Spy Reporter Lists Etsy Problems - But Are They Terminal?

by: Sierra

I agree with Stone Cutter. I am also a handmade artisan selling on Etsy (and eBay too). Some sellers participate in the "race to the bottom" game, but I prefer to sell my items for approximately the same price they'd sell for in a nice gift shop.

Last year was NOT good for me on Etsy. My Etsy revenue was down about 35% YOY. Many other sellers reported the same thing, so it seems to be due to something Etsy did (and maybe continues to do). Having said that, December was my BEST MONTH in the 17+ years I've sold on Etsy ... go figure! Thank you to any of my customers who may be reading this! :-)

When I started my Etsy shop in 2006, I hoped it would still be around to provide additional retirement income. And, since I'm about to embark on that chapter of my life, I'm hoping 2024 brings Etsy a new CEO with a vision much closer to the marketplace's original vision!

by: Queen of the Jungle

Excellent comments - thanks to everyone for taking time to write.

I sell on both sites more as a hobby than a source of income.   I have a brick and mortar outlet for my handmade and vintage stuff in addition to online Etsy shops.

10 years ago it was MUCH easier to sell on Etsy than it is today.   The corporate types always talk about going to scale and getting bigger but in doing so they kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

Like others have said, the people who run these sites don't give a darn about the sellers who are making them all the money.  It seems like they do everything in their power sometimes, to keep us from selling.  

I will never understand why these execs are so self destructive.

by: cvsharkey

You asked if there were statements I considered inaccurate in his article:
1. "Etsy was – arguably still is – the real deal: the company only allows homemade, vintage, or craft items, rulebreakers notwithstanding."

--It's HANDMADE, not "homemade.' There is a world of difference between the two.

2. Small crafters have been leaving after the pandemic because "they no longer want to crochet animal portraits."

--Small sellers were pushed so far to the back because of the middlemen selling Chinese made goods and grabbing the unique handmade spots by using handmade categories in error.
--Small sellers have dealt with increasing fees, pushes for "free shipping" and offering discounts.
--Horrible 30-day lock in of the off-site marketing fees. All while they are trying to keep their pricing attractive. With shipping costs skyrocketing it's just not practical. So they're moving to other platforms.

The other issue I have is the language he uses to describe crafters is derogatory (hence homemade instead of handmade.) To a person creating and trying to promote their crafts there is a world of difference. THIS is part of the reason why Etsy is getting away with everything. "Hand crafted" WAS Etsy's raison d'etre
And, by the way, there are thousands of people who would love a Christmas ornament with their dog's picture on it.  

by: Sierra

@Pace306 - Amazon Handmade is still there, although I just looked at it and there's manufactured (aka imported) stuff mixed in now. Sad.

Most people still don't know there's ANY handmade items on Amazon. I sold there from when Handmade launched in 2015 until October 2020, so I know it was moderately successful for SOME sellers for at least 5 years. It didn't work for me, mostly because I make / sell OOAK items and that doesn't work with Amazon's algorithm (or probably that of most marketplaces, but Amazon was the WORST ... in 5 years there, I sold as much as I do in one "good" year on Etsy).

eBay tried a special "handmade" section in, I think, 2016 ... or at least that's when I discovered it. I had to have an eBay store to be included, but they gave me that for 3 months free. I didn't get any sales there during that time AND eBay criticized me for listing non-handmade items in my store (WTF?) so that didn't go over real well. I'm not sure when they gave up on that idea. I *think* eBay might have tried featuring handmade items a few years earlier too, don't remember for sure. I have always sold handmade on there, just in various categories (NOT in the so-called handmade or artist categories that they've had over the years).

Since you mentioned Reverb, you might be amused to know that Etsy owns it.  

by: Snapped

“ Sure, I don't like their fees but instead of complaining about it, I am in the process of opening up my own Shopify store and hope to move some eBay customers over…”

That’s what they call a ‘silent’ complaint.  The only difference is the latter ‘action’ doesn’t reveal to them any of the exact same ‘concerns’ - or else why the need to take it at all?  

by: Sierra

@Queen of the Jungle - 10 years ago, Etsy hadn't yet IPO'd. 10 years ago, there was probably 1/3 as many shops on Etsy as there are today. So yeah, it was easier with less competition and no stockholders.  

by: Queen of the Jungle

Sierra- Exactly!

by: Lisa

that article is kind of  a disaster.

and wtf

"The venn diagram of people who sell on Etsy and people who understand the dynamics of public markets is not, one might conclude, a perfect circle".

jack ass

by: Lisa

...and yes, remember when you pretty much knew  everybody that sold on etsy, or at least we were on some street team together, and we bought from each other?

now everybody and their dog is your competitor.  

by: pace306

Yes, I know Reverb is owned by Etsy and it’s for the same reason that Posh now allows electronics - they are higher ticket more common items and in their own - there wasn’t that much expansion with out dealing in others categories.

