Buyers, What do you think of Etsy shops having employees?
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Original Post
I've seen a few threads recently discussing Etsy shops having employees making items, not just helping with packaging etc.
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According to stella:
"Aside from the part about no consignment/gallery/third-party representation, we do not currently have rules that dictate the business relationship between individuals in a collective."
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Apparently, as long as you disclose the names of the employees and what they do, it isn't against policy.
What do buyers think of this? Would you purchase from a shop that stated they had employees making the items. How many employees would it take before you didn't consider it handmade anymore?
Posted at 5:04pm Aug 13, 2008 EDT
Responses
If they are packing and labeling things and helping to allow some of the bigger soaps (and small shops too), to keep making their crafts, but help their shops grow then great! I mean none of us would like to give up craft time for packing time if you could afford to hire some one to do that work for you.
When I get weird though is when some one is creating your work/product in your shop, outside of a partnership, it is a bit weird as that feels against the intent behind Etsy.
Posted at 5:11pm Aug 13, 2008 EDT
I couldn't care less what anyone does with their shop.
Posted at 5:12pm Aug 13, 2008 EDT
You know, I can see both sides of this issue. If you've built up your business on Etsy to the point you need an employee, it seems reasonable. If you are a huge company with many employees already and set up a shop here, that doesn't seem quite right to me, yet how do you draw the line? Should businesses be able to outgrow Etsy? should they be expected to leave because they've reached a point where they need help? Then the question of exactly how you monitor this. Someone lists 100 handbags a week. You're pretty sure they aren't doing it themselves, but when you ask they say they are. How do you go about proving it one way or another?
I'll admit there are gray areas and limiting sellers in any way has the potential to also limit Etsy's bottom line. And first and foremost they are in the business to make money, no matter how much they tout 'community and cupcakes'. Our ideas and opinions are only worth something if, in the end, it can also benefit Etsy in some way. Etsy isn't a benevolent philanthropist looking to fund some crafty souls, they are a business, with investors and they need to make money.
I guess, at the end of the day, they'd just be honest with us, but I don't see that happening either because then they can't 'sell the dream'.
Posted at 5:14pm Aug 13, 2008 EDT
I often wonder why so many sit around and place their present and their future in promises and dreams.
Posted at 5:17pm Aug 13, 2008 EDT
If I were shopping on Ebay I don't expect everything to be handmade. If I shop on amazon, I don't expect everything to be handmade. If I shop on Etsy, there is an expectation that everything here is handmade (with the exception of vintage and supplies) and there is this environment where one expects the items to be handmade by the shop owner (to me).
Something about having employees puts me off, but I guess that's because of the impression I had of Etsy initially. It just isn't living up to that impression and I can't decide if it's an error in my judgement or things have changed.
Posted at 5:26pm Aug 13, 2008 EDT
Promises and dreams are the fuel that keeps us going. It keeps us striving and working. What would life be without dreams?
Posted at 5:28pm Aug 13, 2008 EDT
I don't have any employee's but I feel that if a human makes the product with their hands, it's handmade.
Posted at 5:30pm Aug 13, 2008 EDT