Etsy's Handmade Blog
Summary of Policy Conversation on Monday, March 3rd
Story by Community, CustomerCare, matt
Published on March 5, 2008 in Etsy News 		Photo by corid

This past Monday I invited members of the Etsy community to join me in the Virtual Labs to share their comments and concerns. My intention was to give the community an opportunity to speak directly and candidly to us here at Etsy.

We were there to listen, and listen we did.

Over the past couple of weeks, we clearly made some missteps in the forums and customer support. We are sorry for anyone who was affected by our mistakes, and we've been reaching out directly to the people involved.

Our aim now is to take action by formulating clear and consistent policies and practices to make sure our community, and our company, will continue to be healthy, helpful, and supportive as we grow.

Here are the key issues raised during Monday’s meetings:

  • Issue 1: Buyer /Seller Disputes - What Role should Etsy play? What is a venue?
  • Issue 2: Shop Closures - What are Etsy’s policies? What due diligence measures are being taken to make sure that mistakes are not made? 
  • Issue 3: Relationship between Etsy’s Policies and a seller’s.
  • Issue 4: Feedback System - improvements and limitations.
  • Issue 5: Improving policy documentation - TOU, Dos and Don’ts.
  • Issue 6: Forum - Policies and environment. Muted sellers.
  • Issue 7: Admin tone, behavior, and accountability.

The entire Community & Support Team is in NYC this week and we're discussing the these issues. I invite you to email me directly at matt@etsy.com if there are other issues regarding customer support and forum policies that are important to you that weren't discussed.

One quick note:

Monday’s discussion was rather spur of the moment. I realize how important it is to make sure everyone’s voice is heard, and I apologize to all who did not learn of Monday’s talk in time. I do assure you, however, that they were just the start of what will be regularly occurring conversations.

A link to the Meeting's minutes are HERE.

Tags Matt, Online Workshops, policy, Virtual Labs
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16 comments     Login to add your own!

March 5, 2008 at 10:49 p.m. soap

Thanks for posting the synopsis and transcript! I look forward to future meetings. I think the Monday ones were helpful.

March 5, 2008 at 10:52 p.m. soap

Is that a consolidated transcript for morning and afternoon meetings?

March 5, 2008 at 11:17 p.m. Peldyn

Thank you Matt. I do appreciate your candor and openness. It is very refreshing! Since I feel that I have been impacted by what has been happening in the forums, I have a vested interest in what new policies are implemented. I also look forward to future meetings and hope that I will find out about them in time to attend.

March 5, 2008 at 11:18 p.m. artkitten

It was a very helpful meeting, Matt. Thank you for posting this article for those who were unable to attend.

March 5, 2008 at 11:26 p.m. xiane

Thank you for getting the minutes up, and for listening to us. I'm looking forward to watching the changes that come from these suggestions!

March 5, 2008 at 11:33 p.m. licalee

I missed the meetings but I am very happy to see the list of key issues. These are some of the issues that have kept me from selling on etsy since experiencing V2 and the constitution debacle. I want to sell again on etsy and this article is the only sign in a year that the site is moving in a direction I am comfortable with.

I really want this site to succeed and want to be a part of it doing so. I hope to see more seemingly candid posts from admin like this in the future.

It is incredibly heartening to hear Matt is openly accepting emails.

This is the customer service I've been waiting for from etsy.

Thank you, Matt.

March 5, 2008 at 11:35 p.m. quirke

I've read through the minutes as posted and it appears as though the minutes from the first session are posted twice, just FYI.

The morning meeting minutes run first, then there's a gap, and then it says "Second Session" but the morning minutes repeat again but run straight into the minutes for the second meeting.

Look for Eclipse's "Thank you for lsteninnigliste" comment, it seems to be the last comment from the morning minutes. (nice typo, Eclipse!)

March 5, 2008 at 11:38 p.m. quirke

And may I add THANK YOU for posting the minutes!

March 5, 2008 at 11:42 p.m. eclipse

Thank you Matt for holding these meetings. I was very encouraged by the discussion and look forward to seeing the follow-up actions that are even more important than reassuring words.

I noticed the minutes only contains the written portion of the chat and not your voice comments. For me, the voice comments were the most encouraging and candid, so will it be possible for someone at Etsy to transcribe those voice comments into text for the members who weren't at the meeting? Was the video/sound portion of that chat recorded?

March 5, 2008 at 11:44 p.m. eclipse

. (nice typo, Eclipse!)

Hey that wasn't a typo, by that time the chat was lagging so slow that my typed letters were not even showing up in the textbox, so I typed it again and it turned into word salad!

March 5, 2008 at 11:45 p.m. kibbles

I must admit, the antlers above caught my attention. I'll go read the minutes but only if you promise to show more antlers.
;-)

March 5, 2008 at 11:57 p.m. FranksAndBeans

Thank you Matt. Your words have been wonderful and I love hearing from you. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

March 6, 2008 at 4:51 a.m. whitefluffydogs

I hope that these great words lead to some real action. Too often, the walk and the talk have not matched up here.

March 6, 2008 at 7:08 a.m. matt

I will fix the minutes when I am back in the office this morning. I am not sure anyone transcribed my vocal comments. lauren and I both tried to paraphrase the main ideas, but obviously we did not get them all. I will make sure that future sessions are recorded. As I said, this was more of an impromptu chat, not a more formal town hall. Thanks, m

March 6, 2008 at 8:32 a.m. Nuts4Candy

Wow, what a pleasant surprise! Thank you for caring enough to hold meetings like this and certainly for posting minutes so peeps like me who missed it can catch up. Going to read them in just a bit.
Good lookin out ♥

March 6, 2008 at 1:20 p.m. matt

Ok, Minutes fixed.

thanks, m

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