Etsy Strike: what does it all mean?

Aren’t you guys Etsy? Why are you striking against yourself?

Birmingham Originals are not Etsy, we formed thanks to Etsy at a time where they supported sellers to connect to helps each other grow their businesses, share knowledge and Etsy supported the teams to organise in-person events that they sponsored and championed such as Etsy Made Local.

As such we are West Midlands based makers who happen to sell on Etsy. We may also have our own website and sell on other marketplaces too. Etsy used to be one of the cheapest marketplaces to list your products for sale for a fee and for them to take a commission on each sale. In a world with ever increasing costs and fees Etsy have chosen to increase theirs and this is what has resulted in a global strike action from many sellers.

We stand in solidarity with makers who have made the difficult decision to temporarily close their shops and boycott Etsy from 11-18 April.

We also support makers whose livelihoods would be severely affected by closing, and who feel unable to lose their Etsy sales, despite both agreeing with and supporting the reasons behind the #EtsyStrike.

Ok so give me the reasons!

You might not know why people are taking the decision to strike or to boycott Etsy so we thought we’d share some of the facts and experiences of Etsy sellers over the last few years.

The price increase…

The catalyst was the recent announcement of an increase in sales fees from 5% to 6.5% (representing an increased cost for makers of 30%), despite record profits for Etsy since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions took to Etsy to buy masks directly from small independent makers and support their local businesses who they would have seen at local markets. Profits grew further when many people who were unable to work decided to launch their own small businesses via the Etsy platform. This may seem like a small increase compared to inflation and energy prices, this increase on top of increases to raw materials and our overheads to make items all adds up and it’s another cost we have to either swallow or pass on to our customers. This increase will mean fees have doubled since 2018.

The marketplace…

During the last two years, both makers and buyers have become aware of the huge increase in mass-produced items being sold on Etsy as 'handmade', and the effect has been so notable, that it warranted a recent segment on BBC's Watchdog programme which showcased a shop which was reselling items bought from UK stores such as B&M, often directly copying images and descriptions from their websites. This is also in breach of their own policies of resale items which is only allowed as vintage and craft supplies.

We aren’t Amazon…

Sellers of all online marketplaces have felt the pressure of high customer expectation for an 'Amazon Prime' style service with free postage, next-day posting, and 24/7 customer service which throughout the pandemic has been even less achieveable.

This coupled with Etsy's own 'Star Seller Program' which, although designed to help shoppers identify Etsy shops with excellent customer service and high feedback ratings, unfortunately led to many sellers feeling as if they have to jump through hoops in order to gain the visibility they need on Etsy amongst hundreds of thousands of competitors, in the UK alone. This system funnels sellers to utilise postage purchasing direct through Etsy instead of supporting their local franchised Post Office Counter or other courier service where costs maybe cheaper or more appropriate to the item, if you don’t use the postage buying system your star rating is impacted.

Seller vs. Buyer vs. Bots…

Sellers have felt a distinct lack of support from Etsy's own customer service and help desk teams, through equally fast-turnaround buyer refunds with no recourse for sellers, and slow response to payment problems and copyright/IP issues - both those reported by makers themselves, or reported against them by third parties or through a bot algorithm making blanket decisions without proper updates reaching sellers to challenge these actions.

We are not Etsy…

For Etsy's Seller Teams, and Team Captains and Leaders, the lack of communication and transparency from EtsyUK has at times been frustrating.

Our team members look to us as authorities, assuming we are in frequent, direct communication with Etsy staff, and ask us for help and advice when struggling with these issues. The difficulty in sellers accessing support help makes it challenging for all to trouble shoot problems that require a human resolution.

Unfortunately, in the past two years, we have often felt as helpless in these situations, or as surprised as our teamies are at the lack of response from the EtsyUK Community Team staff we previously worked so closely with on events like Etsy Made Local (which raised awareness and growth of the EtsyUK brand in spectacular fashion from 2015-2019) or Etsy Craft Parties, which was often what drew many people to join the Etsy Seller Community in the first place. The last two years and the changes to how we can connect with them has impacted the relationships we can have.

We are certainly not blaming the EtsyUK team they are firefighting alongside us trying to tackle each individual case that present them with, sadly this doesn’t help the big picture.

Since going public as a company in 2015 …

For many, there has been a feeling of a gradual change at Etsy over the past few years, away from showcasing handmade and creating a thriving creative community, toward a profit-driven site focusing on leveraging millions of sellers and buyers to benefit shareholders and investors, off the back of a growth in demand for handmade goods. This has seen the company acquire Reverb a music gear marketplace in 2019 and Depop in 2021. They are monopolising the marketplace sector.

What’s the ask?

1.Seller Support

We are asking Etsy to improve their support for makers, in terms of providing better and faster customer service for us when our payments are delayed or held back, or when buyers are escalating refund requests directly to Etsy rather than communicating with individual sellers, because their items have not yet arrived due to postal issues outside of our control, or in some cases are deemed unsatisfactory or unsuitable, and are therefore eligible for a standard returns procedure.

2. Educate it’s customers

We ask Etsy to help us educate buyers, helping them to understand that we are not able to operate the same way as big brands do, and that our goal is to make a living by selling beautifully handmade products and vintage pieces to customers who want to own something unique, not-found-on-the-highstreet, with a connection to the person who made it, and providing great customer service, building loyalty and repeat business from happy customers who will support us to make a living from something we love to do; being CREATIVE.

3. Transparency….it used to be so good with your B corps status

We ask Etsy to be transparent, honest and open with the millions of sellers around the world, supporting us and helping us all be profitable and successful together. We are constantly told that Etsy is investing in its sellers, but there is a clear lack of transparency in seller communications and no direct support through the online Community and Teams portal or from the Etsy Helpdesk. If we could see that investment being poured into creating an excellent standard of customer service for both buyers AND sellers, we could understand, and possibly even be willing, to accept increased fees.

We don’t want a David and Goliath, we don’t have the resource and we love the community.

Right now, the fee increase just feels like a push for profits, over the sellers that help generate them, which is driving some to turn away from what was a thriving handmade community, toward independently hosting their own websites and hoping for success and visibility through competing with the big marketplaces and attempting to drive customers away from Etsy, which they never wanted to do.

Etsy’s Maker Community believes strongly in “Community Over Competition”

Thank you for your support and for reading!

Thanks to ETSYMCR team for their words in expressing the situation felt by makers in the UK for which I’ve borrowed a whole heap…don’t worry I know the Team Captain and she said I could!