Autism, ADHD and Etsy
What do autism and adhd have to do with Etsy?
In my previous post I shared for the first time that I have autism and adhd. One big reason why I finally decided to share is because I really need to begin advocating for myself, and others like me, online. My business is online and I deal with customers from all around the world on a daily basis.
I started my business over 17 years ago, and began selling on etsy in 2010.
I’ve always liked what etsy stands for:
“Explore one-of-a-kind finds for one-of-a-kind people
There’s no Etsy warehouse—just millions of people selling the things they love”
Etsy’s newest thing is to encourage sellers to become what they call, Star Sellers. Sounds great right?
Well I’m here to say that I don’t think so.
I would directly tell Etsy this, I’d explain all my reasons why I don’t agree with this new program, but no matter how hard I look I just can’t find any kind of contact info for my complaint. Maybe I’m just not seeing it, but when I go to the contact button I get directed in a hundred different ways and none of those ways fit my complaint and I can’t even find a direct contact button. So I’m going to air my complaints here and then hope that some how, some one at etsy will read my complaint and consider it. Because I know I can not be alone in my thoughts regarding this.
With Etsy’s new Star Seller plan, they’ve forgotten one important thing. Not only is etsy about one-of-a-kind finds for one-of-a-kind people, but one-of-a-kind people are the ones CREATING those finds.
Each etsy seller is one-of-a-kind, and etsy is trying it’s darndest to fit us all into one very small box!
If you’re an etsy seller and you have autism, or adhd, or you have both like me, or perhaps you have another learning disability, or a physical disability, or maybe you have lots of kids, or you have a full time job along with your etsy side hustle, maybe you suffer from anxiety, or perhaps you are battling a sickness, or you live rural and have to drive to the nearest town to ship package (also me!), or any other number of things that causes you to not be able to be to meet the push created by this new program.
If you’re one of those people you’ll likely never become a Star Seller on etsy. Or even if you do, maybe you agree that it’s not a good idea for etsy to be pushing things in this direction. The direction of speed=best rather than quality is number one.
Here’s the link to the information about becoming a Star Seller: https://www.etsy.com/starseller
Even though I have been successfully selling on etsy for over 12 years, have shipped out over 12,000 orders and received more than 2,600 five star reviews I will likely never make the cut to be considered an etsy Star Seller and I don’t even care to because this push goes against every reason I am a handmade seller.
However, if I am not a Star Seller, even though I’m paying the same as anyone who is, I miss out on rewards from etsy. This isn’t right.
Why?
As a creator, and for the reasons I stated above for all of us who do not fit the regular mold, I really don’t think it’s a good idea to create a feeling like we’re being pushed to behave like machines. It leaves behind those who simply can NOT work like machines.
Besides, that isn’t what handmade, creativity, artistry, and unique one-of-a-kind is all about.
Is it?
I’m very confused as to why etsy felt this was a good idea. I realize they probably didn’t considered that a system like this would be overwhelming and even punishing to some of their sellers, but I’m here to say that it is. And I’m sure I am not alone.
So this is me letting etsy know better, so that etsy can do better.
No matter our abilities or disabilities, each one of us are hard working individuals trying to make it in OUR business the best we are able. We deserve to be judged for the quality of our creations, for our QUALITY of customer service, and NOT for our SPEED. Why is etsy expecting it’s artists and creators to work this way?
We are not factories or manufacturing plants.
Leave us to be individuals who will have differing customer response times, different shipping speeds and different UNIQUE ways of customer service between each one of us and our customers!
Be a SAFE space for sellers and trust the customers to decide for themselves with their reviews who deserves to be a STAR seller! I bet there are plenty of very unique individuals with very unique amazing creations who will never be the fastest to reply to a message or the quickest to ship an order (or to think it’s ok to add shipping costs into the price costs just to give the ‘appearance’ of free shipping… but that’s a whole other complaint for another time…) that plenty of customers might miss out ever meeting simply because they’ll never be a Star Seller according to this program.
If you agree with my thoughts on this, please share this post and tag etsy.
Maybe together we can bring about change and help etsy to hear our voice and get back to what’s important, one-of-a-kind finds for one-of-a-kind people CREATED BY one-of-a-kind people!