"How a handmade mecca went from part of a movement to part of the problem."
In the above link, April Winchell, author of Regretsy: Where DIY meets WTF, and formerly of the website by the same name (may it rest in peace), discusses Etsy's fall from grace, its IPO announcement, and illustrates its journey from Main Street to Wall Street.
Hey, boys and girls, do you know how to spell "sellout?"
[Children together]
E-t-s-y...
Very good!
***
Apparently this topic needs to be revisited. There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding peoples’ displeasure with the metamorphosis of Etsy Inc. In fact, instead of trying to educate themselves on exactly why certain business owners are disturbed by Etsy’s practices, we see the Etsy Apologists in full force, diminishing the concerns of said business owners, and likening their disagreement with Etsy’s direction to that of a lovers’ quarrel. To me, this is not only rude, but an irresponsible use of your voice, not to mention unoriginal. Regurgitating something you read on a forum or in a comment section that someone else said, once, more than half a decade ago makes you neither clever, nor informed. If you are at all interested in why people are unhappy, by all means, ask them. They will tell you, most are not shy. In fact, that's how I became aware of the many hypocrisies, and double standards, or no standards at all in some circumstances, that have become commonplace in doing business with Etsy. I couldn’t understand why anyone would be upset with a company that provided an inexpensive platform to open a storefront, and sell wares from, and then I bothered to listen to what was happening to individual store owners, and the struggles they were facing, and how or why those struggles, and concerns may impact business, and business owners alike, in the future by continuing to align themselves with Etsy Inc.
***
Apparently this topic needs to be revisited. There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding peoples’ displeasure with the metamorphosis of Etsy Inc. In fact, instead of trying to educate themselves on exactly why certain business owners are disturbed by Etsy’s practices, we see the Etsy Apologists in full force, diminishing the concerns of said business owners, and likening their disagreement with Etsy’s direction to that of a lovers’ quarrel. To me, this is not only rude, but an irresponsible use of your voice, not to mention unoriginal. Regurgitating something you read on a forum or in a comment section that someone else said, once, more than half a decade ago makes you neither clever, nor informed. If you are at all interested in why people are unhappy, by all means, ask them. They will tell you, most are not shy. In fact, that's how I became aware of the many hypocrisies, and double standards, or no standards at all in some circumstances, that have become commonplace in doing business with Etsy. I couldn’t understand why anyone would be upset with a company that provided an inexpensive platform to open a storefront, and sell wares from, and then I bothered to listen to what was happening to individual store owners, and the struggles they were facing, and how or why those struggles, and concerns may impact business, and business owners alike, in the future by continuing to align themselves with Etsy Inc.
