My wife and I have been slowly buying furniture for our house, and Etsy is our go-to. I don't know where else I can search for such a wide array of styles for things like desks and coffee tables, find exactly the style I want, and THEN get it custom-made to the dimensions I want. I really like the way it opens up smaller shops like that for higher-end purchases like furniture, and I've never had a bad experience despite buying items in the 4-digit range.
That being said, complete dumpster fire on the lower-priced items like this article is getting at. I really enjoy Etsy when it can deliver on its promise of opening up a marketplace of skilled artisans who otherwise would've have had a hard time getting started. Hope it can get back to that.