11 votes

The people who built Etsy dreamed of remaking commerce with their bare hands. Fifteen years later, its sellers are being asked to compete with Amazon.

3 comments

  1. [2]
    AugustusFerdinand
    Link
    Amazon doesn't offer "free" shipping either, it's rolled into the price. However this is usually completely lost on consumers as evident from a friend of mine that sells on Etsy. She received the...

    The directive from the company has been to staple the cost of shipping onto the item’s price, which sellers have pointed out is not actually free shipping.

    Amazon doesn't offer "free" shipping either, it's rolled into the price. However this is usually completely lost on consumers as evident from a friend of mine that sells on Etsy. She received the same directive to offer free shipping, she upped her prices to do include shipping plus a little more and saw her sales double.

    on a platform with more than 60 million things to buy

    This is the next issue with Etsy. It tells you it's the handmade ecommerce site, but there is zero vetting. There are two categories, handmade and vintage. Go to any section, click handmade, 80%+ will be stuff I can go directly to Aliexpress and buy for cheaper and it's not because Chinese factories copied some micro-seller on Etsy. With the right search you'll find dozens if not hundreds of sellers on Etsy selling the exact same items. Now tell me they're handmade by those sellers. Several of them haven't even bought the items in bulk and are shipping them out, but are just another dropship seller only now they're not playing the Google SEO game with their own site.

    6 votes
    1. JohnLeFou
      Link Parent
      This is absolutely what killed the charm of Etsy. (Though I suppose this stuff was handmade somewhere on the planet). Boutique should not try to compete with Walmart using Walmart tactics. You are...

      This is absolutely what killed the charm of Etsy. (Though I suppose this stuff was handmade somewhere on the planet). Boutique should not try to compete with Walmart using Walmart tactics. You are trying to oust someone incumbent and very successful from their niche rather than trying to compete on what makes you different.

      I see three key ingredients in making original Etsy work.

      1. Self vetting- Etsy pages should be about display of workmanship and craft first over what that page is selling. Embedded videos of the maker showing off their skill, pictures of their process, and examples of level of production should be top of the page. establish that value first.

      2. Skip distribution if you can - the hardest part of making is often getting it to customers once you made it. Etsy was mainly a store front and the rest was up to the maker. Emphasize local makers and make geography a feature instead of a hindrance. E.g, Did you know someone hand made tables in your city and you could pick it up custom with no shipping?

      3. Consignment- if you are in the top sellers you should be able to work with Etsy to scale up and build better distribution. Start small with a couple warehouses around the US for shipping out top maker products . Take advantage of scale and give successful shop owners reason to stay if they get bigger. Even one-of makers for large items could benefit from some distribution help.

      5 votes
  2. MimicSquid
    Link
    That was a lot more insightful and wistful than I was expecting.

    That was a lot more insightful and wistful than I was expecting.

    2 votes