The other 1/2 of the issue is the silent support eBay gives to the YouTube flippers - a lot of whom could never hold a 9-5 6 day a week job.

“Just follow me and you can avoid THESE mistakes and do 10k a week and make huge profits”. Pardon me but NO it doesn’t work like that.

In both eBay and Etsy’s case - their greed is what puts them in the positions they are in.

Instead of growing the business, they sit around and try to come up with ways to steal MORE.

I don’t do vintage or handmade- my wife does - and Amazons attempt went no where. She gave up on Etsy and eBay just made her crazy (she got Vero’d for using her own pics in her own listing!!)(eventually they apologized….)

These sites seem to go out of their way to make sell- the other supply the goods miserable - for no reason.

by: LDWCallsOut

I remember the original Etsy Street Teams, which were a fabulous idea for support and mentoring within local groups, or sellers who sold similar items but were geographically apart.  But...all too soon the concept of the teams started devolving into middle school cliques of shop owners playing various ''promotional'' games, or groups devoted to interests that had zero connection to selling handmade, vintage or supplies on Etsy.  Like the ones fangirling about the latest Disney flick or cooing about their support for the vampires or the werewolves in TWILIGHT. Whatever.

For me, the most interesting thing about the less-than-professional team era was how so many of them eagerly welcomed obvious resellers.  I don't think the Etsygirl gangs are given enough credit for how well they protected and encouraged the entrenchment of resellers on the site beginning well over a decade ago.

by: MLo

My concern about a closed forum is that the Media and investors will no longer be able to access the forums to discover the reality of Etsy. They’ll only have one voice, Silverman’s, delivering a skewed fairy-tale view of the platform. Seems as if Etsy is trying to hide just how far down the rabbit hole they’ve fallen. Sellers will certainly be hopelessly screaming into a void with no one to hear them.  

by: AntiqueGirly

@MLo  - interesting that you should say that because the stock is plummeting and there is a lot of talk on the various investment forums about Etsy and what's goin on there with their relationship with sellers and how they're being milked to death and abused.   Also, it seems that Silverman and others have been dumping stock which is for the most part owned by institutions like Blackrock and Vanguard.  Lots of discontent from sellers on there as well that investors get to see -- wonder if that's a reason to close the forums!! There stuff going on, that's for sure, we just don't know it - yet!  

by: Tinysaur

On top of unauditable assertions that Etsy ads were the source of a sale and owed a commission, sellers were forced to offer free shipping or be unsearchable without getting any compensation from Etsy. They tried to copy Amazon's buyer experience by bullying sellers into paying for shipping one way or another instead of covering that cost through a subscription the way Prime members do. So many bullying emails about how to roll shipping costs into your product price, making your product uncompetitive against a similar item elsewhere. Also, the Google cookie was generic for landing on Etsy, and lasted more than several days. If a shopper clicked through a dozen products after landing on etsy, and you happened to be one of them, cha-ching! as the app says.
I also had Etsy give the post office money from my account because they claimed I shipped in a flat-rate box. There has been no response from the post office, regarding the claim, and Etsy is not our advocate. Every piece of mail is photographed, so if Etsy wanted to, they could stand up for sellers, but there's no QUARTERLY financial incentive for them to do that, and the year-over-year slump in stock prices (down 73% from their peak in November 2021) shows the  "Enshittification" clearly.

by: Whatever

I USED to sell there - it's been awhile - now I can't even find what I'm looking for without spending alot of time drilling down millions of useless items. Most not even remotely related to what I went in there to get. Etsy's problem's started when they started hiring ebay reject management. they lost their way trying to keep up with the salaries of the elite - you can only screw the peasants for so long and then there is always a revolt - too bad they didn't take the ebay lessons with them - enough said