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Post by frakinfashion on Nov 26, 2017 21:07:53 GMT
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 27, 2017 0:33:18 GMT
I'm pretty hard-headed when it comes to business, but even *I* think this:
“My name is Josh. I identify as male. My preferred pronouns are ‘him’ and ‘he.’
Is pretty pathetic - does he think people are going to call him "it"? He also interviews badly, not even making sense when he was trying to say why we should offer free shipping - he just went right off the grid and got completely confused. He is pretty tone deaf.
The article is trying to polarize, pitting 'female' emotionalism against 'male' business sense and I'm not buying that, but Etsy did need to move forward in a more streamlined direction.
I'm not disturbed by all of the changes, and even agree with many, save for one: opening up the site to Chinese replicate rubbish. Before anyone says but China is part of the global market - yes, I know that, I was dealing directly with China in the early 2000s brokering goods here, but they weren't mass produced knickyknacks. Yet where there were a number of very good China bespoke sellers on Etsy, there is now a lot of mass produced stuff even pushing *them* out, much less legacy sellers. This started on Chad's watch.
I think Josh is actually trying to keep Etsy from being buy-out fodder, and there are only so many ways you can enact changes and course corrections in a retail company. Tightening up seller requirements and throwing off the mass market crap would probably do more for sales than a lot of things, though - many people have stopped shopping on Etsy due to this, and it's hurting the reputation of the site.
Oh, and he seems to never have heard of a thing called 'advertising' - we already advertise as much as we can - Etsy needs to get with the program on this.
So, my own jury is out on this still. I will say this also - the site was started as a 'social experiment' - as we become less and less innovative in this country, I have to applaud this.
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Post by RetroMonde on Nov 27, 2017 2:02:39 GMT
I can't even read that article tonight... every time I read something like that it derails me for weeks and I've got a lot of vintage xmas decorations to list in the next few days. Sigh. Josh has been at the helm for a few months now, right? Since Chad's hasty departure earlier this year? I think I heard on ECB that they're putting out "feelers" about us paying higher fees. I a small increase won't be a deal breaker for me; wouldn't like it but would survive it. BUT not a yearly increase, double-digit increase or other poorly thought-out "change-for-the-sake-of-change" changes.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 27, 2017 3:49:56 GMT
The testing is accelerating and whereas they say they only test a 'few' shops, it's done so hastily that many of the changes aren't even thought through and problems are created - that's an eBay thing.
Yes, a small increase may of necessity be due. Etsy is dirt cheap to list on - I have to laugh when people in those forums say "oh, but I can't afford it" - a nickle a month and 3.5% FVFs? Really? But I agree that a double-digit increase would have to be REALLY justified by sensational advertisement or something that directly puts Etsy in the spotlight or fixes the search so we don't have to do so much SEO, or deal with so much social media claptrap.
Some of the SEO changes, though, are being pushed by a more organic search model with Google, with Etsy edging closer to Google in that respect. This is good because I can deal with Google - Etsy has always been kind of amorphous - remember their search in the early days? It was all tag-driven and OMG, was it a MESS.
My shop has picked up a bit since Josh took the helm, but he comes off so often like such a twit that it's hard to have faith in his direction.
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