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Low-Stock Alerts for Etsy Sellers with Make
List the listings you care about and the quantity that should worry you. Make checks stock once a day and emails you when one hits that number.
Not yet tested · planned: live-tested. Steps and numbers may change after testing.
At a glance
- Who it's for
- Sellers with physical stock (handmade batches or supplies) who've run out of a bestseller without noticing.
- The task
- Checking stock by hand to catch low inventory before a listing sells out.
- Tools & cost
- Make: Free plan[price-check] (1,000 credits a month[price-check]; 15-minute minimum interval[price-check]; appears to allow 2 active scenarios, community-forum report) (Paid plans[price-check]) · checked[price-check]
Credits: Estimated: once a day with 15 watched listings ≈ 500 credits/mo (30 runs × (1 Search Rows + 15 Get an Inventory) = 480, plus about 20 for alerts). Twice a day ≈ 980/mo; 4 times a day ≈ 1,940/mo, over Make Free.
Free plan: likely enough at the recommended schedule (estimate, see credit table) - Google Sheets: Free with a Google account[price-check] · checked[price-check]
Free with a Google account - Gmail: Free personal account[price-check] (sending to yourself only) · checked[price-check]
Free (500 emails a day limit)[price-check]
- Make: Free plan[price-check] (1,000 credits a month[price-check]; 15-minute minimum interval[price-check]; appears to allow 2 active scenarios, community-forum report) (Paid plans[price-check]) · checked[price-check]
- Recommended schedule
- Once a day. Not more often on Make Free.
- Setup time
- ~30 min (estimate)
- What you copy/install
- Make blueprint: ETSY-007.blueprint.json[LINK: /downloads/ETSY-007.blueprint.json]
- Watch-list Sheet template (listing_id, min_qty, label, last_alerted_at): ETSY-007-template.xlsx[LINK: /downloads/ETSY-007-template.xlsx]
- Connections in Make: your Google account, your Etsy shop, and Gmail (sending to your own address)
- What success looks like
- When a watched listing is at or below its min_qty, one email reaches your own address naming the listing and quantity. Nobody else gets it; listings above their threshold send nothing.
- Last tested
- Not yet tested (intended: live-tested)
- Time saved
- ≈ 45 min/week Estimated (assumptions below)
Time saved: ≈ 45 min/week (Estimated)
Assumptions:
- About 15 items × about 1.5 minutes each (open the listing, check quantity, note reorders) = about 22.5 minutes per check, × 2 manual checks a week = 45 minutes. The alert runs daily, but we count only the two checks it replaces, so we don't overstate it (checking by hand daily would be about 158 minutes). The saving depends on items watched, not orders; reordering stays manual. Catching a sell-out early may matter more, and we don't put a number on that.
Not timed yet. This becomes Measured only after an agent times the manual baseline (3+ runs, median) and the automated run from Make's log.
Method: How we test: time saved
Make budget (Estimated)
| Schedule | daily |
|---|---|
| Checking credits / month | 30 (1 Search Rows per daily run) |
| Work credits / month | about 470 (450 inventory checks + about 20 for alerts) |
| Total credits / month | about 500 |
| Switched-on scenarios | 1 |
Assumptions:
- 15 watched listings (keep it to 20 or fewer; 20 ≈ 650/mo)
- 1 run a day, 30 days
- Search Rows uses 1 credit per run; Get an Inventory uses 1 credit per watched listing
- About 10 alerts a month, each 1 email + 1 Sheet update (last_alerted_at) = about 20
- Filters don't use credits
What it does
Reads your watch-list Sheet (listing_id, min_qty, label, optional last_alerted_at), checks each listing with Etsy: Get an Inventory, and if quantity is at or below min_qty, sends one email to you only.
What it does not do
- Restock or change quantities or prices. (Batch updates you approve are a separate recipe, ETSY-006.)
- Message buyers.
- Look at other shops.
What you copy or install
The blueprint, template and connections in the box above (Gmail sends to your own address only), plus these Make modules (exact names):
- Google Sheets: Search Rows (reads the watch-list)
- Etsy: Get an Inventory (checks each listing's stock)
- Gmail: Send an email
- Google Sheets: Update a Row (optional, writes
last_alerted_at)
It skips Etsy: List Shop Listings: checking every listing costs far more credits than a short watch-list.
Setup steps
- Copy the template and add the listings to watch, each with its
min_qty. - In Make, import the blueprint (or build Search Rows → Get an Inventory → filter "quantity is at or below min_qty" → Send an email).
