I Used to Sell on Etsy

Another friend got a warning from Etsy. She used licensed materials in her product, which is perfectly legal, but she got her first warning. I used to sell on Etsy too.

Etsy has so many sellers and so much money that they really don't care about you. They might pretend that they do, but they don't. When I was having problems with Etsy, I was advised to contact a certain person for help. My friends assured me that this person was wonderful and that he would certainly help me. But almost immediately after I wrote to him explaining my problem, instead of having the one troubled shop reopened, all of my 4 shops were shut down.

I personally didn't violate any policies, as a matter of fact, although my daughter was called out, she didn't either. She was legally reconstructing licensed t-shirts and vintage sheets. Etsy didn't even want to discuss it. They shut down her shop and my shop that had a link to her shop. Yes, if you have a link to a friend or family member, you can be shut down permanently too.

I reopened a shop in my name only, and that worked well, but my daughter couldn't, and she struggled for a long time. We were already struggling financially, so my Etsy bills were at the bottom of my list of priorities. Food for the kids, and shelter came first. I got seriously behind and Etsy shut down my shops and demanded payment in full to reopen my shops. I was already struggling, so there was no way I could pay it off, and there was no negotiating. They would not accept partial payment and a payment plan to reopen. They just wanted to get rid of me.

Fortunately I had another shop open with some of my product, and fortunately I had downloaded my CSV.
Although the information was a bit outdated, I was able to open a new shop at a new venue pretty quickly. As for traffic, that has taken a few years to develop again.

Now I have my own website. I have a shop page, that can be linked to any venue I want to sell at. Today it is Artfire.com, tomorrow it may be storenvy.com or the new Handmadeology.com marketplace.

I also know if you possibly can, download a CSV. You never know what can happen. People have had their shops shut down, just because Etsy suspects they are having items made outsourced. While some shops blatantly violate and still remain, others get shut down for nothing. Oh and by the way, discussing anything negative about Etsy publicly is a violation of their policy and a reason for getting your shop shut down too.

I used to sell on Etsy, and it is so liberating not to have those "evil eyes" watching my every move.

Life Without Etsy - Nearly Two Years Later

It's been nearly 2 years since My daughter Poppy and I were unceremoniously removed from the ranks as Etsy Sellers. Can you believe it? Well she had her shops shut down a bit earlier than mine, and she did brazenly open other shops and sold under different names until they found her and shut her down. Her offense? Mistaken reports of copyright infringement. You can read more in my post Etsy Shop Closings

First Poppy was mad, and rightfully so. She has been with Etsy since the early years, promoted it, and earned her living there. They were not even remotely kind or willing to listen. She wasted a lot of energy, trying to work things out, or break their system. She had already opened an Artfire shop, but back then, Artfire was just a startup, and not working the way it does today.

One day I suggested she go back to eBay, where she started. Statistically eBay as far more traffic than Etsy, so I thought it worth a try. Poppy knew that only her genre clothes would sell there, and sell they did. Sadly, she eventually had to give up her very popular Longstockings and beautiful designer clothing, but she found a niche on eBay with genre clothing and cosplay. After time, her business on Artfire grew nicely too.

This year, in this poor economy, Poppy will be earning close to double the money she made on Etsy. It took a lot of work and re-imaging, but she is a success once again. It really can be done. For those of you who think Etsy is the Sun and the Earth, take a step back from your computer and breathe the real air.

There are many sellers who have left Etsy for their own websites, craft shows, brick and mortar shops, and other online venues, with great success! I know this, because I've done it myself. I had to re-image too, but between my eBay store, websites, and Artfire stores, I've made a living too.

You can visit us at our websites. Poppy's is poppyswickedgarden.com
Mine are akacinders.com and poppysgardengate.com
They will all link you right through to our Artfire shops. We use the websites as a gateway to our shops. Artfire is great for this, because you don't need to be a member to buy, so it's just like having an online shop. And if we decide to switch venues, it's just as easy to do it this way.

Bizz Buzz - Life Without Etsy Part Deux

I had another post written for today, I bumped it to next week because I wanted to write this post about my amazing Daughter Poppy.

About a year ago, Etsy made an unfair decision to shut down Poppy's shop. She had been on Etsy for years and was a top supporter and a top seller of handmade original clothing designs. She also reconstructed shirts and there was where the problem lay. While she sells reconstructed shirts on other sites without problem, Etsy chose to remove her and all of her shops including one we shared, because of excessive flagging, even though her items were legally made and the flagging not valid. Etsy didn't listen to reason. You can read more about the incident in these past posts. Etsy Shop Closings

Poppy's clothes are beautiful, original and wonderfully comfortable and well constructed. She's amazing at her craft. Watching her design is a treat. She gets an idea in her head, lays out fabric and just cuts it. She takes her pieces to the machine and just like magic it's perfect. No patterns, no measuring and she can reproduce it over and over without pattern, in any size. I could never sew for her when she was in the hospital, because her patterns are all in her head. When she was on Etsy, she was on the front page regularly. You remember her adorable Poppy Longstockings I'm sure.

This month Poppy is Clearing out her Poppy shop on Artfire at ridiculously low prices as she prepares to close shop. She has to go back the the Genre fashion that brought her to Etsy from eBay. It makes me very sad, and I'm sure it makes her even sadder to see all of that wonderful work sold for practically nothing. But Artfire and eBay are a different animal than Etsy was.

Poppy will still have her genre shop, Poppy's Wicked Garden but that's her cash cow, not her heart and soul. I know how she feels, because I'm not selling my beloved product either, but I chose to try another path with it. Poppy has a new baby and doesn't have the time to try other markets, when she has product that sells.

So if you get a chance, stop by Poppy and pick up a great deal, or tell Poppy how great you think her designs are. She'll appreciate that.

Thank You Poppy for Making the world a prettier place.