*After I published this post Etsy reached out to me and agreed to do a podcast interview. We talked in-depth about the new policies and how they will impact sellers and buyers. You can find that interview here.
A few weeks ago we had a great discussion here about the meaning of the word handmade. I showed a video of a factory in China manufacturing a plush toy for McDonald’s Happy Meal prizes. Watching the factory workers sew, turn, and stuff each toy made me wonder why those toys weren’t considered handmade, even though the process was nearly identical in many ways to what I do in my own studio every day.
To me Etsy is a bellwether of the handmade movement today. 1 million sellers and 30 million buyers mean that Etsy is a force to be reckoned with. This company’s language and policies have tremendous power and influence in our community.
Yesterday morning Etsy made a groundbreaking announcement: they have changed the meaning of the word handmade.
I watched, and live tweeted, the Town Hall Meeting when Etsy’s CEO, Chad Dickerson, explained the shift.
A Three-Pronged Definition
The online global marketplace has made the world very small. We can all see what everyone else is doing. Where before it might have been okay that some vendors at the local craft fair were selling appliqued shirts they’d paid a crew of local women to sew for them, while others were selling appliqued shirts they’d sewn themselves, now that we’re all at this virtual worldwide craft fair, with everything visible and in writing, it’s become very important to say exactly what is and isn’t allowed.
Etsy felt that the “we’ll know it when we see it” definition of handmade was impossible to enforce. As Dickerson said in his blog post yesterday this approach raised too many unanswerable questions, “What kinds of tools could you use? How many hands could shape the product? Could you use mass-produced components to put together something original?”
Formerly Etsy’s policy stated, “Handmade items must be created by the seller operating the Etsy shop (or a member of that shop). Selling commercial or mass-produced items on Etsy’s handmade categories is not permitted.”
All that has changed.
As of January of 2014 Etsy will define handmade as encompassing three values: authorship, responsibility, and transparency.
Authorship means the idea for the product began with you.
Responsibility means you’ve been involved with how the item was made from start to finish.
Transparency means communicating that story to Etsy and to your customers.
What do these changes mean on a practical level?
If you’d like to hire an outside manufacturer to produce your product you’ll apply for Etsy’s approval. The application hasn’t yet been released, but Etsy said in an email to sellers yesterday, “We’ll ask a few questions about why you chose them and how you work together.” One thing is clear: you’ll have to disclose to Etsy the names of the manufacturing companies you’re working with.
Going forward it will be mandatory that sellers create an About page. On that page they’ll have to state whether they made each product, or had help with the making, although they won’t have to list the exact source of that help. You’ll get to keep the name of your manufacturer private. Reselling items you’ve had no role in producing is still not allowed.
The people you hire to help you make your items can be in a different location from you. They can, for example, be your sister one town away, or they can be across an ocean or on another continent.
You can now use shipping and fulfillment services if you want to. In other words, your product can be stored in a warehouse elsewhere. When an order is placed it can be packaged and shipped by warehouse employees.
Does this new definition work?
Etsy says yes. “We believe this is the most clear, fair way to help you succeed and preserve the values that make Etsy special,” the email sent yesterday concludes.
During the Town Hall Meeting an audience member asked what I think was a very poignant question: “What’s to prevent IKEA from selling on Etsy?” Dickerson’s response was that IKEA products don’t have clear authorship. Is that really true, though?
A few years ago I interviewed Annie Hulden, the stuffed animal designer for IKEA. I asked her how an IKEA toy gets made.
Monkey softie designed by Annie Hulden for IKEA.
“Everything must be as clear as possible for the designers at the factory. It is their job to interpret my sketches into a textile soft toy. In order for them to come as close as possible to what I had in mind I create many detailed drawings to try to describe my ideas. I also write down instructions as complements to the sketches so that I am describing in both words and pictures what I have in mind.”
