Did the world stop spinning?

Now we're not dead, but according to some of the comments if we go two weeks without a post you folks get downright uneasy. Excuse us for having a busy summer.

So, here you go.

The news of the week:

ETSY SENT OUT AN HONEST TO GOD SELLER NEWS MAIL! I mean it! It had informative updates of changes for the rest of the universe who doesn't go to he forums for their lifesource to feed this withered vampire souls for sustinance.

Treasury Keeps Getting Better

Treasury, where members create curated lists of items, is growing fast! No longer confined to the East as "Treasury East," Treasury has gone global, expanding in new directions and sprouting new features. You can now:
Add Tags To Lists

Clicking on a Treasury list tag will take you to a landing page with all the lists that contain that tag, sorted by hotness. Look for the latest trending tags on the main Treasury page, and similar trending tags on tag landing pages.

Set Preferences

We're rethinking the meaning of mature on Etsy and looking to the community's curators to lead the way. Curators of lists that contain mature content are asked to tag them with the keyword "mature." Etsy members who wish to view lists tagged in this way can do so by adjusting their preference in the Account section of Your Etsy.

Set Treasuries to Private

Select the "Only you" option under Privacy when creating a list if you'd like to keep it to yourself a while before showing the world.

Search Treasury!

Our new Treasury search will search for lists by list titles, list tags, list curators, shops in lists and items in lists. It's a seriously fun way to discover curators that share your taste.

Now Browse Etsy in Multiple Currencies

Oh my goodness! In a big step toward supporting global commerce on Etsy, we just launched support for viewing prices in multiple currencies! You can now view item prices in Euros, British Pounds, Canadian Dollars and more.

OMFG. Can you believe it? And actual step of behaving like an actual caring responsible company? Our Etsy? They grow up so fast. Sniff. Sniff.

If you didn't get one it could be you aren't signed up for emails, so they still haven't learned that they need to have a regular mail that goes out to all members. This is important info that everyone needs.

And like clockwork, Etsy has announced incoming much cried for changes to the checkout. Only a small amount of shops are seeing this new cart in the first tests. Any bets if the expected fubar and bug fixing will be fixed before the Holiday season? But when you read that posts over you can tell they are looking at the competition's carts playing catch up.

Here is hoping they pull it off the first time this time. Godfuckingknows it would be a refreshing change .

Oh wait...

Lisajune says:
We've been keeping up with feedback on Express Checkout in its initial deployment to 5% of users. We've found a few substantial issues, not least of all being a difficulty charging sales tax via Paypal when using Express Checkout.

We've decided to roll back the use of Express Checkout for the time being while we work through these initial concerns. We'll update further as we have substantial solutions. :)

FUCK.

Yep, the forum is buzzing about all sorts of problems with the new checkout. It really gets to be hilarious after a while that they can't ever roll out anything even close to not failing on release.

Can't keep up with all the comments?

When we have a shitstorm like we've had this week with multiple posts, and updates with in them - and it's hard to keep up with the flood of hundreds of comments. Even for us.

This is a reminder that we offer email subscriptions to both our posts and our comments, you'll find them over on the left sidebar.

You can get these feds and enter them in your rss reader of choice when you "Subscribe via RSS".

Under "Get Bitched at via email" you will get a ONCE daily email with the latest comments or posts if you aren't the kind to remember to visit but want to keep up on the latest Etsyfail!

An International Gripe

We received some interesting figures in an email from a seller who's a bit peeved at Etsy's ungraceful lip service to sellers who ship internationally.

So today’s Etsy Finds recognized that in the UK Mothering Sunday comes in March. March 22nd to be precise. and today’s date? March 12th, which is a Thursday ie. 10 days from Mothering Sunday in the UK (Ireland and Nigeria) aka 6 business days.

Assuming shipping from one of the major seller groups on etsy, to guarantee arrival in time will cost (<250g packet)
from US = 27.95 USD for expedited mail international (3-5 business days)
from Canada = 50.87 CAD for Xpresspost (4 business days)
within UK = approx 2GBP if package is letter-type (1-3 business days) or 4.20GBP standard parcel (3 business days) or 12.99 GBP for a guaranteed parcelforce delivery at 48 hours

Etsy - where the internet ends at the border?

