High Costs Offset an Increase in Revenue at Etsy Inc
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
Etsy is a mess. They do pretty interesting engineering work but I have to wonder about some of the business decisions they have made.
I don't think that Etsy has done nearly enough to support their sellers. This isn't a new development either. They need to take a good long hard look at seller tools, and what they have really done to the seller community.
- Removal of buyer feedback (there are bad buyers out there) EDIT: Etsy removed the ability for SELLERS to leave feedback on BUYERS
- Poor customer service, I have a list of folks who "etsy trust and safety has wronged"
- Draconian forum policies. Have a legitimate complaint about etsy, well you can't have a civilized rational conversation on their forum system.
- Start a conversation that is "negative" about etsy in a public forum elsewhere, if they figure out who you are they WILL close your shop.
- Their new shipping calculator? It looks to have some markup in it. Who's getting this money? Who is really paying for it (buyers or sellers)?
- Etsy has a reputation of being "hand made" a lot of that "hand made" is by small children in china now.
Every day etsy looks more and more like a more modern and feminine ebay, but with none of the upside for sellers. Amazon is moving into handmade, and eBay is one redesign away from being a bit more consumer friendly (again). Really how long can they last?
Etsy already removed the ability for Sellers to leave feedback on buyers. It isn't a good thing.
My wife was livid, as were many of her fellow etsy-ers, from both the buyer and the seller point. (As a buyer, it was much harder to find "real" handmade items. As a seller, she suddenly had to compete with all of the "hand-made-in-China" items.)