On the one hand Annie’s authorship is very clear. She designed that monkey. On the other hand, the monkey was sold by IKEA, not Annie. So maybe it’s not clear after all? But then what about my new book? I wrote it, but Lark Crafts published it. They did the design, layout, editing, manufacturing and distributing. Even so, I’m selling signed copies on Etsy because I have clear authorship.
Looking at the factory video from my previous post with this new three-pronged definition in mind, where do we stand? Neopets were designed by Donna Williams in 1999. The company was eventually bought by Viacom who hired a plush toy designer like Annie Hulden to create the sewing pattern to make this particular pet, Flotsam, into a plush toy. These women and men in DongGuan City sewed each and every toy. Still, by Etsy’s new definition, they are not handmade, right? No single person has authorship. Donna Williams is not responsible for the factory production here. When you pulled Flotsam out of the Happy Meal the only transparency was the “Made in China” label on his leg.
Although it wasn’t mentioned in any press release, it’s safe to say that Etsy has a financial interest in the new policy. Big sellers who can afford to hire help can now stay on the site, and their large volume of sales is hugely important to Etsy’s long-term profitability. Online business wisdom would tell those big sellers to get off Etsy anyway. You’re better off building your own brand, not being dependent on the whims of another company, not to mention the inordinate fees you’ll be paying with that kind of volume. But they theoretically they could stay now.
One thing’s for sure: manufactured goods will now be in the mix with goods made by someone’s two hands, and all of this will happen with Etsy’s blessing. Does Etsy’s new definition mean a brave new world, or the death of handmade?
Great post. Etsy’s latest policy change does expand the definition of what is considered handmade and seems to chip away at what made its global marketplace cool in the first place. It will be interesting to see how this one shakes out.
I appreciate the vast grey area inherent in the term ‘handmade’ and you’ve made a great, clear point about how messy that really is. At the same time, I’m not afraid to say that I’m hoping another site with pop-up with a stricter definition of handmade…otherwise I will not be able to compete. I wouldn’t say that handmade is dead but Etsy might be for me.
I actually shut down my etsy site after the fee increase. I found that what I really appreciated was being able to sell my products without paying through the teeth. I have a big website for my work and that professionally run, fully supported platform charges me HALF of what etsy charges in fees. That just didn’t sit well with me. I know they have to make a living just like I do, but it did take away from it. I mean, if you’re selling ‘zines, for a quarter, where else will you go? On the handmade issue, I noticed when I was shopping for a wedding dress that the site had been taken over by people in China offering custom dresses – it wasn’t clear if it was a single person or a factory. Maybe that’s what they’re aiming at?
While it may not be the death of handmade, I think it is a serious decline in Etsy standards. The whole reason I used to love Etsy was getting something created by that particular seller’s two hands. Now that I have to dig deeper to see what companies I’m supporting makes me a bit uneasy. What about quality issues? Delayed shipping? Would the disclosure of it coming from a warehouse allow the sellers to go “Not my problem”? On the surface, it looks as if Etsy is just seeing the dollar signs associated with allowing manufactured goods onto the site.
Perhaps they should have launched a sister site with less-than-handmade products. It will change the marketplace and lose the appeal of supporting an artist. Not that I don’t want people to be successful, I do, but there is a difference to me between “I designed this thing,” and “I designed and made this thing.”
When did the makers hand over the voice of handmade? The mistake is not etsy changing their standards, but giving them the ability to define the handmade movement for far too long.
I have a friend who fits in this grey area so I was thinking about how this would affect her, and I think in her situation at least it would be an improvement. (I should mention that she sells off of her own site, so I’m just using her as an example) She started out making a hand knitted product–she designed the pattern and dyed the yarn, and knit the product herself. Demand grew to the point where she was no longer able to keep up with it, and is now outsourcing the actual knitting to a group of ladies in Peru for a fair price. Every piece is still handmade, the pattern is still hers, she still dyes the yarn herself, and she does all of the marketing/promotional work, including website maintenance and festival attendance/sales.
