Let me set the scene. We're sat in the lounge, MTM is in an armchair on his laptop doing the weekly online grocery shop. I'm on the sofa working on my iPad.
MTM: "Do we need butter?"
Me: "Yes"
.... tap tap tap
MTM: (holding up the scrap of paper on which I note things we've run out of) "What is cinnamon powder? Do you mean GROUND cinnamon?"
Me: "Ah yes!" (both laugh) "I was in a hurry when I wrote that, we've got cinnamon STICKS but I forgot what the word was. GROUND is what I meant!"
.... tap tap tap.
MTM closes laptop "Done". He gets up and sits beside me on the sofa, he notices I'm on Etsy. "Whatcha doin'? Isn't that the site of all things calamitous and bedevilled in Sue-World?"
"It is, my love, but Our Man In Havanna (actually a talented jeweller on the East Coast) is feeding me info about my US Etsy search positions. Intelligence tells me, despite holding up well in the rest of the world, my listings there have indeed fallen off a cliff. Just as thing-of-evil (in Sue-World) Josh Silverman threatened But I think I may be able to beat him at his own game. I have a cunning plan .... mwahhh haaa haaaa!"
"So you're staying with Etsy."
"Only for the time being ... but I HAVEN'T given in, I'm NOT offering fake free shipping."
"Of course, don't let the Bar Stewards powder you down".
A waning half moon provides an appropriate time to say that I think my days of selling lampwork bead sets on Etsy may be coming to an end.
At the end of July, Etsy management are threatening to prioritise in their search engine only sellers offering free shipping to US customers.
If we don't want to absorb the cost ourselves, we have to roll it into the price of our items which is problematic for a number of reasons that are being pointed out to management and they aren't taking any notice.
What it boils down to for my shop is this. If I increase my cost per item to cover "free" shipping, it isn't free and it isn't fair to customers who buy multiple items and customers whose countries are cheaper to ship to than the USA.
This is FAKE FREE SHIPPING.
Here's a link to a YouTube video which covers the things that have been making me angry for days now and it isn't lessening the more I think about it, I'm gnashing my teeth about being coerced into running my business in a different way by people who I PAY. If I added up all the fees Etsy have charged me over the last eight years I would probably have a heart attack and now they're trying to push ME around! Shouldn't I be the boss of them if I'm paying for the privilege of selling my items on their platform?
The New Moon is on 1 August and as that's the day I will find out if Etsy carry out their threat, this is the Universe telling me it's a good time to start doing something else, I know this seems like I'm cutting my nose off to spite my face because Josh Silverman won't even notice I'm gone but I have to protest. I have told him what I think in the Etsy survey and in the Etsy forums but I'm sure he's still going to do it.
I want to leave right now but MTM has persuaded me to wait and see if it happens first of all and then take time to see what impact it has on my business.
But this is a pattern with me, I did it years ago, quit a job I liked that was well paid for a super boss because of an unfairness over bonus payments.
In the short term I regretted it, it felt reckless, daft and short sighted, but in the end it led me to going back to college. I retrained and had a whole other career in IT for a while that paid even better. But again, I had to leave because things outside of my control dictated who I worked for and I had no respect for my new boss.
Ultimately, that's how I ended up doing what I do now, leading a creative life which I love (it's unfortunately NOT very well paid!) but that's what I do ...I leave things I love behind and I cannot stop myself, I know if Etsy carry out their threat to send my shop into search obscurity, I will do it and there's not a damn thing anyone can say to dissuade me.
If the pattern continues, it will lead to something even better next and I can't wait to find out what that is!
