20M Members Strong, Etsy Passes $700M Mark For 2012 Sales; Nearly 100M Items Sold Overall

Etsy is releasing some new numbers this morning. The marketplace for hand crafted goods, which now has 20 million members (up from 15 million in May) in nearly 200 countries; passed the $700 million mark for sales so far in 2012 (compared to $525 million for all of 2011).

The company’s new direct checkout system has now processed and deposited over $100 million in transactions into seller accounts (which is double what Etsy reported in September). And by the end of the year, over 100 million items will have been sold in Etsy’s history.

With all of these milestones hit, Etsy believes that this will be the most successful holiday season in company history. Last year, Cyber Monday sales increased by more than 80 percent over the prior year, and this year is expected to create records for Cyber Monday and more.

The company is also launching a pop-up Holiday shop in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood from November 29 through December 8. The shop will showcase gift selections from celeb curators and more. Additionally, Etsy will be running a multi-million dollar online advertising campaign, including search, display, and video advertising.

One in four users are visiting Etsy from a mobile phone, so the company expects shopping via smartphones to be another sales driver this holiday season. And we know that international expansion is a huge priority for the marketplace–Etsy just raised $40 million in funding in May from Accel Partners, Index Ventures, and Union Square Ventures.