Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the biggest shopping weekend of the year. In 2026, Black Friday falls on 27 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November, but many shoppers start hunting for deals well before then.
A great BFCM offer does two things. It's exciting enough to make shoppers buy now, and it still leaves you a healthy profit.
In this guide, you'll find a simple timeline to plan your sale, 20 promotion ideas (including the ones that have worked best in my own Etsy shops), and answers to the most common Etsy Black Friday questions.
Let's get started.
Your Etsy Black Friday Timeline
- Early to mid-October: Decide on your offer and check you'll still make a profit after the discount. Pitch your best products to gift guides and reach out to micro-influencers (ideas 10 and 12), as they plan their content weeks ahead.
- Late October to early November: Create any new products, bundles and BFCM graphics. Add a listing photo for any free gift or gift wrapping offer. Let your email list and social media followers know a big sale is coming.
- Monday 23 November: Start your sale. If your competitors usually start earlier, you can start up to a week before Black Friday. Email your list and post on social media.
- Black Friday (27 November) to Cyber Monday (30 November): Run your daily deals, send a reminder email, and reply to messages quickly.
- Cyber Monday (30 November): Send a "last chance" email. Don't end your sale early, because Cyber Monday is still one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.
- Early December: Ship on time, thank your customers, and send a thank-you coupon to bring them back for Christmas shopping.
01 - Run A Tiered Discount
Tiered discount is when a shop offers a higher discount for customers who spend more. It is used as an incentive for customers to buy more and save more.
The tiered discount can based on minimum spending amount or minimum number of items. For example, a minimum spending amount tiered discount can look like this:
- 10% off for orders less than $50
- 20% off for orders $50-100
- 30% off for orders over $100
Because customers may buy an extra item (that they otherwise wouldn’t) to take advantage of a higher discount, this strategy can increase the average spending of customers. In most cases, more items sold mean higher revenue and profit for your shop.
You can also base the tiers on the number of items:
- Buy 1 item, get 10% off
- Buy 2–4 items, get 20% off
- Buy 5 or more items, get 30% off
A tiered discount can also save you money, as several items can often be packed and shipped together.
For an even stronger offer, combine it with free shipping. For example: free shipping on orders over $50, then 15% off plus free shipping on orders over $100.
Tiered offers can be hard to understand from a listing thumbnail, so explain yours clearly in a listing photo and in an email to your list.
02 - Run The Biggest Sale Of The Year
Black Friday Cyber Monday sale is the biggest sale event of the year, and many shoppers are looking to find deals they can’t find at other times of the year. To build up excitement for this event, you can offer larger discounts than you usually offer during the year, which can create a sense of urgency for shoppers to take advantage of them before it's too late.
It's a good idea to offer a higher percentage discount during BFCM. Many shops offer at least 20% discount:
As a rule of thumb, if you usually offer 20% off, a 30–50% discount during BFCM will feel like a real deal. Digital products can go further, and 50% off is common because each extra sale costs you very little. Say that it's your biggest discount of the year in your emails and social media posts.
Some shops raise their prices a month or two before BFCM so that the discount looks bigger. Shoppers do notice, and it can hurt their trust, so I don't recommend it. Instead, review your prices well before the sale, as your costs have probably gone up, and make sure you still make a profit after the discount. You can check this by adding your discount to the Etsy fee calculator.
03 - Launch Exciting New Product During Black Friday
Creating new products to launch during the Black Friday sales event is a good way to create extra buzz. I would recommend launching them after your sales announcement. This way, it gives you more opportunities to promote your sale.
Make sure to let your social media followers and email subscribers know about your product launch. It’s a good idea to emphasise that it’s a good idea to buy the new product during the BFCM sale so that they can save money.
04 - Add Free Gift To Black Friday Orders
A small free gift is a great way to surprise your customers and give them a memorable shopping experience. This makes them more likely to come back in the future for repeat purchase. When it’s sent out during Black Friday, they may be tempted to buy again during Christmas.
Here are some free gift ideas for your Etsy shop. It could be a sample of your best selling product (for example, a mini candle of your best-selling scent) or a complementary gift (for example, a pen for your handmade notebook).
The free gift doesn’t have to be big. Make sure it doesn’t overshadow your main product or cut into your profit too much.
Show the free gift in one of your listing photos with a short description, so shoppers see it before they buy. For example, a candle shop could offer a free mini candle with every order over $40.
05 - Creating Special Product Bundles
Creating special BFCM product bundles is a great way to increase order size and generate more sales. They are also a good way to sell your less popular items. Usually bundles are offered at a discounted price compared to buying the items separately.
