Monday, June 14, 2010

Sellers reactivated

Two sellers who were targeted for shutdown (suspiciously after mild critical comments were made against the oh so twee phone rooms) have been reactivated!

Surely Etsy caved in the harsh light of full on seller revolt that we're sure isn't over yet.

Welcome back Bijoutiful and AprilMarieMai!

This thread from Bijoutiful has a half assed apology at the end from Lisajune.

18 Comments:

ItchyTriggerFinger said...

Vindicated, I am glad!
Etsy needs someone at the helm down in the trenches to keep their staff straight. Literally.

FlawedAtWork said...

LisaJune:
"I do apologize for any ill informed or harsh decisions and actions made by our Support team. I can only ask for the understanding that we can make mistakes. We are human beings working at a high capacity. If you find that any actions made by our Support team have been made erroneously or without all the information, we encourage you to contact us privately and to explain what has happened. When we are in the wrong, we can and will reverse our decisions. "


Sure, if it hadn't gone viral they would have changed their minds. Right.
"humans working at high capacity"? This is an excuse? YOUR JOB-- YOU GET PAID FOR-- be an asshole in some other part of your life that doesn't remunerate you!!!!

sage said...

why were the shops shut to begin with? I'd love to know for future reference.. I don't want to break a rule that gets my shop shut down!

although.. it seems sort of random. Some shops are breaking tons of rules and no action is ever taken against them..

anyway.. i love your blog! thanks for all the updates!

Anonymous said...

"I do apologize for any ill informed or harsh decisions and actions made by our Support team. I can only ask for the understanding that we can make mistakes."

Hmmmm.

A mistake is when I get postal codes numbers switched around or if I put the wrong postage on an envelope and it comes back to me a few days later and I have to add postage and send it out again.

Disappearing someone's shop because you're feeling pissy or under attack isn't a "mistake".

That's called Revenge.
It's vicious, mean spirited and emotionally infantile.

*If* that's what happened, someone needs to be written up, given a warning via a super serious talking to and be kept under close scrutiny for the next 3 months.

Or, maybe it would be better if that person could be promoted to a finanacial institution, an oil company or political office, because they have the chops to be a real asshat.

picked said...

According to the Peter Principle, those staff will probably get a raise and a promotion.

but then, I thought that they had already reached the level of their incompetence.

Anonymous said...

Why was her shop closed to begin with? Because of what she said on the storque blog related to those idiotic phone booths?! I saw her remark there, and then this here. thus my curiosity.

It just goes to show, etsy can do whatever they want whenever they feel like it, regardless if you are right or wrong. So many people are being taken advantage on this site, and it's disturbing. If these accounts were already deactivated once, who's to say they want try that again once all the hype has clamed down.

I suggest, stop giving etsy anymore of your hard earn money, stop giving them traffic. If you want to stay on their site, get your own domain names, and forward your address to your etsy shop. Save all your descriptions, and or just have a back up of everything you list. Don't print .etsy on your business cards, just your domain.

I was wrongfully deactivated, and have yet to receive an apology, but to be honest they can go fuck themselves for all I care. I'm making more money without them! Whoever handles these "emails," and "decisions," clearly doesn't know what they're doing and needs to be replaced....along with those stupid phone booth! GET SOME REAL PHONES ETSY, and CUSTOMER SUPPORT PHONE LINES!

Anonymous said...

The phone booth storque article had Etsy promoting a shop that is in clear violation of Etsy's rules regarding offsite linking.

NoName said...

Why should we be surprised that the seller featured in the Storque article had improper offsite linking...? The #1 handmade seller on etsy, theblackapple, does it. Etsy darling palomasnest does it. Go through the list of top etsy sellers, and you will find many others that violate that Etsy policy... or do they...? Since Etsy is being so intentionally vague about their own policies, ya know...

eclipse said...

I am so glad they are back AND they got a public apology and got their names cleared!
I know the forum speculations and "they MUST have done something bad" bullshit was really upsetting April especially. It must feel very good to have that smear on her reputation lifted.

I hope this will make the cupcakes STFU next time Etsy makes a mistake like this, it has happened before (ask me how I know!) and it will happen again.
Etsy is not infallible, koolaid drinkers!!

sparky said...

So many people are violating that rule, including the phonebooth makers, so etsy was using that as a reason to punish those sellers, but it's because of that storque article.

I'm glad both are back (glittercritter also got a warning that same day) and at least Lisajune apologized. Out of all the admin, she is the most human and I think a good hearted person.

The rest can go fuck themselves. I used to like Robwhite but I think he's the one who did the suspending and muting.

