Ok, I don't really want to use my blog to call people out, or denigrate others, there are plenty of blogs out there that do this already, However, I have a perfect example of why the flagging system is flawed.
On 9/21/02 I flagged this shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7252357 for listing mass produced mood rings in her shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31299595
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31300004
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26846448
Which you can find here:
http://www.globalmarketstore.com/moodrings1.html
Note the pricing, for goodness' sake, if you're going to buy a mass produced mood ring, buy it directly from the wholesaler and save yourself the markup.
Now, you don't find the exact same mood rings here, but I think it's enough proof that the shop owner did not make the rings. Period. So they don't belong on Etsy. I don't see what the hold up is.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25917321
I found an ebay shop selling the same bracelet:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Swarovski-crystal-flowers-with-Frogs-stretch-bracelet_W0QQitemZ370228820462QQcmdZViewItem
and a website that carries them:
http://www.amerimark.com/cgi-bin/amerimark/postkey_find.html?cm_mmc=channel-_-engine-_-media-_-069933&keywords=069933&media=G60705&srccode=cii_9324560&cpncode=23-56664433-2
She even started her own thread, calling herself out here:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6292751
And though the thread was closed, still nothing has changed.
And that's not all I flagged. There's plenty wrong in this shop, for example:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27812220 she says its vintage (is it really?) and yet it's in housewares.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27789293
This is in dolls and miniatures. Really? She made this out of hard plastic? how talented. We all know it's not handmade, it's not a supply and she doesn't mention that it's vintage so it just plain doesn't belong on Etsy.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27838469 ok, so these are in woodworking. Did she handcarve them? I'm guessing not, she does not mention making them herself. They are not a crafting supply, they are not vintage...they don't belong.
I'm sure there are more violations, but honestly, these are the ones I flagged, gave proof of and the tag abuse is blatant, why the hell can't Etsy do something about this?
I also came across this ring:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30760561 and flagged it with a link to the same exact one sold at target:
http://www.target.com/Sterling-Silver-Karma-Inspirational-Ring/dp/B002ICIV7W
If you look at her rings category, there are 4 others I flagged, though I don't have proof that she is reselling, judging by the jewelry she handmakes, she doesn't have the skills to make these. It gives me the impression she went through her jewelry box and is 'destashing' stuff she doesn't want. Still, flagged early in september, and even the one with proof of not being handmade, it still remains.
This is all stuff I came upon by chance. I don't make a habit of looking for violations because, quite frankly, even if I did purposely look, I wouldn't have to look hard, they're everywhere. Some blatant resellers, some not so noticeable. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter whether I purposely go looking or happen upon them by accident, they're there and I flagged with enough proof to prove they either don't belong or are in the wrong category but nothing is done. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of i t.
14 comments:
Clickable links really help a lot.
PussDaddy
The whole Etsy way of doing things is flawed, IMHO. I was never really able to see it before until I took my finger off the buy button and stepped back to just looky-loo. From flagging, to feedback, to admin playing favorites, to closing good shops and leaving crappy ones open, to how people are muted and or banned, none of it makes one bit of damn sense. I think they are mainly based on this tree-hugging, vegan dieted, home spun ideaology that in truth is not really in as high demand as they think it is, and even they don't know how to market it, and they sure have no people pleasing skills when it comes to either buyers or sellers.
PussDaddy
To make your posts clickable, use the edit HTML mode when you are making your post. Then click the little underlined link icon that is in the bar above your posts, you know in the box where you are typing what you are going to post. You may have to click
"allow scripeted windows" but maybe not.
Anywho, after you do that, you can just copy and paste and insert your link into the little box that comes up. It already has the http://, so what I do is just copy and paste and insert what comes after that. For instance here is my blog
http://pussdaddyblogs.blogspot.com/
but when I post a link to to it using that link thing so I have a live link I leave off the http:// part and just insert
pussdaddyblogs.blogspot.com/
and that makes it a clickable link. There may be another way to do it, but this is how I do it.
PussDaddy
I read her profile, and she says that she buys things and embellishes them, and by Etsy's TOU, that is valid..although some of us might not like it..no worse than encuraging those little cupcakes to compete for sales of palagiarised Twilight stuff (check out the Storque article recently)...at least she says what she does, no bullshitting there...
I would have to agree on the truelove. Also, I have been looking at bonaparte I believe already, if I haven't blogged about her already.
PussDaddy
Here is what I had on her.
http://pussdaddyblogs.blogspot.com/2009/09/another-seller-whose-feedback-you.html
PussDaddy
Thanks PUss for the link info, I have firefox, so all links are clickable for me. None of my links work?
MiZ, I read that too, which is why I didn't flag some of the items, but no way those rings are embellished. And that plastic figurine, I see no embellishment My main bitch is that the obvious things are not removed and I don't know why, I know Etsy is aware of them, they have the proof, so what is the hold up? It's not like she can offer proof that she did make or alter them in some way.
Lord, Puss, I never even looked at her feedback. I was focused on her mass produced items and supplying proof of their non-compliancy.
I don'r normally scrutinize the shop from top to bottom. I'm more focused on the thing that attracted my attention in the first place.
It's pretty damn clear that some people should just not have a shop on Etsy, they either don't know/follow the rules and the stuff they sell was probably procured from yard sales, or stuff they bought for themselves a few years ago and got tired of and want to unload for a few extra $$. Hell, I have about 10 pair of crystal candlesticks from my crystal decor period that I'd love to unload. I could tie some ribbon around them and add an old chandelier crystals to make them 'handmade', I suppose, but frankly it reminds me of putting lipstick on a pig.
Meh, there is just so many things wrong all at the same time, and it doesn't seem like anyone has a handle on any aspect of it.
It's been over a year now, that Matt said they had a plan for preventing resellers, and yet, where is it?
The links are working for me now and were after I mentioned them not working. That was a very well put together coherent blog post by the way, just how I like 'em, lol.
PussDaddy
I am now 100% convinced that I never really love Etsy, Windy, I actually love the sellers and the stuff they make. Once I cleared the sequins outta my eyes and the rick rack outta my brain I could see more clearly that it is pretty screwed up a lot of the time.
PussDaddy
truelove must have been trippin' balls.
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6310083&page=1
PussDaddy
WOO HOO!
She's GONE!!!
Yuo know Stella, I don't like to see anyone close their shop down or be closed down because of non-compliance. It doesn't give me warm fuzzies or a notch on my belt.
Granted, some of the things you had listed were out and out just not allowable on Etsy, period. Others, may have squeaked by in the supplies category.
The fact that you were so obsessed with being flagged in the first place by starting 2 threads on it and ignoring all the advice that was given to you. Albeit, the noodleheads that kept focusing on the Hello Kitty stuff were kind of getting the real issues pushed to the side, the fact was, you didn't really want to hear any of it.
The Etsy forums can be pretty harsh, yes, I agree. But for those who WANT to do the right thing Etsians will fall all over themselves to excuse and support you.
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