- Put only your own address in To. A subject like
[Automate Your Hours] Low stock: {{label}}is easy to spot. - Optional: write the time into
last_alerted_atand filter on it to stop repeat alerts. - Schedule it once a day. Twice a day uses almost all of Make Free's credits (math below).
- To test, set one row's
min_qtyabove its stock, click Run once, confirm one email arrives, then set it back.
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| listing_id | The Etsy listing to watch |
| min_qty | Alert at or below this number |
| label | A name you'll recognise in the subject |
| last_alerted_at | Optional: stops repeat alerts |
What success looks like
- The email's To line shows only your address.
- Listings above their threshold sent nothing on the same run.
- Make's run history shows no errors.
Test evidence
Status: Not yet tested. Planned: live-tested in an Etsy test shop under Etsy's API Testing Policy. It passes when Get an Inventory returns a number for a test listing; the filter fires at or below min_qty and the email arrives; it goes only to the seller's address; and credits used are logged.
Before publishing, the test log must also record which inventory field holds the total sellable quantity.[TEST LOG: add the log summary, date, credits used and the confirmed quantity field once the PASS log exists.]
Tools & cost
| Tool | Free option | Paid (for reference) | Needed for this recipe | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make | Free plan[price-check] | Paid plans[price-check] | Free plan: likely enough at the recommended schedule (estimate, see credit table): once a day with 20 or fewer listings, about 500 credits a month for 15 | [price-check] (make.com/en/pricing) |
| Google Sheets | Free with a Google account[price-check] | — | Free | [price-check] |
| Gmail | Free personal account[price-check] | — | Free (500 emails a day limit)[price-check] | [price-check] |
Make credit math (Estimated)
| Schedule | Run | Work | Total a month | Fits Make Free? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Once a day, 15 listings, recommended | 30 | about 470 | about 500 | Yes, room for one more light recipe |
| Once a day, 20 listings | 30 | about 620 | about 650 | Yes, tighter |
| Twice a day, 15 listings | 60 | about 920 | about 980 | Barely; nothing left for others |
| 4 times a day, 15 listings | 120 | about 1,820 | about 1,940 | No |
Assumes 15 watched listings. Search Rows uses 1 credit per run (even when nothing is low), Get an Inventory 1 per listing per run, and about 10 alerts a month use 1 email + 1 Sheet update each. Filters are free. Estimates until the test log measures them.
Make Free limits (read before you switch anything on)
- 1,000 credits a month[price-check], and no scenario runs more often than every 15 minutes[price-check] (make.com/en/pricing).
- Checking costs credits even when nothing is new. Each scheduled run uses 1 credit for its first step, even an empty "check run" (help.make.com/operations). Checking alone: every 15 minutes ≈ 2,880 a month · hourly ≈ 720 · every 6 hours ≈ 120 · once a day ≈ 30 (Make's examples), plus the real work.
- Probably only 2 switched-on scenarios, according to a Make community forum report (community.make.com), not a Make pricing or help page. Plan for 2 until your account shows otherwise.
- To stay within them: run on-demand recipes (listing drafts, SEO audit) with Run once and leave them switched off (no active slot). Switch on 2 scheduled scenarios at most. The order log and packing sheet can share one scenario (one Watch Shop Receipts trigger, a Router, one route per Sheet: one slot, one checking cost). After week one, check credits used in Make and adjust.
What can go wrong
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No alert though stock is low | Wrong quantity field mapped from Get an Inventory | Check the raw data in Make's run history; map the total sellable quantity |
| Same alert every run | No repeat limit | Write last_alerted_at back and filter on it |
| Credits used up fast | Checking every listing, or running more than daily | Watch 20 key listings or fewer, once a day |
| Email not received | Gmail connection dropped, or spam | Reconnect Gmail; add a never-spam filter for the subject prefix |
| Rate-limit errors | Running too often | Once a day |
Something else broke?[LINK: Report a break form for ETSY-007]
Seller-policy-safe ✓
The only email goes to you. It doesn't use buyer or order data, and it doesn't market to anyone.
{{REPORT_BREAK_FORM}}. Broken recipes flip to red until re-tested.Affiliate disclosure
Affiliate link placeholders (not live): Make: {{AFFILIATE_MAKE}}
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This recipe is Lesson 4 of 6 of the free starter series for Etsy sellers.
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