"I want to start an Etsy shop" usually means one of three very different businesses: print-on-demand, handmade physical products, or digital downloads. They have almost nothing in common operationally, and picking based on trend rather than fit is a common early mistake.
Print-on-demand: lowest time cost, thinnest margins
No inventory, no shipping, but a supplier's margin is baked into every sale, and differentiation comes entirely from design, since production is commoditized.
Handmade: highest ceiling, highest time cost
Handmade goods can command real pricing power, but every sale takes physical time, which puts a hard ceiling on how much a single person can produce.
Digital downloads: sell once, deliver infinitely
No shipping, no inventory, no reshoots, but the upfront work (design, testing, refining based on buyer feedback) has to be done well once, since a weak digital product doesn't improve on its own.
Picking the right one
The right lane depends on how much time you actually have per week, and whether you're optimizing for margin, ceiling, or hours. Most sellers pick based on what looks fun, then discover the operational reality a few months in.