Etsy “Bestseller” Badges? Here’s How To Get It (Explained)

Etsy bestseller badges are great for getting you noticed over a sea of competition – especially when star-ratings aren’t enough!

Getting a badge, however, can be a tricky affair, and many Etsy sellers aren’t actually sure how the process truly works.

Furthermore, when you search in the Etsy Help Center for Bestseller badges, the search results come up empty.

How do Etsy seller badges work?

Etsy Bestseller badges are a slight alteration to your listing that basically states you have sold many of that item in a small time frame over all others in that category. As soon as someone sells more than you, that badge can disappear.

The amount you sell isn’t really factored in, so much as your speed over other sellers. You aren’t notified if your item is a “Bestseller,” but you will see a small icon or “badge” next to the listing.

Keep in mind that the badge will disappear if you are running out of stock, or if someone beats you at the “Bestseller” requirement.

How Do You Get the Bestseller Badge?

Getting the “Bestseller Badge” is a great moment for your shop.

For a limited time, customers will consider your items to be “hot ticket” or “trending” on Etsy right now. This means they are more likely to buy that item because they have a new trust and appreciation for your shop and your products.

Basically, at the beginning of each month, if your product sells the most items in the quickest time frame in its “niche category,” you earn a “Bestseller Badge.”

A niche category is something that is less general than “bookmarks” or “jewelry,” and instead could be “lavender oil” or “chocolate baking molds.”

This means that you are standing out from the crowd in that niche category this month, and that makes you a bestseller!

What Does the Bestseller Badge on Etsy Really Mean?

The idea behind the “Bestseller Badge” is still really murky in the Etsy community.

As I stated before in this article, there isn’t much information on these icons in the Etsy Help Center. In fact, the term “Bestseller Badge” was given to these little icons under listings unofficially by Etsy sellers in the community.

Instead, Etsy sellers have carefully been dissecting when and how they’ve been getting their bestseller icons during a specific time frame, which seems to be every month or 28-day period.

For example, you might have sold over 1,000 items in that category overall, but you only get the badge if you sold fifty in one day on the first day of the month.

If someone overtakes your spot, say, by selling 55 of the same sort of item in your category that month, the Etsy algorithm seems to quickly switch the “Bestseller Badge” over to that seller’s merchandise.

This means that even if your item has sold better overall, small booms for Etsy sellers get them noticed more quickly with the Etsy algorithm.

How Long Do You Keep the Bestseller Badge?

Keeping your Bestseller Badge is harder than earning it.

As we’ve mentioned above, the Etsy Algorithm will quickly take your Bestseller icon and move it to the next successful shop that has quickly out-sold you in your category.

That doesn’t mean you can’t earn it back!

In fact, if your sales still continue to skyrocket that month, while other shops grow stagnant or static, then your icon will quickly return.

However, there is still some debate as to how long it takes for the Etsy algorithm to move or add the Bestseller icon to someone’s shop. Some think it is an instantaneous effect, while others will claim that it can take 24 hours to 3 days for the icon to return.

The problem is that it is very difficult to find information on the Bestseller icon and how it works on Etsy.com, so there really isn’t a definitive answer or time period to mention in at the time of this article.

However, many sellers do believe that the change can be instantaneous as soon as more sales are finalized and process through their shops!

How Does the Bestseller Badge Affect my Sales?

When a customer sees that your item is a “bestseller,” they tend to trust your shop and items more.

Consider yourself for a moment, and let’s create an example.

If, say, you were shopping online through Etsy and started to search for essential oils, you may worry that the lavender oil you’re looking at could harm your skin or perhaps be too strong or too weak of a smell.

You may also worry that you are getting swindled out of “organic” or handcrafted essential oils, and instead are being sold a reproduction or imitation.

If that is the case, you would probably look for shops that only have five-star ratings and great customer reviews. Once you’ve narrowed it down to about ten shops with those five-star ratings and great reviews, you see that one of them is listed as a “Bestseller.”

Now, there are a lot of reasons why a customer would choose one of those ten items out of all others, but having the term “Bestseller” on your specific product is a great hook to get more customers into your shop – and hopefully to buy!

While it is not guaranteed, nor proven or mentioned by Etsy.com itself that you will increase your sales because of a Bestseller icon, many Etsy sellers have reported that their sales increase when they get the “Bestseller Badge.”

Furthermore, because the badge seems to work, there are plenty of Etsy forum threads of sellers asking and wondering how they, too, can get this badge on their shop.

The trouble is that the badges do tend to have a competitive effect on shops that operate within the same small, specific niche, and often will cause frustration for shop owners who lose their badge right away.

That’s why you should always rely on star-ratings and good customer reviews, and make sure to sell a great product that has bestseller potential, even if you don’t earn the icon for it!

How to Create a Bestseller on Etsy

Creating a bestseller on Etsy is all about knowing your niche and knowing your audience.

To get many sales in such a short period of time is a really great experience, but it takes a lot of work and focus in order to make sure your products are getting out there and are impressing your customers!

Your bestseller item should:

• Have a Great Overall Standing (i.e., Five-star ratings & detailed, positive customer reviews)
• Be of Good Quality and Carefully Managed by You
• Include a Sparkling Photo or Cover Image to Draw in Customers
• Feature a Personal Touch of Yours that No One Else Has (this helps customers identify with you and feel more comfortable buying from you)

Once you’ve created these specific situations for each of your products, you will not only see sales increase, but you may also find a “Bestseller Badge” on your products!

Making Your Products “Bestsellers” in Theory

I want to emphasize that you shouldn’t only use those circumstances listed above to try and catch a “Bestseller Badge” for your products.

Those icons are few-and-far-between and tend to disappear and reappear very quickly.

Instead, using those techniques to create a “bestseller-worthy” product, in theory, will help your shop have a great reputation and will ultimately be the thing that keeps customers coming back.

If only one item in your shop is fully thought out long and hard, has all those things listed above and earns a shot at getting a Bestseller icon, well, then the rest of your shop is going to disappoint customers when they click around your store.

So while it is great to try and shoot for the stars and earn the coveted “Bestseller Badge,” making sure that all your products are winners is going to be what keeps your shop at the top of everyone’s list in the long run, and will keep customers coming back for more!

Can I Tag my Own Products as “Bestsellers”?

Tagging your own product as a “Bestseller” isn’t against the rules, nor does it say you can’t write “Bestseller” in your product descriptions.

So, technically, yeah, you could absolutely slap the terms “bestseller” or “bestselling” all over your products if you like.

The problem, however, with this is that customers are less likely going to trust someone writing that their bookmarks are bestsellers than they are going to trust the Etsy algorithm and the “Bestseller Badges.”

You could absolutely claim that your product is a bestseller, but customers are still going to base their decisions off of the ratings and reviews that you have, the number of sales your product has, and how many favorites or “likes” that your shop and your items are getting on Etsy.

Furthermore, if you wrote “bestseller” on all of your products in your entire shop, customers will consider that to be shady or dishonest behavior and move along.

However, if you write that one of your bookmark products are “the bestselling” of all your other shop items, that isn’t dishonest or a lie. Instead, you are merely letting the customer know that this product is the most popular in your specific shop.

Just be careful how you phrase things, and make sure to be as honest as possible with any and all product descriptions!