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On top of that, Etsy will be/is facing extra pressure from companies like Amazon with their soon to be offered Marketplace (I think that's the name). My wife

On top of that, Etsy will be/is facing extra pressure from companies like Amazon with their soon to be offered Marketplace (I think that's the name). My wife has an Etsy shop, and talks with a lot of other Etsy shop owners in her space, and Etsy is not well thought of in the handcrafted world. So far she's had nothing but nice things to say about the Amazon experience, and is eager for it to go live. Couple that with Etsy's continued lack of support for sellers at some really basic levels... let's just say people are still on Etsy only because a good number of people still think Etsy means handmade. This is on top of Etsy's complete lack of communication in allowing Etsy sellers get in early on Etsy stock despite the misinformation in suggesting that it had made it possible to do so.

bovermyer 11y ago
This is the first I've ever heard this viewpoint! I'm surprised. Why is Etsy not well thought of in the handcrafted world?
- AaronM 11y ago
  My opinion, and this is after looking into it with my wife, is there are a large number of sellers, selling mass produced stuff. Etsy does nothing about it either.
  - strictnein 11y ago
    Yeah, read an article about Etsy's #1 seller [0]. Her team makes some items, but a lot of what they sell is just stuff sourced in India that they embellish (or likely sell as sourced). [0] http://www.fastcodesign.com/3042352/how-one-knitter-makes-almost-1-million-a-year-on-etsy http://www.fastcodesign.com/3042352/how-one-knitter-makes-al...
    - e15ctr0n 11y ago
      This seller is no longer on Etsy. https://www.yahoo.com/makers/exclusiveetsys-richest-seller-explains-why-127615604095.html https://www.yahoo.com/makers/exclusiveetsys-richest-seller-e... http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/business/media/etsys-success-raises-problems-of-credibility-and-scale.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/business/media/etsys-succe...
- e15ctr0n 11y ago
  The short answer is that Etsy started as a marketplace for purely handmade goods and then kept changing the definition of handmade till it ended up being flooded by cheap, counterfeit Chinese mass manufactured goods. Naturally, Etsy sellers who believed in the original indie creed felt betrayed. This is the rough timeline over which events developed: In October 2013 Etsy redefined handmade and allowed Etsy sellers to get help with making and shipping their items. [1] [2] In early 2015 Etsy did an IPO as an effort to grow much faster.[3] Over time, a lot of China-based sellers piled in and started selling counterfeit goods at low prices - something that Etsy chose to do nothing about.[4] Its stock price tanked and class-action lawsuit was filed.[5] Sensing an opportunity, Amazon stepped in with its 'Handmade' category and lured in a lot of Etsy sellers for its launch on Oct 8, 2015. [6] Ironic, huh? [1] https://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/discussions/discuss/13091813/ https://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/discussions/discuss/13091813... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/opinion/etsys-industrial-revolution.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/opinion/etsys-industrial-r... [3] http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/29/unpacking-etsys-s1/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/29/unpacking-etsys-s1/ [4] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-15/etsy-counterfeit-problems-grow-as-investors-allege-fraud http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-15/etsy-count... [5] http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/11/investing/etsy-stock-fall-counterfeit-warning/ http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/11/investing/etsy-stock-fall-co... [6] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/business/amazon-challenges-etsy-with-strictly-handmade-marketplace.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/business/amazon-challenges... Wired has good coverage on how things evolved at Etsy over time: http://www.wired.com/2012/09/etsy-goes-pro/ http://www.wired.com/2012/09/etsy-goes-pro/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/why-etsys-future-depends-on-leaving-behind-the-simply-handmade/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/why-etsys-future-depends-on-lea... http://www.wired.com/2015/02/etsy-not-good-for-crafters/ http://www.wired.com/2015/02/etsy-not-good-for-crafters/ (Related HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9092872 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9092872) http://www.wired.com/2015/04/etsys-surging-ipo-shows-losing-indie-cred-pays-off/ http://www.wired.com/2015/04/etsys-surging-ipo-shows-losing-... http://www.wired.com/2015/09/etsy-embraces-mass-manufacturing/ http://www.wired.com/2015/09/etsy-embraces-mass-manufacturin... http://www.wired.com/2015/10/amazon-takes-etsy-see-whos-authentic/ http://www.wired.com/2015/10/amazon-takes-etsy-see-whos-auth...

bovermyer 11y ago

This is the first I've ever heard this viewpoint! I'm surprised. Why is Etsy not well thought of in the handcrafted world?

