The Good, The Bad And The Etsy

In October of 2007 I was hitching a ride down the virtual highway on a turnip truck, when I fell off and landed on the front page of Etsy. I remember being utterly enthralled with it. An entire site devoted to shops for people who make things! How fabulous is that!? I looked at the site quite a bit, there was so much to offer. So many pretty pictures of amazing things people were making. I signed up right away but I didn't open a shop. I noticed that most things were on the lower end of the price scale and I was doing pretty well on ebay at that point. For some inexplicable reason I thought it would be a conflict of interest to sell there as well.

A few months went by and ebay decided to change their policies and pricing. A lot of people were unhappy with the new changes and chose to leave the site. That combined with a personal problem I was having with a scam artist that they couldn't have cared less about caused me to leave as well. So I went that same day and set up my shop on Etsy thinking this was going to be great! I noticed there weren't a lot of bear artists selling there yet, but I knew they would come in time. As time went on they did come.

After setting up my shop...nothing happened. I thought that was rather odd, but I figured people couldn't find me there yet. So I waited...nothing happened. More bear artists came and a team was set up dedicated to us, and I thought NOW people will start finding out that we are there! They will start to be comfortable with higher priced things for sale since Etsy was growing and more types of people were selling their wares. Nothing happened, but not just for me. Nothing happened for most of the bear artists. Not even bear artists who have shops that sell out the minute they do a personal website update.

We set about trying to get a category for ourselves because there really wasn't an appropriate place for us. We were finally given a sub category under the dolls and miniatures section. Sadly there is no indication from looking at the front page that we are there. But we are! We moved our stuff to the new category full of hope. In the interim I bought two main showcase spots, started going into the forums to use the promotions section, using twitter for promotions, and pretty much doing everything I could to get not only attention for my own work...but the work of all bear artists on Etsy. I even changed my photos two times, because on some level I was certain I was doing something wrong. Nothing happened.

I finally decided to really make a concerted effort to find out why we weren't selling. After doing the showcase spots I discovered no one sells very well by buying them. This is probably because they are only accessed by a small unobtrusive link on the front page. So I started studying the people who are successful, the way Etsy promotes people in the Storque, the treasuries that make the front page, the gift guides, etc. Slowly but surely I started noticing things. Many of the kinds of things Etsy tends to promote are hip and trendy and aimed at younger buyers. Ok...there is nothing wrong with that, but not every buyer on Etsy is going to have those tastes. They don't really feature as broad of selection in their promotional venues as they could. I have never once seen an artist teddy bear featured on the front page. There may have been, but I have never seen one. I look at the front page a few times a day since I am doing this research.

They have about six types of items that they have made into stars. Everyone says that the treasuries are controlled by the users and not the site, but a lot of people caught on pretty quick and started including those six types of items in their treasuries in the hopes of getting their treasury to the front page. It's working because I never, EVER see a treasury on the front page that doesn't include at least one of those six types of items. So this all became very interesting to me. I have been watching for about two and a half months now. But I still wasn't certain the lack of promotional love and being buried in the doll category was what was keeping bear artists from selling on there.

At long last, today I have hit upon that answer due to many posts in a thread made in the forums. Apparently the media touts Etsy as being a place to get a good deal. They have been compared to an online flea market, a bargain basement, and worst of all...a place where you can buy fine handmade goods for less than Walmart prices!!! Etsy has done nothing to dispel that notion, in fact they have embraced it and perpetuated that idea. This weekend they have given promotional space to people who have discounted their items by having sales or free shipping. They created a sense of peer pressure for sellers to discount already fair or even low prices in order to get featured. They had hundreds of people signing up to do sales in hopes of getting some exposure because they can't get it from Etsy any other way, and then they only featured a couple dozen who chose to take the biggest discounts. While I don't believe that was their intention, I also don't believe they stepped back to look at the big picture and the future ramifications of that type of thinking.

Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having an occasional sale. I chose to do it this weekend as well. It had nothing to do with Etsy and more to do with with rewarding people with a little break in prices who chose to stay safely in their homes on the busiest shopping days of the year. But if you are someone who is already making very little if any profit on your work and you discount 30% you are not only cheating yourself, you are under cutting and cheating every other seller out there who feels they have to compete. That didn't really happen with bears because sales aren't really something that has ever been the custom in the bear world. But I saw it happen to many other types of vendors. The next time they choose to have people sign up in order to get featured I am sure people will offer even bigger discounts to the point of taking a loss on their items in order to get that coveted exposure.

There was a time in this country when people took pride in their skills at making things. As a bear artist I still take pride in being able to make something that I know will last, that I have put my heart and soul into and that is unique and special in a way that can't be bought at department stores. The cost of supplies for making a bear are not cheap, they are also very labor intensive. My prices are very fair for what I make and you get what you pay for. Sadly artisans with that mindset are not being recognized by Etsy. All the bargain basement hype is detrimental to us all.

I fully understand that Etsy is a business and they want to make money and have a slick looking homepage to draw shoppers in. There is nothing wrong with that. But their mission statement is to provide a place where people can make a living selling handmade. I don't know why they aren't supporting their own concept by taking their promotional efforts in a different direction, or at very least many directions to support all types of artists and crafters, professionals and hobbyists alike. They never seem to focus on the fact that handmade items are usually unique and well crafted by people who put a great deal of time and hard work into their creations rather than saying that handmade is a bargain that can be had for a song. I am not going to close down my Etsy shop because I have already paid for an ad coming out on the 8th on Craft Cult. I am not saying that my lack of sales are completely their fault, I am sure part of the fault still lies with my shop in some way. Nor am I quite ready to give up on them because I hope maybe they will figure this out and do something about it. However, I am going to stop wasting so much of my time and effort to support them if they don't want to return to the favor to so many of us.

It makes me very sad that such a wonderful concept got so far off track. I could easily make one of those six items they love so much, and I am sure I could make a lot of sales if I sold them cheaply. But that isn't what I am about. I have worked too long and too hard to devalue my skill set or my work.

Edit: I wanted to add the link to the article and a thought to this. We are given the choice as to how we run our business, we are given a choice whether we want to sell on Etsy or not. We have not been given a choice as a majority on how we want Etsy to promote the arts and crafts industry as a collective. That is a very large issue we have no control over unless we make our wishes known to them by speaking out.

Article Link

Stopping To Think

As you know from my previous post I am running a sale this weekend. Many people in the arts business are. I was in the Etsy forums last night and there was much discussion about how much people are selling by running these sales. The answer was not much, followed by the perfunctory comment that the economy is bad. They keep saying on the news that the economy is bad and affecting sales this year in the major department stores. But I started really thinking about this. They say every year on the news that sales are down from the previous year. But yet a lot of companies are thriving. Besides, when has the news ever been that reliable of a source for the truth? Sure some stores have gone out of business but in my opinion it was because you could always get the same stuff from some of their competitors for less, like Linen's & Things for instance. They never really sold anything that spectacular and their prices were always above other stores. I think they would have gone out of business anyway.

Our gas has dropped by more than a $1.00 per gallon. I don't know a single person that has been laid off or taken a pay cut. I know there are people who have, I just don't know any of them. But people get laid off and take pay cuts all the time, even when the economy is good. Groceries are coming down from over inflated prices. I haven't seen any significant increases in my bills.

So all this makes me wonder...is the economy really that bad? Or is it a simple case of two things...prices got inflated very quickly because of gas hikes but they are coming back down to normal now. Secondly...maybe people think the economy is bad because everyone keeps parroting what everyone else is saying about the economy being bad and we are all buying into that perception?

I was saying it too for a while, but really nothing in my life has been that greatly affected. There is nothing wrong with saving for a rainy day, but if we all stop buying things the economy really will crumble.

Food for thought...

Website, Lollishops & Etsy...Oh My!

I have updated my website for Christmas, you can have a look here:

Blondheart.com

Lollishops will be opening today, and it's fabulous! You can look at that here:

Lollishops

In the spirit of Christmas giving, I am having a sale this weekend on Etsy, which is the first sale I have ever had in 28 years, so take advantage of it while you can! It might be another 28 years before I have another one! (I will honor the sale price if you purchase directly from my website as well, just put "blog" in the e-mail header.) If you would like to purchase anything please send me a convo and I will adjust the listing price for you here:

Etsy Shop

Thanks a lot, hugs, Kelly

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to wish everyone, their families and friends a lovely Thanksgiving!

