3 ms·

It is good to see the company admitting that it had joined the race to the bottom, though the cynic in me points out that they wouldn't be doing so if they were

It is good to see the company admitting that it had joined the race to the bottom, though the cynic in me points out that they wouldn't be doing so if they were winning the race (Temu and other recent upstarts are doing rather well there). Etsy loosened rules that limited generic sales in order to gain growth, and where the rules still have restrictions (i.e. the use of external delivery, including drop-shipping, are permitted as long as you designed the item), those restrictions are a mix of difficult to enforce (i.e. takes man-power to police) and easy to work around (drop-shipped product has a custom logo on the box, does that count if the logo is your design?).

toomuchtodo 2y ago
I don't trust them at all. The good will has been exhausted by incompetent management. Someone spin up an employee owned competitor and do a seed round, I'm ready to invest. This is something the size of Let's Encrypt, Fastmail, or 37signals. Build the org, build the culture [1] [2], arrive at steady state, defend the culture and the org for longevity. Have makers (not sellers shoveling drop ship garbage, makers) be shareholders. Governance and aligned incentives. The market is proven, and to chase valuation traps in volatile fits and starts does a disservice to all stakeholders. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40899454 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40899454 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40894595 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40894595
eadmund 2y ago
> drop-shipping, are permitted as long as you designed the item Isn’t drop-shipping when a seller has the manufacturer ship an item to a buyer directly without designing it?
- dylan604 2y ago
  you can hire 3rd party companies to manage your logistics. if you design a thing and then have it massed produced, you don't want to have to deal with the inventory taking over your living space. Spouses tend to get very unhappy with that. So you have a company that receives the orders and ships for you and keep the SO happy. "What can brown do for you?" type of companies
- Jochim 2y ago
  They're not really designing the item though. They're paying a drop-shipping manufacturer to print/etch a graphic or text into a white-label item. It's so little effort that the platform has been entirely flooded with low quality garbage.
- dspillett 2y ago
  Usually these days, yes, though it _could_ be your design that is being made and shipped in which case that would be within Etsy's current rules.
- fxtentacle 2y ago
  If you buy one of my dolphin pen holders https://trajann.com/products/dolphin-pen-holder-planter-vase https://trajann.com/products/dolphin-pen-holder-planter-vase then that's drop-shipping. In the background, https://www.shop3d.io/ https://www.shop3d.io/ has my OBJ files in their system and they will do the 3D-printing and send it to you. My team did the design, so it is a unique item. But my team does not handle the day-to-day printing and shipping, because that would be exhausting and then we wouldn't have time to make new designs anymore.

toomuchtodo 2y ago

I don't trust them at all. The good will has been exhausted by incompetent management. Someone spin up an employee owned competitor and do a seed round, I'm ready to invest. This is something the size of Let's Encrypt, Fastmail, or 37signals. Build the org, build the culture [1] [2], arrive at steady state, defend the culture and the org for longevity. Have makers (not sellers shoveling drop ship garbage, makers) be shareholders. Governance and aligned incentives. The market is proven, and to chase valuation traps in volatile fits and starts does a disservice to all stakeholders. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40899454 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40899454 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40894595 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40894595

eadmund 2y ago

> drop-shipping, are permitted as long as you designed the item Isn’t drop-shipping when a seller has the manufacturer ship an item to a buyer directly without designing it?

dylan604 2y ago
you can hire 3rd party companies to manage your logistics. if you design a thing and then have it massed produced, you don't want to have to deal with the inventory taking over your living space. Spouses tend to get very unhappy with that. So you have a company that receives the orders and ships for you and keep the SO happy. "What can brown do for you?" type of companies
Jochim 2y ago
They're not really designing the item though. They're paying a drop-shipping manufacturer to print/etch a graphic or text into a white-label item. It's so little effort that the platform has been entirely flooded with low quality garbage.
dspillett 2y ago
Usually these days, yes, though it _could_ be your design that is being made and shipped in which case that would be within Etsy's current rules.
fxtentacle 2y ago
If you buy one of my dolphin pen holders https://trajann.com/products/dolphin-pen-holder-planter-vase https://trajann.com/products/dolphin-pen-holder-planter-vase then that's drop-shipping. In the background, https://www.shop3d.io/ https://www.shop3d.io/ has my OBJ files in their system and they will do the 3D-printing and send it to you. My team did the design, so it is a unique item. But my team does not handle the day-to-day printing and shipping, because that would be exhausting and then we wouldn't have time to make new designs anymore.