Etsy maintains an image as a site for goods made by artists and craftspeople, and buyers spend money there believing that they are getting something unique and handmade.
Unfortunately, many items that violate Etsy's official guidelines are being permitted, to the point that consumer confidence is being damaged.
Sound like a familiar story? A petition is being circulated to get step up the pressure on etsy to ban resellers (buy/sell anyone?) from the site.
Here's the story: http://www.change.org/petitions/etsy-issue-a-public-statement-with-a-plan-to-eliminate-resellers
Replies
Resellers are already banned on Etsy. The problem is Etsy doesn't check new members before their "shops" become active. The entire process is automated. Etsy sellers constantly police the site, turning in resellers to Etsy Admin. The backlog for Etsy employees in charge of checking these reports must be huge. I once saw a bunch of knockoff designer purses go up on the site late at night. The Etsy community immediately sprang into action on the forums and reporting to admin. It took about 3 hours for the shop to be closed, only to spring up again under a different name a few days later. Without setting up a shop approval process, I really don't know what more Etsy can do.
Robin Ragsdale
www.evenbetterimages.com
Hi Robin,
I assume a shop approval process is like a jury system for art shows. And we all know that it doesn't work as it should. Even if they had a shop approval jury as part of the sign up process, what would prevent them from slipping in imports after approval. The only way to prevent fraud is to approve every item listed. A momentous task.
So what's the solution. People turning other people in doesn't work because there are not enough Etsy employees to handle the number of complaints.
About twenty years ago, there was a hand made by the artist category on eBay. I was a member of a forum started by the person who led the campaign for eBay to put it into place. Over the years it disappeared because it was so watered down by import/buy sell junk.
The larger and more successful the web site, the more difficult it is to enforce the rules. Maybe if they charged $100 a year (besides the commission) to be a member, it would make the number of people manageable and juryable.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
Early on, there were calls for a jury process. It seems most of the Etsians were offended by the concept so it went nowhere. Etsy is certainly huge and the rules difficult to enforce. I doubt they would ever charge $100 a year to have a shop though. Such an annual fee would discourage what seems to be the majority of sellers there - stay at home moms making things as a hobby and selling them really cheap because they think they have to compete with Walmart. I have a shop on Etsy, but haven't really maintained it because I can't compete with jewelry being sold at materials cost. I also don't like all the "vintage" stuff being sold there. I realize vintage is popular and "allowed" on Etsy, but I'm old enough to know some of it was junk even when it was new. Just my opinion, of course.
I guess the answer is to find a different online selling venue if we want a jury process. Of course, if that new venue became successful, it would have the same or similar issues.
Sort of circular, isn't it? When reading about this issue at the etsy blogs I wondered about the "vintage" category. There must be a date on these products, I'd guess -- but basically more or less buy/sell? of it is more "vintage - Plus", with lots of embellishment?
I've tried to sell a bunch of different things on eBay but always felt like the buyers were really "bottom fishing" and was hardly worth the time. That said, we did sell our motorcycle there and I bought a car, so maybe "ebay Motors" is an exception.