" I know you didn't make that."

[#1]

How many times have you scrolled through Etsy lately found shops full of items that you know they didn't make? For me, it's almost 3 or 4 times a day that I find a shop that sells items I have either seen in the Asian food market, the Dollar store, or items that 10 other shops have the exact same item with the same photos!

One of the draws to Etsy that I had a few years ago was that it was a collection of Indie crafters who were able to use the amazing Etsy platform to sell their art online around the world. It's a great concept! We work together as crafters to promote each other, support the handmade community, and enjoy the tradition of crafting. But increasingly Etsy has filled up with nonsense.

Am I all alone in thinking this? Honestly, I can take the feedback. I love Etsy. I love my shop. But I am just a little frustrated with this.

[Former_Member]

Well I am not going down without a fight. I will not let tacky wholesale products be on this website. Stay on Ebay, don't pretend to be a handmade artist unless you are really doing this. I might get kicked off for saying this but they are on this team.

[Former_Member]

WOW!! Am I ever fired up right now. I have been giving way too many benefits of doubt to the shops that I have suspected were copying/reselling other manufacturers items.

I will start looking out for them and start being more careful and begin reporting shops when I come across them. Just the gift boxes, baskets and candy bouquets with premade, prepackaged, mass produced items drive me crazy! There are tons of them right now for Mother's day.

Mother's day is a high market time or jewelry too...what a shame that is alone...many will be purchasing something that they believe is a special handmade piece of jewelry for someone they cherish.

We should all start weeding out the illegal shops and only choose those truly honorable to support.

Thank you so much for broaching this subject and for all of the comments that will result in a more positive, wholesome shopping experience for all of us.

[Former_Member]

when i first join Etsy i said, wow what a place all these pretty handmade crafts, wonderful place!!..but as i spent more time here i knew that hundreds of shops around here are not making their goods but buying and reselling their stuff. sadly we can't do much about it.....the person who introduce me to etsy few days ago told me that our shops are also looking bit professional we should do something about it :-(((. sad though. and why we will do that because all those big Machine made products. but i also agree with you guys.

One more thing i don't Know if it is true or not but i believe people can easily understand that what is hand made and what is not...they are here to by Handmade right ??...so keep on doing good work guys and stay in competition (Y)...

[Millennialgirlboss]

its so hard to compete with the fake handmade stuff its really annoying for artists who work hard at craving an item and its compared to mass produced crap

[NakedRatDestash]

it has been a huge problem on etsy and all we can do is report the shops. I don't think etsy cares anymore because they make a lot of money off these shops.
it is amazing to me that one wrong comment on the etsy team forums can be immediately removed because admin is policing the forums but they don't police these fake shops??? hmmm....

[Former_Member]

Well I know of one. You can convo me and I will show you the proof. It takes more than one person to report frauds. And convo me the ones you know and I will do the same.

[Former_Member]

yes I have noticed a lot of junk on Etsy --- I am disappointed - I put a lot of time and effort into my shop - and I am wondering now if I should continue here.........

[Former_Member]

Sure you should stay. We just have to band together and get rid of the rubbish.

[Former_Member]

It is in every category too. I am really tired of seeing "crocheted headband" on an item that is just stretchy lace they purchased in bulk and are reselling. And they obviously can sell it cheaper than I can sell my truly hand crocheted ones.

It's very frustrating.

[Former_Member]

dog stuff, cookie cutters , candy bouquets, crochet headbands

Add to that: baby's ruffled cheap-lace rompers ($50/dzn Alibaba, $24.95 from LOTS of Etsy sellers)

Shame, it's quick money for Etsy but could destroy it in the long run. Very short-sighted.

[Former_Member]

This saddens me actually. I take great pride in hand MAKING each one of my items. Wish there was more we as sellers could do.

I recently bought my daughter a pony charm from a craft store it was $1.99, we put it on a chain. She loves it and feels like she made it herself. So I decided to look for something handmade on etsy for her. What did I find? The same charm being sold as handmade, even says hand painted etc. More than one seller had the same pictures too and these were not put in their shops as supplies they are listing them as handmade items. I was furious, I quickly told myself to click away from all these re-sellers.

