Sara, Chad and I had a fantastic trip up to Canada this past weekend and had the pleasure of meeting with Etsy sellers, buyers and friends in both Toronto and Montreal! We’re Etsy Admin for Product, Engineering, and International, respectively, and we learned a lot from our travels North.
Though Air Canada added a wrinkle to our travel plans we did finally get up to Toronto in time to meet with about 45-50 people, most of whom are pictured below.
After we gave a brief introduction, we opened up the floor to questions and suggestions. We heard a range of good ideas for tools such as batch editing, taking orders while in vacation mode (to be processed after vacation) and the ever popular local pick-up. We also talked a bit about how to strengthen the relationship with the maker through expanded profiles, video and having links such as “follow me on Twitter” (about 1/3 of the the attendees have Twitter accounts). Chad and Sara took copious notes. Some of the requests, such as rearranging items in your shop and more clearly stating USD next to prices, are slated for release soon. Our host Karyn, a current Etsy buyer and owner of The Workroom, where we held the event, was kind enough to publish this blog post about the event. And minouette also did a great write up on the Trans-Canada Etsy Team blog.
It was a quick stop in Toronto as we were on the 8am flight to Montreal to meet another group of 40-45 people at Headquarters Galerie & Boutique, where our host Angie set us up.
The format was the same and there was a lot of energy in the room — must have been that extra bit of sleep we allowed by moving the start time to 11am 
There were loads of ideas, including getting the word out to more buyers (we noted a number of suggestions on this front), making it easier to search within the listings in your shop, improving communication tools for Teams, and a comment about accents not showing up in Shop Local. Note: We’re looking at many changes to Shop Local, but for now it’s best to eliminate accents from your profile location (in other words, type Montreal with no accent over the e, to ensure you’re found in the Shop Local feature).
Special thanks to MileEndSoapandCandle who gave us this totally cool custom Etsy candle. I’m not sure she knew that Etsy was turning four this June but we’ll be sure to put it on our cake!
The Q Team also had a nice showing with the eight members below in attendance.
Team members from left to right, back row: Mezzo, JulieWebb, GiftedDesigns (member coordinator), nellyvansee. Front row: KatjaDesign, LunarWorkshop (Q Team leader), juliejongleuese, Suza.
The Q Team’s stated goal is “to promote the work of crafters and artists living and working in Quebec and to support one another in taking our business to the next level.” From their enthusiasm I’d say they’re living up to it!
Overall, I can’t say enough good things about the people, the cities and Canada in general. We had a great visit and look forward to my the adventure North!
Please add photo notes with your names to the Flickr photos!
Cheers,
Liz, a.k.a. muka
Read More Etsy International Posts | Shop Local Montreal | Shop Local Toronto
52 comments
Sign in to add your ownLaveMeSoapCo says:
Looks like a blast!
3 years ago
galstudio says:
I'm glad you enjoyed your visit in Canada. To know us is, is to love us!
3 years ago
Jujie says:
looks like a great group a people! I wish I could have been there :)
3 years ago
HibouCards says:
Lokks like it was fun! Love the owl messenger bag :)
3 years ago
adoreneko says:
What a happy gathering! I see some familiar faces. :-)
3 years ago
breadandroses says:
What fun & a learning opportunity! How about featuring sellers in the Great Lakes region? Cleveland is a great place and there are so many terrific, talented artists/artisams within a few hours drive. Cultural amenities abound!
3 years ago
Mimiandlola says:
I wish I was there!
3 years ago
SewnNatural says:
fantastic! wish I was there too...
3 years ago
VintageEyeFashion says:
Hello Canada! Looks like a great time was had by all!
3 years ago
stitchface says:
So great to meet some of the Etsy team and many amazing Toronto Etsians- Thanks again to Liz, Chad and Sara :D
3 years ago
HansenSoapCo says:
It was an AWESOME day!! Thanks so much for visiting us here in Montreal :) Hope to see you all here again soon.
3 years ago
pandawithcookie says:
I'm so happy to see JulieWebb! I love her work!
3 years ago
beadznthingz says:
This sounds like it was so much fun and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your visit. I wish I could have been there too!
3 years ago
gifteddesigns says:
Oooh...such lovely photos and a great assemblage of people and pieces! I know I had SO MUCH fun and I'm so glad you came to pay us a visit in Montreal. I hope you come again soon so we can celebrate the incorporation of some of the ideas we were all so eager to see brought to Etsy to make it even better than it already is! Thank you for showing off EtsyQ, everyone is so amazingly talented and we can't wait to accept more wonderful artisans!
3 years ago
JulieWebb says:
Thanks so much for coming to Montreal! It was super fun to put faces to user names and products, and exciting to hear some of the new things in the works at Etsy. :)
3 years ago
CollectionObsession says:
Looks like a great time. Sweet baby hat and booties.
3 years ago
polkadotsoup says:
You guys looked like you had a blast! I wish I was there - hopefully "next time" :)
3 years ago
minouette says:
Glad you could come to see us! It was great to meet some Toronto etsians in person, after knowing them online.
