Discounts are very important. Just think about when you’re shopping—there is nothing better than snagging something on sale. And of course, the bigger the discount, the better!

I have firsthand experience with this. My jewelry items are listed in my Etsy shop, and whenever Etsy runs a platform-wide sale, I always participate. Sales after Thanksgiving and during the holiday season are especially popular.

This year, I thought I signed up for a sale running from Black Friday until just before Christmas. But when my sales were lower than expected, I realized the sale had actually ended on December 2nd instead of December 21st. Once I caught the mistake, I set up a new sale—this time running through the holidays with an even larger discount after Christmas.

The impact was clear: from Thanksgiving to December 20th, I had just 2 orders for 4 items. Once the sale was back on starting December 20th, I received 8 orders for 10 items by December 31st—four times the number of orders in a shorter period.

Many handmade artists worry that offering discounts diminishes the value of their work, believing people should pay full price. I take a different approach: I price my jewelry to reflect the time, effort, and skill invested in each piece, and then use occasional discounts to drive sales. To me, that feels like a fair tradeoff.

Happy selling in the new year!