Etsy anyone?

[Hobby Kid]

Has anyone taken the plunge on Etsy yet? I have an account but have never bought from it, partly because whenever I send a seller a question they never reply. I also a bit of a shopper. I think if I begin buying from it I won't stop There is vape gear on there

 

[moecat]

I have an account but have never bought from it, partly because whenever I send a seller a question they never reply.

My personal opinion only: if this is a consistent, recurring experience for you, I would stay away. I would want to feel some degree of reassurance about who I'm potentially buying from.

 

[Hobby Kid]

My personal opinion only: if this is a consistent, recurring experience for you, I would stay away. I would want to feel some degree of reassurance about who I'm potentially buying from.

I think it's majority of sellers are home based taking a chance a not really business minded

 

[moro]

I suppose it depends on what you're talking buying. My wife has made several purchases from etsy including tank charms and drip tips. Never had any problems.

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Hobby Kid]

Well I do see lots a good stuff on there, especially the 3D printed vape accessories

 

[jae]

I haven't, but a friend bought me this t-shirt on there (as a coy reference to my usual screenname/holy name "transmothra"), and it's pretty cool. Actually i think i might have bought a thing for my GF once. I think she's used it too once or twice. There's some interesting stuff on there, i've never had any problems, and being an umbrella for a bunch of third-party vendors, i'm sure they have reasonable protections in place.

 

[Hobby Kid]

I hope so. I've seen some really cool modding gear. I've seen Etsy mentioned everywhere for a long time now. But it hasn't had the kind of promotion or discussion in forums the way amazon and eBay have. No one ever links to Etsy

 

[jae]

This might assuage your fears somewhat

As always though, check the seller's reviews before shelling out your hard-earned pounds.

 

[Hobby Kid]

Ok thanks for that Jeremy. Am having a read of it now

 

[RichS]

My wife has bought stuff from there, jewelry and handbags and she never had a problem.

 

[Frawg]

I can give both good and bad on Etsy. I was a seller dating back to 2008, when in 2012, they closed my shop. I had 346 positive feedback, and one negative. When they closed my selling account they informed me my money was no good there. The $3,000 I spent in supplies on there on average per year was no longer good on the site. They closed my mother's, and my aunt's buying accounts as well when they tried to send gift purchases to me, stating they were attempting to commit fraud, which was BS. Technically per etsy's TOS, anything vaping related is against TOS and the shops holding them can be reported & lose their shop like I did, except for a different reason. My story is a lot longer & more complex than I've given here, for brevity's sake. If you want more info from me, drop a convo my way.

I only ever had one issue in 4.5 years of buying on there, but they've changed a lot of things since I left, most changes were not for the better.

 

[Hobby Kid]

I can give both good and bad on Etsy. I was a seller dating back to 2008, when in 2012, they closed my shop. I had 346 positive feedback, and one negative. When they closed my selling account they informed me my money was no good there. The $3,000 I spent in supplies on there on average per year was no longer good on the site. They closed my mother's, and my aunt's buying accounts as well when they tried to send gift purchases to me, stating they were attempting to commit fraud, which was BS. Technically per etsy's TOS, anything vaping related is against TOS and the shops holding them can be reported & lose their shop like I did, except for a different reason. My story is a lot longer & more complex than I've given here, for brevity's sake. If you want more info from me, drop a convo my way.

I only ever had one issue in 4.5 years of buying on there, but they've changed a lot of things since I left, most changes were not for the better.

Hm, I never got a notification for these posts ..again. Anyway, I get the gist of the issue. I may make a single local purchase and take it from there. Thing is I never saw any big launch when it came live. It was just suddenly there and ads saying buy this and that from Etsy. Ppl are continuously giving tips on how to buy from fasttech, who's on eBay, how much such and such is on amazon, gumtree (idk if you have that) but no one mentions Etsy

 

[Frawg]

Etsy's been around since 2007. Etsy is SUPPOSED to be all handmade items, and handmade only by the people who own each shop. Then Etsy changed its policies and let in a bunch of Chinese resellers, and I do know other shops who have been shut down for having vape gear, because they used the words smoking/vaping interchangeably, and their TOS is restrictive in some aspects. Most of etsy is handmade still, with a lot of Chinese based sellers, and they're the ones not answering messages in most cases.

When I was shut down, a few months after I got shut down I found a shop that was still open with 800 total feedback, over 200 negative feedback, and a facebook page dedicated to trying to get the shop shut down, last I knew as of a year ago that bad seller was still open ripping people off. But at the same time I know people in the makeup & bath & body products side who have a great reputation. But it sucks being unable to purchase from anyone there. When I see shops with things I'd like to buy I either have to find someone to buy for me, have it shipped to their home, then have them ship it to me.

