

Hobbyists Use Etsy to Trade Day Job for Hard Work - bengebre
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/fashion/17etsy.html

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bengebre
It's interesting (if not terribly surprising) how most of these Etsy
businesses simply don't scale. The thought of making the _same_ thing over and
over again is really quite foreign. I sometimes forget how much leverage we
have as coders.

~~~
quickpost
These business could scale, if they're owners weren't so attached to making
the things themselves.

I'd bet the lady selling scarves could simply design the patterns and farm the
production out to a couple women paying them $30k / yr (and take home $80k+
herself).

~~~
bilbo0s
You are misunderstanding the Etsy community. If she did that, she would lose
all of the sales she is making. Because the buyers at Etsy generally only
purchase when they have a reasonable certainty that the item will be produced
by the original artisan, by hand.

It is very much a Catch-22.

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27182818284
Here is another view on Etsy that isn't as positive. Take a look, I think the
NYTimes article dances around this idea but isn't brave enough to come out and
say it. It does dance around it a little bit on page two, I guess, but this
article makes it the point that most aren't $100K seller and are women who are
married and home with their kids.

"Etsy.com Peddles a False Feminist Fantasy"

[http://www.doublex.com/section/work/etsycom-peddles-false-
fe...](http://www.doublex.com/section/work/etsycom-peddles-false-feminist-
fantasy)

~~~
sireat
Thruth be told, this fantasy applies to all genders.

Consider stock photography sites, Second Life, programming sites(rentacoder
etc), iPhone development and dare I say Mahalo and their ilk.

What do these seemingly dissimilar outfits have in common? They present a
fantasy on making a living doing something you love or at least don't despise.
Good PR/press only encourages this view.

Reality? Few outliers make out exceptionally, while the average participant
makes less than minimum wage(sometimes even for China).

Problem is, as soon as you start making a living out of a hobby/game/craft,
you inevitably start treating it like a job and with that goes the fun.

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acgourley
There are a lot of sellers there who either see it as pure fun or simply
discount their time heavily, and as a result many items are an incredible
deal.

Because of those people I was assuming almost no one was pulling a living
wage, but it's interesting to see those 6 figure numbers.

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kalendae
unfortunately being able to live on making crafts in the US is not at all due
to 'hard work', that is simply a red herring in terms of difficult things
facing these producers. Instead, it is likely due to obscurity or the novelty
of that market. Someone in the story is already hiring employees to do the
work, it is only a matter of time when those employees, and then even the
entrepreneur will be outsourced outside the country.

~~~
inglorian
I don't know that they'll be outsourced. For those who buy crafts from Etsy,
the whole point is that you have direct contact with the seller and you're
getting a handmade, one of a kind item. I know several individuals who buy
things from Etsy, and being able to get a cheaper version made in China
doesn't deter them. I tend to lump the growth of Etsy in with the increase in
people buying local, organic food and fair trade products -- the buyer
consciously avoids supporting that kind of outsourcing.

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kingkawn
Countdown to IRS audits on all of them begins...

