Several Etsy executives held a meet-and-greet with sellers in the Bay Area of California, the company revealed in a post on LinkedIn today. Etsy Global Director of Marketplace Policy Sophie Duba – along with Vice President of Trust & Safety Alice Wu Paulus and Senior Director of Marketplace Safety Claudia Pfalzer – met with the sellers along with two members of the company’s PR department.
“We heard from these entrepreneurs about their experiences on Etsy, their business journeys and how Etsy can help them grow,” the company stated in the July 26, 2024 LinkedIn post.
In an accompanying photograph, it appears that Etsy hosted 6 sellers for an outdoor meal. The company quoted a seller who attended the event who said it was refreshing to connect, collaborate, and brainstorm with the Etsy employees and with other sellers.
Etsy didn’t reveal details of the discussion, but the meeting comes as sellers adjust to a change in which Etsy reorganized its policies into new Creativity Standards. In early July, it announced that all items on Etsy must be either:
Made by a seller
Designed by a seller
Sourced by a seller
Handpicked by a seller
One of several sellers posting in the comments section said she was from New York and wondered how she could attend such an event.
*** Because Etsy is dying ***
So why the “meet-and-greet?” For years, Etsy Sellers have been voicing their opinion on what they need in order to grow their businesses, yet, Etsy has ignored Sellers requests as Etsys’ management has been too arrogant to listen.
And now, the tables are turned.
As long as I’ve listened to economic news, I will say that companies will come up with some new market schema to keep investors interested. This is what I see in Etsys attempt to form a “Focus Group”.
As a Seller on Etsy, Etsy is REALLY slow this summer. The many products that I have followed throughout the Summer have gone nowhere and remain “for sale”.
Etsy is in a pickle….
Even if Etsbay sent me a personal invitation, I’d reply with:
“Thank you for the invitation but I won’t be sending you my RSVP until Josh Silverman replies to my letter of 4 July, 2022:”
Josh Silverman
CEO, Etsy Inc.
117 Adams Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201 4 July, 2022
Dear Josh Silverman,
As an Internet seller since 2000 I’ve been enslaved before, first by ebay’s ever-rising fees and micromanagement of our listings and now by Etsy’s dramatically rising fees and your emulation of all things ebay to include making profit from our shipping fees, increasing our burden by introducing the “Star Seller” requirements and “pay for play” advertising.
In July of 2015, after fifteen years as a seller, I declared my independence from the tyranny of ebay’s haughty CEOs and their “let them eat cake” attitude. I then started to sell vintage items on Etsy and thought I had found a new, happier home but it turned out to be only a temporary shelter.
In April of this year you raised fees dramatically and we beseeched you to keep fees low. Like Pharaoh in the Passover story (Passover falls in April) your heart was hardened. We organized a symbolic strike by placing our Etsy stores on “vacation mode” this last week but this too, was ignored by you.
Since April’s fee increase and mandatory “advertising” fee, I have seen my fees skyrocket and my profits correspondingly plummet. The Bidenflation, caused by an extreme Leftist president whom you and the other tech giants put in office hasn’t helped any, either.
Today, American Independence Day, I am declaring my independence from Etsbay. I am no longer listing new items to sell and will close my account when I sell my last item in my store, no matter how long it takes.
Sincerely,
Steve Marcus
Etsy username “nagmashdriver”
Hrmph. I live 2 hours from SF. But apparently this was by invitation only?