In 2021, “Nick the Alchemist” started selling magical spells on Etsy. For just a few dollars each, he offers spells for pet protection, quick money and overcoming fear, and emblems known as “sigils” to confuse your enemies, attract women or become a “famous influencer.” Most of his dozens of spells have been rated five stars by apparently happy customers.

Since then, he says he’s made about $100,000 — enough to help him quit his job as a stocker at Lowe’s in Michigan, where he lives.

“I’ve always been drawn to entrepreneurship but I’ve been attracted to metaphysics and spirituality so I just put those two things together,” the 28-year-old entrepreneur said. “Before my Etsy, I tried a lot of things, dropshipping, writing articles, creating websites, nothing stuck until the Etsy shop.”

For almost a decade, Etsy has been a showcase for handcrafted, one-of-a-kind items, generating $1.6 billion in profit last year from 9 million sellers. Its selection is as vast as the human imagination, featuring everything from tea cozies to “human face pies.”

But alongside the custom pet portraiture and six foot plush giant squids are listings for something the platform has banned for nearly a decade: magical spells. Sellers like Nick the Alchemist offer thousands of them: “Extreme Millionaire Lotto Spell,” ($13.13), “Best Death Spell” ($60.87), “14th Dimensional Master Energy” ($365.01), “Wonderful Holiday With Family Spell” ($19.01”) and “Child Athlete Spell” ($11.95). There are also “Social Media Fame Spells” ($2.88) and, predictably, too many penis enhancement spells to bother counting.

“This is snake oil, modern day snake oil.”

Etsy does not break out witchcraft and wizardry in its quarterly financials. But interviews with people who claim to practice it and some rough math suggest the platform has facilitated millions of dollars in spell sales. Etsy’s own public data shows that some of its most popular spell sellers, who boast hundreds of offerings and thousands of largely 5-star reviews, have made hundreds of thousands of dollars on tens of thousands of sales.

Etsy did not respond to multiple detailed requests for comment on its policies, buyer protections, moderation practices and witchcraft and wizardry sales numbers.

It's worth noting that Etsy’s rivals don’t appear to struggle as much with “metaphysical services” sellers. It’s almost impossible to find spell listings on Amazon, though the company does host listings for materials associated with magic. And while eBay has a few, appears to be orders of magnitude less than Etsy. “Our intangible items policy prohibits the sale of items or things that buyers can’t track or confirm they have received, including spells, souls, or ghosts,” eBay spokesperson Scott Overland told Forbes.

There is currently no scientific proof that magic exists. “This is snake oil, modern day snake oil,”........

© Forbes