AaronM 11y ago
My opinion, and this is after looking into it with my wife, is there are a large number of sellers, selling mass produced stuff. Etsy does nothing about it either.
- strictnein 11y ago
  Yeah, read an article about Etsy's #1 seller [0]. Her team makes some items, but a lot of what they sell is just stuff sourced in India that they embellish (or likely sell as sourced). [0] http://www.fastcodesign.com/3042352/how-one-knitter-makes-almost-1-million-a-year-on-etsy http://www.fastcodesign.com/3042352/how-one-knitter-makes-al...
  - e15ctr0n 11y ago
    This seller is no longer on Etsy. https://www.yahoo.com/makers/exclusiveetsys-richest-seller-explains-why-127615604095.html https://www.yahoo.com/makers/exclusiveetsys-richest-seller-e... http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/business/media/etsys-success-raises-problems-of-credibility-and-scale.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/business/media/etsys-succe...
e15ctr0n 11y ago
The short answer is that Etsy started as a marketplace for purely handmade goods and then kept changing the definition of handmade till it ended up being flooded by cheap, counterfeit Chinese mass manufactured goods. Naturally, Etsy sellers who believed in the original indie creed felt betrayed. This is the rough timeline over which events developed: In October 2013 Etsy redefined handmade and allowed Etsy sellers to get help with making and shipping their items. [1] [2] In early 2015 Etsy did an IPO as an effort to grow much faster.[3] Over time, a lot of China-based sellers piled in and started selling counterfeit goods at low prices - something that Etsy chose to do nothing about.[4] Its stock price tanked and class-action lawsuit was filed.[5] Sensing an opportunity, Amazon stepped in with its 'Handmade' category and lured in a lot of Etsy sellers for its launch on Oct 8, 2015. [6] Ironic, huh? [1] https://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/discussions/discuss/13091813/ https://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/discussions/discuss/13091813... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/opinion/etsys-industrial-revolution.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/opinion/etsys-industrial-r... [3] http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/29/unpacking-etsys-s1/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/29/unpacking-etsys-s1/ [4] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-15/etsy-counterfeit-problems-grow-as-investors-allege-fraud http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-15/etsy-count... [5] http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/11/investing/etsy-stock-fall-counterfeit-warning/ http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/11/investing/etsy-stock-fall-co... [6] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/business/amazon-challenges-etsy-with-strictly-handmade-marketplace.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/business/amazon-challenges... Wired has good coverage on how things evolved at Etsy over time: http://www.wired.com/2012/09/etsy-goes-pro/ http://www.wired.com/2012/09/etsy-goes-pro/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/why-etsys-future-depends-on-leaving-behind-the-simply-handmade/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/why-etsys-future-depends-on-lea... http://www.wired.com/2015/02/etsy-not-good-for-crafters/ http://www.wired.com/2015/02/etsy-not-good-for-crafters/ (Related HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9092872 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9092872) http://www.wired.com/2015/04/etsys-surging-ipo-shows-losing-indie-cred-pays-off/ http://www.wired.com/2015/04/etsys-surging-ipo-shows-losing-... http://www.wired.com/2015/09/etsy-embraces-mass-manufacturing/ http://www.wired.com/2015/09/etsy-embraces-mass-manufacturin... http://www.wired.com/2015/10/amazon-takes-etsy-see-whos-authentic/ http://www.wired.com/2015/10/amazon-takes-etsy-see-whos-auth...