Business Email for an Etsy Seller: On Etsy vs Your Own Domain

Etsy wants Etsy orders handled on Etsy, and its rules say so: the conversation about an Etsy sale stays in Etsy Messages, and buyers are not added to your mailing list unless they opt in. That leaves a great deal that Etsy does not handle at all: the shop that asks to stock you, the magazine that wants a sample, the supplier, the custom commission that started on Instagram, and your own website once you have one. Those need an address on your own name, and this guide sets it up without breaking Etsy's rules.

Quick answer

Keep Etsy order conversations in Etsy Messages. Create hello@, wholesale@ and press@ on your own domain for everything that starts outside Etsy, and orders@ the day you open your own website. Put hello@ in your Etsy "About" section and your social bios, not in order messages. All of it is free on OquMail.

What stays on Etsy

Questions about an Etsy order, shipping updates, custom requests on an Etsy listing, and anything that could be read as moving an Etsy sale off Etsy. Etsy's seller policy is clear on this, and its message history is also your evidence in a case or a dispute. Do not put your email address in order messages, and do not add Etsy buyers to a newsletter unless they have signed up themselves; Etsy forbids using buyer details for marketing without consent, and in Europe so does the law.

The addresses to create

• hello@yourbrand.com as the public address for everything that starts outside Etsy: your "About" page, Instagram, your business card at a craft fair. Your own mailbox.
• wholesale@yourbrand.com for shops that want to stock you. A mailbox of its own, because a wholesale enquiry is the biggest order you will get this year and it should not sit under forty "do you have this in blue" messages.
• press@yourbrand.com for magazines, gift guides and bloggers. The press address guide explains how to make it worth their while.
• orders@yourbrand.com from the day you open a Shopify, Squarespace or WooCommerce shop; the online store address guide covers that side.
• suppliers@ only when you buy from more than a few suppliers and want their invoices and back-order notices out of hello@.

The emails you send

• Wholesale reply, from wholesale@: your line sheet as a PDF, minimum order, lead times, and the terms. Reply within a day; buyers email several makers at once.
• Custom commission, from hello@, for work that started on Instagram or at a fair: the brief in writing, the price, the deposit, the timing and the "this is what I understood" line that prevents the most common handmade dispute.
• Press reply, from press@: high-resolution images in a shared folder, a short paragraph about you, and your availability for a sample.
• Invoice for wholesale and commissions, from hello@ or orders@, with the order number in the subject line.

Set it up in an afternoon

1. Add your domain in OquMail and paste the MX, SPF and DKIM records at your registrar. The DNS checklist has the exact values.
2. Create hello@ and wholesale@ first, then a name@ mailbox for each person who writes to clients.
3. Create the shared addresses as groups and add the right people as members. Each member gets a copy in their own mailbox, so nothing waits on one person.
4. Set a signature on every mailbox in webmail: name, role, phone, and any licence or registration number your field requires.
5. Put the new addresses on the website, the booking or contact page, the social profiles and the email signatures, then stop giving out the personal ones.
6. Turn on two-factor authentication for every mailbox, not just the owner's. Client data is what makes your inbox worth stealing.

Mistakes specific to the trade

• Putting your email in Etsy order messages to "chat more easily". It is against the policy and it loses you Etsy's protection in a dispute.
• Running the brand from a personal Gmail with the brand name in it. The first wholesale buyer notices.
• Importing Etsy buyers into a newsletter tool. Build the list from your own website and from people who signed up at fairs.
• One address for everything, so the wholesale enquiry is found a week late.

Common questions

What email do I give Etsy for my seller account?

A mailbox on your own domain, such as hello@yourbrand.com or a private admin@ you check daily. Etsy's own notifications, payouts and policy notices then stay with the business if you ever change personal addresses, and two-factor authentication on that mailbox protects the shop.

Do I need my own website to need email?

No. Wholesale, press, commissions and suppliers exist before a website does. The website is when you add orders@, and the ecommerce guide picks up from there.

Can I use the same domain for my shop and my personal brand?

Yes, if the brand is your name. If the shop has its own name, buy that domain; the free plan supports three domains in one workspace, so you can keep name@yourname.com beside hello@yourbrand.com.