Two of the common ways to bundle your products together are: Bundle popular products with some less popular ones to move inventory, or bundle a product and its complementary products (like refills).
A bundle of only your bestsellers can work well too, and so can matching sets, such as earrings, a necklace and a bracelet in the same design. Whatever you bundle, make sure the items make sense together for the same customer.
06 - Target Black Friday Related Keywords For Etsy SEO
Before Black Friday, you can update the titles and tags of your best-selling listings to include related long-tail keywords. For example, you can include keywords like “Black Friday Sale”, “Cyber Monday Deal” and “BFCM Sale”.
This helps you reach shoppers who are searching for BFCM deals. Be careful with your best-selling listings, though. Changing their titles can affect how they rank for the keywords that already bring you sales. Add BFCM keywords to spare tags instead of rewriting your titles, and remove them after Cyber Monday so those tags go back to working for you the rest of the year.
07 - Announce Your Sale On Social Media
Posting on social media platforms to announce your BFCM sale can create extra traction for your campaign. Don’t forget to use some relevant hashtags like #blackfridaysale and #cybermondaysale to reach more people.
Try to focus on the platform that you have found the more success in the past. During BFCM, the social media platforms become extremely competitive. It’s hard to experiment with new platforms that you don’t have a lot of followers on.
One of the ways to announce and create excitement for your BFCM sale is to create eye-catching posts. Creating them from scratch could be difficult, that’s why I’ve created some designs that you can copy and customise for your Etsy shop in minutes. You can find the design in the Etsy Holiday Promotion Guide.
08 - Run Etsy Ads for Black Friday
Etsy ads are a great way to reach more holiday shoppers and make your products visible to the right audience. They are cheaper to run compared to Facebook ads and Google ads, especially during the BFCM period.
Etsy ads are pay-per-click, which means you only pay when a shopper click your ads and see your product listing. You can control the how much you spend on ads by changing the daily budget.
To read more about Etsy ads, click here to read this guide.
09 - Offer Free Shipping Over A Certain Order Amount
Similar to the tiered discount mentioned earlier in this guide, offering free shipping over a certain spending threshold can increase the spending of customers. You can do so by setting up a sale on Etsy by choosing “Free Standard Shipping” in the “Discount amount” section:
It can also improve your shop’s conversion rate as shipping costs is one of the biggest reasons why shoppers abandon their shopping cart according to a study by The Baymard Institute.
10 - Get Into Popular Black Friday Gift Guides
Getting featured in popular Black Friday gift guides can be a game changer. Many magazines, bloggers and influencers look for handmade products to create gift guides to recommend to their followers.
Although getting on a gift guide can be highly competitive, it may still worth a shot to pitch your best products to publications. The best time frame to pitch is around mid-October to early-November. Keep your email or DM short - Focus on who your product is for and what makes it special.
11 - Write Your Own Gift Guide On Your Blog Or Social Media
If you have a blog or social media accounts with a decent following, you can create your own BFCM gift guide. This way, you can feature your product in a more personal and authentic way.
Other than including your own products, you can include other cool handmade products that serve a similar target customer. Just make sure they are not your direct competitors. For example, if you sell handmade bar soap, you can feature other Etsy sellers who make bathroom and self-care products, like bath salt, candles and essential oils.
12 - Send Products To Micro-Influencers Before Black Friday
When people think of influencers, they only think of big names that have over a million followers. It would be amazing to get featured on their feed, but getting them to notice your product is difficult.
A better way to get exposure for Etsy sellers like you, is to approach micro-influencers, which usually refers to accounts with around 1,000-50,000 followers. Although they may not be as big, their followers usually have more trust in their opinion.
One good way to have a chance to get featured by them is to send them free product. For Black Friday promotion, do that early to allow shipping time and time for the influencer to create quality content. Be sure to communicate with them beforehand and come to a mutually agreeable terms (e.g. free product in extra for a post on the main feed).
13 - Host Social Media Giveaway
A social media contest or giveaway is a great way for brands to get new followers and increase engagement. The goal of it is to increase your reach on the platform. Usually you ask people to follow you, like and comment on the post to enter the giveaway.
However, this method is not perfect as running a giveaway could hurt your engagement rate in the long run. That is because your new followers (who follow you just because of the giveaway) may not interact with your content, and the lower engagement rate would decrease the reach of your content.
