How do you figure out what Etsy sellers will actually pay for?

Hey IH,

Wanted to share a raw pivot story that might help (or at least be relatable).

About 3 months ago, I started building a SaaS for Etsy greeting card sellers. The idea was to give them a “command center” for their shop — analytics, order tracking, inventory, achievements, follow-ups, email strategies… basically everything.

Classic feature creep. I was building for myself (I run large Etsy shops) without testing if other sellers even cared about all that stuff.

When I finally stepped back, I realized:

Most of those extra features, while “nice,” weren’t what actually moves the needle for Etsy sellers — they don’t directly help them get more products listed or make more sales.

"How can Etsy card sellers get more products listed, faster, without spending weekends writing listings, hiring VAs, or having to hire artists or make the designs themselves?"

So last week, I ruthlessly cut it down to just 3 flows, laser-focused on that pain:

1. Instantly claim exclusive card designs from our vault — once you grab one, it's yours alone forever.

2. Upload your own artwork and keep your brand style with your own mockups or ours. Forget hours of keyword research — we write titles, descriptions, tags, and create listing videos with AI.

3. Schedule listings to post automatically so your shop grows 24/7, stays active, and climbs Etsy search.

It means you can go from idea to a live Etsy listing in minutes, not hours, scale without hiring VAs, artists, or burning weekends.

That’s it. No more dashboards, no complex metrics, no fancy financials.

Honestly? I feel way more confident now. It’s simpler, easier to explain, the value proposition is obvious, and it’s directly tied to how these sellers make money."

Curious:

1. How would you validate demand for something like this before going heavy on marketing or ads?

2. How early would you start charging, and at what point would you decide to stop if nobody bites?

3. What marketing channel or method would you pursue first to get those initial paying users?

4. Any tips on landing those first 5-10 customers without wasting weeks guessing?

5. Roughly how much do you think customers would realistically pay for something like this (monthly)?

Appreciate any thoughts. Happy to swap notes.