Be Sure That "Handmade" Etsy Item is REALLY Handmade!

This morning there was a discussion in one of the Etsy-related Facebook groups about how Etsy now allows almost anything to be sold on their site. Although Etsy still claims to be a place to sell (and buy!) Handmade items, Vintage items, and Craft Supplies, there is a lot of "manufactured crap" being sold there, often listed as Handmade (and sometimes as Vintage), even though the seller's only interaction with the item is ordering it, then removing it from a box, photographing it, and listing it on Etsy; sometimes the seller even uses the manufacturer's stock photo! The seller had absolutely no involvement in the design or manufacture of the item, which is still required per Etsy's Handmade Policy.

Etsy changed their policy to allow "Outside Manufacturing" in 2013. At that time, I expressed concern to Etsy that this was going to be a Pandora's box. Etsy claimed that it would help them reign in things that didn't belong on the site; unfortunately, that's been nothing but a big ol' can of bullshit.

At that time, and for the next several years, sellers who wanted to use an "outside manufacturer" to produce what they had designed were required to submit an application to Etsy. This application was very thorough and the seller had to show how they were actually involved in the design process, as well as provide an invoice proving that they had already ordered the item (yes, before they were even approved to sell the product on Etsy!). The invoice, of course, needed to include the name and contact information of the manufacturer. I went thru this process myself for one item, a "Made in the USA" hangtag, which I designed because of an Etsy seller (perhaps the first one) who was proven beyond the shadow of a doubt to be selling manufactured items where she hadn't had any part in the design or manufacturing process.

Images which I provided to Etsy with my "Outside Manufacturer" application. The 3 images show the original graphic, the tea-stained graphic, and finally with the text added.

A few years later Etsy changed the term from "Outside Manufacturer" to "Production Partner." Sellers were no longer required to be pre-approved; they only had to answer a few questions when listing a manufactured item, with Etsy reserving the right to follow-up if they felt it was necessary. Sellers are still supposed to be the designer, even when they use a Production Partner, but that isn't being enforced consistently (if at all).

Many sellers claim things are Handmade when they're anything but that. Pick something that's fairly trendy and search for it and you're almost guaranteed to see a ton of it on Etsy. Since I make home decor, I occasionally search to see if trendy home decor items are being sold on Etsy in manufactured form. My current favorite searches to check on this are "Galvanized" and "Tobacco Basket." I'm sure shoppers realize that a large tobacco basket, priced at $26 or so, isn't handmade by the seller. Handmade, and particularly antique, tobacco baskets are fairly expensive, often priced at $100 and up! While there will always be shoppers who want the Real Thing, there are also those who Just Don't Care.

Based on Etsy's definition of "handmade," a manufactured item can be painted or otherwise adorned and sold as handmade, but there are dozens, if not hundreds, of items in both of these searches which are taken straight out of the box and listed on Etsy as handmade.

Etsy's Handmade Policy contains this phrase: "Providing false, inaccurate, or misleading information is prohibited by our Terms of Use." Over the years, I have reported hundreds of not-really-handmade items, but Etsy rarely does anything about them. There is one item I've been trying to get removed for more than 5 years; I even have an Etsy convo from the seller stating that the item isn't handmade, but even that didn't get Etsy's attention!

I hope you have found this information enlightening. If you are wanting authentic handmade items, they are definitely available on Etsy however, if the price seems too good to be true, you may want to ask the seller a few questions to see how much they know about the item or its construction. Do your due diligence. Please and thank you!

Small Craft Fairs vs. Juried Art Fairs

(This was written in response to a post in a local Facebook group lamenting the poor turnout at a school-sponsored craft fair.)


I've done craft fairs for more than 40 years, so have a little bit of experience with these things. 

High booth fees should not be taken as an implication that there will be great advertising, a large number of shoppers, better sales, or anything. Only that they are high booth fees. 

If you're a serious artist, you shouldn't be doing school, church, or retirement home/senior center shows. The shoppers at these shows tend to be the parishoners, parents & teachers, and residents & their families; very rarely are there many outside shoppers. Do what it takes to get into the truly juried shows in your area (or as far away as you're willing to travel. I live in Sacramento and did a small antique show in Los Altos for many years. The drive was (at least) 2.5 hours each way, sometimes 3 hours or more coming home due to the traffic on 880. 

