Earlier this week, a number of Etsy sellers and shoppers were upset at the website — which is intended to sell only handmade items, vintage goods, or crafting materials — for featuring a shop that some claim is merely a re-seller of mass-produced furniture made from reclaimed wood. But rather than pull the plug on that shop, Etsy has allowed the owner to attempt to clarify matters — and also told its users to stop being such meanies. [More]
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Etsy Features Seller Who May Be Blatantly Violating Etsy Policy
By 4.23.12
While Etsy.com policy clearly states that the website is for people to sell handmade items, vintage goods, or crafting materials, the actual enforcement of those standards — especially in the “handmade” category — has always been a bit fuzzy, with the definition of “handmade” ranging from a hat you hand-knit out of yarn you spun yourself from the organic free-range alpacas on your farm to making a charm necklace by stringing together a bunch of charms you bought from China. While Etsy has shut down stores for reselling goods that are not handmade, the site drew the ire of the Internet over the weekend for featuring a shop that some feel blatantly violates the site’s policies. [More]
Find The Best Stuff On Etsy With A Site-Specific Google Search
By 5.11.11
With over 800,000 different sellers on Etsy, a major online shopping site for buying handcrafted items directly from the makers, it can sometimes be a chore to wade through the clutter to find what you’re looking for. But StylishHome points out that just by doing a Google search that only scans within Etsy itself, you can take advantage of Google’s ranking algorithm to find the best items. [More]
Etsy Finds New And Exciting Ways To Plaster Your Real Name Everywhere
By 4.14.11
One would think that after the overwhelming negative reaction to the privacy changes that Etsy made earlier this year, the whimsical hipsters at online craft market Etsy would have learned their lesson by now. Don’t be silly! In a post to the site’s user forums, CEO Rob “Rokali” Kalin let slip that Etsy plans to identify users by their real names throughout the site, including on forums. [More]
Etsy Sort Of Listens To Internet, Changes Privacy Defaults
By 3.15.11
Whimsy emporium Etsy finally sort of listened to its sellers, customers, and the entire Internet this afternoon when they changed a controversial feature that users claimed was a privacy breach. Users’ feedback history on the site is now private, and they can change those settings to become less private. Why did this matter? [More]
You Want Your Real Name Associated With Your Etsy Purchase History, Right?
By 3.15.11
Have you ever made a purchase on the crafty marketplace, Etsy? If you have, consider checking your privacy settings, since the site is beginning to have more in common with Facebook than an old-fashioned online bazaar. The company behind the site managed to annoy sellers, buyers, and more or less the entire Internet by changing its privacy policy earlier this year.
The changes allow users to search for their friends and marginal acquaintances’ Etsy usernames and feedback histories by e-mail address. Not all that different from most social networking sites… but most people who sign up to use Etsy do so to buy things, not to socialize and spy on what their friends are buying. Now, the full names of users who provided them to the site are available to the public and indexed by search engines by default. Users must opt out of these exciting new privacy-defying features.
Edward Cullen Man Pillow: Eternally Yours For Just $45
By 2.17.10
“For all the twilight crazed lonely women in the world, Edward Cullen is finally here to be with you and only you,” the product description of the Edward Cullen mannlow begins. Is that a promise, or a threat? Yes, mortals who pine after a fictional and emotionally abusive but sparkly vampire have their own answer to the Girlfriend Pillow. [More]
Backlash: Etsy.com's "Sexy" Mass Murderers?
By 8.11.08
There’s some backlash brewing against Etsy.com for a fashion article about recreating “Bonnie Parker’s look” in which they describe Bonnie & Clyde as, “rather infamous characters in U.S. history, and for good reason: honestly, what’s sexier than a nefarious duo driving cross country on a crime spree of such massive and public proportion?” The author of the article is being taken to task in the comments and the Etsy Bitch blog has picked up the story as well.
Sellers Growing Increasingly Unhappy With Lack Of Professionalism At Etsy
By 2.26.08
Etsy.com calls itself “your place to buy and sell things handmade” and is a pretty cool website that we personally enjoy. The sellers who use the site, however, are getting all riled up after several stores were shut down without notice due to simple, easily-resolved complaints from buyers.
