Today the email I have been expecting any day arrived. I am closed, banned and muted by Etsy. I am in an outstanding group of talented people who have had the same thing happen. The only reason they even noticed me was that yesterday, in the so-called "Coral Rebuttal" thread, a seller and I did not see eye to eye regarding the rebuttal. The thread was closed after my last reply and today came the email.
When I closed my shop this summer, I said in the announcemnt to just google me to find me. According to Etsy, that's in violation of their TOU's since I'm linking to another venue. HUH??? Google me andn you will find, probably in this order, my AF, this blog and then my neglected Zibbet studio.
After Etsy violated it's own TOU's in what turned out to be Coral Gate, I went in and directly said "you can find me on AF under the same name." So, according to today's email, that's why I am no longer welcome there. Awww!!! LOL! My first thought when I saw the email was "damn, it took you long enough". I will still read and follow the threads, though. Not many sellers frequent the forums and they need to be made aware of the changes Etsy is making that are going to negatively affect them. They are turning the place into a hip ebay-and ebay sure isn't about handmade. There has been a mass exodus of sellers there lately-well not really an exit. A lot of people are just expanding onto other venues. Getting the lifeboats ready for when the HSS Etsy goes down like the Titanic and since they have already hit the iceberg, they are slowly taking on water. I have a feeling the holiday shopping season over there is going to be disappointing to the sellers.
Showing posts with label etsy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label etsy. Show all posts
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Hey Etsy....
Do you know you have serious morale problems with your sellers who happen to be YOUR customers? If you don't, and your reading comprehension is better than your customer service skill are, you just might realize it if you finish reading this. Hope your attention span is that long.
You Yankees up there in Brooklyn need to wake the hell up. Not only are you putting your sellers at risk, like the treasury fiasco that had the real names of people on them instead of their shop names. I know it may not be a big deal to you, but to the sellers on their who have been terrified by stalkers-take time to read the threads-it is a huge deal for them. What do you do? You take the yellow brick road and close the shop of a vocal, yet very sales productive, seller. Guess you did not want to hear the truth that she-and many others spoke. I won't name her here, but those who read this should be able to get the hint. Here's the link to the first thread in the forums calling admin.'s short attention span to it. Next time, it might be credit card numbers-what does etsy care?
Closing shops and muting sellers in the forums seems to be standard for you guys. Time out adult style. That's business like-NOT!
You lure people in with the bait about how easy it is to sell online-and free, too. Free to set up a shop-that's about it. There's the 3.5% FVF (final value fee) to you, the .20 per item to list for 4 months which seems reasonable until people realize that in order to be seen on that messed up search of yours, they have to keep renewing items on a nearly daily basis.
People ask for selling tools, you give them idiotic, cutesy plush phone booths. Probably paid for with the money you got from all those dimes you got when people relisted.
You roll out unasked for changes-a new shiney-to calm things down. Instead, it stirs things up because you aren't bloody bright enough to test the changes before rolling them out. (Again, think treasury fiasco for one-there are many more.)
You messed with feedback. Here's the link for that. You botched up the sales tax roll out-go to the 7th post down if you click this link.
I could go on, but I will stop for now. I would never, ever recommend this site for anybody to sell on. You aren't out for the sellers in any way at all. -you are out for etsy. You will always be able to drag more novice sellers in and get them to eat a few cupcakes and have a few glasses of Kool-Aid, so you will continue to make money when they give you their relisting dimes. The best thing that could happen to etsy is that when etsy goes public-if it does after all these fubars, Fred Ward and the Board, will take a huge broom to the place and get some people in there who know what customer service is, who know how to run a business and decide to run etsy like one. Not have some yuppie goof who scammed NYU to get in, like Kalin, did running the show. I would be a little concerned if I had a multi million dollar company to have somebody like that at the helm. Doesn't exactly inspire a feeling of confidence in the place, ya know.
