Friday, August 22, 2008

Quotables: Get a Clue

What to tell a lawyer

Tell them

It was Colonel Mustard
In the Study
With the CandleStick


or maybe this
I thought it was swimmy
in the treehouse
with a hammock


If you were quoted, congratulations and thanks! You can find your
celebratory "I've been Quoted" (and other EB avatars) by clicking here.

20 Comments:

jodie said...

THAT made me laugh

Impetuous said...

That thread is HILARIOUS! On a more serious note, if Etsy doesn't know it's customers by now and could not have predicted this public reaction...I mean...


Did anyone contact the authorities about this?

The Funny One said...

The next time Etsy asks for help, just say no.

The next time Etsy asks sellers to think up ideas for the GG's, just say no.

The next time Etsy posts a "survey" to get seller's opinions for the 50th time on something the sellers needed last year, just say no.

The next time Etsy refuses to answer a seller-needs-immediate-help question, or send the seller to the slot-machine-forum-thread called "Site Help" - just say no.

The next time Etsy closes a thread that is so completely off track, full of guesses and misinformation - you know what? Leave that one up.

Because the more Etsy confuses the sellers, the happier they are. Let's them get away with all kinds of other crappola while sellers are caught in the mud.

It's called negative advertising and negative press, and once it piles up for months, as it has on Etsy, the long-term negative effects are impossible to erase.

No? Yes. See any good press about Etsy that hasn't originated from a company press release? Is the handmade world all abuzz about Etsy? Is everyone talking up Etsy and oozing with praise?

NO.

The Disgruntled One said...

Most of the "customer service" on the forums is being delivered by fellow Etsians.

That's all very noble and so forth, but it's a crutch that Etsy depends on.

I'm with Funny. Just say no.

WindysDesigns said...

Excerpted from Matt's post:

"Some of you have asked why sellers couldn't have been notified before the verification requests were sent. That's because it is important that an independent auditor be able to verify these account balances without
interference from Etsy. Their ability to independently verify the information is part of the foundation upon which they form an opinion about the adequacy of our accounting practices."

I don't understand why an email to the seller population alerting them that they MAY be receiving an email from XYZ company because they are doing an internal audit, and explain a little about the process would be interfering in any way. I don't open emails attachments from people I don't know, and without that warning ahead of time, most people probably deleted it. How useful is that to the accounting company?

As far as I'm concerned, this is just another lame-o excuse for not being prepared and knowing what the hell is going on. It's just part of the way Etsy does everything, act first, think later and get the clean-up crew out. Never, ever have they looked ahead and anticipated the outcome. Not once.

And the funny one, I only wish people would 'just say no' to Etsy.

Anonymous said...

Most of the "customer service" on the forums is being delivered by fellow Etsians.
That's all very noble and so forth, but it's a crutch that Etsy depends on.
___________

The cupcake in me likes to help, but sometimes I want to scream in all caps "Don't you people have a $#%&@(*@$ clue?" I mean really. The sugar content of my posts may kill me. Etsy needs to be way more present and visible in the fora, especially in Site Help.
They could even get a clue from Ebay, who currently has a special forum and a huge staff devoted to JUST answering questions about the new changes.

creativeneurosis said...

Windys, my thoughts exactly. Who the hell conducts an audit that way? Why the hell would they expect anyone to take it seriously without any advanced warning? What the hell are they smoking over there? Have they never worked in a real business? Have they no idea how such things work???

But what I REALLY want to know is... why is there a LAW firm involved? Last I checked, lawyers didn't do accounting audits...

Anonymous said...

I figured that the accounting firm conducting the audit got their accounting degrees in the same way Rokali went to MIT. And that's why things were done badly.

Impetuous said...

When a company is about to be bought, the purchasers lawyers and accountants go through all of the companies financials to verify the asking price. This email did not come from an IRS agent. Just saying.

Jessica Sharrah said...

Wow! I've been quoted!
Thanks EB!

Nora said...

I told Jared if he would get me a good Search feature I will test his voting junk for free.

I didn't hear back

Anonymous said...

This isn't an IRS audit..it's an audit of their accounting practices...=)
And they can deny deny DENY..but methinks they protest too much..etsy has been SOLD OUT!

Anonymous said...

I rcvd the letter and the email from the accounting firm, and both are going in the trash.

Etsy felt no need (numerous times!) to help me in answering basic customer service questions, or help with site issues and my seller account. A simple, sensical and timely email or two would have sufficed. But, they couldn't handle that.

Therefore I feel ZERO desire to help them with their audit. And of course the notice was handled in the most clusterfuckerish-Etsy-Way possible as usual. Here's my surprise face:

: |

Tit for tat. It goes in the trash. And I stopped helping others in the forums lonnnggggg ago. Etsy can put on their home made big boy pants and start doing it themselves.

Anonymous said...

hopefully if they have sold out we'll have the benefit of having admin cash out and leave the premises and having new, customer service oriented folks in. the way some people there act it is very obvious they are just trying to coast until they go public.

being sold would be a good thing. hopefully professionals will take over. professionals who know how to do things like send out an email letting you know that you will get a letter from an attorney. thats what professionals do.

Smarty Pants said...

funny one couldn't have said it better.
Just say no to Etsy!
I have done just that and it feels good. My shop is empty and it will stay that way until the "lawyers" work out the details and we meet the new owners. I'm not saying the new owners will be the gods of all things handmade, but it can't get much worse than than it is now.
I just wish I had the money to invest in my own handmade site. Or that I was a better liar so that I could fake my way through a couple years of business like Rokali did. That bastard is probably going to make a killing off his new book "How to Fake Your Way Through Life and Business: A Tale of Absolute Bullshit"
POINT: Since Etsy doesn't work for me, there's no way in hell I'm going to work for them.

Impetuous said...

I thought someone said it was and IRS audit? My bad.

Anonymous said...

anyone else having problems getting in right now?

Grace said...

All suspicious emails should be automatically forwarded to Fraud@FTC.gov

The the Feds straighten it out. ;-)

Just sayin'.

WindysDesigns said...

Ok, I just wanted to add that on May 12, 2006, Eileen from HappyWhosits also wrote a post asking about buyer's statistics. So, on July 3, 2006 she began collecting stats from the sampler sold section. Here is a link to her post: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=15419

And then went on to do them for 7/17: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=17668

7/18: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=17837

And 7/25 and 26: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=19401

and continued to deliver them as often as she could until January 2007.

And while it wasn't the most accurat or scientific method, she looked at the last 100 items sold each day at various times of the day (totla 3 times) and tabulated her stats that way. I know I was very appreciative of all the hard work she put into them, and she is worth mentioning as someone who did what she could for the benefit of the Etsy sellers.

PussDaddy said...

Let's face it-some people have items that suck, and it doesn't matter if they offered to give them away, no one would want them. Just because Etsy doesn't work for you doesn't always mean it is Etsy's fault. It could just be that you suck. Etsy could stat you up the wing wang and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference as to your sales or lack thereof. Half the time I wonder why a lot of the crap on Etsy sells and who the hell in their right mind would want it. I swear sometimes they are mercy buys.