Etsy

URL	http://www.etsy.com/
Commercial?	yes
Type of site	Shopping
Registration	Optional
Created by	Robert Kalin, Chris Maguire, Haim Schoppick, Jared Tarbell
Launched	June 18, 2005

Etsy is a website that provides the general public with a way to buy and sell handmade items as well as vintage items and craft supplies. Handmade items cover a wide range including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, edibles, bath & beauty products, and toys. The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee.^[1] It has been compared to "a crafty cross between Amazon and eBay",^[2] and to "your grandma's basement".^[3]

[edit] History

The site was launched on June 18, 2005 by iospace, a small company composed of Robert Kalin, Chris Maguire and Haim Schoppik. Later Jared Tarbell joined the team. Noteworthy employees include Matthew Stinchcomb (formerly of the French Kicks) and Bre Pettis (a video blogger known for his work with MAKE). Former NPR executive Maria Thomas joined as COO in 2008 and is now CEO.^[4] Investors include Union Square Ventures and founders of Flickr and Delicious.^[5]

Etsy has grown significantly to tens of thousands of sellers and five times that in buyer accounts. The engineers frequently add new tools and functionality to the site to help sellers gain exposure and traffic, including Adobe Flash-based visualizations and a taxonomy of categories with tags.^[6] Etsy passed $1.7M in sales in May 2007.^[2] On July 29, Etsy had its one-millionth sale and anticipated its two-millionth sale would occur mid-December 2007. In November 2007, buyers spent $4.3 million purchasing 300,000 items for sale on Etsy, an increase of 43 percent from October 2007.^[1] In June 2007 it expected to be profitable by the fall,^[7] but in December 2007 it was not a profitable company.^[8] In January 2008, Etsy received an additional $27 million in funding from Union Square Ventures, Hubert Burda Media, and Jim Breyer.^[9]

In February 2008, trouble at eBay, including a strike by some dissatisfied sellers, brought speculation that Etsy could be an increasing competitor.^[10] At the same time, however, some Etsy sellers expressed unhappiness with how Etsy was handling complaints about stores.^[11] At the time, a comparison of the two websites included complaints that on Etsy, items are difficult to find, the interface "feels slow", and the buying and selling process is United States-centric.^[12] Other reviewers have enjoyed using Etsy's specialized search options,^[13][14] including the "Shop Local" tool.^[15]

In July 2008, Rob Kalin ceded the position of CEO to Maria Thomas.^[16] Some longtime Etsy employees left the company in August 2008, including founders Haim Schoppik and Chris Maguire.^[17] In September 2008, Etsy hired Chad Dickerson, who formerly worked at Yahoo!, as Chief Technology Officer.^[18] The company acknowledged concerns about vendors selling other people's work as their own.^[19]

In April 2009, users organized an "etsyday" promotion on Twitter that brought extra attention to the site.^[20] As of May 2009, it has approximately 60 employees and sales of $10 to 13 million per month,^[21] possibly boosted by consumer interest in cheaper and more personalized goods due to the United States recession.^[22] Etsy is popular as a side-business^[23] as well as a place to buy goods made from recycled and upcycled materials,^[24] along with less expensive or more unusual versions of mass-produced items.^[25] The unique nature of many of the items for sale is part of their appeal to some shoppers.^[26][27]

[edit] Operations

An event at Etsy Labs, with Matthew Stinchcomb on the left. (Photo by Peter Kirn)

Etsy makes money by charging a listing fee of 20 cents for each item and getting 3.5 percent of every sale,^[28] with the average sale about $15 or $20 and mostly sold by women,^[7] who tend to be college-educated and in their twenties and thirties.^[21]

Along with handmade products, people on Etsy sell vintage items,^[29] homemade sweets, and craft supplies. Etsy offers multiple options for paying for items, including credit card, money order, and PayPal (which is part of eBay); international sellers prefer PayPal.^[30]

Etsy has a permanent office called the "Etsy Labs" in Brooklyn, New York. The site's customer support, marketing/PR, business and communications teams operate out of this office. Additionally, Etsy Labs has a community workspace that provides equipment and donated materials where Labs members gather to make items, take and teach workshops, and attend special events.^[1]

Etsy is one of the main members of the Handmade Consortium, a 2007 effort to encourage buying handmade holiday gifts.^[8]

[edit] Community

Etsy also encourages a friendly community between buyers and sellers similar to social networking. There is a Forum section for discussion and networking. Members can contact one another through an internal message system called Conversations. There is also the option to make a shop or item a Favorite or "Heart" them so you can keep track of shops to easily find them later and be updated of their new items. There is also a section for Custom requests called Alchemy where members can request or offer custom handmade goods. Etsy also supports "street teams", groups of Etsy sellers affiliated by location or interest that work together to promote their team members. Members of Etsy are sometimes referred to as Etsians.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Etsy