"Activist investors are coming for Etsy"

[caeterle]

This is an article about "Elliott Management, the investment management firm known for its aggressive governance tactics" buying Etsy shares and options.
Maybe it's interesting for someone.

[DawninCal]

I missed this post until this morning.

Hmmmm...well, that is interesting. The way I feel about Etsy right now they have no where to go but up. Their search function is worse than ever. Some of my items don't even show up no matter what search terms I use. I have had one sale in a year; prior to that I had a sale every two weeks. Not great numbers, but at least it was steady.

I rarely visit the Etsy forums. I guess I'll head over there to see if the sellers are talking about this.

Thanks for the info, Cat!



Dawn

[Sophy]

Well, Enron, TWA and Worldcomm all went down in flames, so this is not promising. They sound like bullies, and worse, their track record looks spotty at best. Nothing like a bully who thinks they know it all, but in reality know little or nothing. (I work with people like this, I'm sad to say.)

[DawninCal]

Carole, you just described my last boss and the reason I decided to retire.

I took a look on the Etsy forums and the general consensus was that things can't get much worse than they already are. Some welcome the change, others dread it and the majority just doesn't really seem to care one way or the other. Lots of disillusioned folks over there. Of course, that's just going by the few people who post at the forums. Who knows what the rest think of them think or if they are even aware.

I'm going to take a "wait and see" approach. If things really go south, it'll be time to move on.

On a related note, I did another search for some of my items and most of them actually showed up on the first or second page. Go figure!



Dawn

[brad]

I have been trying to get support for changing my Etsy store, from triangle selling, to jewelry. I had not been to my own site on Etsy for years. Went there and noticed an Etsy report of a private sale item I did not deliver. Well, I had a perfect rating with some good comments, and this private sale was in 2013. I can verify the sale, but I never kept records of actually delivery tickets from USPS. I always sent the triangles Priority mail, all over the world. I tried contacting the person who needed a new beater for a triangle (9.00 sale) but no response. heck 13 years ago. I really don't want that mark carrying forward, as it will with a shop overhaul. I have spent hours trying to find a way to sent a message or file a complaint, and all I get are bullet points of BS, then at the bottom, the click for "did this information help" I click NO and it sends me to more pre printed help. (I have not listed an item since about 2015)

[DawninCal]

Brad, trying to get any kind of customer support from Etsy is an exercise in frustration. They once took down three of my listings because I used the word "amber" to describe the color of the items. Actual amber isn't allowed to be listed on Etsy because a few years ago someone sold a teething necklace made of amber beads. In a tragic development, the baby was strangled by the necklace and the grieving mother sued Etsy. Etsy, in their infinite wisdom, decided the problem was with amber, not that a baby never should have been given a necklace made of beads in the first place or that these items shouldn't be marketed as safe for babies. Anyway, Etsy's solution was to ban the word "amber" as a descriptive term which resulted in bots deactivating any listing that used the word whether it was soap, candles, clothing, jewelry, etc. I tried for months to get that straightened out with Etsy and all I ever got were canned responses. One of these days, I'm going to relist those items using a different color description such as "honey", but I haven't got around to it yet.

Ironically, on the Etsy listing page amber was on a drop down list of gem stones that people could check as being used in their product when they wrote their listings long after the ban on amber went into effect, further adding to the confusion/frustration of sellers. Having amber on the list caused sellers to think amber was fine to use - a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing. They've since updated the listing page and I notice Amber is no longer on the list. Anyway, I'm sharing all that just to give you an idea of how worthless Etsy customer service is.

Your best bet is to go to the community forums and post your question there. There are many active, experienced shop owners on the forums who will help you/make suggestions of how to handle your situation.

Or, you could just shut down your shop and open a new one. The only question is if that would raise any red flags with Etsy and cause you problems down the road. That's another question you could ask when you post to the forums. If you go to Etsy's main page and scroll all the way down to the bottom, you will see a clickable link for the forums and that will take you where you need to go. I would probably post your question under the "managing your shop" forum category.

Good luck!



Dawn