Etsy API

The Etsy Open API v3 is what every legitimate third-party Etsy tool runs on top of. When Everlyst, an accounting integration, or a custom script makes changes to your shop, it’s calling the Etsy API.

What the API can do

• Listings: read, create, edit, delete, publish, deactivate, renew. Most attributes and variations.
• Orders: read receipts, update tracking, mark as shipped, issue refunds.
• Inventory: per-variation stock and SKU updates.
• Shop: read/update shop info, sections, policies.
• Taxonomy: pull the current category and attribute set tree.

What the API can’t do

• Some niche listing fields aren’t exposed (specific photo metadata, some shipping profile internals).
• Etsy Ads management is API-limited.
• Direct buyer messaging via API is restricted (most apps avoid it for spam reasons).
• Buyer-side actions (favoriting, cart manipulation) are not exposed.

Rate limits

• 10 requests/second per app per shop. Tools batch and queue to stay under this.
• 10,000 requests/day per app per shop. Enough for normal usage; bulk tools hit it during large catalog syncs.

Why these limits matter to you (the seller)

• A bulk sync of a 1,000-listing shop can take 5+ minutes the first time as the tool walks pagination within rate limits.
• Tools that hit limits queue and retry - they don’t lose data, but operations take longer.
• If you’re using multiple authorized apps simultaneously, each gets its own quota; they don’t compete.