I wouldn’t call those “not handmade.” They’re still handmade, it’s still a handmade, homegrown business, but I feel that in her case Etsy would still be a good marketplace for her to sell. I think these are the cases that they’re trying to cover. Previously it was against the rules for you to hire someone to help you with your business, even if it was just an assistant to help with the business end of matters. They are still excluding resellers but wanted to make it easier/allowable for these businesses that needed to expand in certain ways.
I think focusing too much on one definition of “handmade” can be dangerous in a way. Like you pointed out, these ladies that are commercially making dolls in a factory ARE making them by hand. But that doesn’t really capture the spirit of “handmade.” I think that’s what these new rules are meant to encompass and of course there are still going to be grey areas that they will have to resolve.
Great article! I listened to the Town Hall Meeting yesterday too. I’ve been selling on Etsy for 7 1/2 years and have seen some major changes in that time. I’ve ridden them all out and adjusted my approach when needed. But this change? This one makes me cringe. It basically means to me that handmade in small batches is no longer ‘special’ and unique on Etsy.
It’s going to take some time and a whole lot of effort, but I will be moving my online shop off of Etsy. It’s time.
I’m not sure i understand the fuss over Etsy’s policy changes. Is it really the ‘death of handmade’? I mean, most people know what they are looking for, and can tell a handmade or ‘artisan’ craft product when they see one, can’t they? Are we really so afraid of the competition? my version of the definition of hand made is ‘personal’, it carries the character and originality of the maker- you are buying into the qualities you like in them. These policies do nothing to harm that. I see an awful lot of knee jerk reactions to this on twitter, but will this policy definition really affect your selling in any way?
This reminds me of the outrage about twitter needing a ‘report abuse’ button recently. Are we so desperate to police everyone else activities online? How about we be the best we can be instead?
I haven’t sold my work on etsy for several years, but if I did, I would be very upset by this definition. To me, selling work as an artist and calling it handmade means that it is made by the artist. Of course, then there’s the debate about “how” handmade something has to be. I was a jewelry seller, and I often heard debate about whether things that are simple to make, such as gluing a cabochon to a pendant, should “count” as being handmade, so I think there will always be debate about this, regardless of how it’s defined by etsy.
I talked to Admin on Etsy about this a while back when they opened the new wholesale section, we got into the broader conversation on how a handmade businesses can grow. In the past, I have done a ton of wholesale since my items are hand sewn with embroidery techniques they can be a little time consuming to create especially when you get deep into having several wholesale orders pile up – sometimes I would get 3 to 4 weeks out on work. Because I was so busy I never really had time to have a back stock of items and all work was and is still made to order. In a way, it’s great because I’m never making items that haven’t been purchased and cost wise my business isn’t tied up in a back log of inventory. But at the same time, there are times say the Xmas season where it could be really beneficial to have a helper or outsource part of the work – i.e. cutting or sewing buttons on, etc. – which does usually happen! Mom or friends get recruited for the day to do non-essential tasks like cutting.
Ultimately, I decided to slow down on wholesale but had I wanted to take my business to the next level and expand to larger retail stores (not just Mom & Pops gift & handmade shops) I would have had to hire someone or outsource at least part of the production to keep up with demand. Essentially, it would be the only way to grow – you can’t expect your customers to wait months & months to get a restock of product. The more product you have out there – the more your retailers can sell and the more reorders you get. The more capital you have to work with the more likely you are to be able to attend quality events such as major gift/trade shows, hire reps, etc.
While I love handmade shops that create items on more of a one of a kind basis – that doesn’t lend itself well to creating a business in which you can ultimately make a living from. There’s many larger brands out there that started out just like many Etsy businesses have.
