I understood you the first time around; I was under the impression that it was Chinese manufacturers who ripped IP. Is it really Americans handcrafting your fandom products or is it just Chinese bulk export?
I've bought a bunch of such (videogame-related merchandise mostly) items off Etsy and its a bit hit or miss. Some stuff seems to be legitimately hand made (you can often tell because they have a link to their instagram/whatever or even often include a handwritten note with your order), but it does seem like a lot of stuff is just dropshipped from China too.
I updated my original comment to remove the confusing analogy