to reduce Etsy dependence?
Waiting until a fee increase, policy change, or suspension forces the decision. Boredwalk’s advantage was building the alternative while Etsy was still working, not after it stopped.
What’s the single most important step in this case study?
Launching the independent store in March 2016, over two years before it carried the bulk of order volume. That early timing is what made the later shift in marketing spend possible.
Is this still a realistic path for Etsy sellers in 2026?
The core mechanics (marketplace fees compressing margin, and owned channels not sharing that revenue with a third party) haven’t changed. What’s changed is that more sellers now face this decision earlier, since Etsy’s fee structure has only grown more complex over time. See our breakdown of current Etsy fees for the exact math.
How much does it cost to set up an independent store like Boredwalk did?
Boredwalk’s own reported figures show a separate $20,000 investment specifically in production equipment, on top of standard store setup costs. That equipment spend is optional and depends on whether a seller wants to manufacture in-house versus using a print-on-demand or fulfillment partner. Compare the ongoing cost tradeoffs in our Etsy vs. Shopify breakdown.
Does leaving Etsy mean giving up Etsy’s search traffic entirely?
No. Boredwalk kept selling on Etsy even after their own site became the dominant channel; Etsy just stopped being the primary source of revenue. A parallel-channel approach, not an abrupt exit, is what the data here actually supports.
What marketing channels replaced Etsy’s built-in search traffic for Boredwalk?
Paid social, email, SMS, and affiliate marketing, according to their 2022 update. No single channel replaced Etsy on its own; the point was spreading acquisition across several owned and paid channels at once.
Where can sellers start if they want to build an email list before shifting off Etsy?
Etsy allows limited direct communication with buyers post-purchase, so most sellers start collecting emails through order inserts, a linked newsletter signup, or a landing page referenced in their Etsy shop policies. Check our guide on Etsy SEO techniques for ways to keep Etsy traffic strong while building that list in parallel.
The Bottom Line
Boredwalk’s numbers prove one specific thing: building an owned sales channel while a marketplace shop is still working, rather than after it stops working, is what turns a decent Etsy shop into a business that doesn’t answer to Etsy’s fee schedule. The founders didn’t leave Etsy in a single dramatic move. They built the alternative early, then let volume shift toward it as their own channels compounded.
Start by mapping your own Etsy fee exposure against what an owned store would actually save you. See how Etsy’s current fees stack up before deciding how urgently to build that second channel.
Related Articles
- Etsy vs Shopify for Handmade Sellers: Fees Compared: the fee and control tradeoffs behind Boredwalk’s Shopify decision
- Etsy Fee Increases in 2026: The Full Seller Breakdown: the exact math on what staying Etsy-only costs per sale
- 12 Best Email Marketing Tools for Etsy Sellers: tools for building the owned-audience channel Boredwalk leaned on
About This Research
Nadia Cole has spent the better part of a decade elbow-deep in marketplace algorithms, first optimizing Etsy shops for other sellers, then writing about what actually works instead of what sounds good in a blog post.
This article is based on publicly available, on-the-record interviews Boredwalk’s co-founders gave to Starter Story (2020 and 2022) and Voyage LA Magazine, cross-referenced for consistency across the reported timeline, revenue figures, and channel strategy. No figures in this piece were estimated or invented; every number is attributed to its original source.
Content reviewed and updated: 2026-08-21
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