Anyone else tired of the CPSIA priced listings?

[Former_Member]

I have spent a good amount of time in the past week searching for several kids' birthday presents for ages 1 through 5. I have grown tired of reading through the listings to find the true cost of an item with a listing price of $4,000. I am in huge support of the shop owners fighting for a change in this law and would hate to see the selling of unique, quality children's items become a thing of the past on Etsy. But this form of protest is getting in the way of buying here and is a huge turnoff when searching for gifts.

Just thought you should know the experience of an Etsy buyer.

[Former_Member]

You can always click on price which will narrow your list and put those items on the bottom ;)

[BannerArts]

$4,000?

good grief.

[Former_Member]

To answer your question - Yes. It interferes with the searches and I don't understand what good it does. Are TPTB really scannng Etsy for answers to whether they should enact this law or not? Are the politicians noticing these outrageous prices and saying "stop the presses, we can't pass this law because I just saw XYZ listed on Etsy for $5,000.00"?

[Former_Member]

Yeah, I saw the the same kind of thing yesterday... a little annoying.

[TheGreenDaisyShop]

Really?! Yeah I'd be annoyed too.....

[worksofwhimsy]

Shop with me instead.
Sorry if you're annoyed by those listings--but people are trying everything they can think of to get word out about CPSIA.

You know what's really annoying? Having to close up shop.

[Former_Member]

I support the sellers who are doing it, and I think most of them are just doing one item per shop, so you can look around their shop and find something priced for the current regulations.

And, if this CPSIA thing really does go down ~ welcome to the new world.

Don't shoot the messenger. Write your Congressman instead.

[Former_Member]

I tried to explain this POV in a thread a few days ago and got my @$$ handed to me. Beware. lol

[Former_Member]

Of course they're not thinking Congress is looking. It's to raise awareness among consumers, who might become inspired to contact their representatives.

I think the listing are eye-catching and attention-getting. I hope they're having at least a little of the intended effect.

[Former_Member]

Acrossthepond that thread was ultimately closed I think. But admin closed it by saying that those listings should be flagged.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the info, paisley.

[Former_Member]

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6006563&page=8

Matt said the listings could stay up.

[Former_Member]

I am have to say as a person that sells children's items it is a lot more annoying that those same gifts you are trying to buy may not be there by next year if something is not done. Of course, politicans are not scanning the etsy site for guidance but the people that helped vote them into office are on Etsy and can help make a difference in this law.

[Former_Member]

I think I'm right out of the loop here, what CPSIA?

[Former_Member]

ContagiousCreations, have you been on the moon? lol, I don't mean the meanly at all, seriously.

There's a whole section in the forums for that now. The government (USA) want to impose testing regulations for ALL items kids related x age to x age and the fees are STEEP.

[Former_Member]

It'll put many out of business and up the costs significantly for items still available to purchase if it goes through.

[Former_Member]

This CPSIA Consumer product safety act has already passed in Nov 2008 but the start date is set for Feb10, 2009. It includes anything that a child under 12 comes in to contact with including library books, school supplies, clothing, toys, child artwork, jewerly, and the list continues.

[Former_Member]

I apologize to those who are bothered by the listings-when I started mine it was never with the intent to annoy anyone. It was more so out of frustrations that anywhere I went in public, no one knew about this law. It has the potential of being devistating to SO many people-not just us sellers who make items for children. Long term, if the law remains written as is, it can trickle down and affect property taxes (due to costs of school materials going up because of needed testing), daycare costs to go up, more expensive items with less selection for children...MORE junk from China, I could go on forever. After writing numerous letters and getting canned mail back, after making calls to be bruhsed aside, I needed a way to help make people aware of this law...to state that it has nothing to do with us NOT being concerned about children, or about us NOT wanting to comply with new testing standards. Truth be told, a great deal of us are scrambling trying to get things in order, tested, and our certificates in order...it's costly, a lot of people are being turned away by testing facilities..people are worrying how they'll feed their children. Trust me, the last thing on any of our minds is attempting to ruin someones shopping experience. This personally, is why I do not relist my one item...it stays in my store as the listing was linked to blogs about the law. Matt gave us the go ahead to keep them up so I will do so, but it will be burried in my store beneath the rubble of relisting.

[Former_Member]

Ahhh I did hear about this awhile ago but never knew how serious it was. I never knew the abbreviation for it though. Haven't been in the forums for awhile though. Thats terrible though. Glad I don't sell children's stuff and that I don't live in the States.

[Former_Member]

OP - some of the items that you are selling come under this law. You have somethings that you can switch to when you can't sell them any more - many Etsy craftspeople selling children's items do not.

When your public library destroys all of their children's books in three weeks will you be equally annoyed?

If some unreasonable law came along that said no knits for anyone anymore without testing costing $150 - $500 per skein, would you just sit back and go out of business or would you try to make some noise to raise awareness and get that changed?

[Former_Member]

What if all your materials used have been tested and passed?

[Former_Member]

ContagiousCreations, I'm not completely familiar with this as I also don't sell children's items (but I do have kids). It's my understanding that you can get certificates from your suppliers but that will still up the cost of everything b/c the supplies will be paying for testing or someone along the chain will be.

I'm also not sure how supplies testing then translates in to made products acceptable requirements.

I'm off to bed for the night but I really honestly hope that the government works something out that is cohesive with sellers, buyers and suppliers.

Good Night all!

[Former_Member]

There are A LOT of problems with this testing issue..first and foremost COST...each component we use needs tested. I use over 40 colors of tulle...and I go through thousands of yards a week...each spool each color technically needs tested..on top of that each spool of thread, each piece of elastic, each ribbon color spool and type, each flower and so on and so on..and to top it off the finally products will need tested AGAIN. The testing is expensive. VERY expensive when you add up each component in each piece for every single piece you make. That is our biggest issue. Second issue is lack of facilities for testing. Many people are being turned away because they are a small business so the law is almost impossible for little fishes to be compliant with. IF you have taken reasonable testing measures...until the august date that is...and you have your certs on file, then you're technically in the clear to sell.

[Former_Member]

Personally I do not see anything wrong with them listing an item for $4,000.00 or $10.00

I do not have childrens items in my shop but I support those who do.

OP if you do not want to see the listings then go to Etys home page and type in what you want to search for and select the category.

I just typed in childrens toys and got 21580 items. Then go to the right and enter what you want to spend where it says Search Tools.

I typed in 5 bucks to fifty dollars and the number dropped to 18736

This will eliminate the $4,000 bar of soap with the rubber duckie.

I am considering myself making something, or talking to someone about using a pic of theirs to make my own thousand dollar listing not to be funny but out of support for those who are dealing with this.

I wish you all the best