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> Even with the requirements in place, I'm not sure how you eradicate it once it gets a foothold like it has now. I think the money they're earning makes it ha
by function_seven 6y ago
> Even with the requirements in place, I'm not sure how you eradicate it once it gets a foothold like it has now.
I think the money they're earning makes it hard to stick with principled rules against the mass-produced items. It's a sad cycle for the early customers who gravitated toward Etsy and similar shops because they were looking for an escape from the cheap products found elsewhere. Not sure how to structure the business model or incentives to prevent this, other than just being small and staying small. (i.e. not taking VC money, not going public, not inviting outside pressure to grow).
- at-fates-hands 6y agoThat's always the catch-22 right? You want to have a big platform for small businesses and make good money doing it, but you don't it overrun with the people that kind of popularity attracts. I think you're right though, stay small, maybe have two or three smaller platforms to generate the revenue you want, while still making it exclusive to small businesses. I think that approach might keep you under the radar for a longer stretch.
- stinkytaco 6y agoIt's the same thing that happened to ebay and kickstarter and I'm sure many others. It does feel inevitable. On the other hand, if it's not inevitable I wouldn't know because that platform is staying small. One thing I'll say is that there are a number of business that I use (both B2B and B2C) that are highly specialized but manage to be successful because they are not interested in growth. I suspect there's lots of these out there that are maintaining their own platform or using an out of the box solution, but that most of us never know about them because we don't need to interact.