Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#1

Post by parkern » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:03 PM UTC

I feel a business that doesn't get mentioned that often around here is Etsy. While the money raises and investors behind it can be read about on Tech Crunch, not much is mentioned about the business.

Thought I would get some discussion going on it: -How do you feel Etsy was able to overcome the Chicken and the egg problem? -Were they able to just find a great market that was being underserved by eBay? -Do you see other markets that could flourish by being "spun" out of eBay? -How were they able to market themselves to not only shopkeepers but consumers as well?

I am sure there are other good questions as well..

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#2

Post by petervandijck » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:28 PM UTC

Can someone describe the basic business model of etsy, and how they manage to make $ (and how much) first? traffic, ...

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#3

Post by s_mennen » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:36 PM UTC

Etsy has three revenue sources: a 20 cent listing fee, a 3.5% sales fee, and an in-site ad system named Showcase.

Their board is Jim Breyer, Fred Wilson, Caterina Fake and Rob Kalin (founder, CEO).

They are profitable as of earlier this year, founded in 2005, based in Brooklyn, and put on a good show fo' sho'.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#4

Post by chrismunns » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:36 PM UTC

I heard they have a pretty kickass tech blog though! http://codeascraft.etsy.com/

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#5

Post by natgordon » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:38 PM UTC

Etsy does really creative product search - it might be the best site out there. http://www.etsy.com/buy.php. It's a really fun site to navigate.

They probably get less attention in the tech space because their user base is mostly women.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#6

Post by minouye » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:39 PM UTC

Etsy tapped into one of the most passionate communities out there, which happened to be on eBay not by choice, but by necessity. If you want to find opportunities, I'd say look at who is using eBay, Amazon, etc. (as a platform) out of necessity due to a lack of alternatives. Once you find those niches, you've already established that there is a market, and if you design a product for that community, customer acquisition should be directly related to the quality of your product.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#7

Post by chrismunns » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:41 PM UTC

Also heard they are hiring like crazy! http://www.etsy.com/jobs/

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#8

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:44 PM UTC

petervandijck wrote: post #2

Can someone describe the basic business model of etsy, and how they manage to make $ (and how much) first? traffic, ...

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#9

Post by parkern » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:45 PM UTC

minouye wrote: post #6

Etsy tapped into one of the most passionate communities out there, which happened to be on eBay not by choice, but by necessity. If you want to find opportunities, I'd say look at who is using eBay, Amazon, etc. (as a platform) out of necessity due to a lack of alternatives. Once you find those niches, you've already established that there is a market, and if you design a product for that community, customer acquisit…

Do you think when they made those initials pitches investors had a hard time seeing the market potential for hand made items?

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#10

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 20, 2010, 10:50 PM UTC

[deleted]