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It's getting to the point now where I'm very wary of buying from someone with whom I'm not familiar.
I used to use Pounce (Undiscovered) a lot but after seeing many resellers there, I've stopped.
Now I buy either from sellers I've previously bought from, or those who I "see" on the forums.
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One real look at etsy and you will see that it is really no diifrent than ebay. Both have handmade, resellers, supplies and pretend vintage.
Only, they forgot to write that in marymary's script of the day and only told Stella anything goes.
Thanks, EB, I feel very honored :->
I just can't help but feel unwary shoppers are being sold a bill of goods. Those of us who frequent the forums, whether they can participate or not, have the benefit of observing the natives in their natural habitat and can get a feel for handmade.
Someone who comes to the site hearing about handmade has no clue.
And I get angry with myself because I seem to be hung up on the 'handmade' part of the tagline. But other than the handmade sellers, are buyers? Is it part of the assimilation into the site that has us so wrapped up?
I just don't know anymore.
I'm hungup on the "handmade" tagline too. It just burns me that people don't seem to care as long as it is cheap.
No one cares anymore, not the buyers, not etsy, not even most sellers.
Super depressing.
If someone came to this site attracted to the "all things handmade" tagline, then absolutely they'd be upset if there were fakes, quasi-fakes, and mass produced crapola all over the site.
What I think Etsy failed (gee that's a common phrase now) to realize that while there *are* many, many legit vintage sellers out there who do their research, are familiar with the items and the market for them, and all that goes into the vintage process, there are exponential numbers of people who pass off junk because they do little to no research, don't care in the first place, or do know better and play coy about it in the effort to just turn over that quick buck.
THAT is why, if you are going to host a marketplace for vintage/antiques, your staff assigned to that portion of the site MUST have people conversant in the field in order to keep the twits out.
But that's not going to happen.
So hello Etsy-bay.
Just like the word 'vintage' is a hot marketing buzzword now, so is 'handmade'. Probably most of you are too indie cool to ever spend just 2 minutes listening to the spokesmouths on, say, QVC hyping the 'all handmade' mass-produced jewelry they sell. Like, duh, folks. All jewelry is handmade unless it is one piece squirted out of a mold. My point being: how many visitors new to Etsy understand 'handmade' as the term is used in the consumer marketplace and NOT as (I think) the Etsy community originally understood it?
What I wanna know is: why do many of the buyers from the reseller shops not leave feedback? Lots of these shops have less than 50% feedback for their sales numbers. Are they stunned that they got fooled into buying from a clothing factory or giftware supplier? Or?
""What I wanna know is: why do many of the buyers from the reseller shops not leave feedback? Lots of these shops have less than 50% feedback for their sales numbers. Are they stunned that they got fooled into buying from a clothing factory or giftware supplier? Or? ""
*Or*, they were merely looking for a particular item, clicked on what Google spat out for them, purchased the item and moved on. There's plenty of people who know a knockoff when they see it, and were specifically going for it in the first place. But most wouldn't be caught dead making that public knowledge. Leaving feedback does just that.
makesbyhand said...
No one cares anymore, not the buyers, not etsy, not even most sellers.
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That's a pretty broad blanket statement.
I, as a buyer, care.
Obviously, most of the sellers here, and many on the fora, care.
As for Etsy - well, I'm thinking that you might be on the mark. They want us to *think* that they care, but they obviously no longer care -- or they no longer care to devote resources to make an effort.
Obviously there are those that care. I see them every day in the forums. But beyond that, do people really care? Etsy is very good at stirring up loyalty to handmade, the idealistic version most of us bought into when we signed up. But the reality is quite different and disturbing to me.
And I don't know why I care so much.
I care.
These days, I put sellers through it, poor things. Do you have it in this color? Can it be modified this way? I strike up the conversation..
Which is not to say that I do this for fun. This is for the sellers that I intend to buy from, and do. If the answer seems fishy to me, and lots of times, you can tell they have not a fart's idea bout the product or come right aout and admit whatever, I'm outta there.
I like a lot of custom work, especially, but whos to say someone else isn't making it and seller getting a cut? It makes for suspicious buying at its worst, taking all the fun out of buying something unique, or what you thought was unique.
life-during-wartime (love the name, btw) you are absolutely right about the buzz word "handmade" And that's the justification for the "reinterpretation" of collectives/employees? Hey, we said it was "handmade" we just never specified whose hands, bwahahahaha, joke's on you?
Sad.
Thanks for quoting me, EB, typos and all. I'll put it on my resume (:
We care, Windys because it's the human element: someone touched it, molded it, cast their vision upon the waves and let it go. We stayed up late, burning the oil, didn't buy food so we could buy supplies, labored to put ourselves in that vision, opened ourselves up to ridicule, scorn, praise, whatever. It's not just about the money. We'd do it for free (heck, some of us are, when you check our prices)We have jobs yet this is our passion, our therapy. We love knowing our creations made someone smile, laugh, cry, just endure a little longer in this crazy world. It's like childbirth, you have to get it out. We have slipped discs, carpal tunnel syndrome, failing eyesight, and yet we persevere. It's everything and yet nothing. it connects us to everyone else, creates a community among far-flung people, takes us out of our self-imposes cocoons.
And that's I'm disappointed, because the Etsy ideal was a beautiful thing turning ugly fast. Real fast.
Maybe, like most ideals, its the believing in it that sustains it, when the reality is so much something else.
Well, if Etsy continues on their current path with the worst public relations I have even seen from any online company, then they certainly deserve the dissent, disagreements, and bad publicity they are getting from sellers and buyers.
And what of those of us honest artists who CAN'T be seen in the forums?
Besides, being seen in the forums is no guarantee that you're not a reseller *coughpashminacough*. (I can call out, she's gone now.)
etsy-bay. lol.
Oh man, Etsybay. I love it.
One of the pp's said "It just burns me that people don't seem to care as long as it is cheap."
That is SO TRUE! Handmade does not in any way = cheap unless the seller is making crap or selling themselves short and not pricing proplery. It makes it hard for those of us that offer outstanding quality and service (and in many cases actually have a degree or professional background in the field of artwork we are selling) in our products and customer relations. It makes me very sad.
If it weren't for the Mission Statement, nobody would give a shit because they wouldn't expect shit.
You can buy shit anywhere.
The mission statement is beyond propaganda now=-- it's a downright lie.
When the emperor is finally seen as naked by everybody, nobody wants to look.
At least not the customers with any sense of class.
unfortunately etsy does not see how much damage the TM mission statement on the front page does
PS: i even tried suggesting that it was spelled wrong in a forum thread
The Ebon Swan said...(re people not leaving feedback for resellers)
*Or*, they were merely looking for a particular item, clicked on what Google spat out for them, purchased the item and moved on.
Agree - because the first few times I bought on Etsy, I had no clue about any mission statement or whatever - I assumed that it was a shopping portal for small independent retailers. I purchased via a direct link to a shop that I found from the seller's promotional efforts off-site and didn't look at any other shops or the front page. I suspect a lot of other people buy like this.
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