[heartsabustin]

What really amazes me is when Etsy says there are no long-term resellers on Etsy. That makes me laugh, because there are several shops I've been reporting for years, literally, with links to AliBaba and AliExpress, showing that these people are resellers.

Money talks and integrity walks.

[AmandaTannerArt]

I wish something would change :(

[elainesgems]

Erin says, 'Money talks and integrity walks'.

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You got to the precise point!

[WilliamsGiftshop]

Amen!
But be aware, when you talk about this in the public forums, you will most likely get a forum mute (as lots of us have).

[Former_Member]

Mapletree2000 from Mapletree2000 says:
Sure you should stay. We just have to band together and get rid of the rubbish.

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I totally agree! We should all band together and report these shops. If it means we are hounding etsy! Enough is enough!

When you find a shop which isn't selling handmade items, message us, with evidence, ie: links to other online retail shops etc. and we ALL report that shop.

Who agrees!?

[Former_Member]

One time I actually saw that dreaded bubble necklace on one of the etsy newsletters I am subscribed too. I almost wept.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

Reporting is no use. The same resellers have been here for years in a row (often changing shop/user names).
But again: people get muted for just saying that. So be careful.

[IndigoTurtleArt]

What about the shop that takes one purchased crystal attaches it to a purchased chain with purchased jump ring. I don't call that hand crafted, there isn't even really any design thought put into it, beyond picking out a crystal color. Sure they used their own 2 hands so you could call it hand assembled. The stuff from the Dollar store is "hand assembled" too just in another country. Why is the above necklace allowed?

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

From the Etsy Blog "Defining Handmade on Etsy"

Often an artisan starts with materials made by someone else, like beads, fabric or other supplies. Taking part A and joining it with part B to create item C is one of the simplest ways to create something new, and this type of hand-assembly is acceptable for items in Etsy’s handmade categories.

https://www.etsy.com/blog/news/2012/defining-handmade-on-etsy/

[Former_Member]

There's a difference in selling the "joined parts a and b together, etc" and selling mass produced items that could only be made so quickly and cheaply by sweat shop labor.

For instance I may get my pearls and beads through a wholesale supplier, but that doesn't mean that I didn't work my butt off by making the jewelry, taking and editing pictures, making the listings, marketing on and off etsy, researching endless hours of seo, tags, titles, keywords, and customer service.

For all of my pieces I offer custom colors and sizes because I HANDMAKE these pieces of jewelry. What can these mass produced sellers and resellers offer? Cheap prices on cheap products that are exactly the same.

Ultimately it is up to the customer which product they would prefer to have, but if these shops are dominating tags that are already saturated and dominating the first pages of search, how are handmade shops supposed to compete??

It seems it's hard to have integrity in the fact of great profit.

[Former_Member]

Exactly, hand assembled items, made by someone in their own home is fine. There is a design process involved in that as well.

What most people's problem is resellers and people claiming to have handmade their items when they are mass produced, by machines and/or cheap labour. They then sell them extremely cheaply & sell in the thousands. This damages the genuine hand made shops.

All you have to do is type in pearl earring, and you will see duplicates.

[Former_Member]

I do believe that reporting does make a difference. It would help if more people make the complaints so that the shop in violation gets the Integrity teams attention. I do not believe that just making one report will get that shop closed quickly. The more voices the better.

I have made it a mission to report violators and am hoping that everyone will do the same. I am also making sure that I am fully supporting true artisans, vintage and suppliers.

I am concentrating my efforts in areas centered around Mothers day gift giving.

[Former_Member]

Another example, bubble necklace! Awful!

I report each shop I find, I hope it does make a difference.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

Sorry, I should have clarified that my reference to Etsy's "Defining Handmade" blog was to IndigoTurtleArt's comment "What about the shop that takes one purchased crystal attaches it to a purchased chain with purchased jump ring. I don't call that hand crafted." The "hand assembled" debate will never end. Not everyone has the talent or desire to create their own pendants from scratch. A lot of buyers don't mind "hand assembled" because they prefer to pay for someone else to do it. Like others have said, there's a difference between hand assembled at home and mass produced in a factory.

Then again, I've seen companies that recruit people through those "work from home" ads to mass produce jewelry at home. They get paid per piece.