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Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

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Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#121

Post by brnt »

csomar wrote: post #91
MicahKV wrote: post #43

I'm one of those sellers who is being forced into Etsy's new ad program. It is frustrating and obnoxious, but I can't say it is surprising given the policy changes they've been rolling out the past few months. It seems to me that online marketplaces like Etsy find their early success by bringing buyers and sellers together and just letting them do their thing, but as the marketplace becomes more established it's rela…

> I feel like we need some form of regulation That's crazy. Etsy is not the market, it is a market. If you don't like it, you move somewhere else. We already have too much regulation that for some fields it's impossible to start a business without jumping through many hoops. Last thing we need is to start regulating on a per-business basis. This is really a case of giving up your store brand/independence for convenie…

Always had the feeling this is a consequence of business and legislative culture. The US seems to favor large near a monopolists (Amazon, Walmart, two or three network operators, Facebook) and consequently people regard those places as semi-public fixtures of the environment which one cannot do without. Whereas in Europe still markets are much more plural and its easier and thus more common to move your business. When people say Europe does not produce behemoths, I see that as markets operating better than in the US and generally being a good thing.

Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#122

Post by skinnymuch »

sneak wrote: post #94
MicahKV wrote: post #43

I'm one of those sellers who is being forced into Etsy's new ad program. It is frustrating and obnoxious, but I can't say it is surprising given the policy changes they've been rolling out the past few months. It seems to me that online marketplaces like Etsy find their early success by bringing buyers and sellers together and just letting them do their thing, but as the marketplace becomes more established it's rela…

> I'm one of those sellers who is being forced into Etsy's new ad program. How are you being forced?

They mean forced if they want to continue using Etsy, right? Or did I misunderstand the intent of your comment.

Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#123

Post by lathiat »

Fnoord wrote: post #105
csomar wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like we need some form of regulation That's crazy. Etsy is not the market, it is a market. If you don't like it, you move somewhere else. We already have too much regulation that for some fields it's impossible to start a business without jumping through many hoops. Last thing we need is to start regulating on a per-business basis. This is really a case of giving up your store brand/independence for convenie…

> That's crazy. Etsy is not the market, it is a market. If you don't like it, you move somewhere else. Easier said than done due to network effect. That's what they went for. Its also how Amazon and Facebook got so big. Heck, its even why Microsoft Windows got big. Become the cheapest, get volume, then abuse your market domination.

And different to past history is that network effect is now largely worldwide and not just local to a city or even country.

Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#124

Post by skinnymuch »

masonic wrote: post #69
stordoff wrote: post #49

> If you’ve made more than 10,000 USD (approximately 7,800 GBP) in sales on Etsy in a 12-month period [...] you’ll be required to participate for the lifetime of your shop That's not exactly what I think when I read "biggest sellers". That seems like a remarkably low cutoff. Also, if you don't need/want to grow and/or you have low margins, this could wipe you out. 12% revenue of _any_ orders within a 30 day period of…

It's reminiscent of what StubHub did last year when, just a few weeks before baseball season began, they increased their commission on MLB tickets by 50% . Yes, fifty percent .

Interesting. Wonder if that was during eBay or new ownership.

Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#125

Post by fiblye »

glogla wrote: post #95
csomar wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like we need some form of regulation That's crazy. Etsy is not the market, it is a market. If you don't like it, you move somewhere else. We already have too much regulation that for some fields it's impossible to start a business without jumping through many hoops. Last thing we need is to start regulating on a per-business basis. This is really a case of giving up your store brand/independence for convenie…

> That's crazy. Etsy is not the market, it is a market. If you don't like it, you move somewhere else. Sufficiently big _a_ thing becomes _the_ thing because of economies of scale, network effects and "the software is eating the world" effects. See Google, Paypal, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and so on.

I don't want to be condescending here, but I know it'll sound like it.

Etsy is small potatoes compared to those companies. It's the most easily avoidable of the bunch. If Etsy makes a truly stupid decision and sellers revolt, they'll be on life support before the year is over.

Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#126

Post by skinnymuch »

stordoff wrote: post #49

> If you’ve made more than 10,000 USD (approximately 7,800 GBP) in sales on Etsy in a 12-month period [...] you’ll be required to participate for the lifetime of your shop That's not exactly what I think when I read "biggest sellers". That seems like a remarkably low cutoff. Also, if you don't need/want to grow and/or you have low margins, this could wipe you out. 12% revenue of _any_ orders within a 30 day period of…

Does any one know roughly what percentile of active and/or previously active sellers have done $10K in lifetime sales? By active I’m not including people who sold 0-2 things ever as that seems fair to cut off.

Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#127

Post by skinnymuch »

leeoniya wrote: post #39
gentleman11 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think etsy was cute and fun, but if their tracking is that intense, and they treat their sellers like that... the warm and fuzzy feeling doesn't really stick around

> I used to think etsy was cute and fun to the tune of ~$100M? https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/etsy

Etsy is a $6B public company now

Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#128

Post by officialchicken »

brnt wrote: post #121
csomar wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like we need some form of regulation That's crazy. Etsy is not the market, it is a market. If you don't like it, you move somewhere else. We already have too much regulation that for some fields it's impossible to start a business without jumping through many hoops. Last thing we need is to start regulating on a per-business basis. This is really a case of giving up your store brand/independence for convenie…

Always had the feeling this is a consequence of business and legislative culture. The US seems to favor large near a monopolists (Amazon, Walmart, two or three network operators, Facebook) and consequently people regard those places as semi-public fixtures of the environment which one cannot do without. Whereas in Europe still markets are much more plural and its easier and thus more common to move your business. Whe…

> When people say Europe does not produce behemoths

Volkswagon, El Corte Englais, Credit Swiss, Ubisoft ... there's at least a few in each member EU state, just like the United States

Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#129

Post by Dahoon »

MicahKV wrote: post #43

I'm one of those sellers who is being forced into Etsy's new ad program. It is frustrating and obnoxious, but I can't say it is surprising given the policy changes they've been rolling out the past few months. It seems to me that online marketplaces like Etsy find their early success by bringing buyers and sellers together and just letting them do their thing, but as the marketplace becomes more established it's rela…

>Amazon has a program that allows "business" customers to place an order and pay the invoice 30 days later.

That is how it works "in real life" everywhere in the world, so i don't see why Amazon should be any different.

Re: Etsy sellers are furious over new mandatory ad fees

#130

Post by joking »

bitxbit wrote: post #120

Etsy is really not a good platform. There’s gotta be a better way to set up these markets. It is now a little more than trivial to roll out your own web store at zero cost. Why pay these exorbitant fees?

because some people goes directly to etsy and if you are not there you are losing a sales. However, what etsy is doing, is what booking has done to the hospitality sector, it reinvests many of the money it gets from selling your products in getting more people and more sales done, to the point that they are working almost as your digital marketing agency. Probably you would be better investing the dollars that you pay to the marketplace in your own online ads campaign, but if you are small maybe it's not worth the work.

Also, once someone has made his first purchase on the platform (call it etsy, airbnb, amazon, booking, whatever). It's easier to make a second purchase than register in another new site.

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