The reputation of the feel-good home of quirky goods and small businesses is being put on blast by the sellers themselves.
Many of the people who work full-time on the site plan to go on strike on April 11 and not sell their goods for a week.
View this post on Instagram
The shop owners are protesting a number of business changes that they say have made it harder for them to run their businesses and earn a profit. The strike is in response to a 30 percent increase in the fee that is charged to sellers on April 11, which was announced in February.
For many of us, the increase is just the final straw, according to Kristi Cassidy, a leader of the strike and the owner of an online shop that makes Gothic, Victorian, and steampunk wedding dresses and costumes. Cassidy explained that they were too tired to fight back. The last two years have been horrible, and a lot of the changes came in the middle. This happens and we are done. We are going to fight.
Over 12,000 shops will be participating in the campaign Cassidy and fellow organizers posted on Coworker.org. Even thousands of participants may not hurt the company too badly because it has over 5 million sellers. The campaign is evidence of a larger worker-led movement in which employees and independent contractors are trying to get their voices heard in the face of corporate power.
Harry Burger said that it needs to become a giant of a trend if it is to be successful.
The fee hike was announced at the same time as it posted record profits. Many sellers say the platform began to change for the worse after the company went public and underwent management changes. The strike was inspired by the fact that sellers were so upset by the contrast between the corporate funds of the company and what they perceived to be efforts to extract more money from shop owners at a time when the cost of producing items has risen even higher.
View this post on Instagram
In response to a request for comment on the strike, Etsy defended the fee increase as a way the company will be able to put more back into services that will ultimately help sellers.
The revised fee structure will allow us to expand our efforts around marketing, customer support, and removing listings that don't meet our policies.
Many shop owners were not happy with the justification. Cassidy posted a call to action in the seller's subreddit after the fee announcement. The idea that sparked movement was the line in her post that read "What would happen if on April 11, so many sellers put their shops on vacation mode that Etsy starts shitting bricks?"
Some other sellers started a subreddit. Cassidy became a moderator after the moderator had to step back for personal reasons. The idea has become a reality with about a dozen other organizers.
Other demands include rolling back the fee hike.
It's harder for quality products to get seen if you crack down on people who sell mass-produced items on Etsy.
Better seller support via an end to customer support decisions made by bots, which the petition says locks users out of their accounts without a way to appeal for months on end.
The end of the Star Seller program, which requires sellers to maintain fast product turn-around times, among other customer service metrics that aren't always reasonable, is an end to the program. Falling short of Star Seller requirements results in less favorable treatment by the discovery algorithm.
The option to opt out of offsite ads is available. This charges sellers a 12 percent fee on all purchases made as a result of the ads, which some have described as so high that sellers end up taking a loss on items sold through these ads.
Cassidy said the demands have shocked her customers and other Etsy supporters, many of whom specifically shop on Etsy in an effort to support small businesses, and who have said they had no idea the burden was so high. The support from buyers and sellers has helped convince Cassidy that the strike is just the beginning.
Cassidy said that everyone wants to carry it forward into the future.
The demands of the strike are clearly stated in the Coworker.org campaign, but each seller has their own reasons for participating, and their own stories of how the policy changes have affected their businesses. In the words of the sellers themselves, this is why they are going on strike.
Answers have been edited for clarity and length. Each seller has a preferred shop location.
Cute/Kawaii pins, clothing, and accessories are made by this person. Since 2009.
I am striking in solidarity with artists/crafters/small businesses around the world because I believe that our talent, hard work, and labor deserves utmost respect. I think that it is possible for Etsy to make a tidy profit without making it harder for us to run our businesses.
View this post on Instagram
There are personalized jewelry and accessories. Since 2008.
Over the last 14 years, I have had a lot of changes, good and bad. The fee increase was wrapped up in the narrative that they were doing it for me. I have lost faith in the fact that Etsy corporate cares about more than stock valuations.
I have no control over when or what is advertised because I was forced into their offsite ads program. I will simply take their word that it came from an offsite ad, since they take 12% of the purchase price. They said that they would like it.
The Star Seller program was supposed to reward sellers for good customer service. If you don't qualify, you are bombarded with lectures about what good customer service is. A 4-star review has the same weight as a 1-star review. What kind of idiocy is that?
There is a complete flood of items for sale that are against the rules. Hundreds of thousands of listings marked as handmade are actually purchased at a discount elsewhere and are being sold on the platform. Why are they for sale? The number of shops that are in violation of the policies of both Etsy and Star Sellers is very upsetting.
I'm striking because it's time for Etsy to do better. They need to either get back on track or admit that they want to become another eBay. I shouldn't have to pay more to help fix the problems they have caused.
The stuffed toys are handcrafted. Since the beginning of 2019.
There are already supply chain shortages and increased prices for hand crafts. While they are seeing record profits, we already have some stuff against us. They shouldn't increase seller fees now. I don't know what their motive is for raising fees, but it comes off as greed. It's time for Etsy to stand with its community.
The maker of custom signet rings. Since 2012
What we need from this strike is for median sellers to have representation at the highest levels of corporate Etsy, so that they can block future price hikes like this, and hold them accountable if they don't.
There are custom prints, stickers, and illustrations. Since last year.
I started to break down the various fees on each listing and realized how much I was actually making. This is before I account for the cost of production. We have to raise the cost of our products because of the rate increases on the platform, which leads to us being less of a competitor in the market. It is unfair to take advantage of the makers to benefit those who make the money from their work.
There are badges, zines, and stickers. Since the fall of 2020.
A lot of my friends rely on Etsy for their main source of income, as I am disabled, and I also have other needs. It feels less like we can work for ourselves, and more like we have to work for Etsy's approval.
Since 2011.
This has been a long time coming and I am striking for many reasons. We have been saying for a long time that so many are losing their small businesses, their livelihoods, and no one has taken notice.
One reason is the double speak, they continue to hide behind the banner of "we support small business" for marketing purposes, while it is very clear that they uphold shareholder profits above the community that makes Etsy possible. They sent an email saying they were raising rates after massive profits. As a reward for sellers making record-breaking profits, we raise their fees. There are many ways that Etsy is failing its small business community in favor of Wall Street profitability.
There is a lack of integrity towards its sellers.
There are original art and jewelry. Since 2008.
I wish they would pay more attention to their sellers. Their sellers are what made their community and turned it into a successful business.
View this post on Instagram
Customer since the beginning of Etsy.
I'm participating in the strike in the capacity that I can because of the changing face of the site. It used to be the place to shop for unique, handmade, and vintage goods. You can find wholesale goods at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and Alibaba, but it's a lot of work. Fees are a big factor. Record profits for shareholders and corporate, but the people who made them all that money have to foot the bill so they can fulfill their promises. I don't understand the mindset.
I want the sellers to be treated with respect. We're not right now. The Star Seller program doesn't allow people to take 24 hours off from work. If we put our shops on vacation mode, we will lose a lot of engagement numbers when we come back. We can't take time off without being punished for being human.
I want to be treated like a business owner.
There are clay sculptures and paintings of pop culture. Since 2013.
Over the last few months, I've noticed that I'm getting less traffic from Etsy, and hardly any sales, so unless things change for the better, I'll be forced to move my store elsewhere. As other online platforms don't tend to have marketplaces, this means I'll need to invest more time into promoting my store, but I may as well signpost my own audience to my store.
I want the management of the company to take notice of what datememe datememe is like for us sellers. We can't just be expected to jump through more and more hoops and give more and more money. This is unsustainable. We need real change to occur in both the business practice and philosophy of the company.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