All the peeps who said bad things about the two sellers are asshats too.

Eveline said...

After making comments about the Dorque article, Etsy made sure they went through those two shops with a fine tooth comb to see if there was anything 'wrong' so they could shut them down. Shutting down a shop should not go without warning, without giving someone a chance to sort things out. Bet Admin used their phone boots a LOT the last two days to call their mommy about all the bullying htat went on!

The Funny One said...

Right on Anonymous! Hmmm, doesn't "human beings working at high capacity" seem like it was lifted from one of those inventive emails that promises "our esteemed diplomat crashed his car and wiped out 3 dozen family members and you are a direct decendent of this rich family with no will"???? Just send us your listing fees, huge gobs of relisting fees, kiss ass in "I love you, Etsy!" quips in every Dorkie, and keep up the "I have faith" even though it's been 5 years without any sign that Etsy is capable of running a professional business with trained employees who actually work for their pay?

The more money sellers send Etsy, the more Etsy ignores ANY lessons learned. If the plushie phone booths wasn't proof enough, just imagine what they'll come up with next! Can't wait!

Anne said...

They seem to use that "working at a high capacity" as a mantra. I recall that same phrase being used in at least one email brushing off the very real concerns of a friend of mine. I have to be careful here, because I'm older than God, and there's a chance I don't understand their "new" business model. But:

- Neurosurgeons, engineers, and people with degrees in particle physics work at high capacity. Most of the rest of us just do our jobs, and sometimes we are busy. Bragging about one's job doesn't impress a client with a grievance that needs to be addressed.
- There's a book out there by a woman named Betsy Sanders. It's called "Fabled Service." We should send it to Etsy in a plain brown wrapper. Yes, it deals with the boring old model of customer service, but the organization it describes seems to have done OK over the years.
- I've pretty much figured out that those in charge at Etsy may have made a decision, conscious or otherwise, to blow off sellers with issues rather than trying to provide answers. There's an endless pool of people who want to sell there, so they can simply replace old ones with new ones.

There are endless reams of ancient, hoary platitudes about selling. Out of all of those, one in particular seems to have the ring of truth: A satisfied client may tell one or two other people. An unhappy client will shout it from the rooftops. I'm not sure Etsy has realized who their real clients are.

Anonymous said...

That apology is no apology at all. I am sorry we got caught being vindictive idiots. There is no apology to the sellers.

The thief is not sorry for stealing but sorry they got caught and then everyone found out.

High-capacity is actually subjective. I guess tying their shoelaces is a high capacity job for them.

YESiDid said...

I decided to not spend money on renewals this month and instead send them the book on customer service mentioned above.

Addressed to the "The Thoughtful Grownups at Etsy".

Yeah...I really did.

StopSuckingUp said...

I was glad to see them admit that things shouldn't have been 'handled' the way they were.
Because, *maybe* now the ass-kissers who were posting things like, "They broke the rules, they paid the consequences!" will feel a little stupid by Etsy's apology.

Especially those ass-kissers who, not so long ago, were pretty outspoken about their own beefs with Etsy until they started being featured on the FP. Now, it's all sweetness and light and Etsy can do no wrong. GAG. Everyone sees through your brown-nosing, that's the saddest part of all.
And remember, the only difference between being a brown-noser and being a shit-head is depth perception.

Unknown said...

Hello. I've never posted here, in fact I did my utmost to avoid EB because, well, I do like to see the best in people and think the best about those I do business with.

After this weekend I will no longer be able to do business on Etsy, the thought of adding one more item or paying them one more dime makes me nauseous.

The idea that these sellers were shut down for fee avoidance makes me ill since a seller I had reported for real fee avoidance still had this listing up:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/plantdreams/etsy/Clipboard-1.jpg

To say I'm mystified as to why those sellers deserved to be shut down while I got a "friendly warning" is an understatement. I'm completely befuddled because I'll never understand it. Ever. I am just a little old southern lady who was and is an old hippie. I am not about to sell out at this late a date. Etsy is a cesspool of corruption and arrogance; there are not enough sales in the world to make me ever want to go back there. If selling on ArtFire doesn't provide enough sales to feed me, I guess I'll just starve.

broom hilda said...

These human beings are working at a low capacity, unless human beings have the capacity of incompetent shrimp.

I hope Rob Kalin slips on a banana peel, HARD and loses his personality. The world would be a better place.

Etsy has harmed the market for arts and crafts on the internet. I hope someone else saves it soon, because these cliquey little immature clowns are NEVER going to get anything right.