Every repeating job, written down once
In a one-person shop, how to pack a parcel, answer a Help request or switch on Vacation Mode tends to live in one head, and it goes missing on a busy day or when a helper starts. I wrote 17 procedures for the jobs that repeat, each ending on a line that tells you it is done, and a workbook that keeps them on schedule.
The question
this build answers
How do I write down how my Etsy shop runs so that a helper, or I on a busy day, can follow it step by step?
From the first trigger
to the finished job.
The working version, step by step.
Fill in the brackets once
The first time you read a procedure, replace its square brackets with your own details, such as your post days and your supplier. I left a blank wherever a shop's own answer goes, and every procedure has at least one.
Follow the same five parts
Every procedure has a purpose, a when line, the time it takes, numbered steps and a done-when line. Where a step rests on an Etsy feature, I name the Etsy page behind it so you can read the rule yourself.
Work through the 17 jobs
They start with processing a new order and packing it, then handle a delay, a refund and a case before it escalates. My later procedures cover the monthly money review, the Q4 rush, a holiday with Vacation Mode and a helper's first week.
Tick the routine
The tracker turns the repeating jobs into Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly checklists, and each task names the procedure behind it. You set the days your shop works, tick what you did, and I made the completion percentage work itself out.
Keep the index current
The SOP index gives each procedure an owner, a last reviewed date and how often you want to review it. From those it works out the next review date, and I set it to flag any procedure that is overdue, due within 30 days or not reviewed yet.
Bring a helper in
My last procedure takes a helper through their first week, and their name goes in the Owner column of the index. It follows Etsy's help pages, which ask you to list everyone who works on the shop in your About section and advise against sharing your password.
The SOP manual, instant download
Etsy shop SOP manual: 17 written procedures in Word and PDF, with a daily, weekly and monthly routine tracker
You get the manual as a Word file and a PDF, the routine tracker workbook, a README and a sources file. It is an instant download with nothing to install. If a step or a formula looks wrong, message me from the order and I will check it.
Open the SOP manual on EtsyChecked across all three files
Before listing it, I ran a checker over the Word file, the PDF and the workbook, and it passed 236 of 236 checks. It confirmed all three list the same 17 procedures in the same order, and that each procedure has all five parts and at least one blank to fill in.
I filled a copy of the workbook with a sample month and recalculated all 365 formulas outside Excel, then opened the same copy in Microsoft Excel to compare. The completion percentages and review flags matched my own working, with no error cells.
The Etsy rules behind the steps
Where a step depends on an Etsy feature, I read Etsy's own help page or Seller Policy on 18 September 2026 and wrote the step to match. That covers features such as Vacation Mode, renewals and ship-by dates, along with Etsy's rules on cases and refunds. Each procedure names the pages behind it.
Some of those rules run on a clock. Etsy gives you 48 hours to respond to a Help request and resolve it before a case can open, and I put that in the procedure for complaints. The sources file names all 17 pages I read.
What it leaves out
The manual tells you when to use a tool and leaves the tool to its own file, so the order log, the stock sheet and the costing sheet are yours to supply. My shop sells trackers for those jobs as separate files.
It gives no legal or tax advice. I made procedure 13, the monthly money review, stop at moving the money you have decided to set aside.
Before you spend anything
The fit matters.
Who should not buy this
If you sell only digital downloads, my packing, restocking and delay procedures will not apply to you, so read the list of 17 before you buy.
A team with its own operations system will find it small, because I wrote it for a one-person product shop and its first helper.
Yours to keep
What lands
on your desk.
- The manual as an editable Word file and a print-ready PDF, one procedure per page
- 17 procedures, each with a purpose, a when line, the time it takes, numbered steps and a done-when line
- A routine tracker workbook with Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly checklists and an SOP index with review-due flags
- A README and a sources file naming the 17 Etsy pages behind the steps
See the work
Open the proof.
Published case studies of running systems. Each links to the thing itself.
A few useful
answers.
Can I edit the procedures?
The Word file is a standard .docx, and I checked it in Microsoft Word. When a procedure changes, edit it there, save a new PDF if you print it, and update its Last reviewed date in the index.
Does the tracker work in Google Sheets?
Import the workbook through File, Import, Upload. Every formula uses a function Google Sheets supports, and I checked a filled copy in Excel before I listed it.
Will a helper be able to follow it?
Each procedure has an owner field, and I wrote the steps so someone new can follow them on their own. The last procedure walks a helper through their first week, until they have done each of their jobs once while you watch.
What if Etsy changes a rule in it?
Each procedure names the Etsy pages behind it, so you can read the current version. If a step or a formula looks wrong, message me from your order and I will check it.
A little further down
the same path.
Related builds for the rest of your business.
Make this work for you
Your tools.
Your working version.
Want this built and handed over working? Tell me what your version needs to do. One line is enough to start.
Start a brief