Some of the better art fairs in the Sacramento area include the Kiwanis Arts Fiesta (June), Harvest Festival (November), Sacramento Arts Festival (November), Crocker Holiday Artisan Market (November), and the Davis Art Center Holiday Sale (December). These are all VERY juried shows. You will need to have awesome photos of your products & booth. Don't even think about applying if you sell trademark-infringing goods or if you're a rep for a direct sales company! You want to see high booth fees? These shows have that too! But they've been around for years and their promoters know the importance of advertising. See you there!

Etsy SEO Tips

I just helped another Etsy seller with SEO and wanted to share this here. Maybe it will be helpful to you too!





This seller's current title is:

Frosty Ice with Iridescent Swarovski Crystal Beads with 3D Silver Reindeer Charms Women's Christmas Holiday Dangle Drop Earrings

I suggested a better title:

Reindeer Earrings, Holiday Earrings, Christmas Jewelry, Women's Dangle Earrings, Girl's Holiday Jewelry... keep going with different phrases like this until the entire title field is filled up.

The title should begin with "reindeer earrings" because that's what they are, right? While they may be "frosty ice" to the seller, that sounds like a Summer drink! And definitely move the word "earrings" closer to the beginning of the title. As Etsy has written in a Help article about "How Etsy search works," the first few words of the title have the most weight in search.

Try out potential search phrases in Etsy search. Just start typing the phrase (not the whole phrase) into the Etsy search box and see what the suggested searches are. Type another letter ... do the suggested searches change? Type another letter, and so on! Etsy says the suggested searches are what shoppers are searching for, so if any of them are relevant for your item, use them!

Now, repeat those title phrases in the tags. Tags are limited to 20 characters, so that means longer phrases will need to be broken up. "Girl's Holiday Jewelry" could become "Girls Earrings" and "Holiday Jewelry," for example; doing this should allow this item to rank well if a shopper is searching for "girl's holiday jewelry." Since there are currently 6,420 items shown in the results for this search, "ranking well" may be a challenge, so be sure you're also using accurate sub-categories for the type of earring, etc.

Back to those suggested searches for a bit. They do change from time to time, depending on what shoppers are searching for ... which is why having really good SEO can be a never-ending job! Personally, I mostly "set it and forget it" when it comes to my SEO. There are things I change once in awhile, such as heart ornaments which are "Christmas ornaments" in the Fall and thru December 25, then they become "Valentine's Decor" until mid-February. After that, they could become "Bridal Shower Decor," "Rustic Wedding Decorations," or something else. If the items have Americana colors, I will add "Americana" SEO at some point. Of course, most of my items sell before I need to change the tags (YAY!), but that hasn't always been the case.

This article is not intended to be a thorough discussion of Etsy SEO, just a bit about tags & titles. Also, Etsy is in the process of integrating AI (artificial intelligence) into their SEO mix and they have hinted that, at some point, more clearly written titles will work better. But I don't think that time is yet here. 

Late Summer Update

I know that nobody is reading this (I only get a rare comment on anything I write here), but I thought I'd post an update to my last post.

Serendipity brought me to a cute apartment across town. My concern about trying to find an apartment while being "semi-retired" was quickly resolved when the manager said all I needed to do was show that I had the same amount of money as an employed person would be required to have (3x the rent), though she asked for proof of that for each month of the 6-month lease! She accepted my IRA statement as proof and assured me that she wasn't putting a lien on my money, but I'd have to show proof of income (or savings) each time I renewed the lease. I was thrilled when she told me that I scored 9.5/10.0 on the survey they use to determine whether to rent to someone ... she said most of her tenants don't come close to that! 

I like it here except for the traffic noise which I am subjected to for about 21 hours a day; it's especially bad when the windows are open! When the apartment is closed up, it's more quiet, but I like letting the fresh air in (such as it is in a big city!) when the weather permits it! It's fairly quiet between about 1am and 4am! One of the most pleasant surprises is that there are FAR fewer sirens in this area than at my last apartment!

This apartment is maybe 600 square feet, compared to 850 square feet at the previous place I called home. There is some storage space here, which is much appreciated! 

I don't think I'll ever understand how apartment complexes can get away with not showing an actual apartment to prospective tenants. The manager of this complex showed me 4 or 5 photos on her computer and handed me a floor plan. I had to put a "holding deposit" on the apartment based on that limited information. However, since I knew I could no longer afford to live where I had been, not to mention that complex had gone to hell in the 5 years I lived there, I felt I had to go for it. 

