Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–49 of 49 posts

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#41

Post by bdickason »

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…

Precisely. A good example of this is vintage furniture sellers and refurbishes. They don't really fit well on eBay because of high shipping costs and difficulty to identify pieces and Craigslist is very hard to crack due to regionalization. For example, Hudson, NY has tons of stuff on Craigslist but New York, NY is hugely lacking in antique furniture.

Anyone that is caught in limbo between eBay and Craigslist and thus resorts to flea markets or other 'in-person' gatherings for sales are good targets.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#42

Post by jesson »

Long time HN reader, but this is my first comment. My wife and I have been planning our son's 5th bday and have used etsy for the first time for party favors, labels, etc.. My experience with etsy sellers is A+. We searched ebay, craigslist, and amazon before deciding to make our purchases on etsy. Maybe, evite should team up with etsy, so I can buy my crafts for the carnival party, while I send out the evite. Hmm...maybe I just found an idea for a side-project.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#43

Post by code_duck »

parkern wrote: post #23
ctingom wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your source?

How does Etsy determine what people can sell and can't sell on the site? I know its all hand made, but how do they draw the line?

It's dicey. Handmade in Etsy terms can mean as little as altering a commercial item by splashing it with pain, or as much as making a silver bracelet entirely from sheet metal.

The line is blurred by the fact that they allow vintage items (defined as 20 years old or more - clearly something decided by 23 year olds) and mass produced craft supplies in their own sections, which has always been a source of confusion and friction. The CEO/founder blamed this on 'Leah from Craftster' in an interview, saying she picked the categories.

Other than that, it's not juried in anyway which is think is good. BUT, they do sometimes interrogate sellers about whether their items qualify, and come to incorrect and poorly supported conclusions about whether people are allowed. Etsy has has a long history of closing people's shops suddenly with no accountability or recourse... it's really inconsistent, too. Really inconsistent. Check out http://www.etsybitch.com for some recent horror stories.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#44

Post by patricia »

They just tapped into an area -- crafting, artisan designers, etc. -- that was underserved by the market. eBay's client won't recognize these types of vendors as much as they seek out stuff like major commercial brands so the selling capacity was likely limited.

I don't care for etsy as a customer but it's a great company from a business standpoint.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#45

Post by gmack »

joshwa wrote: post #30
julio_the_squid wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Chris Munns, Etsy Sys-Ops Team. Wow, where'd you hear that? :)

That kind of self-linking would get you banned at MetaFilter ;) But tell Gerry I said to pop on over here and chime in.

Hey Joshwa, thanks for the tweet-vite, I'm glad to share.

Etsy is successful, ultimately, not because of some putative secret sauce (though we do have very powerful and unique behind-the-scenes tech).

We are successful, ultimately, because we are providing tools that support and enable the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people, help their artistic and creative achievements be seen and recognized around the world, and subvert the common shopping experience people have to add a personal connection to the creators of the goods they buy.

If anyone were to identify a similarly unmet need, another ignored and under-served community, and created a place online that had a positive impact on the lives, they would also succeed. What "business model", which metrics or revenue streams make sense, depends on that community's characteristics, and it doesn't have to be complicated or some sort of trick.

That all said, it's of course crucial to have reliable, flexible, scalable, rapidly evolving technology behind you. I have been working here relentlessly to get our team to the point where we are free to innovate as much as we can. To be honest, there is already abundant information on the web and elsewhere about what works, and what doesn't; it's not really a mystery.

But you need the resoluteness to actually execute on these best practices, and the courage to innovate even in the face of occasional mistakes.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#46

Post by jasonlbaptiste »

parkern wrote: post #37
joshu wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was more the novel marketplace I think.

Hey Josh, I have kinda asked this to the group, but thought I would direct it at you. Do you think other sub-markets of eBay could flourish as a separate entity? Or was Etsy just able to find a really good balance of a good market with a good audience?

I have this gut feeling that local furniture could be a huge market. Almost all my friends (even the ones with lots of money) got a large portion of their furniture from craigslist and other people.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#47

Post by Chirael »

My girlfriend used to like Etsy, but she was burned by several sellers there and now actively avoids it unless she personally knows the seller offline. It seems that their mechanisms from protecting buyers from sellers who don't perform aren't really that good.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#48

Post by joshu »

jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #46
parkern wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Josh, I have kinda asked this to the group, but thought I would direct it at you. Do you think other sub-markets of eBay could flourish as a separate entity? Or was Etsy just able to find a really good balance of a good market with a good audience?

I have this gut feeling that local furniture could be a huge market. Almost all my friends (even the ones with lots of money) got a large portion of their furniture from craigslist and other people.

I always wanted to build a couch search engine.

Re: Ask HN: Lets talk about Etsy

#49

Post by jasonlbaptiste »

joshu wrote: post #48
jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have this gut feeling that local furniture could be a huge market. Almost all my friends (even the ones with lots of money) got a large portion of their furniture from craigslist and other people.

I always wanted to build a couch search engine.

I'm kind of tempted to build this in a visual manner. I'd have to find a novel way around getting craigslist data due to their draconian API policies.
Post reply on HN