You Yankees up there in Brooklyn need to wake the hell up. Not only are you putting your sellers at risk, like the treasury fiasco that had the real names of people on them instead of their shop names. I know it may not be a big deal to you, but to the sellers on their who have been terrified by stalkers-take time to read the threads-it is a huge deal for them. What do you do? You take the yellow brick road and close the shop of a vocal, yet very sales productive, seller. Guess you did not want to hear the truth that she-and many others spoke. I won't name her here, but those who read this should be able to get the hint. Here's the link to the first thread in the forums calling admin.'s short attention span to it. Next time, it might be credit card numbers-what does etsy care?
Closing shops and muting sellers in the forums seems to be standard for you guys. Time out adult style. That's business like-NOT!
You lure people in with the bait about how easy it is to sell online-and free, too. Free to set up a shop-that's about it. There's the 3.5% FVF (final value fee) to you, the .20 per item to list for 4 months which seems reasonable until people realize that in order to be seen on that messed up search of yours, they have to keep renewing items on a nearly daily basis.
People ask for selling tools, you give them idiotic, cutesy plush phone booths. Probably paid for with the money you got from all those dimes you got when people relisted.
You roll out unasked for changes-a new shiney-to calm things down. Instead, it stirs things up because you aren't bloody bright enough to test the changes before rolling them out. (Again, think treasury fiasco for one-there are many more.)
You messed with feedback. Here's the link for that. You botched up the sales tax roll out-go to the 7th post down if you click this link.
I could go on, but I will stop for now. I would never, ever recommend this site for anybody to sell on. You aren't out for the sellers in any way at all. -you are out for etsy. You will always be able to drag more novice sellers in and get them to eat a few cupcakes and have a few glasses of Kool-Aid, so you will continue to make money when they give you their relisting dimes. The best thing that could happen to etsy is that when etsy goes public-if it does after all these fubars, Fred Ward and the Board, will take a huge broom to the place and get some people in there who know what customer service is, who know how to run a business and decide to run etsy like one. Not have some yuppie goof who scammed NYU to get in, like Kalin, did running the show. I would be a little concerned if I had a multi million dollar company to have somebody like that at the helm. Doesn't exactly inspire a feeling of confidence in the place, ya know.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Resellers
Resellers are a hot topic around handmade swelling venues lately. They compete with handmade sellers and often have inferior goods for a lesser price. In the case of a seller on Etsy, she was going to have a spread in a magazine about her items. One of the magazine staff bought a purse on Etsy-from a reseller-and was so disappointed in the quality of what she thought and what should have been handmade, that the magazine cancelled the spread. The Etsy lost and ultimately, so did the rest of the sellers on Etsy.
What is a reseller? This definition varies depending on who you ask. Since this is my blog, you get my version.
To me, a reseller is somebody who goes to the website of mass produced items, say purses, and then buys 5 bags in style A, 10 bags in style B, and so on. Then, once they get the items, they either take a picture of it or use the picture from the website, find a place to sell them, and list them. The problem I have with them is when they list these items on a handmade venue and pass them off as handmade. This is a an outright lie. It is not handmade. Handmade cannot compete with mass produced price wise, either which is another sore point in the handmade community. A lot of people say that supply sellers and vintage sellers fall into this category. I don't think so. Everybody who makes handmade items needs supplies and as long as the seller is not passing their supplies off as handmade, more power to them. The same with vintage. I love vintage stuff and have some vintage books and my vintage glass. As long as they call their stuff what it is, I don't have a problem with it. Just don't try passing off that little red glass vase you bought at the dollar store off as a vintage Cranberry Glass vase.
What are the handmade venues doing about this?
Well, Etsy does not appear to be doing a whole lot about-except changing how they define the subject. They have yet to settle on a fixed definition. It's why my shop is on vacation in Etsyland. It will stay on vacation until the last item expires.
