Top Tips on Selling on Etsy During Christmas
🎄 The Ultimate Guide to Christmas Sales for Poster Sellers (by PrintShrimp)
‘Tis the season for more sales — a lot more sales.
If you sell posters or wall art online, Christmas isn’t just the busiest time of year… it’s the time to scale your shop. We see sellers regularly experience 3–5× increases in sales between November and December — but only if they’re prepared.
That’s why we’ve put together The Ultimate Christmas Seller Guide, a free downloadable PDF that covers everything you need to know to make the most of the festive season with PrintShrimp.
👉 Download the full Christmas Guide here
🎁 Why You Need to Prepare Early
If this is your first time selling prints through Christmas, don’t underestimate the spike in demand. Every year, poster sales surge massively around mid-November and continue right through to the big day.
One seller even saw a 3× jump in sales from October to November, and then another 3× jump from November to December.
But with great sales come great challenges — shipping delays, courier backlogs, and public holidays that can affect delivery schedules. That’s why preparation isn’t optional; it’s essential.
🚚 Delivery Times & What to Expect
From around 20th November, delivery networks start to feel the festive strain. While normal shipping takes around 2–4 days, during the Christmas rush it can take a week or longer.
PrintShrimp will continue dispatching orders within standard production times — but please be patient if couriers are slower than usual. Some of our print partners will be processing 15,000+ orders per day, and delays can happen once parcels are with Royal Mail, USPS, or other couriers.
We always work hard to ensure Christmas deliveries arrive on time, and we’ll resend any lost orders after a 10-day waiting period (or sooner if we’re close to Christmas).
🎅 Final Christmas Delivery Dates
Want to guarantee your customers get their posters in time? Mark these dates in your calendar 👇
- UK: Tuesday, 16th December
- USA: Tuesday, 16th December
- EU: Monday, 15th December
- Australia: Tuesday, 16th December
- Canada: Tuesday, 16th December
🕒 Pro tip: Add a few days’ buffer on your Etsy listings to manage customer expectations.
📦 Common Courier Issues
During this time of year, couriers like Royal Mail and USPS are overwhelmed. It’s very common to see tracking messages like “We’re expecting it” — this doesn’t mean your order hasn’t been sent! It simply means the parcel wasn’t scanned on collection.
Tracking will update once it reaches the next processing centre or is delivered. To avoid confusion, communicate this clearly to your customers.
✉️ Letter Size Print Delays (A4, A5, 5x7”, 8x10”)
Royal Mail no longer prioritises “letter” shipments, which means smaller poster sizes can take weeks to arrive.
From 20th November, we’re upgrading these to full RM48 Tracked shipping by default to keep things moving. This adds just £2 per order and dramatically improves delivery reliability.
We’re not profiting from this — it’s purely to make sure your customers get their orders before Christmas!
💬 Communication is Key
Keep your Etsy customers in the loop! A few small updates can save you hours of customer messages later.
🔸 Shop Announcements
Add your estimated delivery dates and final order deadlines to your shop banner or announcement section.
🔸 Dispatch Messages
Update your dispatch confirmations to mention expected delays due to seasonal demand.
🔸 Shop Policies
Add a disclaimer clarifying that you’re not responsible for courier delays once an order has shipped. Transparency builds trust — and happier customers.
📅 Public Holidays & Closures
Christmas brings closures worldwide, and even though PrintShrimp does its best to keep printing through the holidays, some delays are unavoidable.
Check our PDF guide for the full holiday closure calendar for the UK, USA, EU, AUS, and Canada — including which days are “final dispatch” and when we resume full production in January.
👉 Download the full guide to see the complete holiday timeline
🎉 A Final Note from the PrintShrimp Team
We’d like to wish all our sellers a Merry Christmas (and if you don’t celebrate, we hope you still get some well-earned rest!).
Thank you for being part of PrintShrimp — here’s to an even bigger and better 2026 🦐
🎁 Download your full Christmas Seller Guide (PDF)
Get all the delivery dates, communication templates, and regional holiday calendars in one handy file.
👉 Click here to download the full guide