Hey!

Go buy some soap, or a nice candle, ok?

Martinsville is a great place to shop, you know.

Yeah, yeah, whatever

So I started listing a few things on Etsy again, mostly because the shows I was planning on doing this summer turned out to SUCK with a capital UCK.

The sad fact is that listing works, and I'm lucky enough to be in a market where people are buying on Etsy. You should just still buy my stuff on my website, though. :^P

Oh, you noticed that I'm linking to my site and thereby revealing who I am, eh? The reality is, I really don't care. And in part, it's an experiment, but I can't give that part away just yet. ^_^

A half-formed thought

So I've been doing a lot of reading - and posting - over at Etsy Bitch, and as much as I love the idea of venting in the name of change, in honesty I think everyone realizes that it just isn't going to actually change anything.

Etsycorp isn't going to fix their multitude of problems just because a bunch of people complain.

It's Etsycorp's bottom line that needs to be impacted. But how to do it without hurting the thousands of indie businesses that are depending on Etsy? (I feel sorry for the multitude of them, really.)

There needs to be a concerted, orgaized effort to put a dent in Etsy's main source of revenue - listing fees.

Things that could be done:

~ STOP RENEWING ITEMS. Period. Just don't do it.

~ Stop listing new items.

~ Stop promoting Etsy as a whole. Get your own domain name and point it to your store if you have to, but don't tell people you're on Etsy. Don't tell all your crafting friends to set up stores. Tell others that the idea of Etsy is great, but the closest thing to a business plan they have is a children's book.

~ I would love to see a concerted effort on a "No Etsy Mondays" - where sellers either don't list/relist/renew on a certain day of the week, or list the same item in a different venue. Find a LiveJournal group, add something to Flickr (within their rules, mind you!), throw it up on Facebook or MySpace, put it on eBay if you have to. Just not on Etsy. Anywhere but Etsy. And not just one Monday, but all of them. Every Monday. Because I can guarantee that every Monday, there's another new disgruntled Etsy seller that wants to see change.

Maybe that would work.

Or maybe I'm delusional. That's entirely possible. ^_^

A bright spot in the pit of hell that is Etsy

And of course, it's not actually on Etsy, but about it. Which is much better than having to go into the forums, which, according to several good friends of mine, has become a total cesspool of whiny 20-something whores who ask total strangers if it's a good idea to go on a weekend camping trip as the only girl with 20 guys.

Someone send that ho a case of condoms, some Anal Lube and a bunch of those pregnancy kits from the dollar store, 'cause she's going to need it. Hopefully they'll be able to videotape enough of it so they can cut down on the number of paternity tests, if only so she knows which guy should drive her to the abortion clinic. Oh wait, I know! They can all drive her there together!

What. The. Fuck. When did crap like that become appropriate for a business website? I'm not the type to believe in the general degradation of our society, but if I wanted to read shit like that, I'd spend more time on MySpace.

Gives a new meaning to "you should shut your hole" though, doesn't it?

But I digress.

Yes, Etsy Bitch! is already added to my toolbar, snuggled quite nicely between my UEN feed and the direct link to my store. I figured it would feel at home there.

I'd prefer not to think about my Etsy store, though. I haven't sold anything since the 7th. That might be a new record. Meh.

HAHAHAHA!!!!

Taken from the comments at The Consumerist article about how fucked up Etsy has become:

"etsy sounds like ebay's granola-eating sister, who smoked a little too much ganja, got paranoid, and grabbed a ton of FBI forms."

WHY OH WHY are the fuckwads at Etsycorp still allowed to control the company??? Especially that twat Daniellexxoo or whatever her name is. I am glad that I have not visited the forums in months.

The lunatics have taken over the asylum, indeed.

So why all these interesting changes?

Last week Etsycorp unveiled the Gift Guide amidst much fanfare and brouhaha.

Now this week, a much quieter change - they've cleaned up their Privacy Policy. It actually reads like someone who has experience as an attorney wrote it now. (You can read about it over at my personal favorite place to read the real news - the "Unofficial" Etsy News.)

Could this be even more evidence of a "cleanup", as suggested over on Etsy Dirt?

Will I really get what I want for Xmas? I'm all atwitter in anticipation.

Yes, even I am thankful for Etsy

It's Turkey Day here in the US, and since I'm already up at this ungodly hour of 8 am waiting for the oven to reach temperature, I thought I would reminisce about all the parts of Etsy I am thankful for.

I am thankful that it's a marketplace, where other small, mostly home-based businesses can get a foot in on Internet sales without knowing how to create a website.

I am thankful that the forums are always such a huge source of drama that I have something to talk about nearly every day over the dinner table. It's a ritual now for me and the Mr. - I ask him about work, he asks me what today's drama was. And there's always something!

I am thankful for the Storque, because I know it's always going to give me something to point and laugh at.

I am thankful for all the Flash-based ways to buy things. Who needs that pesky, slow, old school way to search like an advanced search engine. Shop with the Geolocator instead! It's a great way to waste time!

I am thankful for the chance to have been to the Labs, and to meet some of the Etsy staff in person - and realize that yes, at least one of them really does have NO SOCIAL SKILLS and needs to learn the basics like INTRODUCING YOURSELF.

Speaking of the Labs, I'm very thankful that I didn't actually STEP on on any of those pins on the floor. I should send them a broom for Xmas.

I am thankful that the Labs hadn't been shut down for serving alcohol to minors before I went there. Seriously, someone should keep an eye on that.

I am thankful that they use what I call the Grand Moff Tarkin Method of Crowd Control - it makes them look like idiots, it foreshadows what will eventually come, and it has given me the total freedom to create a blog that is not attached to my real name or business name so I too can spew forth my hatred of their stupidity out into the ether.

What I'm most thankful for, srsly, is my friends I have made through Etsy, and the friends I continue to make, because Etsycorp is SO FUCKED UP. So thank you, Etsy, for being such idiots and totally screwing up a great idea.

Now go eat some cranberry sauce or something.