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Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staff

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Re: Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staff

#91

Post by cocktailpeanuts »

accountyaccount wrote: post #70
danso wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had forgotten that Etsy changed its policy on allowing mass manufacturing several years ago: https://www.wired.com/2015/09/etsy-embraces-mass-manufacturi... http://abcnews.go.com/Business/etsy-ceo-ipo-mass-production-... Alibaba-resells has had a detrimental effect on Kickstarter and Indiegogo-type platforms too. Many of the things submitted to r/shittykickstarters seem to be resells. Indiegogo doesn't mind them, a…

The amazing thing about Kickstarter knockoffs is that there's a huge market for simply stealing an idea and beating it to market. People have made hundreds of thousands of dollars doing this. It's completely absurd, Kickstarter product transparency is, in hindsight, almost ideal to steal products from.

That's the business model of Zara, and there's nothing wrong with it. You can't "steal" something if it's public domain.

If you die off because some Chinese seller "stole" your idea which by the way you came up with first, then you deserve it because it means you didn't execute well enough.

I think this kickstarter culture has done more harm than good for makers because it made them chase instant gratification instead of substance. If you look at what happened to all the ambitious Kickstarter hardware companies, there is not a single one I'm aware of that's on their track to wild success.

People used to actually pour in their time and money (not just a slick youtube video) and risk all their reputation to build something that matters to them. I think at some point people decided to believe that you can take the shortcut via Kickstarter, but it's increasingly becoming clear that there is no such thing as shortcut.

It still sucks for them that these inventors are not rewarded for their brilliant ideas, but then again, I think if you are really serious about your product, you should invest more into it and make sure things like this don't happen.

Re: Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staff

#92

Post by ozi »

contingencies wrote: post #46
eliudnir wrote: post #36

I ordered a rustic pipe desk from Etsy a while back and the seller was not able to deliver the item on time. He/she communicated the issue so it wasn't that big of a deal for me. I had a prearranged vacation coming up while waiting for the item to be finished and sent, so things took a little bit longer then expected on both ends. When I finally got back home and put the desk together, I noticed that there were items…

This is why centralized marketplaces in general are, in my opinion, on the way out. In the future people with something to offer will be able to offer it without being routed through one-size-fits-all platforms who want to control your options for communication, payment, reputation, shipping, etc. in a "my way or the highway" attitude. If one takes this perspective, then Ebay, Taobao, and Etsy are all anachronisms, t…

Where will they get traffic? That's a fundamental reason people choose marketplaces like etsy in the first place and it's not easy to replicate without a lot of experience or luck.

Re: Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staff

#93

Post by ansible »

gwaefawfewaef wrote: post #62
niftich wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like issues arising in most multiparty content aggregators, whether they're social networks or marketplaces, Etsy's seller situation reduces down to a discovery and reputation problem. - How do you highlight "genuine" artisan products without some laborious process to inspect the seller? - How do you allow new sellers to build the requisite reputation to be trusted as good and legit? How do you do this in a way so th…

We recently purchased a handcrafted rustic patio set from an Etsy seller in Michigan. https://www.etsy.com/shop/naturalcrafting There are definitely some legitimate artists on there.

Ditto. I recently upgraded my EDC multi-tool to a Leatherman Surge. I also wanted to carry the bit kit and socket extension. Leatherman's own belt pouch for this is laughably bad:

http://www.leatherman.com/surge-premium-leather-sheath-314.h...

After searching around a little, I did find this guy who makes really heavy duty sheaths:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Nayscustomleather

It is a bit bulky, but it is likely to last the lifetime of the tool itself. Very good quality.

Re: Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staff

#94

Post by throwaway61891 »

subpixel wrote: post #88
throwaway61891 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i dunno, people like those centralized solutions because managing communication, payment, reputation, shipping, etc. are a huge pain in the ass. i mean even if you look at major alternatives to etsy (like shopify), they still are "centralized" in that regard. buyers also need some sort of discovery platform - even if it's just google, then google becomes the centralized platform, no?

> buyers also need some sort of discovery platform These platforms exist in all sorts of places outside of marketplaces. Pinterest is essentially bookmarks for shopping. Ditto Wanelo (and other similar sites for different demographics/verticals). Certain Instagram networks are all about products. Babylist is to baby showers what The Knot is to bridal showers. And these are just what I can think of off the top of my h…

> Pinterest is essentially bookmarks for shopping

except they're trying to capitalize on the marketplace part too: https://about.pinterest.com/en/shopping-pinterest

> Certain Instagram networks are all about products

ditto: http://blog.business.instagram.com/post/152598788716/shoppin...