How I think this could actually be beneficial to the Etsy community is (reposting from facebook):
I think it could really benefit growing sellers if there was a way or forum to hook artists/designers up with manufacturers that can produce small runs or even with helpers in their local area. There are also manufacturers here in the US so it would be nice to see some of these artists goods still being produced here instead of in China – no offensive China but I miss American manufacturing.(Just saw an article yesterday on garment manufacturing making a comeback in the US:
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/made-usa-fuels-new-manufacturing-hubs-apparel-4B11233827
I think Etsy has always tried to have this philosophy of changing the global marketplace and this would be an interesting way to do it. Essentially, handmakers are bringing interest and manufacturing back to the US on this small level by designing and producing interesting and unique products. I’ve also always loved the cycle of small business that goes into making and selling my handmade items – being an artist working with other small stores, Mom & Pops, etc in hopes that we can all thrive together and adding small manufacturing into that cycle here in the US would be interesting. Keeping it local would be the essential part in my opinion. May Etsians were already using small factories to partially produce their work, print shops, or had small teams of people anyhow.
On the flipside, I could see where it opens the floodgates up for resellers in an already crowded marketplace. It’s getting difficult to tell what’s up on Etsy these days now that there are so many shops – you have resellers selling manufactured goods that are sometimes knock offs of handmade goods, makers copying manufactured goods and making them handmade, then makers copying other makers. So it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Sorry this got super long!! Ultimately, as a maker I miss the good ol days of Etsy when there were way fewer shops, resellers, and more of a community.
The definition of handmade has been growing and evolving for a while. As more people want to sell their goods on etsy, the demand for increased production that still maintains the high standards and values of handmade has increased. So what happens is you get more makers working together as a unit. These collaborative efforts are for the most part thoughtful about detail and design. We’re not talking about huge companies selling mass manufactured products. We’re talking about a person with original designs who hires a bunch of folks who love to make (sew,print,knit,whatever) to help produce their designs. It’s great to see that growth and change in approach. Quite frankly, I think I might still be selling softies if I had been smart enough to structure my operation like an actual business and hired a person or two to help. As it was, I ended up totally burnt out and exhausted trying to keep producing softies at such a steady clip – especially once life became really busy.
I have to say that I think a lot of people were already selling mass produced items in certain areas of Etsy. I was poring over the bag section in particular recently, and there were a number coming from far eastern countries that were clearly manufactured, I suspect in a similar way to the toys in the video, they may have got round some of the rules by allowing you to choose the fabric and style for them to make up.
It didn’t bother me as I could tell the difference between those and the more home-made handmade items, and I don’t mean that in a bad way, just that the home-made people can’t make absolutely identical products every time, either due to their inability to get hold of enough of the same materials, or because the detail is such that it’s possible for it to be slightly different each time, such as a print or applique.
I haven’t sold on Etsy in a long time, but that’s more due to the fact that OOAK bears were not selling there (at least not large ones), a number of us carried out an experiment on it to find that out! I may sell on Etsy in the future, but I have to say that while one wants to take note of the ‘competition’ you should have enough confidence and faith in your own product to enable you to sell alongside anyone. If your product is better it will sell, if not, well, it won’t!
The only place there may be a difference is in price, but then there are already huge differences in costs of raw materials to the home-made makers. For example in the US quilting fabric is as low as $9/yd for the designer stuff, while in the UK or Australia that same fabric sells for $23-24/yd due to export fees/middle men etc. That means pricing of a similar end product has to be different between the US and non-US based makers to ensure no-one goes bankrupt!
I hope that this might drive people to be more inventive to find something new and different to sell to compete against the outsourced products, since it’s quicker for the home-made maker to knock up a new pattern from new materials and get it on the market than for someone who’s outsourcing, who has to buy materials in bulk and create the pattern in a way that it can be shared with the makers, samples produced etc.
