So, really no blogging going on here... We moved almost a year ago which put my business on hold. It's amazing how long it takes to do a little fixing on a house! The holidays had many friends and family coming to see the new place and I'm finally feeling "settled" and ready to get back to business. Whew! Time to oil up the sewing machines.
On to the business: I recently discovered that the top selling items in the girls clothing category on Etsy are not handmade at all...gasp!! Now, we've all seen those things all over Etsy and I myself have reported OODLES of them. Etsy gets like 1800 reports of violations a day and apparently they do not intend to hire enough manpower to sort through all of them. It was a nice idea for a "hand-crafted or altered only" website but it has gotten too far out of control. If Etsy used a jury system where you must submit an item to them with photos of your work area and things you've made to be approved to sell, then maybe the idea would be more realistic. What they have now is a mini eBay with anyone being allowed to set up shop. If you truly want small-batch, handmade craftsmanship and to support an artist, then you must do your homework. It is VERY easy to deceivingly sell mass made clothing, hair accessories, pillows, artwork, signs and more. (side note: jewelry is the top selling category on Etsy) Do your research and if you find the same exact items from different sellers, red flag! They can all take their own photographs but you can look and see if the item is the same. It's amazing how many people actually use the same stock photos from a manufacturer. (shake my head) I'm not condemning shoppers for buying the non-handmade items if that's the item(s) they really want but I see many reviews with people disappointed in receiving an item with the Made in XYZ label still attached because they thought they were supporting a local mom/pop artist. AND the manufacturers have looked at the best selling handmade items on Etsy and have copied the designs to sell wholesale and some of them have even set up their own Etsy shop. NOW try to figure out whose are handmade and whose are not... I have come to terms with Etsy as it is and will not be reporting any more items. I will not stress out over seeing those items anymore. Etsy clearly has too much profit from them to shut down the shops that are consistently selling banned items. If they did, the site would shrink and Etsy probably wouldn't survive. That's all for now!