> former Etsy sellers who, once they achieved traction with their products, decided to build their brands on their own and not compete toe-to-toe with copycat sellers

yeah, this is etsy's real problem - they do a bad job of keeping top sellers on the platform. i haven't seen much attrition because of copycats, but more that etsy is just a really bad platform for managing a big shop. the fact that your sellers went to shopify is, to me, just evidence of that.

Re: Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staff

#95

Post by throwaway61891 »

pcurve wrote: post #26

Based on reading through all the comments, it sounds like Etsy should've never gone public. A lot of people saw this coming a mile away.

eh, etsy should've never gone public because etsy was trying to be a company that put "people above profits", which is extremely difficult to do as a public company. market backlash against that kind of sentiment is severe. see also: american airlines.

Re: Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staff

#96

Post by empath75 »

a13n wrote: post #78
quotemstr wrote: post #20

Welcome to the bursting of the second tech bubble. It's been slow so far, but it'll accelerate soon. Hang on! Why is it that on these threads, nobody seriously considers the possibility of a secular decline? Fundraising, after all, has slowed, real estate in south bay has softened, and interest rates are rising (making tech relatively less attractive). Not to mention the scandals that have erased billions; see Theran…

> Fundraising, after all, has slowed This was definitely true Q2-4 last year, but it's made a come back. It feels to me like 2016 was the year where fundraising "corrected" (more accurate than slowed) from "prioritize growth above anything" to "show a path to profitability or you're screwed". I'm even starting to hear from founder peers that I should raise because the seed market's hot again. I think it could easily…

Prices in bubbles surge just before the pop.

Re: Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staff

#98

Post by blhack »

mustacheemperor wrote: post #2

The conversion problem on mobile does seem like an issue, but speaking as a former customer of Etsy what drove me away was the selection. Not that it's too small - rather, Etsy is now flooded with thousands of storefronts selling "artisan" pieces that are actually bought on AliExpress or similar and marked up. If they're trying to apply ML to managing customer recommendations, they should figure out how to identify w…

This is tougher than it seems on the surface.

A few years ago, I was involved in planning and running a maker "fest". We invited makers, and artists to the festival to show off their projects, and some of them wanted to sell things.

A not-insignificant number of participants who wanted to sell things were just reselling things you could buy at Michaels, or buy online (in bulk) for cheap.

Sometimes with just a little modification, or maybe a creative recombination, or repackaging.

The problem is that you basically have to examine every single item, and then personally decide if it qualifies as art or not.

That's a lot harder than it sounds, and can quickly devolve into a judgemental mess that nobody wants to participate in (we wanted to encourage makers, not subject them to some "must be at least this cool" test, which is scary for people).

Imagine the PR fallout for etsy the first time they tell somebody that their handmade widgets look like mass produced junk.

I think they're in a really tough spot. When they weighed the options, my guess is that they realized that it would be best to let the consumers just decide what they want to buy.

Re: Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staff

#99

Post by kbenson »

throwaway61891 wrote: post #35
mustacheemperor wrote: post #2

The conversion problem on mobile does seem like an issue, but speaking as a former customer of Etsy what drove me away was the selection. Not that it's too small - rather, Etsy is now flooded with thousands of storefronts selling "artisan" pieces that are actually bought on AliExpress or similar and marked up. If they're trying to apply ML to managing customer recommendations, they should figure out how to identify w…

it's trickier than you think. a VERY common complaint i saw while i was at etsy: "i make bracelets and someone on aliexpress is ripping off my designs and even my photos, what do i do?" i'm not denying that someone would do exactly what you're describing (purchase on ali and resell on etsy), but it's sometimes way more complicated than that.

There are even more complications.

My SO makes a living selling hand made party supplies on Etsy, and has for years at this point. I assume she's fairly successful for an Etsy seller since she makes multiple thousands a month on hand made items (all made to order, a fair portion customized to specification). Even so, with all the work she puts in it's not significantly better than minimum wage after expenses and the time she puts into the shop. She has for a few years considered buying cheaper party supplies (plates, napkins, etc) in bulk and selling them in addition to her hand made crafts because customers generally need and so are going somewhere else to buy these items anyways. This is a case where allowing mass produces items would be a win-win, as the customers could get their custom and generic items in one order (they specifically ask if they are offered), and she could make some additional money from each order. Without the ability to resell mass produced items, you constrain this positive aspect of the system.

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