I've been browsing Etsy for like three hours straight tonight because my best friend's wedding is coming up in October and I'm the maid of honor. I found these absolutely gorgeous handmade clay earrings and some personalized robes that would be perfect for the girls, but man, the costs are really starting to stack up. I'm trying to keep the whole gift haul under $300 for five people which is kinda tough when you want quality stuff.

I did a bit of digging online to see how people usually score deals and I saw some people saying you should just leave items in your cart for a few days and wait for the seller to send an automatic discount code. I tried that with two shops and nothing happened after four days so maybe they just dont have that feature turned on? Or maybe it doesnt work for custom items? I also read that you could just message the seller directly and ask for a bundle discount but I honestly feel so awkward doing that because I know these are mostly one-person shops and I dont want to be that annoying customer lowballing their hard work.

My specific needs are:

• total budget is $300 max including shipping
• need everything delivered to Philly by late September
• looking for 5 sets of matching or semi-matching items
• prefer shops that actually do loyalty stuff or repeat buyer codes

Is there some kind of secret newsletter or a specific site that tracks these things better? I tried some of those browser extensions like Honey but they never seem to find anything that actually works on Etsy since every shop is its own thing. Does anyone know if there are specific times of the month shops usually run sales or if there is a better way to find coupons without being rude to the artists? I really want to support them but my wallet is screaming right now and I still have to pay for the bachelorette party decorations too...