'We're not Amazon. We're independent artists' — why these local sellers joined the Etsy strike

When Emily Engel opened her Etsy shop 10 years ago, it was a very different platform from what it is today, she says. "It was leaps and bounds simpler. It was far more focused on independent artists." She's a Ludlow-based seamstress and specializes in making plush replicas of the Muppets, a thriving niche market that's brought in over 5,000 sales since she opened. It's allowed Engel to live off of her Etsy income after she lost her job at the beginning of the pandemic.

But after a decade of being on Etsy, Engel put her shop on vacation mode this week and plans to remain closed until April 18. She's standing in solidarity with thousands of other Etsy sellers who are protesting a new fee hike and other Etsy policies they say disproportionately impact independent sellers on the platform.

The strike kicked off on April 11 and continues until April 18. Participating Etsy sellers released a letter outlining their demands to the company. The seller transaction fee, or the percentage Etsy takes from each sale, was raised on Monday from 5% to 6.5%. This fee jump is listed as a main concern. "After the planned increase, our fees as sellers will have more than doubled in less than 4 years, with a large decrease in quality of service," the letter reads. A petition, now with over 75,000 signatures, is also circulating, which calls for the cancelation of the fee increase.

Sellers offering mass-produced products is another sore spot for many small Etsy sellers. "It's supposed to be a place for handmade goods," says Lindsay Blevins, a freelance illustrator based in Brighton. She opened her shop in 2011 and makes watercolor greeting cards and other paper goods. But it didn't take long for her to notice that mass-produced greeting cards, like the ones sold on Amazon, were also being sold by resellers on Etsy. "Those accounts are the ones getting sponsored at the top of the page and really just kind of drowning out independent people like me."

A major concern for both Engel and Blevins is that Etsy is transforming into a marketplace that doesn't prioritize small sellers and handmade goods. "Shipping is a really good example of this," says Engel. "Etsy tries to incentivize sellers to offer free shipping. We're not mass producers. We can't just eat those shipping costs."

Blevins, whose greeting cards go for around $4 on her shop, also feels the push to offer free shipping and short processing time is unrealistic. "To package and ship the products nicely and securely, it costs me around $4," she says. "If I offer free shipping, I'm not making any money off of that sale."

Other strike demands sent to Etsy CEO Josh Silverman include addressing poor customer service and the notorious "bots" that scour Etsy's site for possible infractions or infringements. Engel's shop fell victim to this process when her pandemic face masks were erroneously reported as copyright infringement. "I appealed this to Etsy and they assured me they got my appeal claim," she says. "Never heard a thing about it and instead, Etsy put a reserve on my income for 90 days... meaning they would hold 75% of everything that I had earned."

The real problem for sellers like Blevins and Engel is that there are next to no alternatives to Etsy. "They really have a monopoly on the "handmade" marketplace," Blevins says. She, like many other striking sellers, is encouraging buyers to buy from artists directly via their website or social media. "With these recent developments,  I think a lot of people are feeling like, 'I need to find something better because this just isn't sustainable anymore.'"

Etsy has yet to respond directly to striking sellers but has told news outlets via email that “the new fee structure will enable us to increase our investments in areas outlined in the petition, including marketing, customer support and removing listings that don't meet our policies.”

But Engel and Blevins doubt that they'll see any benefit from such a drastic fee increase. Last year, Engel brought in over $60,000 in sales. "Etsy took $4,286 of that money," she says after pulling up her report from her Etsy account. "Yet, my shop was still erroneously shut down and most of my income withheld for nearly three months, with no answer or communication from Etsy."

With the strike ending in just a few days, sellers are hoping Etsy responds to their demands. "It's funny because they sign their emails with the hashtag #StandwithSmall," Engel says. "But they're not standing with the small, they're standing on the small... I just hope that something changes soon."