Saturday, October 4, 2014

Free to Promote Your Shop, Social Sites, or Blog; on Networking Saturday 28

First I will need to say a heart felt thanks to Jacki owner of ChristieCottage who has been a good friend and support for many years.  Jacki sent me an article this morning that inspired my post,

How Etsy Changed the Rules & What It Means for Indie Designers.

Sadly this post is a little negative but at times it is necessary to discuss things that may be a bit disheartening.  I am not going to go into great detail about this article since you can just click and read it for yourself; But What ever happened to Etsy's mission?
Then:


Now:
Some time ago, about a year, I received a banner above my Etsy shop stating that I must report and get approval for anything I produce outside of my shop.  So I sent in my information about the postcards I create digitally and/or via my photography and then have VistaPrint print for me.  (It is the RD in me; I like to have everything done in order and following the rules.)

Well they declined my application stating that there was not enough information on my work station,  and they requested additional pictures of my work area.  I don't have a work station; I have a desk, a computer, printer and a camera, what is there to take pictures of?
So my legitimately hand designed or the photographic art created by me has been declined (I could have maybe insisted and sent more and more information but it shouldn't have been so hard.)  What I find very ironic is at the same time they have decided to strictly enforce their guideline on me, they are allowing all these "made in Hong Kong" (or China) shops to post their things without challenge.



They  must have had great fake pictures of their work areas since the items I create myself were denied and clearly (at least to me) these are just mass produced items.  Maybe some poor kids in Hong Kong handmade them but it wasn't by the person posting them.

I am sincerely frustrated at this point because I've been promoting harder then ever and spend more time working with my shop just to see my sales go down to just about nothing.

I am going to maintain my Etsy shop to keep the networks and team work I have enjoyed because I believe that is so important to small business but my primary focus will be on developing my stand alone shops.

I don't think that there is anything that can be done to fix the spiral that has been spinning out of control since, at least, 2012; Etsy may just become another Ebay (the equivalent of a poorly run garage sale online.)

Please post your experience or any advise in the comments
Blessings

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Post any of your family friendly sites (blogs, shops, FB, etc.)  What ever sites you would like to share. 

Please help promote this post using your social networks.  Here is an easy one:


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4 comments:

ArtisticRomantic said...

Thank you for the information and for hosting.

Unknown said...

I had absolutely no problem getting my printed items approved, and I live in a similar situation to yours. I got this done, I think, as soon as they opened up the application process (summer of 2013 maybe?). I use Vistaprint, iprintfromhome and moo to print my products. They had asked me in the application to give a detailed explanation of how I make my magnets and I guess perhaps I bored them with the extensive detail I provided. I don't know what you can do, except to try again.

Butterfly In The Attic said...

Thank you for your insight on submitting for approval. I may try again and see if I can write something long enough. I am not sure why they objected last time since I described my process but maybe if I go over it literally step by step it will be enough.

Have a blessed day
Colleen

Unknown said...

Try Etsy again - your stuff is great and they should review your case again!

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