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I am traveling to Brooklyn for a quickie vacation this weekend. And I couldn't help thinking that 2-3 years ago, before my sunny opinion of Etsy got turned upside down by inconsistency, bad customer service, and just plain having them treat me like a jerk, I would have been SO EXCITED to visit Etsylabs and meet the Etsy-folk. Now, not so much, in fact not at all. I'm going all the way there, and there's no way in heck I would waste vacation time. I hate it that I feel that way! But, I do...sigh...I hope someday all this bitching will make a difference so my Etsy frown can get turned upside down!
Friday, June 13, 2008
From the Bitches Auxiliary: Avoiding Brooklyn
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13 Comments:
I visited NYC last year and decided to skip visiting Etsy Labs for the same reasons. I sent RK a sample of my work to him personally to display in the Lab prior to my visit. I never heard a word back. A month later I politely inquired and received a blow off sarcastic response. I still planned on going to see if what I sent them was on display. Something told me intuitively that if I went to the Labs I would be hurt. When I got back home the banning of the Etsy 5 was in process, I wrote RK and said send me back the item, I am going to donate it to a foster child center, It was returned to me destroyed and vandalized. I then wrote and said BAN me so I can publicize what you did to me. Becasue you refuse to advertise to a demographic of buyers who will love Etsy if they knew about it, I will use your banning me to my advantage and gather the PR you refuse to pay for, on behalf of sellers, There must be some good people there, but RK is not one of them. I am not using my Etsy name here.
No way. I am flabbergasted! Would you please send this note directly to our e-mail box, so we may pursue a private discussion about what happened?
I just get sadder and sadder the more I read the forums and Etsy's puerile announcements lately. I know what you mean about the labs; I had an opportunity to go on a two-week trip to NYC about eighteen months back (I'm not in the US, so this was a big deal for me) and I was so excited that I might visit Etsy for a while!
It's been about twelve months since I felt any regret at all that I didn't take the trip. I wouldn't go there now if you paid me - I already know that I wouldn't get along at all with 80% of the Etsy staff, and I'm in the 'right' age bracket.
Peaceseeker - that's absolutely awful, and unfortunately no less than I expect from RK.
Having been to the Labs myself, I can say for certain that you're not missing anything, except for the giant dirty messes in every corner and the booze (kept in the freezer when I was there).
peaceseeker, whoah!!
First of all thank you for making that stand, as one of the Etsy Five I want to thank you (and everyone) who stood up for us. But OMG how awful that they destroyed your work! That's against everything they are supposed to stand for, respecting artists and their work. I'd never heard this before. It makes me so sad.
eclipse
After reading the minutes from the meeting where RK was a total ass to Abitabite, the crap about editing sold listings now the comment from peaceseeker, I find myself wondering: If there are so many of us who are unhappy with Etsy, why don't we take our business elsewhere? Orchestrate a mass exodus! We could develop our own fabulous site and not have to waste another precious neuron firing on THEM. Seriously!
I know... Dream on!
There are many, many, many of us that are unhappy, and even more who are scared shitless to say one work for fear of getting their shop shut down.
It has happened.
In fact, even buyers get kicked off for no reason- that's another story though.
My advice is always to diversify. Dawanda is the European Etsy. Handmade! And they actually handle customer service.
There are also free shop builders available and shopping carts.
An Etsy seller wrote an article about the venues available around Christmas time. I'll see if I can't dig it up. It's best to not have all your eggs in one basket, especially when the rooster is a mean son-of-a-bitch.
You're so right, TRO. I am in the process of learning to use Dreamweaver because I;m damn picky and those freebie sites are too cookie-cutter for MOI!
I've only been with Etsy for about 8 months but they're getting $20/month (and increasing) from me. Seems like I could get a lot from my own site for that amount. Thank goodness I took some excellent advice early on to buy ad use my own domain name on all my promos.
Dawanda is getting better and better all the time. I finally moved everything over there, put a bit of effort in (not near as much as I had on Etsy, mind you), and I started selling. They're efficient, the search really works, they have great customer service...
Dawanda isn't the only alternative, but it's a damn good one to try out.
I wrote the article, Righteous. It was an update to an older article. The most updated version is at PrintNPost. The second page is the listing of a number of sites.
http://www.printnpost.com/articles/4494/2/Online-Shop-Venues-For-Handmade-Crafts/Page2.html
In fact, even buyers get kicked off for no reason- that's another story though.
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What?!?! Spetsy, tell me a story!
This reminds me of RK in the aforementioned minutes: http://tinyurl.com/6ybmvl
Funny stuff!
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