ETSY going public, will artisans stick?

It's beginning to become painfully clear why last week ETSY.com, the "artists market," suddenly and without any warning to its 30+ Million members made broad stroke changes to the Categories used by sellers.  Many sellers items now have a highly generic category locale and other have none at all.  This unforeseen sweeping change had the effect of taking a baseball bat to a wasps nest.

Though we Etsians (as we often call ourselves) use ETSY.com as our venue to sell artworks, crafts, supplies and vintage items, we consider ourselves the "owners" of our stores.  To know that changes like this are done in what appears a clandestine manner after having put so much work into taking time to list each item may see a mass exodus of members.

Now today, the news reports that ETSY has filed IPO paperwork and is going public.  Ughn.  As an artist, I just have a gut instinct (and I tend to trust my gut instincts when it comes to my artwork) that this will not benefit me as an artist and in fact will probably, if I stay a member, cost me.  I would LIKE to look at it as a good thing that will bring more buyers to the venue, but my gut tells me that large manufacturers and people mass producing, not hand crafting, will be getting the lions share of the business on my and other artists' backs as we continue to "finance" them by giving them a market place filled with amazing items.

Over the years, it has gotten more and more difficult and required more and more time and effort to get items seen without having to actually spend advertising dollars on "featured ads."  Time will tell, but it will be something I personally as an Etsian will watch very closely.  In the meantime, I will not be surprised by the many artists who jump ship in coming months.

Is ETSY going Artsy unfriendly??  *sigh*  Time to find other venues.

Is Etsy an Amazon Wanna Be?

I try very hard to keep my thoughts and blog upbeat and positive.  But something happened today/yesterday that really has be irked.

As an artist, I chose to have an account on Etsy.com to post and attempt to sell my artworks.  Over the past few years, there have been many changes to Etsy.  Some of those changes have been for the better and improved the look and feel of the site.  Others have really veered off course from a site that promotes art and crafts to what is beginning to feel like an Amazon Wanna Be.

The categories by which items are often found by searchers were drastically altered by Etsy staff and so many of my items from each of my four stores, Bohemian Art Cafe, Espresso Bar Designs, Ephemera Bistro and Flower Child Trends were completely obliterated.  Most of the categories I had previously used don't even exist on Etsy today as an option any more and just about every type of glass anything that I sell does not have a way to be categorized other than a very general "Arts" or "Supplies."

I'm so frustrated because I have spent so many hours working on setting up my stores, making sure that each of the four shops are offering specific types of items that I make without overlap, and just listing the items which takes hours when you take into consideration taking good photos and correcting photos to look as good as they can, describing and going through the insertion questions for each and every item.

I have to admit that for the past couple of years I have felt that Etsy was moving more to a mass produced market and away from the grass roots market of small artisans and crafters--so many more suppliers who make it impossible for small suppliers to compete, you can't leave negative feedback for them if you have a bad experience because they immediately give you negative feedback and fight to get your honest feedback removed so they look like they give good service even when they don't.

At 20 cents per listing (which comes to 5 cents per month) the question for me is whether the aggravation I feel is worth the admittedly small amount of money spent when I am having to constantly market my store so it even shows up anywhere near the front of search algorithms and not buried in the middle...I don't have time to join a bunch of teams and go around giving feedback and doing all the craziness that apparently some people do to make sales.

So, that being said, while I decide whether or not Etsy is for me, I've decided that I will be expanding my Square Market shop to include items that I have been posting on Etsy, as well as on Art Fire and Bonanza.  It's just such silliness and I don't have time for the silliness.  It takes enough time just to list an item or two a day.  I will be opening my shop on these three other sites beginning at the beginning of March.

I'd welcome thoughts from any readers who are also on Etsy and what you think about the new category changes, how you think they are going to affect you, etc.  Yes, I DID give Etsy feedback about what I found to be very problematic and am not just sitting here whining without trying to contact them first...but chances are they are not going to change it back to the old categories.  It is not, to my knowledge, even on the table as an option from them.  So irked I am and considering my options as to whether the Etsy as Amazon Wanna Be is the place for me to sell my artworks. 

Embracing the Thriving Artist Within

It's time for artists, myself included, to release the starving artist routine and to embrace a consciousness of embracing the thriving artist within.  It's time.

Making art is one thing.  Selling it successfully is an entirely different beastie.  Many artists have no or very little business experience.  Many artists are uncomfortable selling, some are nervous meeting new people and/or talking about themselves.  But there comes a point where your home has all the art it can hold.  You have all the jewelry one human can possibly wear.  Your family and friends and co-workers all have all the art from you they can fit into their house. And short of stock piling it or rotating it around, the next step is selling.  

I had a studio in a building with other artists.  I no longer have that luxury as there is nothing like that here (although I would love to create one).  I don't want the expense of overhead for a storefront.  I have opted for selling from my website/etsy/zazzle/bonanza...but I don't want to spend all of my time trying to make the sale.  I also have been experimenting with farmer's markets and craft shows, selling my art wholesale and having trunk shows, as well as teaching classes.  I have selected show cases where I place my work on consignment but I am very careful about where I place this work and to make sure I know the seller well.

My experiment with farmer's markets, flea markets and like (also online) is that the people who are attending are 1) not looking to purchase my items at all (looking for produce and that is it) and 2) if they look at my work, they want it at a yard sale/flea market price and want to dicker...which I don't do.  My prices are set based on my labor, my cost of materials, overhead and my profit x 2 for the retail price.  My wholesale prices are based on purchasing multiples of an item.  Let's face it, I have to make a living in order to be able to continue to not only do what I do, but to love to do what I do.  So, after six months of attending farmer's markets, I am out of that market business.  My experiment has taught me that these are not my buyers.  Time to move on.  There is no point in continuing now that I've realized that this is not the place for me.

Having come to that conclusion, I continue to experiment with what works and doesn't work.  I continue to select craft shows to try out (since I'm new to Florida I'm still finding out what works)...for example, a recent example of a show that did not work for me was for a really great non-profit and it featured a car show.  I sold nothing.  I had very few people even stop by my booth. There were only about 8 vendors at the show.  It dawned on me toward the end of the day that...these people were not here to shop.  Most probably didn't bring any cash or perhaps some didn't even have any disposable cash to spend.  They were there to look at cars.  Lesson learned.  I won't return next year.  Though the price of my booth was minimal, I still lost money from it, not to mention the loss of time spent getting to/setting up/and being there--this was time I could have spent in a better way.  

I'm still figuring it out.  And I have to admit, that the commitment of a blog can become a burden.  I don't want it to be.  I want it to be here because I love sharing my thoughts and experiences and my art.  And the social media...I don't want it to become a chore.  I want to enjoy sharing what I am working on.  The flip side is that I now realize that I have to be consistent with my contacts...and I apologize to those of you who check my blog regularly and find I haven't updated in a LONG time.  I'm going to get back to just enjoying at and hope that you will respond by sharing it with others.  

I'm ready to move back into the arena of thriving as an artist.  I embrace and welcome it.  I'm willing to do what needs to be done so I can continue to create my unique artworks.  I encourage other artists to consider embracing thriving.