The neighborhood seems safer, unless one is a pedestrian. Sidewalks are apparently not mandatory and it seems to be the property owner's choice whether they want to build their own sidewalk. This means pedestrians often have to walk in bike lanes, even on very busy streets! I am still trying to find places to walk. I've ventured off in several directions thus far; I miss being able to walk amongst million-dollar homes, as I did prior to my move. LOL!

My sewing room is in the "dining room." I need to find a loveseat or small sofa to replace the queen-size futon which takes up tooooo much of the living room. I've had to

get back to my sewing ... for Etsy, fairs, and wholesale orders, so haven't done much decorating yet. I sold my big antique work table (a farmhouse-size dining table) to a friend for about what I paid for it 8 years ago. I am considering selling this cupboard, though I'd need to find something to keep my new fabric in. I'd like a blind-door cupboard or, better yet, an antique dry sink; definitely something with old paint!

Well, I need to get going for now. Doctor's appointment then more sewing ... and hopefully I'll get a few more things listed in my Etsy shop before the day is over!

SEO & Etsy

It seems like whenever I'm in the Etsy forums, I'm always trying to explain to sellers how to optimize their SEO (i.e., Search Engine Optimization). Here's a quick review I just did this morning. I chose one item at random from Alyssa's shop, AlyssaScarfer:

These are the tags she was using:

• Accessories
• Scarf
• Knit
• scarf
• scarves
• infinity scarf
• infinity scarves
• arm knit scarf
• arm knitting
• knit
• tan infinity scarf
• tan scarf
• chunky knit scarf
• chunky knit infinity
• chunky knit scarves
• soft scarf

My initial response to Alyssa was that she is wasting several tag slots. Etsy provides up to 3 categories and sub-categories for each item; these are the three capitalized words at the top of the list which serve double-duty as tags, so there's no need to waste a tag slot by repeating these words on their own! 2 tag slots saved!

Next, I explained how, when a seller is using a multiple word phrase, they don't need to repeat any of those words (in the same order) as separate tags. Since this seller has "tan infinity scarf," she didn't also need "infinity scarf" as a separate tag. 1 tag slot saved!

"Scarf" and "Scarves" show the exact same number of search results on Etsy; this means it's likely that shoppers are seeing the exact same items, so that's another tag slot which could be put to better use. I told Alyssa that I would use "scarf" since she's selling a single scarf, but it would seem not to matter. The same is true for "infinity scarf" and "infinity scarves" and, although this search result was actually off by ONE, it's still likely showing the same exact items (except for one!) since the number of search results is nearly identical. 2 tag slots saved!

Now, of course, comes the challenge of trying to think of five new tags to replace the ones which were just deleted. I have enough of a challenge trying to think of tags for my own items, so I ended my tag review at this point. :-)

This ALWAYS Freaks Me Out!

This is the second or third time I've seen one of my creations in an Etsy ad on Facebook. Pretty cool, eh?

And here's where you can adopt this charming pumpkin fellow!

Did Your Microsoft Office Starter Stop Working Too?

About two weeks ago, the Microsoft Office Starter software on my Dell laptop stopped working after one of those weekly Windows updates. Suddenly I had weird ORANGE icons on my desktop and also in the file list when I went looking for the actual files in the folders. Although I have an extended warranty from Dell (thank goodness!), I have been absolutely dreading calling to ask them to help with this problem. If you've ever dealt with Dell tech support, you know what I'm talking about ... 

In a last ditch effort to resolve this problem myself (before giving in and calling Dell tech support), I decided to try to "repair" Office Starter. It said I would lose any UNsaved work, but of course I was freaking out that SAVED work might be lost as well. But I had to try it ... and less than 2 minutes later, I'm once again able to get into my Excel spreadsheets that I use for my business!

Just one small problem, which was super-easy to fix. After the repair, the shortcut on my desktop asked me to put media in the F: drive. I work off of a flash drive and it's the E: drive. So I deleted the old shortcut and made a new one, which references the E. drive and it works just fine. 

BIG WHEW!!!

Oh, just in case (like me) you've never tried to repair a program, here's how you do it!

1. Click on the Windows (Start) button.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Click on Programs.
4. Click on Programs and Features.
5. Find your program (Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - English).
6. Click on Change (at the top of the list).
7. Click the Yes button (I left the box unchecked).
8. There will be a pop-up showing the progress of the repair. Literally, it took maybe 2 minutes and the regular icons were back on my desktop!