Last week Etsy slashed its workforce by 11% to cut costs. According to Reuters, the reason behind the sudden firing of 225 workers was due to the “weakened demand for handcrafted goods.” So, it’s not just me! I felt this myself with my own business and was starting to wonder if it was just me, what I was making, or how I was promoting it. But no, it’s universal.
Fast Fashion and Free Shipping Rule
I remember a time, nearly 20 years ago when I started my costume business, when I could put anything online and sell it at a good price. Every single thing I made and posted sold. Fast forward today, where I can spend hours making something beautiful, only to have it sit in the Etsy shop for years and not sell, even at a heavily discounted price. It gets to the point where the reoccurring Etsy listing fee negates any profit if the item actually sells.
For example, click here to see my Etsy shop, and the current items that normally would have flown off the page during Halloween, but are still sitting there. This is the first time since joining Etsy that I’ve considered closing my shop. (Items that were on Etsy when I posted this have since sold, very slowly, and on sale…)
The Rise and Fall of Etsy
Etsy hit an all-time high during the pandemic, but sales have declined and been stagnant for the past two years. Also, during the past two years, fast fashion and cheap goods from China have flooded the market in shops like SHEIN and Temu. Why buy pricey handmade goods when you can get it for a few dollars and shipped free?
Etsy also did itself a disservice when they relaxed their “handmade only” rule and turned a blind eye to all the mass market goods infiltrating their site. If you go on there now, you’ll see plenty of supposed artisan items that are mass produced.
For example, see the tiara below, listed on Etsy for $30 and the SAME one on Amazon for $10 with free shipping:
This type of thing is all over Etsy! You really have to search hard to find something truly handmade and unique. Etsy is filled with a lot of over-priced manufactured junk straight from a factory. They went against the very thing their platform was built on by allowing this.
Closing My Own Shop
I’m currently working on shutting down the Shopify site for Midnight Pumpkin. I haven’t pulled the plug yet, because I want to have the domain point to somewhere. Etsy normally would have been the easy choice for that, but I’ve decided to let my listings expire because paying for them to just sit there is a waste of money. (Update: I turned Midnight Pumpkin into a blog! www.MidnightPumpkinBlog.com)
I will probably be putting more things on my Poshmark, where listings are FREE. However, handmade goods don’t sell as well on there, as most people are looking for cheap deals on big name brands.
It’s just a disappointing time for artists and artisans, who pour a lot of love into their work and then see it not sell or only sell at a heavily discounted price. It’s not worth the time we put into it anymore.
That’s the main reason I’ve concentrated more on just making things for myself and showing other people how to make those things. If they aren’t going to buy it, I might as well share the details on how to make it and gain the web traffic from it.
As for Midnight Pumpkin, it will continue in the form of vending at events, but I don’t foresee a stand-alone website store anymore. I wrote more about that in my post “A conversation with myself about business today.“
About the Author
Candy Keane is a digital content creator and long-time cosplayer, most well-known for being on the cover of the Star Wars documentary Jedi Junkies. After making costumes professionally for over a decade, she now writes about geek culture and mom life, and continues to cosplay for fun, while sharing her love of costumes on Instagram @SewGeekMama. Her first children’s book, I’m Going to My First Comic Convention, was published in 2020 and won a Story Monsters Approved award for Excellence in Literature.
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Categories: business, Mom Blog, My Life, Tech & Finanace
Such a shame about the current selling environment for artists such as yourself. It’s very unfortunate and I hope it turns around in the future. Best wishes to you!
Thank you! It is a very strange time for small craft businesses. So much harder than it used to be. But at least there’s still in-person vending at events to look forward to. I feel like that is actually doing a little better!
It’s a reflection of the real economy I think. Sure, the government cooks the books on unemployment numbers (long term unemployed are not counted for example), but regardless of the actual numbers, buying power is way down for the average person. Anything remotely resembling a luxury gets cut under those circumstances unfortunately.
Very true! People are looking to save money and cut corners, not splurge on luxuries. So they are going to shop at the discount place with free shipping.