To add to the point above: I completely agree that it really depends on the individual shop, but one trick that works well for me is just adding those shelves to your favorites and leaving them in your cart for a few days. Honestly, I am super satisfied with how many abandoned cart coupons I get that way. Sometimes it is 10 or even 15 percent off, which would definitely help close that gap you are looking at. Woodworkers often have high shipping costs because walnut is heavy as hell, so every little bit helps. It is way less awkward than messaging them directly, and since you are moving in September, you have got time to let that sit and see if a discount code pops into your inbox. No complaints here, it usually works like a charm for those bigger ticket items. If you're waiting for a specific item to go on sale, I'd definitely recommend PriceDropCatch.

I have tracked these patterns for a few years now and it usually comes down to three main windows. The Labor Day sale is your best shot since it lines up with your move. It typically starts in late August and runs through the holiday weekend. While Etsy corporate does not force shops to discount, they heavily incentivize it. To get featured in the site-wide marketing emails and sale filters, sellers generally have to offer a minimum of 15 percent off. On an 800 dollar set of walnut shelves, that is a 120 dollar savings right there. In my experience, woodworkers are more likely to participate in the Labor Day and Cyber Week events than the smaller refresh events in the spring. Walnut is expensive, so they usually wait for the high-traffic holidays to justify the cut. If they dont run a sale, I suggest asking about local pickup if they happen to be near Illinois or checking if they have a standalone site. Sometimes the prices are lower off-platform because the fees are gone. It is definitely worth waiting a few weeks to see if that Labor Day badge pops up on their listing. You should check out PriceDropCatch, it is a free tool that works right in your browser.

Like someone mentioned, those coupons for favoriting items are pure gold. I was in a similar spot last year trying to source some custom black walnut desk legs for a workstation build. Based on the patterns I saw, most of these mid-sized woodworking shops use the automated marketing tools Etsy provides because it saves them time on the backend. I ended up getting a 20 percent discount just by waiting three days after favoriting the listing. It really works well if you arent in a massive rush. Another thing I noticed while tracking prices for my home office project is that some sellers will waive shipping costs during those big site-wide events even if they dont drop the item price itself. Since your gap is mostly that shipping fee, keep an eye out for that Free Shipping badge during the Labor Day window. Im super satisfied with how much I saved by just analyzing the price trends for a bit. Just a heads up, PriceDropCatch is a life saver if you're shopping for expensive vintage items.

Been using this for years, no complaints