What I don’t like is that during all this changeover, especially over the last 4 months or so, Etsy, a business I contract with, has enforced its Terms of Use using inaccurately defined terms. By this I mean, it didn’t necessarily just change its terms, which credit card and utility companies do all the time, but kept redefining the words in its terms to suit its uses, definitions which were completely inconsistent with any known definitions in the english language. “Handmade seller” suddenly didn’t mean a singular individual nor did it mean exclusively made by hand by the seller. “Cooperative” was a complete disaster being used interchangeably with sole proprietorship and corporation. Now admin has stated in the forums that they will no longer be using either of those words because they were simply not consistent with what they meant. I am very glad they will be choosing their words more accurately. But Etsy is proving to be a business that believes it can trend- and ad-speak its way out of a legally binding contract. And that disturbs me more than any business changes it plans to make.
More power to them. If they want to include larger companies who design and manufacture elsewhere, then go for it and individual handmade sellers can decide if the shopping cart Etsy provides works for them. But it’s demoralizing when the company you work with continuously redefines their terms on trendy hipster whims of the day. ” ‘…you should say what you mean,’ the March Hare went on.”
Hmm…lots to think about here. I am very new to selling on Etsy, so for me these changes are not necessarily personal. I would imagine the first two changes – hiring help and using shipping services – are fairly uncontroversial for most people. But the third, well it doesn’t make much sense to me. I think that Etsy built their brand off of the idea that you could buy things directly from the artist. Now things are much fuzzier. It will be interesting to see how things turn out, but I am not sure I will be able to build my shop competing with large seller who can produce at faster rates. That certainly wasn’t what I was imagining when I opened my shop…
I will be watching carefully, too, Jennifer.
Etsy has such a huge customer base. It’s very hard to beat that kind of traffic, and the level of comfort so many people have with shopping on Etsy. Etsy has become a household name. As a tiny business I find it difficult to leave.
The wedding section seems to be particularly problematic when it comes to resellers.
My Etsy fees are also very high. But again, they offer a kind of traffic I can’t reproduce on my own.
I think these are some real concerns. Hopefully the new feedback system will encourage people to write in a substantive way about problems they’ve had with particular sellers regarding quality or shipping delays.
I agree with you, Renee. We should define handmade for ourselves.
An audience member at the Town Meeting asked about creating a sister site for handmade. Chad indicated pretty strongly that Etsy felt that wasn’t necessary with the disclosures that will be required on the About pages.
Your friend has the type of business that these changes are meant to be for, I think. I’d love to hear her take on this, and her definition of handmade.
I opened my Etsy shop in July of 2005 so I’m right there with you. I’ve been there through every change, and through major changes in my own business. And I’m going to continue to hang in there.
Twitter is all about knee jerk reactions, right? Lots of clamoring to criticize companies for changing their policies. I don’t know if Etsy’s changes are good or bad, but I think they deserve some deeper thought for sure.
I know there is debate among jewelry makers about this issue. It’s really complex, you know? I will be interested to watch the jewelry category in the next year or two to see how it changes.
I miss the old days of Etsy, too, Jodi. I think your take on this is really informative because of the nature of your business. You make everything by hand, but you fill so many wholesale orders. To me, this change could be really great for a business like yours. At least it gives you options down the road to make some changes and keep going on Etsy, if you want to.
There was no way I could mass produce softies by myself and make it into a profitable business so I hear you on this. I think the spirit of hiring help to make your handmade business grow is a good one and that’s what Etsy says their aiming for here.
I agree with this. I haven’t been as active on Etsy in recent years, but these changes would allow me to expand my business in ways I was limited before. It might make me return to Etsy? I think this is a positive development for handmade business. Sure, there are going to be people who abuse the system – but that’s been happening all along. Now indie businesses will have a chance to compete.
I am with designer makers all the way. I know it is probably rude to say so, but drawing a picture of a monkey does not make you a soft toy designer. The work of a soft toy is all in making it 3D. An artist yes, but nothing much to do with the end product. What you do on the other hand, may not make you rich and (very) famous but it commands a lot more respect from me for your talents.
