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Etsy's been getting some press lately, but not the kind that makes admin look like they know what they're doing.
EtsyBitch and the freedom of expression and frustration allowed here (compared to the Etsy site itself) was discussed in this article at About.com
Anther Etsy-critical site has also been getting press in Entertainment Weekly (EW magazine)...hmmm looks like admin need to pay more attention if they are going to keep Etsy a top tier site in the handmade world.
Too bad they don't listen. Over the past few years, sellers have had suggestions and offered free services to improve the site and keep it clear of resellers. Closing down critical threads, talking down to their customers, and maintaining the hipster status quo has done nothing for the majority of sellers at Etsy.
And people are noticing!
As we posted on our Twitter yesterday, the About article has a poll, which is currently at 75/25% that Etsy needs to open itself up to criticism...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Does Etsy Suck?
Posted by The Righteous One at 3:21 PM
Tagged: embarrassment, Etsy, press
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18 Comments:
The last comment, left by someone called Maria, suggests that it's only 10 people complaining and that those 10 just happen to be the people behind Etsy Bitch. Riiiiight.
Yeah. Does anyone find it coincidental that the ceo of Etsy is Maria?!
And I damn well know there are more than 10, and I damn well know there are lots more that just lurk but nod their head in agreement with the "dissenters" because of fear of reprisal.
I know Etsy's reprisals. Recently as a matter of fact, and they are not pretty. No one talks about that though.
Gee, Maria, if that's you! should spend the same energy reading the stuff her employees write and do a check up from the neck up on Admin attitudes - nastier every year! Anti-seller for sure, anti-handmade (branding is about as anti-handmade as you can get)and they LOVE to dish out punishments by the bushel-full. The apple rots from the inside, and Etsy is way past it's fruit salad expiration date. More damage than good for handmade, for sure.
The maria comment was funny...The article was correct in pointing out the major areas of seller concerns and frustrations....and the need for Etsy Bitch
What a brilliant article!
Thanks for bringing it to our attention. While I no longer have anything to do with Etsy (except to buy the occasional item from one of the great sellers there) I do want to see them held accountable for their contribution to devaluing arts and crafts.
I know this has nothing directly to do with the post (well, maybe) but I was in my first virtual chat the other day and never again. What a waste of time. If they are going to run these sessions for 2 flippin' hours, you would think they would limit the # of people in the room so everyone could get their questions answered - or even that they would get around to everyone.
But that would make sense.
Plus, running a chat at the same time is very distracting.
Speaking of sucky asshat admin decisions, have you clicked on the Community page, and the clicked on "Fabulous Packaging and Wrapping With rikrak"?
You go to that dopey intermediate page that makes no sense, but what do you click from there if you're still interested in the headline topic?
1) a link to a post from Sept 24 that doesn't make sense
2) a link to rikrak's shop (an Etsy front page fave at 45 appearances, although not even half of 3Fun and toybreaker)
3) a link (split on a line break) to what you thought you were clicking on, the 3rd and most buried link
4) a link to rikrak's blog, which takes you OFF SITE, away from Etsy.com
So the Community page function is designed to divert you to a neverland where you will be confused, spammed, and taken OFF SITE to Blogger, and off Etsy.com.
Have you EVER been on an online selling venue that worked so hard at getting you to click to leave?
As if I'm going to buy advertising to send people to Etsy, so they can be directed to link away from Etsy.
Duh.
Of course there's more than 10 people complaining, not everyone does it online.
Etsy has become a joke in the art community, many with high end items wouldn't even think of complaining because they don't care and would never list anything on the hipster/crapy crafting website.
Maybe they need to reinvent their image.
3clicks,
But did you find the experience 'playful'? That is all that really matters.
Thank you DangerousMezzo, since the underlying damage to the reputation, quality, and pricing of handmade will be around a lot longer than Etsy.
Unfortunately, a lot of the site-tricks will too, since the Etsy formula for raking in profits while sellers do all the work is a sorry phenomenon across the board.
Sellers take all the risks and spend (lose) a lot of money doing it.
