I don't think we're going to be able to change Etsy until and unless the marketplace collapses. buyers don't know if it's listed as 'handmade' that it might not really be what it says it is.
What we can do is try to educate buyers what to look for but you can't even do that here because of policy. Maybe we can collaborate and find some ways to help educate the public about what THEY can look for. I don't have more specific answers. Maybe others do.
I think there is a market for handmade quality goods. Otherwise this site wouldn't have grown to the size it is but there is much more profit for the site by broadening it's seller base.
but mostly, I <3 people who work hard to get their hand crafted/collected goods out there and who try to make a living off of their own talents. Don't be too discouraged... it's just how the world works.
And it's true, I've talked to many of my friends who love etsy, and have no clue that the reason why that "hand sculpted" iron necklace is $5 is because it wasn't hand sculpted at all. I just try and spread the awareness by word of mouth, as the customers feel jipped too when they feel like they're supporting the artisan community.
Yeah I have seen a few of those shops around...located in china and I found what they said were hand made items ( i was looking for a new bag...) and they too had over 300 sales in under just a few months so I went on amazon because I couldn't afford the price of the bag i wanted and found the SAME THING right down to the photos used on etsy on amazon but for 20 dollars less in shipping and cost and it said nothing about being handmade.
@Rachel "So if I were to pull out and go to my own dot com how do you get sales? Or drive traffic there?"
I actually moved my shop away from Etsy and onto my own domain and my sales there are crazy. I don't bother promoting Etsy anymore. I only keep it because the sales around Christmas are worth having and Etsy is low cost. But there are far too many cheap jewellery makers here and people undersell/undercut other sellers so much it's ridiculous.
People always say "but if you move to your own domain you have to work hard at promoting" - well you have to do that ANYWAY via Etsy. It's no different. Sure people can search for you and find your shop on Etsy, but they will also find a hundred or so other competitors.
When you have your own site you can market online via social media, physical marketplaces, and word of mouth. When someone visits your site they see only what you make. You can brand your business properly and really stand out.
hey guys etsy has been allowing this to go on for ages!!! If you look for fabric on etsy its all people reselling generic fabric you can get anywhere. its depressing to try and stand out against them and makes your wonder about the chances of ever succeeding if people just want more of the same over and over
I am an independent textile designer I create all my prints myself they are my own work, etsy has not provided a category option for original fabric despite numerous requests to have such a category.
I think they are more concerned with getting more members then the actual wellbeing of the shops they have gained ive been on here since 2007 and its not going to get better feck them x
@sophie help! I want my store to look like that! your website is amazing!! What an encouragement. Some changes are about to be made. also about to social media your stuff everywhere.. it is AMAZING!!!
I use Shopseen which allows me to sell on multiple websites but keep up on inventory in one place. It gives me more time to be crocheting. It is very frustrating to see so many mass produced pieces. I try and talk with a seller before I purchase.
Rachel, for copyright & trademark infringement cases, the seller WILL be given the name & contact info for the person/company which holds the right/mark on the item in question ... but that is only after the right/mark holder has contacted Etsy and requested that a particular infringing item be removed.
For items that YOU report ... for whatever reason ... the seller is not given your contact information UNLESS it is a copyright/trademark situation and YOU are the legal owner of that right/mark.
Erin, items sold here no longer have to be made by JUST ONE PERSON. You may want to read Etsy's new "Guidelines" which Chad announced in early October.
Erin, sites change; that's just the way it is. When eBay started, their focus was on one individual selling their used (and sometimes handmade) stuff to another individual in an auction-style marketplace. Now (and for the last 5 years or so), it's primarily about how many big-name stores they can attract to sell there at a fixed price AND hiding listings from small sellers who don't do as they suggest (such as offer free shipping). On the bright side, sellers can currently list up to 50 items per month with no basic listing fees and a dozen images!
True, Etsy *isn't* the only game in town ... BUT it has finally grown big enough that most people have heard of it ... AND have come to associate Etsy with being THE place to shop for handmade items. NOW it's up to those of us who aren't jumping ship to let shoppers know that our items are handmade by individual artists. Blog about it ... post on FB ... whatever, wherever ... Etsy has *always* just been a venue with it being up to US to provide most of the traffic; that doesn't seem to have changed. (And I'll bet that, aside from eBay & Amazon, just about every other online selling site also relies on the sellers to provide the traffic!)
Thank you, Tana. I HAVE read the new guidelines. I don't necessarily have a problem with more than one person running a shop - my mother and I ran heartsabustin together when we first opened up here 5.5 years ago.
However, I do have a massive problem with factories being on here, passing themselves off as collectives, when we all know they are no such thing. They're factories, with awful working conditions and probably young children working in them. I've been watching the jewelry category go to the dogs, especially in the last couple of years, and it's heartbreaking. I work very, very hard on my items, and Etsy slapped us all across the face.
Erin, so after Jan. 1, we will be able to report shops which aren't being "transparent" about number of employees and, if I understand the new Guidelines correctly, actually identifying each person working there. You *know* the sweatshops probably won't bother creating About pages, so report them for that. Over and over again.