Mary seems to know what’s up in her Weekend Deals Finds email Friday

“Don't forget to plan ahead for Mother's Day this year”

and pushes shop local in the March 12 finds, which might help, but a week (6 business days to be exact) for local shipping isn’t enough time sometimes – and what about custom items? Etsy's response has always been that expedited shipping is available - 50 CAD though? come on - that is far from a reasonable suggestion, especially when the average sale price on Etsy is $15! And they keep pushing "bargains" and "weekend deals".

They probably forgot to mark the UK holidays on their calendar and Mary woke up Thursday with an “oh shit” moment. This too little too late promotion isn’t going over the heads of international sellers. They would’ve done better to just forget it, or admit that they’re only keeping up with U.S. holidays for simplicity and leave it at that. We recognize that there are so many holidays to take into consideration, but with a finds email every day they have room to push these things in advance. The finds email isn’t the same as making a design for the front page or making room for it on the site. There’s no extra energy involved other than checking a calendar before putting together the email items.

According to the International Seller Survey (which is nowhere near scientific, but it’s what we have to work with), most of the overseas shops are in the UK and Europe, followed by Canada and then Australia (together making up a huge chunk of the pie and about 30-40% of all sellers on Etsy based on older figures). These holidays should be on Etsy’s radar…period. And they can’t eliminate shipping from Canada (or the U.S.) by mentioning a holiday a week beforehand.

The International Development admin really needs to sit down the old hat admins and remind them why she was hired: the rest of the staff are morons about what’s outside NYC

We get mail

On occasion we get something in the inbox that is more than an Aux post, tip, or rant. Recently, I received an email from a journalist who couldn't tell who she's writing for, but she had the following questions:

1) Can you give me YOUR personal view of the future of the handmade craft industry? Is it enjoying a revival at this time? Will the flailing economy help the Handmade Movement?
2) Can you give me a short list of what you consider Etsy's shortcomings? How and where it has failed its sellers? Its community?
3) What could Etsy do to improve itself as a website?
4) Your views on the Etsy alternatives. How many in your reckoning are likely to become serious contenders for Etsy?
5) Lastly, you had a magic wand, and you could create the BEST handmade buy-and-sell site in history, what are the first 10 things you would do?

My first reaction was 'Hasn't she read the blog?' Then I talked it over with the other Bitches and they thought the same thing.

For one, if you can't tell us who you're writing for, chances are we're not going to give you an exclusive interview. Second, don't ask questions that are answered in the blog. And lastly, don't haggle about on-the-record vs. off-the-record with anonymous writers.

For me (Righteous), it's about integrity and personal responsibility, as a business and an individual. Etsy just hasn't followed through.

I'm posting below my response to the journalist, because I meant what I told her about everything being on-the-record. Plus, you might have an answer for her and now comments can be open for that:

After discussing your questions, we think you will find all of the answers on the EtsyBitch blog. Everything on-the-record is out there for the public. We don't hold back what we really think. We don't mind being quoted and linked to, we stand by everything we say and retract or update as necessary when things change.

If you're having difficulty compiling our responses from the wealth of information on the blog, primarily, there is no "short-list" of what's wrong with Etsy. Over the course of the few years they've been live they have been going downhill. It's everything from hardware and infrastructure to the lack of a customer service department and knowledgable admin. Take a look at our Christmas list and the comments to it...that's the closest we can get to a short list. Nearly every post is about Etsy's shortcomings, what they can do to improve, and what we think a handmade venue needs. You'll start to see trends when you read through.

For some people, handmade never went away. It may be having a mainstream revival right now, due to trends, going green, or the economy, but that is beyond our collective effort and discussion. We have worked with some people who are promoting the handmade movement, and we appreciate it as artisans ourselves, but art and handmade have always been there, and always will be there, in some form.

We do think there will be some venues that give Etsy a run for its money, some sellers are already having better success elsewhere, others were successful before Etsy ever came to be. It'll be different for everyone and their needs. We have our favorites, but its due to our own experiences. There are many more venues and shopping carts that we'll be reviewing, but I'm sure we have not held back in the posts we've already done as to how we feel a particular venue's chances may be for surpassing Etsy.

Oopsie! Are you missing some emails?

Well you might want to check your Spam folder.

As an Etsy customer discovered yesterday, Esty has changed their mail setup "a little". The net result of this is that various Etsy users are reporting that Etsy Convo notifications are showing up in their bulk mail folders.

Great job Etsy!!!! This is an excellent way for Etsy shops to lose potential business!

In spite of a few logical suggestions posted in the above thread, there are no reports of Etsy Admin bothering to notify their customers of this signifigant change.

Spamferral: Tastes Like Ass

etsybiatch@gmail.com

Come check out Etsy.com!

