i'm hearing more and more grumbling about etsy. i read an article not long ago, comparing it to a flea market, whereas big cartel is like a little boutique or a gallery (admittedly, the article was written by big cartel, but frankly, they're right). and then i read this over on afiori (go, read it now, i'll wait....). and it seemed like the last straw to me.
when the items i have on etsy already sell or if they expire, i'm not relisting them. i'm moving everything to big cartel. they take only a flat fee per month and not a fee per listing or a percentage of your sales. yes, you have to do more promotion of your shop yourself, but with etsy, we have to do that anyway. it's not as if we actually get much benefit out of being there, especially in light of recent (and unpublicized) changes.
i liked the circles thing at first, but now i find that it has turned up the volume on etsy to the point where i actually avoid it because it's too much.
for awhile now, i've felt lost in the crowd and the crowd is of increasingly shoddy quality with all of the supposed "vintage" stuff that's there. i don't like the way they ignore cases of clear copycats. i don't like the way they shut down conversations in the forums with chirpy "let's all get along" BS responses. and don't even get me started on their lame tweets. but mostly, i don't like they way they ignore their customers. and i really don't like what i read on afiori about their latest "improvements." (giving you another chance to go read it).
maybe what would make those greedy wanna-be mark zuckerberg new yorkers behind etsy listen is if we all did start leaving in droves. lilfish, whom i respect immensely, already did and i'm not far behind. why don't we all sell our handmade wares, made with integrity in a forum that also has integrity. i don't think etsy can say that anymore.
that said, i just activated a free shipping special on everything that's left in my etsy shop - since i've already paid to have the items there, i may as well take advantage of that - so if you had your eye on anything and my rather high danish shipping costs were stopping you, make haste to my shop, it won't be there for long!!
