Etsy changes-what do you think?

[Rowan MacD]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/10/30/240803436/etsys-new-policy-means-some-items-are-handmade-in-spirit?ft=1&f=1019

  Apparently Etsy will allow factory made items to be sold as 'handmade in spirit"?
  From the couple of stories I have read thus far, this appears to be an attempt to appease some successful Etsy vendors who really should be moving their business to Ebay, or perhaps start their own website.   Now that they have become too big to really 'do it themselves' anymore, they still want to market their now mass produced items as handmade using Etsy.
   What do you think?

Note: I don't sell anything, but I am concerned with the integrity of the sites I buy from.

[isabelladangelo]

Etsy long ago gave up on following their own rules.  The stories I could tell!   Many foreign (ie Chinese) companies already sell on Etsy - they just start up a new site when the old one gets shut down. 

[Rowan MacD]

  I made a comment on Yahoo to that effect.  I expect the Asian seamstresses that get the boot on Ebay can now (if they aren't already) bounce back and forth between the two sites with impunity. 
  Looks like Zibbet is the place to go now.  As one seller mentioned in the comments, she started her own website because she specifically does not want to be associated with cheap, mass produced products.  The only problem is that most customers will still go to Etsy, thinking they are getting quality handmade items.

[gem]

I don't know. I love etsy, but I buy a lot of craft supplies there--and obviously those yards of silk and quilting cotton and wool flannel aren't hand-woven in someone's basement studio, and I don't expect that Vendor X is hand-forging hook and eye tape or jewelry findings. There is already a commercial listing on etsy for items like that, and I know I'd certainly rather see more small businesses like the one profiled by NPR stay on etsy, than have to wade through the endless listings of "vintage" and "upcycled" stuff that's already there.

[isabelladangelo]

I've been thinking of going to Artfire.  They seem more responsive than etsy