Human Nature

Lets suppose for a moment that it's 4500 years in the future. Lets also suppose that all written records have been obliterated. Archaeologists stumble upon Mt. Rushmore. What would they think? Would they think that the four presidents were gods we worshipped? Would they think it was a place of rituals or burials of important people. Perhaps they would think the presidents noses pointed at water sources or were a way to keep time.

I love ancient history, but I always find it fascinating that archaeologists go straight to one of the mentioned formulas above. I was just reading an article on Stone Henge. As usual the theories for it's use were a giant calendar, a place of worship, a burial ground or a place for ritual sacrifice. While I am sure that's very possible, I have to wonder why no one considers that maybe it was just art...or a market place. Maybe it was an entertainment center with plays or parties. Something deep in the recesses of my Celtic soul tells me they haven't found the right answer yet.

While I realize that religion played a much larger part in ancient cultures than it does today, human nature doesn't change that much. We have always had a sense of humor, something that is rarely depicted in pop culture. But I am pretty sure neolithic people enjoyed a joke as much then as we do now. We have always loved, art, entertainment and gathering together for a merry making.

There is the argument that there are a lot of burial sites around Stone Henge...ok but think about current culture. We bury people in organized cemeteries, but some people choose to do some pretty outlandish things with their remains. We like having a testament to our lives and we choose to express those as uniquely as we can.

I don't need to know what Stone Henge was used for, I can simply revel in the fact that our ancestors went to great lengths to build it and that in itself is a testament to the human spirit!

~*~ Snow Queen Bearbit ~*~

I am having fun with these little funny bears, and I added a new one to Etsy. You can visit her here:

Click to see the Snow Queen

Split Personality?

I have noticed as I go along that many people do two blogs, one for work and a separate one as their diary of sorts with personal things. I find that kind of interesting. I guess it never would have occurred to me to do that. I do have another blog, but it's only for featuring other artists a few times a week.

Way back when I started blogging I never thought anyone would read it anyway and I used it to say whatever was on my mind or whatever happened to me at any given time. I posted pics of my work because it was a good way to keep a record in case I forgot to write anything down.

Low and behold right out of the gate people did start reading it. As soon as I discovered this I began to wonder what my obligation was? Did they want to know me as a complete person with many moods, just to see pics of my latest works, or did they want to read only the good stuff and buy into some type of fantasy people sometimes have about artists? Was my blog just for me to exercise things from my brain, write it all unvarnished or did I have a commitment to my readers to only write the happy?

The truth is, I still struggle with this question sometimes. But along the way I found a formula that works for me. I don't know if anyone agrees with it, but that's ok. I figured that if someone only wants to see the new things I made they will just look at the pictures and aren't going to take time to read my usually wordy posts anyway. I could have chosen to just post the good things that happen, or dress things up to create a fantasy world where nothing ever goes wrong, but I chose not to do that either. I used to follow a blog that posted like that and I had to stop reading it, it was clearly contrived and I couldn't take the sugar rush. Overall I am a pretty happy, positive person, but I am a real person too. I go through times that are rough, most artists do. I prefer to read about real live 3 dimensional people, so I post like one.

Now you may not agree with me, and I am in no way saying to do otherwise is wrong. Ultimately our blogs are ours to do with as we see fit. Some people don't want to share their lives and others need a fantasy for a variety of reasons. It's up the reader if they want to come along for the ride. Some people buy a season pass, others take it for a whirl now and again, and still others just peek through the fence to see what it looks like.

I truly appreciate everyone who takes time out of their busy schedules to stop by, regardless how often, for how long or if it's to just to take a look at pics. I hope I never let anyone down by what they read, of course sometimes our words are misread or misunderstood or people just flat out disagree, so it happens. I do believe that people feel a certain comfort in knowing that more people have the kind of concerns they have and sometimes you can get together and brainstorm towards a common solution. I am always thrilled when someone is inspired by what I have written. I combine posts about work and real life because work is part of my real life. I guess blogging is kind of like life...it doesn't come with a manual and we just do the best we can!