I would love to see Etsy burn. Simply because, I say it again, they turned a brilliant idea into crap. How wonderful it would be to have a site where artisans prevail. All "different" forms. You see, this is where Etsy messed up, and they can't help it because Etsy is a reflection of the people who run the show. It's going to show its ugly head eventually.
It became a site where the colors HAAD to match, it became sterile and redundant. It had to look perfect and neat. Isn't this a great and hostile contradiction to the definition of Art? Also, that cutesy shit from the beginning, always annoyed me, these people truly are NOT friendly.
There are still talented people on Etsy, I shop there! However, they are becoming endangered. But this is a good thing because, Etsy and their unsavory practices, treatment of sellers and scrambled business sense in the end will destroy them. AND,another site will evolve and become what Etsy initially was purporting to be.
Can't wait to see the fallout from that article.
The people who think that it's a few people who complain are living in their own Etsy dreamworld.
I think its annoying, that the people who complain about Etsy are considered "complainers and failed sellers". Mmmm...no.
I never expected to be handed something on a silver platter just because I opened a store on Etsy. What I expected was to work hard, which I did, make something that was a quality product, and be able to charge a reasonable sum so I could make a profit.
I did not expect Etsy to select favorites to promote over and over, screw up the SEO which was the kiss of death for me, and start branding.
I was considered a successful seller on Etsy before this crap hit the fan. I had people asking me about photos and advice about how to set up their shops. Unsolicited mind you. I never considered myself successful...but call me humble.
So I get irate when people who go against the grain are labeled "Complainers" and "lazy" and "failed sellers".
Etsy, you have royally screwed over the handmade community and it has trickled down to the grassroots. People at shows and craft fairs expect nominal prices for hard work. Thanks for giving us the shaft. I'm giving you the middle finger.
Whomever coined the term "fucktards" is a genius. I shall be using that now in my vocabulary in describing Etsy and its minions.
The most frustrating, despicable element of the entire Etsy fiasco stems from the fact that the ethos, the original mission statement was a LIE.
This, i think, is why so many are outraged, disappointed, sickened by what time has revealed.
Of course, Ebay has flaws, what marketplace doesnt? but Ebay never pretended to be anything other than it is. This is why Ebay, regardless of occasional issues, does not offend me.
Etsy has taken a concept that implies depth and value and turned it into everything that is the antithesis of 'human' - the branding, the cheap, underpriced, knock-off, trend based, infested cesspool which it has become.
THIS is why so many people are upset with the site.
Not merely because of its inevitable flaws, but because we were hoodwinked.
4 years is not "infancy", it's downright fucking ancient online. I can't believe I hadn't heard that comment until now!
There is absolutely no way I'm using Etsy as a venue to sell my wares. The built-in customer base that they like to talk about is too busy trying to sort out the resellers from the bajillion cowls, the administration have no actual business experience (for fucks sake, at least take a community college class you dumb bitches), and the interface is downright disgraceful.
You can thank the sellers for keeping you open this long, Etsy. Because it appears you've contributed fuck all. I'm utterly amazed that disgruntled sellers haven't created their own online venue. A functional one.
The About.com author of "Does Etsy Suck" started a very interesting thread the other day: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6338972&page=1
Page 23 is very illuminating.
She got the information she wanted. I am not really sure why everyone was so freaked out about it.
3 clicks and out said...
2) a link to rikrak's shop (an Etsy front page fave at 45 appearances, although not even half of 3Fun and toybreaker)
-----------------------------
There are a few others are featured WAAAY more than either of those people.
And good comments here, Etsy has taken a great idea, a lot of luck and funding and made a complete, crappy mess out of it. They are a complete travesty... it pretty much comes down to well, look who started the whole thing. It reflects the personality and abilities of the founders. None of the investors really give a fuck, it seems... every single investor is involved in so many other ventures that Etsy is just a little sliver for them. Nobody on the board seems to know anything about crafts and art. And, all the people they hired for the 'labs'/'Storque' were unqualified. I could go on forever.
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