I am not interested in etsy anymore. I refuse to sell there and where possible I now buy elsewhere. They have sold out the sellers who made them great, as well as me the buyer. They are not to be trusted. I have already bought a couple of things on there that were not handmade, yet I trusted the integrity of the site. I now know I was wrong to do so. The sellers brought in the buyers and now etsy wants to bury them. They will get lost in a sea of mass produced tat and things that hardly had anything to do with the designer and the work will be done by others and in many cases not handmade at all – their definition is ludicrous. Nothing stops people from manufacturing as part of their business if you have the cash and knowledge to do so, etsy was supposed to be different in supporting the little guy in cottage industries. Now everyone got greedy – some of the sellers too, judging by the forums. Many others have integrity, so I shall follow where they go. If you don’t want to be a little guy then go somewhere else if you want to grow, etsy was intentioned for the purpose of the designer maker and the traffic it built up and the business it got was using that brand. Sellers should have respect for themselves, right now the turkey is being fattened to be gobbled up. They threw out their founder, and had no respect for him, so it isn’t surprising that they are doing this to the sellers and yes the buyers too. Etsy is going to suffocate those hand made sellers and if they don’t find alternatives, then the world will be a sadder place without them.
I am buying elsewhere. I don’t want to support greedy people who are happy to take people’s money and then throw them out with the bath water. I will follow sellers to other sites and occasionally buy on etsy if I have no alternative. Otherwise we are through. I’m a faithful and loyal supporter but they stabbed me in the heart with this one. So, I still support handmade through and through, and maybe different sellers now to those on etsy, but they will still get my money.
Etsy tell the buyers nothing, the sellers get a drip drip version. They manipulate and deceive until the timing suits them and then give a shrouded version of what they mean. There is NOTHING good about what etsy is doing and has already done. they say there are relying on the sellers integrity. Well tell that to all the resellers currently on there. They are misleading the buying public, who don’t even get to be told what the sellers do. They won’t miss my pennies when they become eBay no 2, I know they have already worked out that the sellers leaving and the unhappy buyers like me are expendable.
They are still handmade, what I resent in this case is that the makers get no credit or proper recompense for their work – they will be outsourced to Peru because of the cheap labour. Us western investors pat ourselves on the back for giving work to people in poor countries, but it is only done because it can be got so cheaply. Many people don’t even pay a fair local price which is still too little. And we wonder why the crafts industries have died out in our own countries and can’t compete? Oh the irony. I would buy the goods as being handmade but only from a fair trade company.
Designing is only part of the process, making is the other. We already have outlets for manufacturing if that is what you are interested in, why chase out those who have little or no alternatives? Etsy was unique for allowing the designer maker to have full control. I actually don’t care if there is one person or 4 people in the kitchen making something, but I expect all the processes to be handmade to earn that title and for everyone to be accounted for.
I don’t like people treated just as if they are the unimportant labour as if they are a mechanised process too. Without the makers skill, there would be no end product. Designing is a process and a hard protracted one at that, but skilled work completes the process and I am tired of that being denigrated over and over again. This kind of seller is the sort I would run a million miles from. They don’t want to be exploited, but are more than happy to exploit others and have the kudos of owning a ‘successful’ business. We have Walmart and others for that. Everyone always thinks minimum wage is terrible when it applies to them, yet when it comes to hiring people, they will literally go thousands of miles rather than pay even that. It’s greedy and selfish and everything that is wrong in the world.
Most people on etsy just want to make their product themselves, they don’t want to build an empire, just be on a level playing field as far as competition is concerned and to keep the prices realistic. They don’t want to be lost in search because they are buried beneath all those with hundreds rather than tens of items. Also people will be unable to compete with the cheap prices, and many of them are already barely breaking even as it is with the pressure to be so cheap. The whole notion of handmade is cheapened both figuratively and literally by etsy’s changes. I make hand stitched things, that’s what I do. I don’t WANT to have to change to machine and outsource just to keep up. What on earth is the value of that for what I do? It just serves to denigrate. The whole point of etsy was that there was a selling venue for people like me. It’s sad when even those doing handmade don’t believe in it anymore. Why should the buying public if you don’t?