See, on Etsy, you pay .20 per listing, plus a percentage of the sale price as a commission to them-don't forget to add in the paypa fee, either. All costs to be figured in the price of your product and passed along to the consumer. Now if you make handmade purses, you pay Etsy their .20 to list your wonderful creation. If you are lucky, you will be on the front page of E with this new listing for maybe 20 or 30 seconds. If you aren't lucky, you will be buried by a reseller who has just listed 20 or 30 "handmade" purses which will push your honestly listed handmade bag to the back of the bus. All the while Etsy admin. are saying that they are working on coming up with a solution. They are going to allow resellers there-they haven't come right out and stated that yet, but it's obvious. They bring in too much money for Etsy to not allow them. As usual, Etsy does not have a plan.
Artfire has started to deal with the reseller issue by vetting their handmade artisans. I have copied and pasted the application that has to be filled out to be considered for the Certified Handmade Artifact.
Artisans must meet the following pre-requisites before an application for the Certified Handmade Artifact will be accepted:
1. Artisan must be a PRO member of ArtFire for at least 60 days.
2. Artisan must be in good standing with ArtFire.com including
a. No outstanding cases concerning non-delivery of product.
b. No outstanding cases concerning mis-representation of products for sale
c. No outstanding cases concerning other violations of the ArtFire TOU
3. 100% of the items in the Applicants studio must be listed in Handmade or Fine Art. Studios with commercially produced supplies and destash are not eligible. There are two exceptions that can be made. You may list Handmade supplies in the "Supplies >> Handmade Supplies" categories. You are also allowed to have gift certificates to YOUR studio listed in "Media >> Gift Certificates".
4. Artisan studio must be complete and contain sufficient information including:
a. An avatar
b. A banner
c. Complete Studio Policies
d. A Bio with photo
5. Product photographs must be in-focus and of a reasonably sufficient size.
If you feel you meet the above requirements and you would like to submit an application to receive the Certified Handmade Artifact, please answer the following questions in full and send your complete application and photos to handmade@artfire.com
1.
What is your ArtFire User name?
2.
What is your main handmade craft, including the Main Category you list your craft in? (I.E. You make hand knit scarves so you list in the “Knitting” main category.) :
3.
Do you list in main categories other than your main craft?
4.
If yes to the above, what other handmade crafts do you create and list on ArtFire? Include the Main Category you list in as well.
5.
Please explain in brief but concise detail your handmade process for each main category craft you list on ArtFire. (I.E.if you make Quilts AND Knitting work. Please explain each of your creative processes separately.)
You must include at least two pictures with your email showing your handmade process. You will need to provide:
• At least one picture of your workspace
• At least one picture of a “work in progress”. (I.E. a scarf that has been half knit but not completed).
You may submit more than two pictures. However we must see at least the two pictures detailed above to be considered for the Certified Handmade Artifact.
I have one-you can see my new widget on the side of my blog. I'm proud of it. I did have to move the Lake Superior Agate Nuggets out of this studio.
Will this cut out the resellers? Probably not. It will let customers know who is handmade and who is not and that's a start. After all, giving the customers a good feeling that they are buying what the seller says they are selling can lead to good customer satisfaction. Not all handmade sellers will have this artifact, though. Some of them want to leave their supplies they are selling off in their studios. Artfire has a monthly fee. There are no listing or final value fees (percentage of sale), so there is no real financial gain for them to have resellers on site listing 100 mass produced purses in one whack. It's a venue for handmade, supplies and cool vintage stuff.
If you want mass produced, go hit a big box store like Wal or K Mart. Be careful what you buy there, though-some of that stuff has cadmium and other dangerous stuff in it.
What is a reseller? This definition varies depending on who you ask. Since this is my blog, you get my version.