14 - Create Black Friday Shop Branding Graphics
Creating Black Friday specific Etsy shop branding can help you visually communicate with shoppers that your shop is running a big sale. Not only that, a well put-together Etsy shop gives a professional first impression to shoppers. Some of the graphic assets you can create:
- Etsy shop banner
- Shop icon
- Custom listing graphic
- Order receipt banner
15 - Donate To A Charity That Aligns With Your Brand Position
Donating to a charity that you and your target customers believe in can be for your Black Friday promotion. Doing so can improve your brand image in customers’ minds.
You can donate a percentage of their revenue during the Black Friday - Cyber Monday period. Usually it’s 5-10% of the earnings. Posting a receipt of your donation afterwards on social media or your Etsy shop update is a good idea.
16 - Run Daily Deals With Different Products Or Categories
This marketing strategy allows you to offer discount on specific products or category of products for a limited time, which can give your customers a sense of urgency to buy.
This is best used with email marketing or social media, as this will allow you to send out the daily deal to your customers at the time of offer. The daily deal can encourage your customers to return to your shop and shop for more products.
If a customer comes back for another day's deal, consider refunding the extra shipping so they don't pay for shipping twice. This makes them much more likely to return during the week.
17 - Deeper Discounts On Clearance Items
BFCM is a great time to clear out discontinued products, old samples and anything you don't plan to restock. If your standard BFCM discount is 20%, offer at least 30–40% off your clearance items.
Add the word "Clearance" to those listing titles, and say in the description that they won't be restocked. Limited stock encourages shoppers to buy quickly.
18 - A Special Coupon For Past Customers
Customers who have bought from you before are much more likely to buy again. In fact, acquiring a new customer can cost up to five times more than keeping an existing one.
Make your past customers feel special with an exclusive BFCM coupon code that's bigger than your public discount. Send it to your email list a day or two before the sale starts, so they get first pick.
19 - Free Gift Wrapping & Gift Messages
Many shoppers do their Christmas shopping during BFCM. Offering free gift wrapping and a handwritten gift message can be the reason they choose your shop over another.
Mention the offer in a listing photo, and include any limits (for example, messages under 50 words) and what customers need to do (for example, send their message through Etsy Messages).
20 - A Prize Draw For Everyone Who Buys
Enter every customer who buys during BFCM into a draw to win a special prize, such as a gift box of your bestsellers or a gift card.
Announce the prize and the draw date clearly on Etsy and social media, and share the winner publicly so the process feels fair. Prize draws have legal requirements in some countries, so check the rules where you live first.
Tips For A Successful BFCM Sale
Keep It Simple
An easy-to-understand offer usually works better than a complicated one. Confused shoppers don't buy.
Pair It With Email Marketing
Email is still the best way to tell all your past customers about your sale at once. If you don't have an email list yet, it's one of the best long-term investments you can make in your Etsy business. Here's my free guide to get started.
Make Sure Every Sale Is Still Profitable
Discounts are great for boosting sales, but don't undervalue your hard work, especially if you sell physical products. Before you set your discount, check what you'll actually keep after Etsy fees and your costs with the Etsy fee calculator.
Some Etsy Black Friday Q&A
How To Set Up A Black Friday Sale On Etsy
To set up your Black Friday sale on Etsy, go to your Dashboard and find “Sales & Discount” under “Marketing”.
You can choose to run a sale or create a promo code (coupon code). After clicking either of them, you can choose between a percentage discount or a fixed amount discount. Usually a percentage discount is better for lower priced items, and a fixed amount discount converts better for expensive items.
And then you can set an order minimum to qualify for the discount; it can either be a minimum order total or minimum number of items.
Should You Run Black Friday Sale For More Than One Day?
Yes. It is pretty common nowadays for online retailers, including Etsy sellers like you, to run Black Friday sale for more than one day. Some retailers offer their Black Friday deals for 4 days (Black Friday to Cyber Monday), but an increasing number of shops run BFCM promotion at least a week before Black Friday.
Running the sale for more than one day gives you more opportunities for promotion, and starting early has the added benefit of capturing shoppers looking for early Black Friday deals.
When Should You Start Black Friday Sale?
Starting early helps you get ahead of the competition and catch shoppers looking for early deals. In 2026, I'd recommend starting your sale on Monday 23 November and running it until Cyber Monday on 30 November. If shoppers in your niche usually start earlier, you can start up to a week before Black Friday.
How Much Discount Should I Offer For Black Friday On Etsy?
Offer more than you do in your other sales during the year. For physical products, 20–30% off is a common starting point, and 30–50% works if you normally offer 20%. Digital products often go up to 50% off. Whatever you choose, check your profit on each product before the sale starts.
