Disclaimer: This is solely my perspective as an Etsy seller of handmade goods.
Etsy's new policies regarding what can be sold on the site as handmade now blurs the distinction between handmade and mass production. I understand that this decision legally opens the website up to a whole new seller-manufacturer demographic that Etsy will greatly profit from--to be fair, these manufacturer-type shops have always been present on Etsy, albeit by not being forthright about their manufacturing process--but at the same time, these new guidelines constrict the creative process that drives many other Etsy sellers who make the deliberate choice to create and sell goods that they themselves--and not a manufacturer--conceptualize and mold from start to finish.
Etsy's new policies regarding what can be sold on the site as handmade now blurs the distinction between handmade and mass production. I understand that this decision legally opens the website up to a whole new seller-manufacturer demographic that Etsy will greatly profit from--to be fair, these manufacturer-type shops have always been present on Etsy, albeit by not being forthright about their manufacturing process--but at the same time, these new guidelines constrict the creative process that drives many other Etsy sellers who make the deliberate choice to create and sell goods that they themselves--and not a manufacturer--conceptualize and mold from start to finish.
It takes hours, days, and sometimes weeks for the creative process to unfurl. This creative process includes not only the conceptualization and molding of a product, but also the intellectual property, photography, and shop listing writing--which adds up to hours spent on quality control, which is then reflected in shop prices.
The mass production of jewelry, for example, brings prices down so low that it is difficult for someone like me, who hand chooses each stone and carefully creates each piece without having to worry about creating x-amount of items per hour, to compete. Even if the same materials are used. However, it's the Etsy buyer who is ultimately given the choice of where to shop, but how influential are the new Etsy policies on this choice? Only time will tell. The rallying cry, "Shop Handmade" now has a new face.
I just hope with all my heart that Etsy takes a long, hard look at its newly minted corporate-type guidelines because handmade is, at its heart and soul, priceless.
I just hope with all my heart that Etsy takes a long, hard look at its newly minted corporate-type guidelines because handmade is, at its heart and soul, priceless.