To me, a reseller is somebody who goes to the website of mass produced items, say purses, and then buys 5 bags in style A, 10 bags in style B, and so on. Then, once they get the items, they either take a picture of it or use the picture from the website, find a place to sell them, and list them. The problem I have with them is when they list these items on a handmade venue and pass them off as handmade. This is a an outright lie. It is not handmade. Handmade cannot compete with mass produced price wise, either which is another sore point in the handmade community. A lot of people say that supply sellers and vintage sellers fall into this category. I don't think so. Everybody who makes handmade items needs supplies and as long as the seller is not passing their supplies off as handmade, more power to them. The same with vintage. I love vintage stuff and have some vintage books and my vintage glass. As long as they call their stuff what it is, I don't have a problem with it. Just don't try passing off that little red glass vase you bought at the dollar store off as a vintage Cranberry Glass vase.
What are the handmade venues doing about this?
Well, Etsy does not appear to be doing a whole lot about-except changing how they define the subject. They have yet to settle on a fixed definition. It's why my shop is on vacation in Etsyland. It will stay on vacation until the last item expires.
See, on Etsy, you pay .20 per listing, plus a percentage of the sale price as a commission to them-don't forget to add in the paypa fee, either. All costs to be figured in the price of your product and passed along to the consumer. Now if you make handmade purses, you pay Etsy their .20 to list your wonderful creation. If you are lucky, you will be on the front page of E with this new listing for maybe 20 or 30 seconds. If you aren't lucky, you will be buried by a reseller who has just listed 20 or 30 "handmade" purses which will push your honestly listed handmade bag to the back of the bus. All the while Etsy admin. are saying that they are working on coming up with a solution. They are going to allow resellers there-they haven't come right out and stated that yet, but it's obvious. They bring in too much money for Etsy to not allow them. As usual, Etsy does not have a plan.
Artfire has started to deal with the reseller issue by vetting their handmade artisans. I have copied and pasted the application that has to be filled out to be considered for the Certified Handmade Artifact.
Artisans must meet the following pre-requisites before an application for the Certified Handmade Artifact will be accepted:
1. Artisan must be a PRO member of ArtFire for at least 60 days.
2. Artisan must be in good standing with ArtFire.com including
a. No outstanding cases concerning non-delivery of product.
b. No outstanding cases concerning mis-representation of products for sale
c. No outstanding cases concerning other violations of the ArtFire TOU
3. 100% of the items in the Applicants studio must be listed in Handmade or Fine Art. Studios with commercially produced supplies and destash are not eligible. There are two exceptions that can be made. You may list Handmade supplies in the "Supplies >> Handmade Supplies" categories. You are also allowed to have gift certificates to YOUR studio listed in "Media >> Gift Certificates".
4. Artisan studio must be complete and contain sufficient information including:
a. An avatar
b. A banner
c. Complete Studio Policies
d. A Bio with photo
5. Product photographs must be in-focus and of a reasonably sufficient size.
If you feel you meet the above requirements and you would like to submit an application to receive the Certified Handmade Artifact, please answer the following questions in full and send your complete application and photos to handmade@artfire.com
1.
What is your ArtFire User name?
2.
What is your main handmade craft, including the Main Category you list your craft in? (I.E. You make hand knit scarves so you list in the “Knitting” main category.) :
3.
Do you list in main categories other than your main craft?
4.
If yes to the above, what other handmade crafts do you create and list on ArtFire? Include the Main Category you list in as well.
5.
Please explain in brief but concise detail your handmade process for each main category craft you list on ArtFire. (I.E.if you make Quilts AND Knitting work. Please explain each of your creative processes separately.)
You must include at least two pictures with your email showing your handmade process. You will need to provide:
• At least one picture of your workspace
• At least one picture of a “work in progress”. (I.E. a scarf that has been half knit but not completed).
You may submit more than two pictures. However we must see at least the two pictures detailed above to be considered for the Certified Handmade Artifact.
I have one-you can see my new widget on the side of my blog. I'm proud of it. I did have to move the Lake Superior Agate Nuggets out of this studio.
Will this cut out the resellers? Probably not. It will let customers know who is handmade and who is not and that's a start. After all, giving the customers a good feeling that they are buying what the seller says they are selling can lead to good customer satisfaction. Not all handmade sellers will have this artifact, though. Some of them want to leave their supplies they are selling off in their studios. Artfire has a monthly fee. There are no listing or final value fees (percentage of sale), so there is no real financial gain for them to have resellers on site listing 100 mass produced purses in one whack. It's a venue for handmade, supplies and cool vintage stuff.
