RESEL;LERS ON ETSY

Resellers, those shops that try to pass off mass manufactured products as handmade are getting a strong foothold in the Etsy doors.  Allowable reselling are in 2 categories;  vintage

and commercial crafting supplies, nowhere else.  It is even not allowed to buy an item on Etsy and then turn around and resell it, unless it is a commercial crafting supply or vintage.  Any other category is reserved for handmade by the seller.

So, how do you identify who is a reseller, or if a seller has items that are not h andmade by them?  Most of the time, people who are in the a specific craft can pick them out much easier than those that aren't.    And you tend to have at least 2 different kind of resellers, ones who have a shop of handmade stuff who are usually trying to unload stuff they don't want or won't wear anymore.  For example, a gal that sold simple handbeaded jewelry, also had cast rings with stamping in them.  A red flag is when certain items just don't fit the sellers skill set.  Of course, that in and of itself isn't enough proof, so a little detective work is necessary to see if you can find out where else this type of thing can be purchased.  Sure enough, in this case, I found the exact ring sold in Target, so my guess is she bought if for herself at one time and either can't wear it anymore and figured since she already had a shop with handmade jewelry she could slip it in.

I often find the casual sellers are a little more difficult to back with proof of reselling because a lot of stuff is picked up here and there over a few years and might no longer be in the current inventory of the store they bought it from.   They're profiles are usually pretty general and they might elaborate on their love of crafting and creating the perfect thing and yadda, yadda, yadda with no real details about their craft.

However, the career reseller, one who's shop is dedicated completely to items purchased from a wholesaler  is usually easier to spot, but still it is much easier for those in that particular craft to discover them, they are more familiar with the wholesale sites that carry these items.  And of course, some shops just give themselves away by stating that their item is new in the package,  or new with tags or imported from wherever.  They also use names like Gucci, Dooney and |Burke and other famous brand names, and whether they are the real thing or knockoffs they are reselling and not allowed.  Unless, of course, they are vintage, and then the vintage people can spot the ones that aren't vintage.

Resellers often have no location listed, very scant announcement, no policies, their descriptions might give specific details as to size, material content, but there is no connection to the buying public  and they tend to use only 1 or 2 tags only.  The pictures can be another clue, even though we have some artists who take spectacular pictures, there is something about catalog pictures that gives them away.  Oftentimes you can google their shop name and find other places they sell that will describe their items as imported.  That's a nice piece of proof that I have used before when reporting a reseller.  If the same items on that website are the same on Etsy and the website says their imported and Etsy just implies they're handmade by avoiding mentioning it, it's pretty safe to assume they're reselling on Etsy.

I'm sure there are more little things I've omitted, so feel free to add to them.  I don't think anyone who isn't familiar with a craft can spot them like those who are intimate in a particular craft can.  I'm quite sure though, that we have knowledgeable people in every category who could go a long way to weeding these sellers out,