It really is so sad. I’ve watched them whittle away at their roots for so long I’m too tired to be angry anymore.
I can’t say I read all the comments, but here is my two cents. I will always love and support true hand made items, but I am a little intrigued by the potential that small batch manufacturing offers. As long as all practices are ethical and transparent, I can see this being a positive move. Especially if it can encourage positive changes in working environments in manufacturing facilities. If Etsy could encourage the use of fair trade and safe manufacturers it could be a good thing. Big movements start with small steps, if the handcrafted community can take this opportunity to show and encourage fair practices then we have the chance to make an impact.
A great deal to think about here. I shall stay with Etsy purely as it is a good way for me to get my items seen on a worldwide basis, and because it is not my main source of income as far as art and crafts are concerned. I am just hoping that what I make proves individual enough to hold it’s own. What does concern me is the potential for serious competition regarding pricing. As it is, I price my items quite low – I dread to think how much it works out as per hour. Should a seller come along who can mass produce similar items and sell for a lower price, then I will lose out big time. For the time being I plan to see how it goes – if the shop ticks along as it has done in the past, then I shall stick with it. If business seriously falls off, then it will be time to move on.
I do think it is a great shame that the original attraction of buying a unique item directly from the artist is being eroded. In future the phrase ‘caveat emptor’ will be one to shop buy – if you want a genuine hand-made article in the true sense of the words, then it is up to the buyer to use their common sense and delve a little before pressing ‘buy now’. I think on the whole people will still gravitate towards the original, and quality items will still sell well – let’s hope so anyway!
Many of us are moving to Zibbet.com. Definitely worth a look.
I think the fact that Etsy has become a household name is the very reason it remains an attractive platform to push products. Online business wisdom in this case may be finding they are making more money riding the back of Etsy rather than investing in what it takes to build a brand. It is all rather creepy but may have a good effect of pushing the artist/maker to a creative a more individual voice in the world. And, hopefully, a consumer that wants to get to know their artist/maker.
A.G. writes …”Online business wisdom would tell those big sellers to get off Etsy anyway. You’re better off building your own brand, not being dependent on the whims of another company,…”
Chad says: “definition of handmade was impossible to enforce” – “What kinds of tools could you use? How many hands could shape the product? Could you use mass-produced components to put together something original?”
Etsy will still have to make these “judgments” to rid its site of resellers and give the OK to designer-run manufacturers that they deem suitable for their site (also taking into account the certified B Corporation), so how is this going to be any better, less time-consuming and more transparent? I will stay because I have been there for 6 years; have seen the relevancy/curated pages change things up; but I have a wait and see attitude. Since most of my sales come from the vintage and supplies categories, I depend on Etsy’s traffic from google, etc. But have noticed lately that even that has slowed.
There is already a new Team just for handmade sellers, with their own banner, so we will see what other Teams are created within Etsy to promote and bring distinction to the handmade and artist community.
Etsy’s new mission statement is very telling: “Etsy is a marketplace where people around the world connect to buy and sell unique goods. Our mission is to re-imagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world.”
Yes—that would be pretty amazing if they could pull that off. I hope so.
As Katy mentioned, there is already quite a bit of mass produced items being sold on etsy, especially in the jewelry section. Reporting these items to etsy management has had no effect in the resale of items mass produced in China and readily available on Alibaba. I hope that better transparency will help buyers understand what they are really purchasing.
What an interesting post and debate. I have sold on. Etsy since 2009 and seen lots of changes too. I make unique one off items and do not want to expand production or outsource. I think that this change has given me the push to get out of Etsy and find a more suitable platform.
