What Would Etsy Going Public Mean for Sellers?

by: Anonymous Annie

"Fasten your seatbelts..."

by: Garcia

Up up and away is what Etsy going public would mean for many sellers.  

by: Twisted Sticks

I am not sure. But I do agree Etsy is becoming a place for resellers and manufactured goods.  You only need to do a search and find mass produced goods from India like quilts, that I just can't compete with pricewise  I am trying to break away and find another venue.  If they go public who knows what I will do.

by: WhoKnewIt

You could of written this blog a couple years ago.  Had anyone asked the Sellers on Etsy what was going on we would of told you they were positioning themselves to go public.  The handwriting has been on the wall for a long time now.  Etsy started going downhill when they decided to go Public....it can only get worse from here....

by: sparky

Another marketplace cookie cutter stamped.  Sellers would be backseat and investors would direct only according to profits of stock.  It will be a disaster for selling.

by: odona

As an investor I just hope I could get in one the IPO - something that was available to the members of ebay when it went public.
As a seller I can only pray against any hope something can be written into the new corporate bylaws that would guarantee the concept of community remain at least a guideline...:-(

by: VintageLady

The writing was on the wall when Etsy decided to allow the mass producers to literally invade the marketplace destroying its very essence. Sales visibly and drastically declined, sellers are desperately slashing prices to keep up with the cheap imports and here is the eBay ''experience'' allover again. As if anyone needed a repeat of the fiasco.
The sad part is that there is no other acceptable venue left for the small independent Seller and going solo with your own website, is like becoming lost at sea.  

by: Mr. Me

IMHO ... going public can screw up a good company, the focus turns to short term profits to please the investors.  Ive worked for 2 companies that went public, focus shifted from "quality product" to "making numbers"

by: cayenna

There's good and bad with everything but I have to agree with 'vintage lady'; 'The sad part is that there is no other acceptable venue left for the small independent Seller and going solo with your own website, is like becoming lost at sea.'
I want to hold onto what is left of etsy in hopes that it will at least stay at what it is now and not get any worse; so I am not for them going public.  I think more of us need to let them know as it still may be helpful.
I believe if they go public we will have another eBay on our hands which would be extremely depressing. We need at least one place to sell that is for the most part not like eBay! Please hear our comments etsy to continue to support & build the foundation that has made you what it is.

by: Cloud

OMG who didn't see this coming when they announced their new policy, basically giving free range to mass produced goods. Etsy is becoming the new Alibaba. They had to do something to make themselves attractive to investors.  

by: Ming the Merciless

What would happen is the gradual ebayification/amazonification of Etsy.

Prior to the current Republican dominated Supreme Court and their corporatist decisions, publically held corporations used to operate in such a way that the interests of customers, employees, and stockholders were weighted more or less equally.

Today publicly held corporations claim they have to pay "competitive" CEO salaries of millions per year and offer a zillion share of free shares of stock annually.

In the process, the interests of employees customers have fallen by the way side in favor personal corporate officer enrichment and collaterally enriching shareholders.

It can't change until the composition of the Supreme Court changes and by then it could be too late.

This is how the wealth of the middle class is being sucked dry by the corporate ruling class.

by: comet

Every time I turn around--it seems--I have some one tell me--OH I bought it on ETSY!  Wow man--shades of the old and beloved early pre-Meg ebay years--sigh.

So when I found something on Etsy I could NOT find on ebay--I bought it.  Much to my surprise the item was NOT what was described.  The seller is very antagonistic and wants ME to PROVE that the item is NOT the metal she claims it is!  And I am supposed to get this IN WRITING from a GIA jeweler--um--yeah.  On a $20 item no less.

So---if THIS is the type of SELLERS on Etsy--I wish them all the joy in the world being turned into Ebay Jr.

I am sure however that most sellers are NOT like this.  And I too had noticed just in casual looks that the interesting and hand made was in decline. Sad--Etsy was once like going to a giant juried sort of craft show--no fake plastic flowers but interesting and high level CRAFTSMANSHIP.  Not so much anymore sadly.  

by: Resized

I am frankly frustrated with Etsy. I signed up for an account several years ago and sold some things mainly because they were well below what I could have sold them on eBay - mainly so I could get some feedback. I stopped using Etsy and they failed to get a shipping calculator. I recently posted some items and sold nothing during a time I sold $15k on eBay. They are only now experimenting with a calculator that you can look up prices for shipping, but that's not the problem. The problem is not having it integrated with listings. As a seller I don't want to look up anything - I want to make my listings and sell items. They also lack a bulk lister such as GargeSale for Macs. On top of this they ask $.20 per listings - it makes no sense when I can simply construct hundreds of listing in GarageSale and bulk list on ebay during one of their free promotions and not pay listing fees on a site with a lot more traffic. I'd love to sell on Etsy, but it makes no financial sense and they are years behind development.

by: gramophone-georg

What would Etsy going public mean for sellers?

Well, it would mean that their interest in Etsy is being sold... no more, no less. I'm banking on a hostile takeover by eBain in short order.

by: Mr. Me

eBay is a prime example of a company which puts profits to investors and management ahead of its "members" .
Etsy should take note that its sellers are what makes their company, without them all that they have to sell is "air". Sellers are essentially "investors", with their products, time, effort filling the site.
I, for one, am not interested in making money for stock market "investors"

by: retromonkeys

I am an Etsy seller and have been for 5 years. Etsy is an ever changing platform. I appreciate the need to continually change although the changes have negatively affected my sales.

I will most likely leave Etsy if they choose to go public. I would base my decision on the cost of selling. I cannot afford to pay higher fees for my listings and the discount rate for direct checkout.

Etsy preaches to the sellers that we need to be transparent to our customers. They, on the other hand, do not communicate with the seller's community at all.

I sell vintage supplies with no clear listing path, no equal promotion by Etsy, We are the forgotten sellers - or possibly ignored. I am the captain of a sellers' team and the consensus of the group is that Etsy doesn't care. I am in constant communication with admin and don't get any answers...

by: Anonymous

I don't totally understand, nor do I deal in stocks, but is there a way that Etsy could "go public" just by offering shares to Employees and registered buyers and sellers only? Why do shares have to be sold only to venture capitalists? (a.k.a. - the already mega-rich)

by: The End

I'll take 2,000 shares and set the stop at $50 long  :o)

by: rhawk

ETSY:   Take a hard, hard look at what ebay is doing.....and then don't do any of that!  You will be #1 in no time.

by: Rexford

Anytime a company goes public they become responsible to their shareholders, not to their customers.  And they monetize, monetize, and monetize.  They do anything they can to increase shareholder value.

In my opinion, that is pretty much what ruined eBay.  Well, that and you know who.  

It would likely make the corporate officers very rich, so in most cases that makes them very motivated to go public if they can.