If you want mass produced, go hit a big box store like Wal or K Mart. Be careful what you buy there, though-some of that stuff has cadmium and other dangerous stuff in it.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Life can really catch up to you
It's been ages since I have blogged. I will give you the cliff note version.
First of all, I managed to tear a muscle in my upper left arm. Being left handed, this has not been a picnic. I didn't realize what I had done-thought I could just "walk off" a little strain or something. Couldn't have been more wrong. I'm trying my best to doctor it myself with the help of webmd and google. We don't really have the mega bucks it would take for me to go see a doctor. I've set my beading aside because I know that pulling 20 feet of thread through a bead a ton of times would not be helping my arm get better.
So, how have I been passing the non-beading time you ask.
I have come into new ownership of a wonderful Pentax K-X dslr. I love it. I used to have a Pentax K1000 (back in the days when cameras used film) and the lenses I still have will fit my new camera. So I have been spending non beading time learning to work my new camera. I have re-taken the Lake Superior Agate nugget pictures and a bunch of other pictures topractice. The world of digital photography is a lot different than the 35mm world in a lot of respects. A lot of things are still the same, just different technology and different ways to acheive the same goal-good pictures.
I've also been seriously considering kissing Etsy goodbye. I am so fed up with no views, resellers, others who flagrantly violate the TOU's and the way Etsy treats their sellers. If you sell a ton of stuff there, violate their TOU's to your hearts content. If you don't, or voice your opinion about how admin. there does things, they are randomly likely to shut your shop down. It's gone on long enough and I've had enough. I think Artfire and Zibbet will be giving Etsy a good run for their money and soon. Artfire is a little closer to doing that than zibbet is right now.
That's pretty much the cliff note version of the last month. I left out how outraged and devastated I am over what is happening in the Gulf. Me and a few million others. I will not be this long in blogging again. I got sidetracked with a new camera forum http://www.pentaxforums.com/index.php I am learning a lot there, but am kind of caught up now and it's easy to keep up with it at this point.
First of all, I managed to tear a muscle in my upper left arm. Being left handed, this has not been a picnic. I didn't realize what I had done-thought I could just "walk off" a little strain or something. Couldn't have been more wrong. I'm trying my best to doctor it myself with the help of webmd and google. We don't really have the mega bucks it would take for me to go see a doctor. I've set my beading aside because I know that pulling 20 feet of thread through a bead a ton of times would not be helping my arm get better.
So, how have I been passing the non-beading time you ask.
I have come into new ownership of a wonderful Pentax K-X dslr. I love it. I used to have a Pentax K1000 (back in the days when cameras used film) and the lenses I still have will fit my new camera. So I have been spending non beading time learning to work my new camera. I have re-taken the Lake Superior Agate nugget pictures and a bunch of other pictures topractice. The world of digital photography is a lot different than the 35mm world in a lot of respects. A lot of things are still the same, just different technology and different ways to acheive the same goal-good pictures.
I've also been seriously considering kissing Etsy goodbye. I am so fed up with no views, resellers, others who flagrantly violate the TOU's and the way Etsy treats their sellers. If you sell a ton of stuff there, violate their TOU's to your hearts content. If you don't, or voice your opinion about how admin. there does things, they are randomly likely to shut your shop down. It's gone on long enough and I've had enough. I think Artfire and Zibbet will be giving Etsy a good run for their money and soon. Artfire is a little closer to doing that than zibbet is right now.
