Etsy Sellers Launch a Week-Long Strike
hubie writes:
Etsy is an American e-commerce company that allows small businesses or individuals to set up online storefronts, particularly those who make handmade or custom goods. They want to be the marketplace for "unique and creative goods." They claim to host 5.3 million sellers, but this week thousands of those sellers are closing their storefronts for a week to protest some recently imposed changes.
Earlier this year, Etsy's CEO Josh Silverman announced that starting April 11 the company would increase the 5% transaction fee for sellers to 6.5%. This was done to fund improvements in marketing, and seller tools, among other changes, Silverman said.
[...] In response, Etsy sellers banded together and launched a campaign, urging other artisans and their customers to abandon the site for one week in protest. Organizers said more than 5,000 shops pledged to participate this week.
[...] This isn't a strike in the legal or traditional term. So, there won't be any physical picket lines. The sellers aren't workers, Etsy isn't their employer, and they aren't covered by the National Labor Relations Act.
[...] Nicole Lewis, who runs her own Etsy shop, defended the company. She called on artists to raise prices and do other things to cut costs, not to attack the company.
"If this fee increase is making you nervous, your prices are not correct," she told NPR. "There are so many things that sellers can be doing behind the scenes on their end ... that can cut down these costs drastically."
There are other contentious issues. Sellers say they are seeing more and more reseller shops that steal their designs. Etsy also uses their products in advertisements without their knowledge and if a sale is made, they have to pay Etsy a cut. The company says that the new fee structure is necessary to raise the money to address all these complaints even though Etsy reported revenue of $717 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, which was $32 million more than analysts were expecting.
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