My Relief Valve

I'm sure many of you have experienced the loss of sales as compared to that of the same time in 2010.  Having felt the impact of a dismal 2011 and with all the changes made by Etsy, it's left no doubt in my mind that between such changes and this flattened economy many have suffered tremendously this year.  I'm at 7-9 sales this far into December as compared to 22 at the same time last year averaging 1 sale per day.

On top of the aforementioned is this influx of characters who have become part of the Etsy community that are now (actually have been all year) buying wholesale goods and passing them off as home/handmade and vintage.  Also are the same who seem to have no consideration for those of us who sell genuine handmade or vintage goods.  It lends to the overall experience I had with Ebay.  I'm one just like the other who is thrilled with any sale, however more importantly to me is the complete satisfaction of my customers.

More and more I'm finding that buyers are very concerned about spending or purchasing an item, so they inquire about a given item with questions like, "Is the item just as described?", "Can you ship in time to receive by a specific date?", and "Do you except returns?".  I can understand ones concern and am all about replying in an expedient and informative manner.  What truly gets me is post transaction communication.  Non-existant.  It's something that's happened time after time and accounts for approximately 25% of the feedback lost in a given year.  One would think that at very least a customer would convo telling me that they received their item and were either happy or disappointed, simple.  It's relatively easy to determine receipt of a package/item by tracking systems.  It's the simple fact that some people give a rats ass about how dedicated some of us are in insuring to the best of our ability (sometimes beyond) that we provide a quality product, at a reasonable price, and in the least amount of time possible.

I very rarely rant (ok, maybe once a month?? lol), but I'm just peaved right now and wanted to vent.  I've just seen this "Ebayish" kind of mentality overtaking Etsy this past year and it truly bums me as Etsy is NOT at all what it was when I first joined, many of the new sellers are NOT like that of the vets here.  Alot of the buyers are NOT at all what they were, and those who are allowed to re-sell Chinese and Malasyian crap on etsy need to be banned and strickly enforced.  I for one cannot and have not seen any good or positive come from the changes they've made and allowed this past year and although many are clinging on (including yours truly), I'm afraid if all should continue in 2012 as in 2011, Etsy will suffer of their own demise and so will we.

Thanks for stopping by.