Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson Interviewed on gigaom

Before returning to the Etsy reseller issue, I am archiving links to recent discussions about this topic in the media, here all in one place. 

Gigaom interview with Etsy CEO Dickerson Aug 2013

Be sure to read all the comments, especially the response from Dickerson to the irate Etsians who posted about resellers and recent changes to the site (FB and an obscure test that accidentally prevented buyers from choosing to check out with PayPal). 

Chad Dickerson's take on the Etsy reseller problem

Chad doesn't seem to "get" that resellers often do not take their own photos (many use professionally staged images supplied by their wholesale sources), do not need "help" for their shops since they don't make anything (except sales), and the differences between the wholesale price paid for their items and the asking price in their Etsy shops suggest a nice profit margin rather than selling goods too cheaply.  So the "behaviors" that might cause the Etsy community to disapprove, according to Dickerson, are not evident in the shops of actual resellers.  How strange is that?

Laughing at Etsyverse Vintage

Only in the Etsyverse are iPhone-related items considered vintage.  (Vintage, according to Etsy's rules for selling on the site, is supposed to be at minimum 20 years old.)  The ever diligent (nah!) Etsy Marketplace Integrity Team, responsible for reading and acting on reported shops and items, consistently ignores reports of iPhone cases listed in the Vintage category.  Does this lazy hypocrisy -- or hypocritical laziness? -- tick me off?  You bet!  And I guess I am not alone.

A new shop opened today on Etsy, with this single vintage listing:

The shop's name is a pure statement of Etsyverse luv, heartheartheartheart


To Billie Mars, the shop owner:  this is fun, and please list more!!!

Resellers on Etsy: Part 2 -- USA Sellers Selling Items Imported From Another Country

Yes, that's right -- what the title says is pretty typical for an Etsy reseller shop!

The silly forum complaints about resellers mostly point fingers at Chinese sellers, but according to Etsy those shops are owned by someone involved in the making process.  An American seller who buys finished products from China, and sells them without alteration or embellishment, had nothing to do with making the items.  They are resellers.

But don't believe for a moment that "Etsy hates resellers" or that Etsy is constantly vigilant and working on a better solution to the reseller problem.  What Etsy is working on are ways to coach reported USA resellers so they can continue to run their shops as usual without being reported as resellers, or getting bad feedback when their buyers receive their item -- supposedly made to order in the USA -- via China Post.  As in drop shipping.  Oops.

After reporting shops (sometimes more than once if they remain open for 4-6 months after being reported), I've discovered it seems that Etsy now allows these types of reselling:

• Buying items on Ebay and listing them unaltered in your Etsy shop as handmade by you.  Photos, titles, and descriptions copied from the Ebay seller.
• Buying items wholesale from factories and claiming you are the designer of these items.  Even though multiple Etsy shops are selling them, all claiming to hand make each item to order. 
• Buying items wholesale from specialty sites whose pages are not indexed by Google or other SEs, so the borrowed photos are more challenging to trace.
• Selling imported knock-offs of famous designer brand items and claiming you made them.  Etsy's reluctance to deal with copyright infringement issues unless contacted by the owner gives these items a free pass for reselling.  When brand owners demand a takedown, Etsy complies.  Some USA reseller shops have listings deleted again and again as different brands find their shops (you can check out their sold listings and note the growing ranks of blank boxes where the image, title and link have been redacted).  All the while, Etsy's Marketplace Integrity Team ignores reports of reselling by these shops, and they stay open. 

Resellers may very well the type of seller most likely to open an Etsy shop these days.  After all, you are allowed -- even encouraged -- to create deceptive listings on Etsy that aren't tolerated on Ebay.  Part 3 will call out some designer brand items -- maybe real, maybe knock offs -- that you can find listed on Etsy as made by the shop owner.  That's right, Betsey Johnson, LV, Tory Burch and other brands have handmade shops on Etsy!

Resellers on Etsy: Part 1 -- What is a reseller?

One reason why no constructive dialog can take place between the seller community and Etsy corporate about the failure of marketplace integrity on the site is the failure of many Etsy sellers to understand what reselling is about.  How many Etsy handmade sellers can recognize an actual reseller shop?

Reselling is not about making.  So-called mass made items can still be handmade according to Etsy's standards.  How many made equals mass made, anyway?  One hundred?  One thousand?  Let's get real:  some of the most successful shops on Etsy have been making and remaking the same items for years, and their items are unquestionably handmade.

A reseller is someone who had nothing whatsoever to do with the process of making the items they sell.  Maybe the item was made in a factory in the USA or in China.  Maybe the item is art the seller purchased at a gallery 4 years ago, selling it now because they changed their décor style.  Maybe the item is an afghan handmade by a neighbor.  Where the item was made doesn't matter.  How many hands were involved doesn't matter.  If the seller was not involved in the making process in any way, it is not supposed to be listed for sale.

I will be making a series of entries about reselling and resellers:  how I recognize resellers, how I report them, and the unexpected results that can occur when Etsy's Marketplace Integrity Team reads documented reports.