Hi!

I'd like to invite you to check out a great hilarious website that I know about called Etsy (http://www.etsy.com). Etsy is an online marketplace hot mess for buying and selling all things handmade anything you can get away with. You'll find an creative fed-up community of independent artists and designers and the very best in totally random handmade goods, craft supplies and vintage. It's an excellent place to find one of a kind resold, copied and trademark-infringing items, to give as gifts - or as gifts for yourself! Since you're buying directly in a ridiculously unclear process from artists on Etsy, you have the special opportunity certainty to form personal connections with confuse and exasperate the people who create your treasures. Signing up is free and easy one thing but if you want to sell I hope you like crappy customer service, amateurish tutorials, empty fluff masquerading as communication, general aggravation and intense disillusionment!

Just click here:

http://www.etsy.com/register.php?referral=fail

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Of all the crap-ass fuckery clogging up the Etsy pipeline these days, this one takes the cupcake. It appears that not only is $27 million not enough to buy real advertising, it's not even enough to buy a clue. Shall we count the many ways in which this concept is overflowing with fail?

1. Nobody asked for this.

2. Developing this took time and manpower away from developing the things people actually asked for, want and need.

3. It's prefab, generic and mass-produced, everything Etsy is not supposed to be.

4. It's only half-finished (and half-assed) as the referral/credit program hasn't even been built yet.

5. Not all Etsy members are eligible for "prizes", so international sellers get the shaft yet again.

6. It advertises Etsy the site over the individual seller's store, so that Etsy profits from the efforts of an individual seller rather than the seller themselves.

7. It's undeniably spam, which Etsy claims to be so against that it refuses to email members about changes to the site on the basis that it might be considered spam.

And lastly, it's fucking lazy. Sellers already promote Etsy, flag resellers, report forum problems, research bugs, make treasuries, write Storque articles, and provide endless amounts of assistance to each other in the forums. Now they are asked to "help" Etsy by sending everyone they know a generic, impersonal piece of spam in order to get more competitors - whoops, I mean, customers - to sign up on the site in return for vaguely described "credits" that will go towards an undefined "prize" which they may not be eligible for and may never actually arrive. How many more features will be rolled out unfinished and untested, and how many more times will sellers be asked to do that jobs that Etsy's employees are supposed to be doing? Although we really gotta give a hand to admin for combining the two into one this time. Someone over there has a talent for efficient idiocy.

Your sellers are stubborn, Etsy, but they are not mules. Take that heavy load off their backs and quit dangling that stunted, undersized carrot in front of their noses. You're making an ass of yourself.

Mass e-mails ahoy!

Today I woke up to see a pretty little e-mail from a reader about announcements@etsy.com. Congratulations Etsy! You've put your big boy britches on and taken a baby step into acting like a true business! Now I must drop the load in my pants from the surprise, since Admin has previously said they'd NEVER send out mass e-mails like this one since they considered it spam.

Etsy Announcements
Reply-To:Etsy Support
To: TheSneakyOne
Subject: Etsy Update
Dear TheSneakyOne,

Greetings from Etsy, your place to buy and sell all
things handmade.

We've grown to over 150,000 sellers in 171 countries, and we're just about to reach 1,000,000 members total. This is an exciting milestone for us, and we've made some recent changes to help keep things running smoothly.

Here's an overview of the changes:

*Search*

With over 1.7 million products on Etsy, we're trying tohelp buyers more easily find what they are looking for.

As a first step on this path, we added three new search filters, like so: Handmade Items, Supplies and Vintage Items. You can now select which type of item you'd like to find /before/ you search. By default, we'll look for handmade items. (Of course you can also search all items on the site by selecting "All items" in the search bar drop-down menu.)

To read more about the changes to search, please visit: http://www.etsy.com/storque/article/1684

*Terms of Use*

Our Terms of Use was updated to clarify the improvements we made to our DO's and DON'Ts. This will mainly be of interest to sellers, and you can read more about it here:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/article/1693/

We also created a new area to address our policies for online and in-person Etsy meet ups.

*Onward and Upward*

OK, that's all for now! You're receiving this because your email address is attached to an account at www.etsy.com. We only send out mass emails like this one when we have something really important to say. Nobody likes spam!

Thanks so much for being part of Etsy, and if you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you. You can just reply to this email.

Love,
Etsy

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Coming to you from Etsy Inc., located at 325 Gold Street,
6th Floor; Brooklyn, NY 11201.