Etsy Lays Off Hundreds Including 2 C-Suite Execs

by: ThebigR

Their support was poor at best can't possibly get any worst....

by: Tinysaur

There's one employee conspicuously not on the cut list: Silverman.

by: LDWCallsOut

''...competitors like Shein and Temu''.  What do those companies have to do with items designed and/or crafted by the seller or with vintage and antiques?

Right.  

by: Stone Cutter

*** Off-site Ad fees ruined Etsy ***

“….consultant Cindy Baldassi to write in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, "Etsy could have avoid canning employees by accepting they were out of ideas 2 years ago, and not continuing the aggressive hiring over the past 24 months."…

I do not agree with this comment because I do not believe that running out of ideas was the problem. It’s the way Etsy treats its Sellers that is the real reason as to why good performing Sellers have left the site.

Once Etsy declared those off-site-ad fees is when good performing shops left Etsy. It was Etsys stupid marketing department that decided it was okay to declare RANDOM additional fees on Sellers that were generated AFTER a sale.

I use to find shops on Etsy that generated over $1 million in sales, and now those shops are gone. Why would any shop stay with Etsy who generates a variable fee structure on Sellers?

How can any business know it’s cost basis without knowing what they would be charged on fees?

It’s a matter of trust. Sellers quickly learned that Etsy could not be trusted.  

by: COVID-19

It will be fine. They can go work for eBay. Hahahahahah!

by: regina

Hate to say it, but they brought a large portion of financial woes on theirselves  (and onto shop owners too) by way of scammers using (abusing) “shopper protection” - instantly refunding dishonest buyers saying “didn’t receive package” although official tracking explicitly shows otherwise.  

by: comments

OMG this guy is an absolute hero. Sales are flat and they are placing blame where it deserves to be placed!

I would LOVE to see ebay clean house as well. Amazon regularly sees double digit growth while Etsy growth and ebay sales are in major decline (growth only seen by adding new fees, ads, and fee hikes). Never ever reward poor performance with job security!

If I perform poorly I would be gone without a second thought or an appeal regardless of the reason or justification. Marketplace staff should be held to an even higher standard.

In my time in ecommerce I have seen start ups lap the trash policies that fail, get doubled down on, and fail harder.

Before Etsy swallowed and ebay and Amazons dose of stupid they were a nothing start up that took the 2008 Donahoe victims and grew to a giant public company. They reversed course and followed the Donahoe destruction policies and sales flat. Time to admit defeat and go back to what works!

Buyer VS Seller = no one wins!

by: Ebay-weary

If they want to help sellers, how about fixing their search so it doesn't bring pages of irrelevant items.  I gave up buying on Etsy because I don't have the time to drill down through all of the unrelated items to find what I am actually looking for.  You should be able to specify word or phrases which must be included in the results, and those which cannot.  That's so basic....

by: MakingEndsMeet

Etsy ads are working well for me. I love Etsy.

by: Rexford

Gotta pay for those holiday commercials.  HO! HO! HO!

"Parting ways with some of our colleagues was absolutely not an option we wanted to pursue..."

But you did Blanche, but you did.

by: P.S.

I just opened a shop on Etsy. Am I wasting my time? Any recommendations for other platforms?

by: cvsharkey

The old adage "Too little, too late" come to mind???

by: Ihatethebay

Agree with ALL of the above comments, but especially "Tinysaur" who stated so eloquently that "Silverman" wasn't on the list of employees getting shitcanned.

Oh yeah, there was ONE comment I didn't agree with from "Making Ends Meet" who positively LOVES Etsy. C'mon, man, we know that you're really an Etsy employee, maybe even Josh Silverman's son/daughter/niece/nephew/lackey.......

by: AnotherTime

I keep watching quietly from the back storage closet - as Etsy goes further and further away from its (successful) roots.  For the past 5 months I have kept my shop to a bare minimum as I watch the sad process unfold: buyer abuses, false shipping claims, poor monitoring of items not handmade or vintage, mysterious shop suspensions, lack of support, ridiculous search results, more fees and more fees, Etsy's plans to micromanage our businesses ... just for a few.  
A solid platform for sellers to sell in is all that is needed:  
Scrutinize new shops at the start - not 6 months in.
Make search results a priority,
Expand communication between buyers and sellers and between members and support (what good are "hearts" and favorites if I can't reach out to the buyer)
Bring back on-site specialties like the old Treasuries, feeds about what is selling, improved Community Boards (current "revised form" sucks).  
Keep people engaged on site once they arrive.  

I don't need/want all of Etsy's targeted advertising - frankly it never relates to my shop - and their expensive fees.  
Good business results depend on trust and communication between buyer and seller.  Etsy does not build this.
Etsy - get back to basics on your part and I'll do my part to generate my sales.  Your shareholders would be happy

by: Stone Cutter

@Anothertime

Well said….(applaud)

by: Stone Cutter

*** Chatter from an Investor ***

Yesterday, when watching CNBC, I heard a hedge fund manager say that she will continue to hold her investment in Etsy because she believes their stock is selling cheap at around $80/ share.

However, this hedge fund manager also believes that Etsys real problem is within their structure and that Etsy needs to fix their internal issues because the company can’t seem to move the needle…and that Etsy needs to do something different.

Letting go of 2 corporate execs is a bad sign. And if Etsy doesn’t turn things around, I have no doubt Silverman will be next on the chopping block.  

by: Judy F

I've often thought of setting up an Etsy store, but bad experiences as a buyer prevent this.  My opinion is that the worst problems Etsy has is with their customer service, both for the buyers AND sellers.  As a buyer, whenever there is a problem,it is always impossible to get any real help from Etsy.  If I'd find a phone number, there would be a voicemail telling me to check the online help section, which was no help.  I had one purchase take over a month to be processed, and the seller had no control over it.  It was an issue with Paypal, yet Paypal was waiting for Etsy to process the order, which took approximately 29 days. Etsy had a dealine of 30 days to process the order and finally did so at the very last minute.  I had to just wait.   One of my friends had her shop closed down simply because she had a ton of sales in one day, and Etsy apparently could not handle this, treated it as fraud, and she could not get any direct help from them either, could not process all those orders.  Etsy sent notices to the buyers telling them that there was a problem with the shop (caused by Etsy) and offering refunds.  Finally, after several weeks, the shop came back to life, with my friend not having received any contact from Etsy that explained the issue or apolgized for it.  She actually continued with the Etsy shop, this time only posting a few items at a time. If I had been her, I would have quit Etsy on the spot.

by: Shanna

I have been on Etsy for many years selling hand made doll clothing. Its something I enjoy doing, and making money from it is great. But, you cannot make a living on Etsy, because as soon as you are successful there, they charge you twice as much. In fact I put my shop on vacation several times a year so I do not have to worry about reaching certain milestones and can process orders this time of year.

They are the only platform that punishes success. They want to claim the extra fees are for off site ads, but what are the fees I pay now used for? The fees I pay eBay, Mercari and Poshmark seem to be plenty for them to advertise with.

Here's a better plan, since you will never get rid of the mass producers, counterfeit vintage, or Chinese junk shops, why not charge them 3 times the fees to sell non compliant items on Etsy.

by: Whatever

I once was an Etsy used but departed when it turned out to be a mini eBay. I've tried spending my money there over the last 2 years but NEVER get to see what I want just what they want me to buy - their useless and gold bless the folks still trying to make money there.

by: Fruitylovesyou

Does laid off mean fired?