Etsy Strike April 11th-18th 2022

 Vid link

In case you haven’t heard there is a strike by Etsy Sellers against a fee increase by the company on individual sellers. Check out the above interview from the strike organizer/

video link

Ijeoma Eleazu (Etsy Conversations Podcast) is also hosting a live call in where you can voice your opinion about it on her podcast which interviews 100’s of Etsy shop owners about their shops and how we as individual sellers make a living through e-commerce.

I joined the strike in solidarity w/ the over 12k shops who are also striking (my shop). I know some folks cannot do this. I make my $ from a variety of avenues and e-commerce is one of them. I have been on the platform since 2008, I wrote this piece about making 1000 sales on Etsy,  and I’ve sat back during many times when sellers voiced their anger about the company going corporate. Some of the changes have been great for sellers and some of hurt sellers. We are not mini corporations, we are people with families and lives. 

I don’t like the fee increase to keep it real; especially when the company saw record profits in 2020 and 2021. I gained sales in the last two years as well. But, a lot of that came from joining the Black Owned Etsy group, the increase in the number of pandemic shoppers, earned media coverage, and the fact that George Floyd was murdered and folks made an intentional effort to support Black owned shops. I will say I have been highlighted by the company and I very much appreciate that-but folks have been pushing Etsy and companies like it to feature and highlight Shops owned by Black, Indigenous, POC folks for a long time! Like I said, I’ve been on the site since 2008.

I will say I love Etsy and appreciate the efforts they’ve made to bring in more people to the site-I see that work. But, your sellers are the backbone of the company, when they start organizing against you-you’ve got a problem that you need to take notice of. If they don’t act, the number of folks organizing will increase. Shout out to the hundreds of shop owners I’ve met through SF Etsy, The Black Owned Etsy Shops, and the formerly active Etsy Shop owners of color. I will be back on Etsy, but wanted to support the organizing efforts. If any corporation puts up Black squares during protests for Black Lives or pretends to be down for issues everyday people are organizing about such as climate change, Lgbtq rights, etc they should understand. These are their values.

I shared info about the strike to on social media. If you’d like more information about it please go to EtsyStrike.org to read more. 

Sign the petition (over 75k signatures so far) if you agree as a buyer or seller too if you can. LINK