What a great post. I think Etsy is making a big move to help themselves grow and hold onto those sellers who would have previously outgrown their platform. As long as sellers are transparent with what they are doing and how they are producing their products, then the customer still has the choice of who they buy from based on what their idea of handmade is.
I think big change needs time for people to adapt and for ideas to be tweaked. It will all be ok.
Abby, just wondering if this means you won’t be able to sell your softie making products, such as the hemostats and rattles?
At the end of the day if you are using someone else’s platform, then there will need to be some sacrifice and you will need to play by their rules. Hopefully, Etsy will do the right thing by the real handmade sellers or they will end up losing more sellers rather than retaining them, like they hope to.
I also believe it’s possible to sell your products solely from your own website. It may be harder initially, but the skills you learn and the relationships you build are priceless. You are completely you own boss that way!
Thanks, Domenica. The rattle inserts, squeakers, hemostats, and other specialty products I sell in my shop are are in the Supplies category on Etsy. I don’t think they’ll be effected by this change.
At the same time, it’s not up to Etsy to define or redefine what “handmade” means in the marketplace. The FTC has already done that. (Federal Trade Commission. “handmade” is as clearly defined as “Organic” even though “Natural”/”All Natural” continues to be vague and unenforced.)
At the 2:40 mark I can already see why this “handmade” is different than HOME handmade. If you have ever cut multiple layers at a time, you know that even with the appropriate tools, it reduces quality. That slowing down and taking the time to cut each piece individually leads to better pieces. And that’s just one thing that affects quality – seeing them breeze through all the steps shows me exactly why the store-bought stuffed toys available nowadays fall apart so easily.
They are using their hands, sure. But while a home-handmade creator uses their hands to focus on making a quality toy, the factory workers are using their hands to focus on making the max amount of toys in the shortest amount of time. Even if it was done purely with machines, you could argue that someone sewing at home uses a sewing machine.
The difference to me is clear: once it moves to a factory, it is no longer handmade. It doesn’t matter if that factory is in the USA or China, nor how many hands vs how many machines are actually involved. If you’re paying someone to mass produce something, you’re not handmaking it.
Your book is not handmade. There are many handmade books for sale, and your book obviously does not fit into that category. Your book is appropriate for Etsy under the SUPPLIES category.
*In my mind, I mean. If I search for “handmade book”, I expect something very different than your book. I expect to find your book in supplies and Etsy is only making it more difficult to find it by putting it in handmade.
Etsy is rolling the definition of a “small business” into the definition of “handmade”. I’m all for small businesses (but I believe they should employ locally and pay fair wages) but they are not the same as a handmade business. Just because the design originated with the small business owner does not make the product handmade. By the new definition: I could design a product, hire employees overseas to make the product (at less than U.S. minimum wage) have the product sent to a shipping company to pack and ship my product, never having handled the product myself. That’s called a small business not handmade.
It has been suggested that there should be separate categories on etsy for truly handmade and small businesses that use outside resources. Etsy has stated they will not do this because it would cause confusion.
It affects some sellers immediately. As a jewelry store, I already have seen sales tank and when I go into etsy to test a search, for instance, of “om necklaces” I see pages of $5-10 oms that are supposedly handmade, but look like they are factory made for Target. Customers of mine have commented that they had to go through pages to find a few handmade items. Etsy is either going t be handmade or not — and if they want to invite factory made sellers then they might want to do what artfire has done and separate them out. My customers are moving on, and so am I.
This is a good article — thanks Abby
Loved this post AND. The discussion in the comments. I have never sold anything on Etsy, but have bought a lot! This same dynamic happened with artists on Ebay back in 2006. All of a sudden artists were competing with assembly line paintings from China, because Ebay changed the rules of what “one of a kind” and “individual artist” meant. I stopped selling my paintings in Ebay now. Being an individual artist or artisan is a tough gig, but also one of the best in the world.