print by the olive bird on Etsy
Recent changes on my new selling venue Etsy have led to animated discussions in the forums. Some of my readers will know that Etsy is rolling out individual homepages for UK, Germany, France and Netherlands. I have mixed feelings about this, because part of the attraction of joining Etsy was the international flair the site presented and the feeling of being part of a huge global, crafty community.
I also liked the fact that everyone everywhere saw the same frontpage - always a topic of conversation between me, my international friends and customers. Moreover, my stats show that 70% of visitors to my shop are from USA. Followed by UK, Canada and Australia. Italy and Germany tie in fifth place.
I tested the local (Germany) homepage, and the front page items on there is made up of just a handful of European sellers (not me) over and over again picked by admin. Sounds a lot like DaWanda to me (where I am gradually phasing out my stuff), where favouritism is the order of the day! Plus the German version of the Storque (blog) leads out of Etsy altogether! On the flipside there are US sellers who market to Europe extensively, and will most likely become invisible once European buyers set their language and homepage preference. Most of my teammates feel exactly as I do. We've put in our two cents hoping that we will be heard by the powers that be over there in Brooklyn, NY. I'm just glad I've built a strong connection to my US customers and the USA in general via my blog! Here's hoping I won't fade into obscurity...
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