I even know people who never even had an etsy account move into an apartment (this is common in college towns), and set up an etsy account only to find that they're told THEY were trying to commit fraud, that someone at their address had a shop and was a bad seller (etsy's word) and therefore that address is forever blacklisted with Etsy, which just kills the hope of small businesses who never did anything wrong, being held to task because of some former apartment tenant being a "bad seller".

Mine was I did a trade, had the person I was trading with communicated the urgent need for the product I wouldn't have gone through with the trade because she needed it 3 days before my supply order was shipping from Canada, it would then take 10 days after that to get to me. She left the negative feedback after I sent the package and it was returned to sender unclaimed 3 times. Just holy crap...more drama than I was expecting.

 

[Hobby Kid]

Well I can't comment on everything you said there as it was a lot but I guess yes, I might've been unwittingly contacting Chinese resellers which is why they never answered. But in my experience the Chinese are very enthusiastic and and reply. Having said that, I don't find the sellers on Alibaba reply that much either. I guess some places attract a particular breed of people.

On the point of Etsy itself. I wonder who's running it. Who are they? They need to get their shit together if they want to be a contender. I like the idea of all the handmade stuff. That's what attracted me and why I made an account to begin with. As far vape gear, it was stuff like designer modboxes, DNA cradles, real stylish things. I don't think they tagged and vape related words to them.

 

[Frawg]

Etsy is individual shops, each owned by small businesses or homemakers.

Etsy corporate: http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=28492682
https://blog.etsy.com/news/2012/etsy-joins-the-b-corporation-movement/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etsy (there's some good history in this that the other links don't cover)

 

[Frawg]

When you look at a shop look at their location, by rules its supposed to say where they ship from. If its China, their customer service on etsy has been horrible compared to the rest of our experience like with vape gear.

 

[justaguy]

I used to buy my pipes off etsy, one of a kinds. Loved the sellers for that end of it. My daughter loves the custom steampunk jewelry on etsy...so far 2 bad dealings out of 2. Both were Chinese sellers however, with no repercussions for taking the money and not sending the item. I lost the money on both items, thank god it was less than 35 bux for both items, however I had to deal with changing all my cc info which took a week and lots of aggravation. If you use Etsy, make sure you buy from a country that will back up claims made on non shipped items, DO NOT BUY FROM ITALY, they will never ship. Never sell to Italy, they will always make claims of non receipt....nasty mafioso scam there. I must say that I do love etsy, and have now gone the way of purchasing etsy gift cards, and only buying from sellers who accept them. That way, etsy can support the sale, rather than p2p and bank issues.

 

[Hobby Kid]

Hey that's a good idea. I guess I can buy the gift cards from the esty site itself. Well I'll only buy from the uk if it's the safest option and only from sellers who respond to my emails beforehand. I downloaded the app today. I love my shopping sites

 

[justaguy]

There are some pretty nice mod and juice stands there...not to mention, you can get some nice Altoids Mods and Stickers made for the cans there too.Not to mention, if there are any Doctor Who fans here....there is a sonic screwdriver mod there!

 

[justaguy]

damnit...it sold on the 31st....my wife is going to cry....

 

[Frawg]

If you use Etsy, make sure you buy from a country that will back up claims made on non shipped items, DO NOT BUY FROM ITALY, they will never ship. Never sell to Italy, they will always make claims of non receipt....nasty mafioso scam there. I must say that I do love etsy, and have now gone the way of purchasing etsy gift cards, and only buying from sellers who accept them. That way, etsy can support the sale, rather than p2p and bank issues.

Italy's issue is that their list of restrictions on importation of items is SO long, and so vague, its very difficult to get anything through customs. Italian customs holds EVERYTHING for a minimum of 60 days. If it has a shelf life - just refuse the order. It doesn't matter whether you're selling through etsy, ebay, storenvy or just a facebook group sale. Its Italian customs. [have a friend who lives in Italy and works for their postal system] - its governmental customs.
Unfortunately I know people who have taken etsy gift cards/used them and still gotten screwed out of $ when it comes to Chinese buyers/sellers and they're not covering a non-shipment/non-receipt. Which is Etsy's fault for kicking out genuine small businesses, and letting in every Chinese reseller that can claim some designing oversight. Most of the shops who were open when I was kicked out, have also been kicked out and told they're not allowed to spend money there.

Lots of us are on other venues than etsy, just because of the frustration level with etsy, many smaller businesses, with US addresses have moved to private sites, rather than other online venues that support multiple sellers.