Sellers claim Etsy has been ‘killed’ by dropshipping and print-on-demand accounts: ‘It’s so sad’
Originally designed to be an online marketplace for handmade goods by artisans, Etsy is now facing claims it’s been overrun by commercial shops masquerading as small businesses selling goods that aren’t actually handmade.
Artist and TikToker Nicole Aline Legault (@nicolealinelegault) posted a video in which she broke down the top 100 sellers on Etsy, pointing out that many appear to be selling dropshipped goods, can’t be verified as real people and are doing a high volume of sales of all similar products.
“If you’re clicking on the top 100 Etsy sellers, you should probably see actual artists if Etsy is handmade. This is disgusting,” she said.
Legault’s video suggested that Etsy is violating its own rules about being a “marketplace where you can sell your handmade goods, vintage items, and craft supplies directly to buyers around the world.”
“They did not make this art,” Legault said in the video, accusing many of Etsy’s top sellers to be shops run by third-party resellers. “These people are not people — who are they? I don’t know.”
What happened to handmade?
In her video, Legault referenced the Etsy shop BaileyDesignedCo, an Etsy “star seller” with 283,425 sales, as an example of a shop she believes is not being truthful. Legault alleged that because there were over 93 designs of tumbler wraps, “this person did not make this art.”
“I think people can just buy these designs and then set up a shop,” Legault added in her video.
She also investigated the shop, TumblerWrapDesigns, which Legault found suspicious because, despite the fact that seller Kayla advertises the shop as founded in 2022, it has already amassed 106,846 sales.
“Kayla, who are you? Are you a real person? Not sure, there’s no website,” Legault questioned in her TikTok.
Legault’s frustrations seem to stem from the fact that Etsy seller rules stipulate that “everything listed for sale on Etsy must be handmade, vintage or a craft supply.” The rules also state:
All handmade items must be made or designed by the seller. If a seller works with a production partner, it must be disclosed.
Every person involved in the making of items sold has to be described by the shop in the “About” section.
All photos must be your own.
Are Etsy shops dropshipping?
Legault’s allegations towards Etsy suggest she believes some shops — especially some top sellers — are participating in reselling or dropshipping practices.
Dropshipping, as Shopify explains, means that a seller doesn’t actually own or store any inventory. Instead, a seller contracts with a third-party company to fulfill any customer orders.
As an example of what that could look like with Etsy, an Etsy shop could advertise “handmade” items, but when a customer purchases, the seller actually has the third party make and ship the item. The seller is completely hands-off with dropshipping.
“Dropshipping killed Etsy. It’s so sad. And all the AI coming in now is only going to make it so much worse,” wrote @_blockforest.
“I don’t buy from Etsy anymore. It’s 90% drop shippers now. I want to support real artists,” said @zoelovesthesea.
Some sellers also make additional revenue by selling their methods for creating print-on-demand Etsy shops. Print-on-demand Etsy shops work a little differently than drop-shipping in that a seller can create the original design but then outsources the printing and shipping part of the process.
However, reselling — defined by Esty as “listing an item as handmade when you were not involved in designing or making that item” — is forbidden on Etsy. The company provides the following examples of reselling that are prohibited on the site:
Creatively repackaging commercial items (for example a gift basket consisting of non-handmade items)
Curating a collection of others’ handmade goods that you did not design or make
Selling items made or designed by another seller who is not part of your shop
Selling traditional handicrafts or fair trade items that you did not design or make
Artists affected
Due to the inundation of large shops and because sellers have to pay a listing fee of $0.20 per item, as well as a 6.5% transaction fee on the sale price and a potential additional 3% + 0.25 cost for using Etsy Payments, Legault noted in her video that true handmade artisans just cannot compete.
“How are any T-shirt designers supposed to compete with this? Why are people buying these?” Legault wondered.
Commenters on her TikTok seemed to echo her frustrations from both a buyer and seller perspective.
“It’s so frustrating for people like me making actual art and handmade items. I don’t even make any sales from Etsy anymore,” noted @happyskullcrafts.
“Finding actual artisan work on etsy takes investigate work,” added @lexiluallen.
“It’s so hard to find real people on there these days. I miss 2010 etsy,” confessed @_bunnicula_11.
In The Know by Yahoo reached out to Etsy for comment but has not received a response. In The Know also could not verify the list of Etsy’s top sellers that Legault referenced in her TikTok, but Etsy does provide a list of top sellers on their site.
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