So glad you mentioned Jacquilynne's blog! Jacqs is a good friend of mine, so I had a front row seat to all that... and April Winchell's subsequent book deal. Le sigh. But it seems April's a pretty decent sort, so more power to her.

Without seeing it I'm guessing it was the "Orson Welles clapping in Citizen Kane" gif.

≡ Click to see image ≡

Congrats on the popularity OS. :-)

its

That was really interesting. I haven't been following the drama with Etsy (since I super rarely buy anything from there because I hate Paypal) but yeah--misrepresentation sucks.

from OSR: "they can’t coast on an undeserved reputation forever."

The current predominant internet startup business model is to coast on an undeserved reputation as long as you can, then sell out to a bigger fool (or IPO to a lot of bigger fools) and PROFIT!!!

There is no money in authenticity these days, only fake authenticity.

That's a really good post, Orange Swan. I have bought a few things from Etsy, but I really like the look of ArtFire; consider me converted!

There is no money in authenticity these days, only fake authenticity.

That's a little too cynical for me. I could understand if Etsy needed to allow resellers on the site to stay profitable, but there's no excuse for lying to their users. They could just create a reselling category.

At any rate, they are not getting any more of my money until they start behaving a lot better. Which I am willing to accept may be never.

This is an amazing writeup. I would want any mainstream journalist to read this before doing any reporting at all on Etsy.

At this point, if I find something I want to buy from Etsy, I first search etsy for similar items, then the web. If I don't find anything that looks similar, I decide that it probably was, in fact, hand made by the seller, and the seller deserves my support (and I deserve the pretty thing that I wanted to buy).

Most of the time, though, no. Or it's being shipped from overseas and the low price makes it so obvious that it's not even worth the search; it's mass-produced and I should not buy it.

Cool! On my blog I do a section of "Etsy finds of the day" and I am going to link to your post.

I think Etsy displayed extraordinarily bad judgment in the Ecologica fiasco, as you mentioned, but I am not able to write the whole marketplace off yet, because I still do like so many of the sellers and products there.
Personally, I don't want to punish the good sellers by boycotting the platform, but I understand why other people disagree, and want to use their dollars to vote for a sounder marketplace.

You make a great point about the option of the reseller market, I think that would go a long way towards Etsy becoming trustworthy again.

As it stands, I think Etsy is pretty difficult to navigate. You have to separate the fake from the real, and the good from the bad. In other words, it's a great time to be a blogger or curator of Etsy items and point people towards the better stuff.

(Apologies for length!)
Very nice post! I agree with most of it. Although, the idea that Etsy make a "reseller" category would never work because I think those folks are successful because they can claim they are handmade. Maybe people would actually shop in a Reseller category but I know I wouldn't. Not on Etsy. I find the jewelry category most problematic in this area, but I do 2D art and that hasn't been quite as marred by the reseller business (though just being associated with Etsy, of course, may be problem enough for many).

I would quit Etsy if there was a viable alternative, but Artfire isn't there and neither are (let me go look at the list I've been compiling): Big Cartel, DaWanda, Zibbet, Goodsmiths, Luulla, handmadeartists, society6. (Actually need to look into society6 a bit more.) 1000markets was supposedly great until it was purchased by Bonanza and they wrecked it. Felt looks cool but is for New Zealand artists. Arrgh!

As for that Schechter thing, just yuck. Etsy has some really terrific handmade furniture makers and the whole affair was, and continues to be I suppose, quite sordid and depressing. On the other hand, in addition to all those really bad crafters who don't quite grok how bad they are are thousands of folk who make really cool stuff. I particularly like looking at 2D art, sculpture, pottery, stuffed animals (fake ones!) and assorted silly stuff. My main beef with Etsy has always been that you can buy a pre-made pendant and a pre-made chain and attach them and call it handmade. Regretsy is usually right on. Sometimes a bit mean, sometimes a little tough with the tough love, but yeah some of those things you mention in your article, yikes! I mean, seriously!

Ok I just woke up and have rambled on long enough. It really is a good article, Orange Swan. I just am not willing to abandon the hundreds of shops/folks I do like even though Etsy corporate benefits, and even though so many dishonest and otherwise unsavory people live there, too. I have only made about 40 sales in just over a year but with slow and steady increase in traffic, so I guess I'm going to hang around for now. I do check my shop and hang out on Etsy much less than I used to. But I completely understand why some would choose not to stay. And good luck to you and everyone who leaves for Artfire or other pastures.

Slightly off-topic: I learned about the Schechter-thing from the legal side of it, where Schechter's husband (who also was a lawyer) sent out cease and desist letters to bloggers and Etsy forum goers who were reporting/speaking about the incident. The hero of the day is Ken, a California attorney who blogs with others at Popehat.com, and who also enjoys doing pro-bono work or finding other lawyers who can do same for bloggers who are hit with legal threats on the basis of incorrect applications of the "free speech" doctrine as it applies to the Internet. His response to Mr. Schechter's really bizarre C & D is here. On the more wonderful side of things, he did get some nice presents as a thank you for flexing his legal muscles.