To Etsy or not to Etsy?

I've been thinking a lot about my online selling woes the past month. I've had my Etsy shop closed for the summer with a message saying that it would open again in the fall. Well, fall is basically here and my shop has no signs of life yet. I'm struggling to find the motivation to get my pictures how I want them. Even now when I know way more about photography than I did when I started, it still takes a lot of time to take the pictures, edit them, and then set up the listing. All for maybe a few sales a month which just isn't worth it to me.

There was a time when I could expect 1 or 2 sales a week during the prime knitwear buying season, late Oct-Dec. There is now so much competition on Etsy that it is nearly impossible to be found, even with improved photos. There are currently 26,553 results for knit scarf. You can tag as efficiently as possible but without some kind of personal promotional tool it's a long shot to be found. I'm not even going to get into my pet peeve about the same people constantly being promoted on the front page and other Etsy promotional areas.

I have kept my shop open the past 3 years through the dry spells because I thought it was important to have an on-line presence. My main priority has been doing a few targeted craft shows a year but I liked having a shop to direct my customers to online. I've enjoyed the camaraderie on Etsy despite their many flaws, but lately I just feel over their antics. They have made a number of controversial design changes and major overhauls to the checkout and feedback systems which make me nervous to reopen at this time.

Etsy Bitch as always, is the best place to go to find out the real story behind the changes. I am sick to death of reading the Storque and getting the sugar coated BS that the Etsy Admin put out. You have to read between the lines so much that it almost becomes illegible. I was even more confused after reading their post about collecting sales tax with the new checkout system. The 99 page forum thread is simply too daunting to figure out what I need to do to be safe.

I'm once again considering other options such as Artfire but I have a box of 500 business cards with my Etsy address on it that I'm planning to use as price tags for the Strange Folk Festival. If anyone has thoughts I would gladly hear them. Do you think that I'm hurting myself by not having an online venue as a kind of portfolio for my work?

RU an Etsy Bitch

I've been reading Etsy Bitch religiously for the past 9 months or so. Since I don't read the forums hardly at all anymore it is my real source of gossip and news about Etsy. You will get the 100% no holds barred, honest to God truth in their pages. I'm sure those who are still in the honeymoon period will probably say they are just a negative bunch of whiners but trust me your day will come. My rose colored glasses were rosier than anyones but the glow is definitely faded.

If you are unfamiliar with the site here is their mission statement:

EtsyBitch is a communal blog of likeminded Etsians who are tired of the demeaning treatment, abuse, and general mismanagement of the Etsy.com site. We want Etsy to improve so we bitch to call attention to the unfairness and general stupidity of its admin and the unprofessional way they treat their sellers.

We're bitching because we care, dammit. That's right. It's snark for a cause. Crabbing for progress. Whining to make the handcrafted world a better place.

A recent post gives 8 Etsy propagated myths that should be required reading for anyone interested in promoting their craft. Myth 7 cracks me up and makes me sad all in one:

"ETSY IS REALLY ABOUT THE SANCTITY OF HANDMADE IT'S JUST CONFUSED SO LOOKS LIKE A CRAFT MAGAZINE SPINOFF WITH ALT-CRAFT ONLY. IT ONLY PROMOTES HOT GLUED TOGETHER NEON HOODIES WHEN IT'S DRINKING - ONE DAY IT WILL WISE UP AND LOVE ME BECAUSE IT ALWAYS TELLS ME IT KNOWS NO NICHE, AND IT LOVES ME, REALLY IT DOES!"

Of course Etsy has every right to target whatever market they want with their front page and gift guides, but don't tell us that you are for all things handmade when you are really for all things handmade in Brooklyn.

Leave it to them to point out here how New York Magazine actually said this about Etsy in a recent article, "The Etsy lifestyle has a recognizable aesthetic, which looks remarkably like that of skinny-jeans-wearing, Slow Food–eating, bike-commuting hipsters." So if you live in the Midwest and haven't worn skinny jeans since your were 8 years old than you will never belong. Clearly this hipster image cannot be denied any longer when the media is taking it as common knowledge.

And then quite possibly the funniest post I've read ever was the Etsy on Sunday Morning. Leave it to Etsy to put a dirty Brooklynite peddling handmade hoodies and underwear to the Sunday Morning crowd. And to actually have Martha Stewart point out the flaw in the workmanship. Wow, talk about great press.

So RU an Etsy Bitch or do you still think they are the greatest thing since handmade bread?