from the trust-us-all-the-money-we-raise-will-go-right-back-into-the-company dept.
Etsy is an American e-commerce company that allows small businesses or individuals to set up online storefronts, particularly those who make handmade or custom goods. They want to be the marketplace for "unique and creative goods." They claim to host 5.3 million sellers, but this week thousands of those sellers are closing their storefronts for a week to protest some recently imposed changes.
Earlier this year, Etsy's CEO Josh Silverman announced that starting April 11 the company would increase the 5% transaction fee for sellers to 6.5%. This was done to fund improvements in marketing, and seller tools, among other changes, Silverman said.
[...] In response, Etsy sellers banded together and launched a campaign, urging other artisans and their customers to abandon the site for one week in protest. Organizers said more than 5,000 shops pledged to participate this week.
[...] This isn't a strike in the legal or traditional term. So, there won't be any physical picket lines. The sellers aren't workers, Etsy isn't their employer, and they aren't covered by the National Labor Relations Act.
[...] Nicole Lewis, who runs her own Etsy shop, defended the company. She called on artists to raise prices and do other things to cut costs, not to attack the company.
"If this fee increase is making you nervous, your prices are not correct," she told NPR. "There are so many things that sellers can be doing behind the scenes on their end ... that can cut down these costs drastically."
There are other contentious issues. Sellers say they are seeing more and more reseller shops that steal their designs. Etsy also uses their products in advertisements without their knowledge and if a sale is made, they have to pay Etsy a cut. The company says that the new fee structure is necessary to raise the money to address all these complaints even though Etsy reported revenue of $717 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, which was $32 million more than analysts were expecting.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by MostCynical on Thursday April 14 2022, @05:24AM (4 children)
Etsy business model: Copy Amazon
screw everyone.
seems to be working...
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday April 14 2022, @06:23AM (2 children)
Not quite: where else would I buy a macrame flower pot cover or whatever and feel like I made a special purchase of a lovingly crafted item from a local artisan - as opposed to having the slightly awful feeling that I'm buying rebranded overpriced crap made in China and draining the life of an order-fulfilling associate in a nondescript Amazon warehouse a little?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Thursday April 14 2022, @06:48AM (1 child)
I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic, and I'm okay with sarcasm but it's often difficult to discern without accompanying nonverbal communication. But anyway, how do you know the Etsy thing is actually lovingly crafted by the local artisan?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 14 2022, @11:14AM
>> how do you know the Etsy thing is actually lovingly crafted by the local artisan?
Because it's on Etsy, duh.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday April 14 2022, @06:59AM
An even more deeply rooted business model: establish a strong market, near monopoly if possible, then raise prices.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday April 14 2022, @06:16AM
That's called a boycott, as sellers on Etsy are essentially Etsy's customers.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Frosty Piss on Thursday April 14 2022, @08:40AM (6 children)
“Hi, I’d like to make money on your platform, but I don’t want to pay you to use it…”
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Thursday April 14 2022, @09:15AM (5 children)
FTFY.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 14 2022, @11:18AM (3 children)
“Hi, I’d like to make money on your platform, but I don’t want to pay you 30% more to use it so that you can cover your costs and a reasonable return on shareholders' investment…”
FTFY.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 14 2022, @12:51PM (1 child)
$717 million dollars profit in only a quarter of the year before raising fees makes me think "reasonable" means something different to you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 14 2022, @01:35PM
What, you don't love America? Commie.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 15 2022, @12:09AM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by zafiro17 on Thursday April 14 2022, @03:54PM
Etsy is owned by venture capitalists, which is part of the problem. They are attracting investment and need to show increasing returns ... that means squeezing users of the platform. I happen to like Etsy and have ordered quite a few things there. And if you're an artisan - leatherworker, metalsmith, etc. - it's a decent place to find new customers. But 30% is a lot, and artisans will be forced to raise prices, which means customers will pay.
The problem here is a nation of investors hellbent on fat returns regardless of what impact it has on the platform. They're killing the golden goose.
Amazon is doing something similar.
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 4, Interesting) by richtopia on Thursday April 14 2022, @02:52PM
I can see both sides of the argument. The sellers typically operate on small margins, so another 1.5% transaction fee will hurt. However, Etsy is one of the best marketplaces regarding fees, and I wonder how that translates to "funding improvements in marketing, and seller tools, among other changes".
I would classify Ebay as the closest alternative, and they still take 10% transaction fees. Otherwise most of these vendors would setup their own storefront. Yes, there is much more opportunity for profit, but Etsy provides 1. low barrier to entry with a streamlined seller experience and 2. a unified storefront combining many small sellers into a single market place. I'd argue #2 is the most powerful feature; if you are shopping for something hand-crafted many users will go directly to Etsy and skip searching the web directly. Similar paradigm exists with Amazon's storefront.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 14 2022, @06:03PM
Here, try these https://realwaystoearnmoneyonline.com/six-places-to-start-selling-crafts-online/ [realwaystoearnmoneyonline.com]
If you do sell on Etsy and still refuse to switch I'd like to hear why.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 14 2022, @06:16PM
All the Etsy sellers I've ever noticed were from 'Influencers' (aka spamming Youtube bloggers) trying to flog open source hardware projects developed entirely by other people, with perhaps a weekend-design-effort 3D printed case.
So I've been giving the site less notice than Kickstarter-- at least that site had humor value with overhyped/overshilled stuff like Ouya.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday April 14 2022, @11:38PM
A friend of a friend has been a buyer for Etsy for more than a decade now. She travels extensively around the world, all the time, to work out deals with various artisans. So I think the sum of those relationships and the fulfillment side of the business are the real value that Etsy brings to the table. The website is almost secondary.
Building a competitor website wouldn't be that hard, but the real trick would be to replicate those fulfillment networks. Maybe the Etsy artisans who are striking should pool their resources to create a digital cooperative. If they branded themselves well enough they could grab a piece of the pie.
It would be great to see businesses and producers of various kinds begin to create the kinds of decentralized structures that the Internet itself has already done for the flow of information. Centralization and monopolies suck.
Washington DC delenda est.