That's pretty much the cliff note version of the last month. I left out how outraged and devastated I am over what is happening in the Gulf. Me and a few million others. I will not be this long in blogging again. I got sidetracked with a new camera forum http://www.pentaxforums.com/index.php I am learning a lot there, but am kind of caught up now and it's easy to keep up with it at this point.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Freebies available in a secret etsy sale
The Starving Jewelry Artists etsy team-sateam-is having a secret sale on etsy. There are all kinds of freebies from earrings to lampwork beads and shipping. Tons of discounts, too!! How do you get to the secret sale? It's easy-all you have to do is click this link to the sateam blog.
http://starvingartiststeam.blogspot.com/ You just might want to consider signing up to follow the sateam blog, too. Why would you want to do that? Because this is just the first of many team sponsored secret sales. So come on, what are you waiting for-follow the sateam to find great sales!!!
http://starvingartiststeam.blogspot.com/ You just might want to consider signing up to follow the sateam blog, too. Why would you want to do that? Because this is just the first of many team sponsored secret sales. So come on, what are you waiting for-follow the sateam to find great sales!!!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Bringing a few older posts with me
I am still on the agate beading kick. This purple one is on a double spiral chain made with SL clear and SL lavender size 15 seed beads, and size 11 purple and clear Miuki seed beads. the peyote bezel also has those beads in it.
I couldn’t decide on the earrings to compliment it, so I did a 2″ long double spiral and connected them with a 4mm crystal bicone to join the ends and made hoops.
I’ve listed them both on etsy and on artfire.
I made this agate slice necklace with beads from SeedBeadSue’s shop. It’s made from silve lined Burnt Orange Delicas, med. topaz and matte topaz, and light topaz Miyuki seed beads. The agate slice is set in a peyote bezel with topaz 15’s added to the above colors and the chain is a simple spiral. It’s a 22″ long chain, so it will just slip over your head.
I made some spiral earrings.
This is a Christmas present for my son’s GF. She loves green the way I love blue, so I’m hoping she likes it.
It’s peyote bezels around 3 malachite cabs hanging on a triple spiral chain made from assorted shades of green seed beads. It has a peyote toggle clasp, too.
I think my motto for a while might be “hooked on spirals works for me”. LOL!
If you want pics, you will have to go to http://dancingwinddesigns.wordpress.com/ . I forgot, with the new computer at work, some of my older pics aren't on the computer anymore. I'll get that fixed soon.
I couldn’t decide on the earrings to compliment it, so I did a 2″ long double spiral and connected them with a 4mm crystal bicone to join the ends and made hoops.
I’ve listed them both on etsy and on artfire.
I made this agate slice necklace with beads from SeedBeadSue’s shop. It’s made from silve lined Burnt Orange Delicas, med. topaz and matte topaz, and light topaz Miyuki seed beads. The agate slice is set in a peyote bezel with topaz 15’s added to the above colors and the chain is a simple spiral. It’s a 22″ long chain, so it will just slip over your head.
I made some spiral earrings.
This is a Christmas present for my son’s GF. She loves green the way I love blue, so I’m hoping she likes it.
It’s peyote bezels around 3 malachite cabs hanging on a triple spiral chain made from assorted shades of green seed beads. It has a peyote toggle clasp, too.
I think my motto for a while might be “hooked on spirals works for me”. LOL!
If you want pics, you will have to go to http://dancingwinddesigns.wordpress.com/ . I forgot, with the new computer at work, some of my older pics aren't on the computer anymore. I'll get that fixed soon.
Keeping occupied
I've got so many things to do today regarding business, but can't seem to focus on anything except one thing-the grandson might be born today. got a call just before I left for work that my son and his girlfriend were headed to the hospital. She has been admitted, but they aren't sure if it's real labor or false labor. He's a month early if he does arrive today and that worries me.
I'm working an 11 hour shift today and I have a feeling that 11 hours is going to seem like 11 days. I'll spend part of it adding links and things to my blog list-and an etsy mini. Got business cards I designed to print up too.
I'm working an 11 hour shift today and I have a feeling that 11 hours is going to seem like 11 days. I'll spend part of it adding links and things to my blog list-and an etsy mini. Got business cards I designed to print up too.
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