Saturday, May 19, 2012

Etsy and Blackmail Extortion


So, I recently closed my shop on Etsy, after 4 years of operation. I have to say, it was never something about which I was truly passionate. It was a nice hobby, and if I made stuff that people liked, and as long as it was at least breaking even, I had no problems with it. For the first three years, that seemed to be the standard. I loved trading and selling; I probably spent more than I made; and for the most part, it made me feel proud that I created things that people seemed to enjoy.

However, in the last year, I started getting a lot of complaints. And the more that I got, the fishier they sounded. Oh, it was a slightly different shade than I thought; Oh, I changed my mind; oh, the quality is soooo poor (for a $5 item). Always these complaints came with the demand that so long as I refunded their money, they would keep the product and not give me bad feedback.

I was a slave to the feedback system.

I was giving away and putting more money into it than I was getting. Not to mention the shipping expenses and headaches. I tried to tough it out, but my temper reached a head with the last extortionist.

I was sick of it. Sick of these scammers blackmailing me with bad feedback and only relenting when it involved free product.

So I quit. I closed my store, and a rush of relief flowed over me. I felt free. Freer than I had felt in a long time.

I’ll probably go back to Etsy as a buyer, but no more selling for me. My question is, what is Etsy planning to do about this? Surely I can’t be the only person that has had this happen. Will people just stick it out? I know that I was a prime target for scammers, since my prices were cheap. But what happens when they hit someone that has items that go for around $100 a pop?

I’d love to sell again, but it was just too much stress and I couldn’t really have something annoy me and cost money!

3 comments:

Cat Frances Butrim said...

I never had much success selling on Esty, but this is exactly the reason I gave up selling on eBay after years of brisk sales and 100%positive feedback. Several recent buyers were contacting me stating that their items were not as described. When I told them I would refund their money when they returned the item, that item was suddenly acceptable enough to hold onto. I refused to give buyers freebies, especially when I knew the items were exactly as described.

Interested said...

I hate to say it but if these comments are coming over a long period and from several different buyers, I would use it as a hint to look at my items and my policies to see what the cause might be.

Wandering Appalachian said...

Apparently, this is a thing on Etsy now.

http://www.regretsy.com/2012/06/04/how-to-negotiate-on-etsy/