Etsy gotta pay bills like everyone else, I suppose.
A shame, though- I feel like theyâre giving up the one thing that made them special⌠I wonder about the long-term stability of doing this.
Etsy has been packed with mass produced stuff for years. Now they are just publicly embracing it- unlike previously where they said they didnât want it but were quite happy to take the cash.
Iâve never had a high opinion of them.
On the upside maybe this will mean people will finally stop with their basement swetshop level crap.
No seriously though hopefully the quality improves.
Step 1: IPO.
Step 2: Suck.
God I hate those shitty Chinese clothing sellers that infest Amazon and eBay and Etsy.
Yeah, I recall them being âfeaturedâ in a podcast (though I canât for the like of me remember the showâŚ) where it was pretty clear that the poster children for Etsy success basically brought over containers full of cheap sweatshop made Chinese goods and resold them.
Since itâs more than an âopen secretâ now, I expect Etsy to look more like Alibaba very soon indeed.
Itâs not âpaying the billsâ. Itâs rewarding speculators who decided to gamble on this particular IPO. It has nothing to do with increasing value for any of siteâs customers or users.
Imagine if you are playing blackjack and by taking your first two cards, you have the right to dictate how decks are shuffled, how many decks should be used and who should be running the casino. Thatâs modern stock market capitalism.
Oh, I totally understand.
The behavior of Etsy is a great example of the âI got mineâ attitude our culture/shareholders embrace.
Quick question. If Etsy is so terrible as everyone here keeps crowing it is⌠are there any options beyond ebay and yardsales if you make things and want to share/sell?
A person could absolutely make their own website to display and sell items, but that solves only part of the problem. Credit card processing is intimidating, but itâs not like you have to reinvent the wheel.
From what I understand, the real value of Etsy to sellers is the exposure to potential buyers. I can build a site to sell things, but getting the word out about âEarleen and her handmade doggy dressesâ isnât all that easy. If Earleen is on Etsy, those who yearn for handmade garments for their dogs can search through all the offerings.
With her own site, Earleen will have to hustle a bit more to bring in the folks who want what she is selling.
ETA: Iâm in the midwest, where craft fairs are all over the place, but just because a line of people is pawing your handmade items, that doesnât mean a bunch of people want to drop cash for them. Itâs really hit or miss.
And, lest you think that this is too silly an example, itâs from my life. I made up the name Earleen, but I was approached by a person who wanted a website to sell her doggy dresses. She had dozens in inventory and also took commissions. When she found out it would cost money up front, she backed out. I was much relieved when she told me she would âdo Etsyâ instead. I told her that was probably her best bet, and good luck with the dresses.
Since Regretsy is gone, I canât find all of those old posts of mass-produced crap being sold as handmade with a 10000% markup⌠(Compare and Save?)
Itâs a shame, because when Etsy started, it seemed like such a good idea. I guess it was inevitable that it would have to go bigger/more mainstream and openly allow the non-handmade/artisan goods.
Paging @OtherMichael: Will you be starting up an Etsy-based companion to the Alibaba game?
I guess I just get confused with the whole âmust growâ attitude of these sites- though, admittedly, business is not my skill set. Still- Ma and Paâs Country Store* survived for two generations without growing. They stayed small, and continued to make an acceptable profit. They didnât have/need to turn into Walmart. Is it just an insatiable thirst for more money that drives this?
*This is a fictional store, but theyâre great and offer a wide variety of supplies and provisions at a reasonable cost with great service. Recommend.
Not much really, I have no clue how Amazonâs etsy knockoff site tolerates these crap peddlers.
I think youâre on to something with the âthirst for moneyâ. I was surprised to see that Etsy had gone public, but I guess they must need that big infusion of cash in order to compete with Amazonâs new handmade market.
I imagine that they also didnât want to incur the cost of all the extras staff it would take to filter out these stores, even with proactive users flagging them.
Not in my experience. Iâve been on Etsy since 2009 and it is the only site where I could count on a reliable flow of views and sales. Also, it is easy and very inexpensive to manage the store, even with hundreds of items listed. I have tried about half a dozen other arts/artisan sales sites and they are all basically rotting in the dust. They simply donât have the same traffic.
I had tried eBay as well before Etsy, but it seemed to take much longer to build a reliable consumer base. Also, as far as art was concerned, there was absolutely no quality control so it got drowned in an avalanche of junk. One would think it could make the professional, polished artwork stand out in comparison but it really just devalued it, being lost in the ugly clutter. Etsy is a very visually appealing site, which makes sense for people who want to buy and sell art.
Even though I was never happy to see mass-produced stuff on Etsy- and disliked how disingenuous they were about it- I have never found a better alternative. So I canât bitch too much 
I regularly browse and shop Etsy specifically for homemade or small run things. I agree with those above who state that itâs much better than alternative platforms presently, which I think is primarily because it makes it very clear (and easy) to find a particular person or groupâs work. Is the sorting and search the best? No. But itâs better than eBay, and it also seems easier to build trust â which is really hard when youâre only selling one-off items or art.
I actually welcome this, because the big shops that sell knock-off items are already easy to determine and this will make it easier. It also helps shops that produce more normal âgoodsâ that are essentially like small-time manufacturers anyway â printmakers, woodworking, pottery, and so on.
Their IPO and stock looks completely normal to me. They came in high, and after the initial excitement, their stock is stabilizing around 15-20. Do they need to stay relevant and attract more people? Of course. Are they labeling and marketing something that has kinda-sorta already existed on Etsy? Sure. So itâs a smart business move, since they already have an audience.
