Etsy Earnings: Did the Strike by Sellers Impact Sales?

by: The End

June 2020 marks the last time Etsy stock was this low.
Etsy stock is bleeding red down in to loser territory.
It will be one of those ENRON stories....
Take the Wrecking Ball to Etsy.
Start over.

by: LDWCallsOut

It wasn't a "strike".  Shop owners are not Etsy employees.

A small percentage of shops closed for a week or a few days.  If there was a significant impact on sales numbers from that, we won't hear about it until 2nd Quarter 2022 reports are out.  Late June or early July.

@The End:  not an ENRON story, I think, but a reseller story.  Etsy needs to reassure investors that they are NOT going to remove mass made and fake vintage items from the site.  And come clean by admitting artisan handmade and authentic vintage/antiques are a minority of listings active on Etsy.  Reseller listings are the majority of listings and have been for years now.  Etsy has become more like eBay and Amazon.  Then Etsy needs to revise the listing process so that retail boutiques (resellers) don't have to create deceptive listings in order to sell on the site.

by: The End

ENRON in that a lot of fakery and fraud is going on to defraud investors......

by: Mazdaman

As I recall over our years on eBay (over 20 years), eBay has been magnificent at hiding the real effects of ANYTHING on their revenue, whether it be slowdowns or "strikes" by sellers, seasonal changes, the exodus of sellers in response to Draconian policy changes, or the parting of the Red Sea.  Wall Street has been fooled more than once into thinking eBay is on the rise, even recently.

After all, that's what a CFO and CEO combination at a public company do best!

by: Stone Cutter

No, I don’t believe the “strike” impacted sales, however an awareness that sellers are not happy will turn off institutional investors, which is even better.

Etsy didn’t have to buyer those two companies on 2021. They could have reinvested their earnings back into Etsy. They got greedy! Now, Etsy comes back to us to pay for Etsy over expanding into UK and Brazil, which I do believe is what is happening here. Etsy got cocky and now the world is concerned about gas prices and a possible recession. Stupid company!

by: AddyUp

Etsy must be feeling the pinch. I've seen regular Etsy ads on UK tv, something I've never seen before. While eBay tv ads have disappeared.

by: Stone Cutter

Here in the U.S., just heard this morning that growth in the UK and the EU has literally stopped. So yes, Etsy must be feeling the pinch if blowing a bunch of money on TV commercials.  

by: iheartjacksparrow

I see Etsy commercials a lot on TV, though I watch the smaller cable channels like Discovery ID. They've been running two constantly (they run them back-to-back), about a handmade coffee table, and a handmade headboard. So they seem to be pushing OOAK handmade items.  

by: LDWCallsOut

Almost all furniture is handmade.  I doubt that the items shown in those two commercials are actually OOAK.  In the 1970s, my late husband and I had oak bookcases custom built by a local furniture maker.  We chose the width, height, depth, number of shelves, and the wood finish,  Made to order is NOT OOAK.

I think Etsy purchased other handmade or thrifted item sites because -- for some reason -- Etsy corporate seems to want to corner the market on those concepts.   I visited Depop for the first time when I first read about them being bought by Etsy, and there were a few sellers listing brand new counterfeit luxury fashion brand bags.  Now there are many more.  

Since Etsy bought Depop the site has become more attractive to Asian fashion manufacturers, moving Depop away from its original concept of selling pre-loved fashion online.  At some point, the new items will overtake the online thrifting on Depop, and it will become more like Etsy is now.

by: Steverd

All I know is their stock is down 54% year to date.
Thats huge. So do they thinking raise fees will fix that?

by: The End

BTW : in the Etsy shop manager where it says "recommended for you", and "your shop's check list",
I'd like to tell 'em to SHOVE IT.

by: Stone Cutter

@iheartjacksparrow
Yes, I've seen those commercials too, mostly on MSNBC and CBS. The narrative says..."Buy Handmade...Etsy". So, I checked out beds on Etsy which sell for $600.00-$1200.00..some with decent sales figures. So yes, I agree that Etsy is marketing "handmade". The higher price points are smart. As inflation becomes an issue, those at the bottom of the food chain will not have disposable income to spend. Selling items to those with professional wages is what Etsy needs to do.

Because, there is no money selling to people with no money.  

by: The End

There's no money trying to sell to people With money.
That's Why they have money.
Face it. Joe Dumbass Biden really screwed things up.
YES I said it.

by: Stone Cutter

@The End...you say...
"There's no money trying to sell to people With money."

Sorry I disagree. I sell to people with money. I sell to professional women who have disposable cash. I have customers who have been with me for over 8 years and continue to spend on jewelry. Every time I raise my prices, buyers keep coming back. I live on the West Coast where housing prices are high, yet, the newly constructed housing in my neighborhood priced at $2.2 million sells quickly. Builders cannot keep up.

During Covid, those who worked from home now have a whole bunch of money in the bank since they did nothing...no vacations, nothing.  This information came from the banking industry who says that it's the upper end consumer who has a bunch of cash saved up to spend.

And this is what has always killed me about Etsy. They have always advertised for Suzy-Q right out of high school who will be the first to pullback on spending when money gets tight.  

Back in 2019, Etsy announced that 40% of their market is from buyers who spend $200+ per purchase at least 6 times per year. This is huge for Etsy and the truly handmade sellers that need a decent profit margin.  

by: Stone Cutter

@The End....
We have inflation because there is more demand than supply...PERIOD, as many countries are faced with supply chain issues..it's just not the U.S.  And now, the Federal Reserve is trying to curb inflation by increasing interest rates which could kill our relatively good economy with an historic low unemployment rate and better wages, if the Federal Reserve overshoots it. It's a tricky balance, but I'm optimistic.

Without Federal Stimulus during Covid, many would have lost their homes and businesses and it would have taken many years for the economy to recover. Economist say that the financial crash of 2008 lasted as long as it did because the government didn't pump enough money into it.

I'd rather have inflation than a longterm economic downturn. For many, wealth comes from housing prices and the Stock Market. Both housing and the Stock Market remained strong during Covid due to government stimulus.  

by: The End

Stone Cutter :
You can't disagree.

by: LDWCallsOut

I browsed some of the beds and headboards listed on Etsy as ''handmade''.  While some of them were made to order in the shop owner's studio, many were imports from Asia -- and also sold on Amazon, Wayfair, and Wal-Mart for a higher price than Etsy (this looks like dumping).  

Unless you use an image search to find out where else the item is sold, a shopper on Etsy can't know whether or not a bed or headboard is designed and/or made by the shop owner.  Just because an item listed on Etsy is priced at  $500+ doesn't mean you can trust the info in the listing.  You still have to research items of interest if you don't want to purchase a bed mass manufactured in Asia of particle board and ''manufacture'' (sic) wood.

The problem with Etsy is the level of deception on the site, and how that deception is protected by the policy of allowing resellers while pretending not to.

by: LDWCallsOut

Etsy has officially answered the post's question in an article I'm reading at MarketWatch:

''Etsy moved to answer any decline in online shopping with increases in the fees it charges for serving as a platform for buyers and sellers. That has led to an outcry by sellers using the platform, including a “strike” last month, but executives did not cite the blowback as a reason for its forecast in Wednesday’s release, and analysts don’t believe it will have much of an effect.''

by: Rexford

A global pandemic which caused global supply chain issues. I guess everyone needs a scape goat. I thamk God for a man whose actions saved many lives.