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Why don’t they just make their own site? I don’t understand why people put their entire livelihood in random sites that can change their rules at a whim. It’s

Why don’t they just make their own site? I don’t understand why people put their entire livelihood in random sites that can change their rules at a whim. It’s easier than ever in internet history to host your own site and take payments and basically do the entire thing yourself. Of course you don’t get the visibility Etsy provides, but isn’t that what you sacrifice?

jdrc 5y ago
Essentially it is what they are doing, except the website is still in "very early stages", so etsy has time to rethink
Blackthorn 5y ago
> Why don’t they just make their own site? Why don't the buyers just make their own art? Because they're a different set of skills.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  The buyers aren't going on strike and complaining about it, though. Not to mention the comparison doesn't make sense to begin with. The sellers are operating a business presumably. From Etsy's point of view the etsy sellers are like the buyers from the etsy sellers point of view. Ultimately everyone is going to do what they can to maximize revenue from their end. If this strike has any level of critical mass they'd just all leave and create their own thing. This is literally how Etsy itself came to be to begin with. It's just the nature of things. eBay sellers went on strike and all migrated over to Etsy. If this is that big of a deal, it's time to do it again.
- JAlexoid 5y ago
  Most of the stuff on Etsy isn't art. But also - there are multiple easy alternatives to Etsy storefront.
aphroz 5y ago
Bringing customers to your own website is very costly and difficult. You will need to spend a lot in ads and convince your customers that you are legit.
heleninboodler 5y ago
Reliability, scale, general operations, security, convenience? Putting up a site is easy, yes. Keeping it up while your business is based on it, not so much.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  There are literally sites that do everything except marketing for you. It really is easy if you're willing to pay.
  - heleninboodler 5y ago
    "Do the entire thing yourself" is what you suggested in the GP. Now you're suggesting a site that "does everything except marketing for you." Those are very different suggestions.
    - endisneigh 5y ago
      No, what I'm saying is that you can purchase everything except marketing, and presumably the folks striking would handle the rest, so in sum, yes they could "do the entire thing yourself." You should look up the history of etsy, it literally began by a mass exodus away from eBay. I'll never understand why people handcuff themselves and then complain about it. The question in the end if whether etsy is worth it to them after all of the fees, restrictions, etc. If so, continue, if not, move. Both the etsy sellers and etsy itself aim to maximize profit.
      - heleninboodler 5y ago
        > I'll never understand > The question in the end if whether etsy is worth it to them after all of the fees, restrictions, etc. If so, continue, if not, move It seems you do understand after all, unless you are making the questionable claim that Etsy provides literally no value. I think the crux of the matter here is that these sellers were previously happy with the tradeoff, and then Etsy changed the terms and they don't think it's worth it anymore. Getting angry and yelling about it in hopes of changing it rather than just shrugging and moving their whole business to another platform seems perfectly logical to me. The stuff with garbage resellers does seem like a really good point: Etsy is going to devalue themselves into the toilet if they don't do something about it and there is a mass exodus.
acomar 5y ago
it's hard to do (it requires a specific skillset), it requires capital investment (servers cost money), and you become fairly indiscoverable. these are surmountable problems given adequate money but without it, a major platform like etsy has a real moat.

jdrc 5y ago

Essentially it is what they are doing, except the website is still in "very early stages", so etsy has time to rethink

Blackthorn 5y ago

> Why don’t they just make their own site? Why don't the buyers just make their own art? Because they're a different set of skills.

endisneigh 5y ago
The buyers aren't going on strike and complaining about it, though. Not to mention the comparison doesn't make sense to begin with. The sellers are operating a business presumably. From Etsy's point of view the etsy sellers are like the buyers from the etsy sellers point of view. Ultimately everyone is going to do what they can to maximize revenue from their end. If this strike has any level of critical mass they'd just all leave and create their own thing. This is literally how Etsy itself came to be to begin with. It's just the nature of things. eBay sellers went on strike and all migrated over to Etsy. If this is that big of a deal, it's time to do it again.
JAlexoid 5y ago
Most of the stuff on Etsy isn't art. But also - there are multiple easy alternatives to Etsy storefront.

aphroz 5y ago

Bringing customers to your own website is very costly and difficult. You will need to spend a lot in ads and convince your customers that you are legit.

heleninboodler 5y ago

Reliability, scale, general operations, security, convenience? Putting up a site is easy, yes. Keeping it up while your business is based on it, not so much.

endisneigh 5y ago
There are literally sites that do everything except marketing for you. It really is easy if you're willing to pay.
- heleninboodler 5y ago
  "Do the entire thing yourself" is what you suggested in the GP. Now you're suggesting a site that "does everything except marketing for you." Those are very different suggestions.
  - endisneigh 5y ago
    No, what I'm saying is that you can purchase everything except marketing, and presumably the folks striking would handle the rest, so in sum, yes they could "do the entire thing yourself." You should look up the history of etsy, it literally began by a mass exodus away from eBay. I'll never understand why people handcuff themselves and then complain about it. The question in the end if whether etsy is worth it to them after all of the fees, restrictions, etc. If so, continue, if not, move. Both the etsy sellers and etsy itself aim to maximize profit.
    - heleninboodler 5y ago
      > I'll never understand > The question in the end if whether etsy is worth it to them after all of the fees, restrictions, etc. If so, continue, if not, move It seems you do understand after all, unless you are making the questionable claim that Etsy provides literally no value. I think the crux of the matter here is that these sellers were previously happy with the tradeoff, and then Etsy changed the terms and they don't think it's worth it anymore. Getting angry and yelling about it in hopes of changing it rather than just shrugging and moving their whole business to another platform seems perfectly logical to me. The stuff with garbage resellers does seem like a really good point: Etsy is going to devalue themselves into the toilet if they don't do something about it and there is a mass exodus.

acomar 5y ago

it's hard to do (it requires a specific skillset), it requires capital investment (servers cost money), and you become fairly indiscoverable. these are surmountable problems given adequate money but without it, a major platform like etsy has a real moat.