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Etsy used to have a much higher ratio of what I would call artisanal goods to the mass produced drop-shipped crap prevalent now. I recently shopped Etsy for a
by zucked 6y ago
Etsy used to have a much higher ratio of what I would call artisanal goods to the mass produced drop-shipped crap prevalent now.
I recently shopped Etsy for a handmade lamp. I filtered to US-only, handmade goods. I waded through pages of junk and finally found a lamp that was being billed as handmade with a design I liked, shipped from the US.
No tracking info to speak of (red flag of drop-shipping!) and when it finally arrived, it was a drop shipped special. From AMAZON. Another cheap, Chinese piece of junk being dubiously billed as "handmade". The seller just tacked on a $15 premium (I found the original product listing on Amazon) and on they went.
There are actual small producers still on Etsy, but recently more and more of my purchasing is shifting away from the Amazon/Etsy/Wayfair world back to eBay, of all places.
- stickfigure 6y agoYou should report this to Etsy. All Etsy listings have a flag for "I made this" vs "I designed this and someone else made it", and if the later, the seller is required to specify the production partner. This seller is almost certainly lying about who made it, and you can get them banned for this kind of activity. My business is a dropshipper for artists that sell custom-print apparel on Etsy and Shopify. This sort of thing is allowed on Etsy, but we're careful to create the listings in a way that Etsy approves. Etsy sells a lot of tshirts.
- zucked 6y agoI actually considered doing so, but frankly, upon broader review of the situation, it's clearly a lost cause. I genuinely don't think Etsy cares to solve this problem.
- edoceo 6y agoWhat if your fake hand-crafeted thing from Etsy, but really from Amazon was a bogus item there too. It's knock-offs all the way down
- stickfigure 6y agoThere's a lot to complain about with Etsy (their antique, neglected APIs are where I would start) but I've seen their enforcement department work when merchants screw up. I think they do care but they're relatively low-tech for a tech company, and are barely holding things together. Reporting can only help.
- rorykoehler 6y agoIf they cared they would verify their sellers manually and on a repeated schedule instead of chasing stock market maximisation strategy. They're a lost cause and have been for years. Financialisation and running Etsy properly are opposite ends of the same spectrum.