Outsourcing is the new Handmade

[LaLindaArtStudio]

I am really disheartened by the new Etsy Policies and manufacturing guidelines they just unveiled. I really cannot fathom how having a design completely manufactured by someone else, without your hands ever touching it is Handmade? Really Etsy, I am ashamed of you, but not surprised.

I have been on the fence lately about giving up on selling my Handmade Jewelry, but Etsy has made the decision easy for me now. I plan to ride my listings out, then bid farewell to the Handmade aspect of my Shop. I may or may not keep the Vintage going after the Holidays, it depends on if sales pick up.

[Former_Member]

I am also upset by the news today! The whole notion of handmade is to create something yourself. Is Etsy becoming the new Walmart?

[Former_Member]

It is definitely frustrating. I'm not in the jewelry realm, but I hate seeing all this mass produced jewelry on etsy. It drives me crazy!

[PoetryUnspoken]

Disappointed...

[Former_Member]

Same here :(
I doubt I could "outsource" my crochet items at all anyway, not that I want to..
And there are already so many similar items on Etsy already and I guess this will make it worse..
It's so rare to find really nice artisan crafts but I favorite them straight away and get excited about it :D

[Former_Member]

I don't see how I will compete, already, there are shops on here selling 'hand knitted' aran sweaters for just 12 dollars! I can just about cover the yarn for that, then all the hours it takes to make a sweater. I think I am about as cheap as I dare be. I just hope that some of you are right, that the quality and the genuine originality and hand made artisan wares, will win through in the end.

[heartsabustin]

My shop is 100% handmade, by me, and that's the way it's going to stay.

Outsourcing will not be the new handmade for this girl. Not ever. I'm too OCD to let anyone else ever have a part in MY handmade.

[SeverinMetals]

well, there already has been manufactured items and factory shops here. so now they have made some rules for those shops. in a way that might be a good thing (no pun intended).

It seems there will be many changes as they work through their intention and get closer to their vision of the marketplace that works for them.

I do hope they implement simple ways for shoppers to find what they are looking for. because most online shoppers want to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

[KYSAA]

Very Unhappy!

[MetalRoosterOrganics]

I guess us soap makers and candle makers are all right for now because of the fact that you really can't fake a soy candle or fresh organically made bar of soap, but sadly, I've been toying around with the idea of opening up another shop after the Holiday Season to make baby clothes and things of that nature, which sadly is overrun with mass produced items. This just leaves me disheartened but what can you really do? I've said for as long as I've been on Etsy ( Coming up two years now) that if they are going to allow these resellers on here, just make a reseller side to Etsy, much like they have done with Etsy Wholesale. I mean it wouldn't be hard, and at least that would keep those stinky resellers away from those of us that actually do work hard to make our goods handmade. I'm also working on my own website and blog, and this may be the push for me to finally just make my own store and website away from Etsy and all of that in the next few coming months.

[Former_Member]

It's going to be difficult to compete with sellers who are able to hire manufacturers and designers. I'd like to see a distinction between handmade and manufactured items in the browse menu.

[Former_Member]

I updated my About page yesterday, to include more pictures of my process. Hopefully this will help come January.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

Big factories exploiting cheap labour are the new black.

[heartsabustin]

Actually, there was quite the scandal over soap resellers a couple of years ago. People were buying soap loaves and cutting them into bars and selling them here as handmade by them. It's one of the reasons I finally opened my soap shop.

[PithAndRootStudio]

I've been mulling this over all day. I wonder how Etsy can review all the processes for tens of thousands (or more?) shops. Is this announcement just window dressing? Isn't the horse already out of the barn? And even if Etsy can thoroughly police shop practices across the "marketplace," how many buyers will be motivated to make sure everything looks like it's on the up and up in the About section before they buy?

The changes don't really affect me, because I'm just going to keep painting and that's a one-woman job. Except maybe I will feel more and more out of place here. However, I am also a buyer on Etsy and I love to buy things made by hand by just one craftsperson and that is getting harder to find amongst all the trinkets and large, collaborative shops.

I'm glad Etsy is trying to rein in the problem, but I'm just wondering if it's too little, too late...

[Former_Member]

I agree this does seem contrary to the idea of handmade. While I certainly don't make Swarovski crystals, I do make the jewelry with them.

But I've been mulling this over for a few days now and trying to see a silver lining... And it's been hard.

But, if there is one, maybe it is that Etsy as a whole will gain more visitors. They will be a certain percentage of the people coming here for the cheap manufactured things that will also buy our handmade items. And maybe we will be able to convert them to handmade lovers. I realize it's a long shot (very long), but maybe we can try to turn this to our advantage? Because I seriously doubt Etsy will reverse the policy because they want the revenue.

[heartsabustin]

They're not reining anything in. They sold out handmade to factories and cheap imports. I'm a one woman show with three shops here - and I do everything myself. No help, no cheap labor, no one taking packages to the PO for me.

And that's how it will stay.

[Former_Member]

I agree with Linda! I can't compete with a factory! I enjoy making my own jewelry.It was great while it lasted!

[MerlinMN]

Does it get down to this? When you look at an item that interests you, look at where it came from. If you have a problem with that country's idealogy, find a different shop.
We may be forced into becoming xenophobic, which is NOT why I came to Etsy. It is a world marketplace. It began with handmade items by Mom or Dad, or Mom and Dad, and will become by Mom, Dad, Uncle, fifth cousin, and great auntie, ad infinitum.
I can't imagine how the Integrity Department is ever going to monitor a million sellers, plus all of the new 'collectives', 24/7. A tremendous travel budget for inspections? I think not.

[LaLindaArtStudio]

From everything I have seen Admin say about this subject in the forums, it just leads me to believe that truly Handmade Shops are just too small to matter to Etsy anymore. The new guidelines take the HAND out of Handmade, so Etsy no longer appeals to me. I only added Vintage to my Shop to get my Art seen. Selling vintage just doesn't excite me like having someone want my Own Creations does. I don't really see much reason to stay here now since the site will be even more diluted and polluted with Factory made, NOT Handmade. This is not the Etsy I thought I signed up for.

[fabriquefantastique]

this at least is transparent
"Etsy’s definition of handmade doesn’t match the dictionary definition

[mossycreekstudio]

I do think that there will continue to be a market here on Etsy for truly handmade. I don't shop at Walmart.... I'm a Target girl. There is and will be a market for truly handmade.

I question if and how Etsy is going to "police" hundreds (thousands?) of shops to ensure they are providing full, honest, and accurate transparency.

Then there's the issue of buyers having to SIFT through everything.

Perhaps Etsy should create a separate category for Manufactured Handmade.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

Amy, the market will still be here, but will the customers be?
Will our customers (people who value truly handmade products and are willing and able to pay an appropriate price for them) still visit Etsy now that it is (and will become even much more) filled with factory junk?
That is the real issue.

Plus Etsy lying to our customers about what is handmade...
Pretending factory made is the same as handmade (even if made by hands in those factories) is a big fat lie!

[MerlinMN]

bumping to keep the great points being made (this is some of the sanest convo I've seen here today, dearies!)

[Former_Member]

Everyone here has made very good points. But do we, as the people that Etsy profits from, have any real say or recourse we can take?