3 years ago
ellecools says:
It was great to meet you and some fellow local Etsians. And thank you for asking for our Canadian perspective on Etsy!
3 years ago
minouette says:
Also, I posted about the Toronto meeting on the Trans-Canada Etsy Team blog: http://transcanadaetsyteam.blogspot.com/2009/05/etsy-admin-comes-to-canada.html
3 years ago
Radness says:
Looks like fun!
3 years ago
JessicaDoyle says:
What a great evening it was in Toronto! Was great to mingle and meet with other sellers. Thank you Karyn for hosting it and thanks for listening to us Liz, Chad and Sara :)
3 years ago
mynta says:
Looks like a lovely gathering! I would have love to be there... how does one find out about events like these? Or was it invitation-only?
3 years ago
LittleCritters00 says:
Love the meeting of artists. Coming togehter and working together.
3 years ago
EJPcreations says:
OMG NEED THE DAPPER BUNNY!!!
3 years ago
CutieDynamite says:
How awesome! Tons of great items to choose from, too!
3 years ago
bylynnkrestel says:
can't wait for you to come to vancouver... its got a great group of etsians too!!
3 years ago
Mizdragonfly says:
I SO wish I could have been there! Thanks for posting a review to share the outcome of your meet and greet! It’s was interesting to read the ideas that were raised and to see that we are evolving as a community! :) As a Canadian buyer and seller, I was delighted to find out that some of the requests included: expended profiles (with a photo option I hope), possible video links and to the idea of a USD mark next to prices. Keep up the good work!
3 years ago
auleecreations says:
I love Canada ;)
3 years ago
bellasparty says:
Cool, what a fun!
3 years ago
angelune says:
Thanks again to Chad, Sara and Liz, it was great to have you visit and it was just as awesome to meet so many Toronto etsians in person, and at one of my favourite places, the workroom!
3 years ago
HandKnitHugs says:
oh, wish I could have been there!
3 years ago
easelarts says:
Wish I could have been there but my other work life got in the way. Hopefully it won't be long before you travel North again.
3 years ago
sheenajewellery says:
I had a friend visiting from NY and we were off to Quebec City for the weekend. I tried to organize another ride so I could make the meeting but the timing just wasn't possible. Looks like you all had a great time. Wish I could have been there!
3 years ago
blackeyedsuzie says:
The meeting was so great - thanks so much to Sara, Liz and Chad for making the trip and answering all of our questions!
3 years ago
reqbat says:
wow, we're hot. ^_^
3 years ago
3dots says:
Wish I could have been there!!
3 years ago
Marolsha says:
Wished I could have been there...... it would have been really nice to meet everyone! I love everyone's work ! I registered to attend, but was down with a bad headache and fever on that day :(
3 years ago
laurabucci says:
It's nice to see the faces behind the names. You all look so cool in those photos!
3 years ago
AFarmersDaughter says:
Oh I wished that you had stopped over in VANCOUVER British Columbia. We have a huge ETSY TEAM here, We have many great indie markets where almost everyone at the market is an ETSY Seller. Also 4 times a year we have a great all ETSY Seller Market bringing in over 400 people plus to the event. Please come visit us next time!!!!! Please say you will
3 years ago
Abagoffabric says:
Great post Go Canada Go ! Would be great you guys could visit Vancouver or Calgary. I live in the southern interior of BC . Any way great stuff
3 years ago
ColleenBaran says:
Looks like a great event. I'd be delighted as well if you visited Vancouver here on the west coast of Canada! And Thanks so much for featuring my Floating Saucer Ring 1!
3 years ago
neawear says:
Was awesome to meet you guys!!! Come back soon! :P
3 years ago
CricketsCreations says:
What a crafty, talented and photogenic lot...where'd you come up with all those good-lookin' peeps, Canada?? No wonder so many famous actors/singers, etc come from up North. ;) Celeste (Crickets)
3 years ago
FashionTouch says:
Go Canada Go!!!! Feel so sorry, i could not make it to Toronto :(( Love to see so many crafty people coming from Canada!
3 years ago
TianaCHE says:
Graet is's so cool to see each other! I'm from Russia, hope somtimes i'll meet all Russian Etsians) Thank you for the article and for pics!
3 years ago
angelune says:
It took me a few days, but I finally wrote a bit about it on my blog http://angelune.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/jaime-etsy/
3 years ago
flourishing says:
it was a lovely evening! thanks for making the time to visit - come again! xooxo
3 years ago
Cocosjewelry says:
Sorry I had to leave early. but it was great meeting everyone!
3 years ago
InspirationsbyStella says:
I wish I had known, it looks like I missed a very special meet n greet :). Well, I hope to meet more Montreal Etsyians...love that name Etsyian-sounds like something out of Narnia LOL.
3 years ago
Tina669 says:
I wish I was there!
2 years ago
AprilAnna says:
I wish I had known too .... I would have gone had I known about it! I never heard anything until now, and now it's a year later! (well almost a year, not quite)
1 year ago