ETSY discussion goes to the bad place, yet again.

So I was in the mix last night on a discussion in the ETSY forums about the lack of variety on the front page. Well things were going well, the person that started the thread was actually a buyer. When a buyer starts the thread it seems to go a lot better. Many times if a shop "renter" because ETSY owns your ass no matter what, it's not really your shop. Ok, I strayed. So if a shop renter brings it up then they get hammered on for their actual shop. "Oh your pictures aren't up to par." "You're just jealous." and the ever famous "You need to promote promote promote!"

By promote they must mean change your ideals, change your location to Brooklyn, and kiss admin ass. Because I did a lot of off ETSY promoting, and nothing came from it. Again, I stray.

Well there were masses coming out of the woodwork to say how they thought the same as we did. The front page clearly has a theme, that being robins egg blue, grey or black, and lemony/muted yellows. From the "usual suspects" mainly.

Last time I started the same thread, months ago mind you, I got the wrath of the "usual suspects" coming out to give me what for. It's always the people who are favorites, and on the front page frequently that come to the defense of the front page. How can we take that seriously? They lose all credibility when you go to the flickr group "etsy front pagers" and search their shop. Shocking! 149 front pages under your shop name. Shut up and get back to work, this discussion does not deserve your involvement. You're so loved by admins you should be getting your ass in gear churning out your wares to meet the demand. Since ETSY clearly promotes your work over the rest of us.
Like I've said before. I've been there since the beginning. Not one front page, not one gift guide, and my showcase that I paid for mind you, could never be found the day of its debut. Pathetic.

Back to the point. Discussion gone wrong. We got a good 4-5 pages before someone more disgruntled then the rest of us came in there and called out. Mentioning "How many times this week do we need to see the same ruffled denim dress."

Thanks a lot a-hole. It didn't take long for the admin to lock and load, and close our little thread down. We all saw the dress, we all saw it several times. Did you really need to say it?

This reviewer is starting to have ETSY rage

I have been a seller on ETSY since the month they opened back in 2005, and I use the term seller very loosely. I would go into the forums and ask for assistance on how to sell. Only 17 items of mine have sold since I joined to this point right now. They tell me "You don't have enough listing, and or choices." "You should list a lot more items!"

Umm, seriously? So the solution to making sales for your dying shop is to spend more money on listings that may not sell as well? Is ETSY paying these people to say this?

At the time I had questioned this I had over 60 listings in my shop, and tried advertising in "Promotions", and we all know what a waste of time that is.
My jewelry is not a mass produced item, so it's not that easy to keep over 100 listings up like people that do prints. For one, prints are easy to list, 1 picture, and it's already ON your computer. Easy to make duplicates of that. Second, why throw more money at the problem? They take a percentage of my sale, they charge for the listing, and paypal gets a cut as well. In the end I'd have to charge way more for my item just to turn a profit. The result? Lack of sales.

ETSY has claimed devotion to their sellers. Yeah, to THEIR sellers, the ones THEY like. They claim they don't have "favorites", but anyone who has been on ETSY long enough knows that is not the case. They feature sellers that are already quite popular. Not only that but on many occasions I see the featured seller make the front page treasury several times during their "feature time".

How many times to we see sellers featured for knitting scarves, cowls, and making practically unwearable jewelry in a months time? Quite a bit.
I wish ETSY would get off their high horse and feature people who have good items, and haven't made many sales. I think a lot of the reason for the lack of exposure is their lack of true devotion to everyone on there, and their impossible searching, and blatant mis-tagging.

When I mention the repetition of the "featured" people on the front page in the forums I get hammered on by big name sellers saying that it's completely fair. Sure it is Hun, oh, right, is that you on the front page again? Shocking. No wonder you think it's fair. Your junky crocheted chap stick holders are selling like hotcakes. Oh and your friends ugly ceramic "urchins" are on the front page again, wow.

To test this theory I nabbed 2 treasuries. 1 of them under one of my shop names, and the other one was under my other shops name.

1 treasury was full of the "usual suspects"
1 treasury was full of "under appreciated" or "unknowns" if you will.

Can you imagine my surprise when my treasury made it to the front page?! Can you imagine my lack of surprise that it was the "usual suspects" treasury I had created?

I did it to prove a point, or to be proven wrong. I proved my point. Sadly. I so badly wanted to be proven wrong on this, I really did.

Today I stumbled upon the "ETSY Bitch" blog on here, and it re lit the fire up under my ass. ETSY has mismanaged, and mistreated their sellers for so long. It's time to talk back. So I'm using this as my outlet.

This little reviewer has some pet peeves.

I know I haven't been reviewing things like I should have been, but it's because of the randomness that is my personal life that prevents my regular schedule of anything online.

But I think I'll take this break to say a few words with the things that I hate, and the current events, and trends.

First of all. Old men, stop hitting on me, it ain't gonna happen. Also could you realize that you're old, and saggy, and speedo man panties at the beach are a no-no.

Dear Kim K. and Jessica S.,
You both have ginormous asses. Done. Kim defending Jessica, I feel is a ploy to keep the media at her attention and make sure that the new asszilla does not replace her in the spotlight.

Alot, is not a word. Even the little spell check thing on windows underlines it in red on any page you type on. Seriously. STOP!
It's A LOT, two words. The only other variation is allot, and that is a totally different word, and meaning.

Regardless is a word. Irregardless is not. It's a double negative. Get it right. It's annoying.

They're, There, and Their.

They're going to the store, it's over there, by the fast food joint. They're going to bring back their groceries when they're done shopping.

See how easy that is?

I know that schools are cutting out all the fundamental things we need children to learn. How is that a good idea? The kids/adults graduating high school now can't even read, write, or speak properly. What about this generation? What will we see here in a few years with these cuts? More ignorance. I for one will not waste my time later in life having to explain witty jokes, and spelling things out for them. Parents knowing that this is going to happen to their kids should take the bull by the horns now, and teach their kids the things they won't be getting from school anymore. Many schools are cutting the teaching of cursive writing. I use it still, and I can't see how this is going to end well. I will not change the way I write later in life because the person who just got a job below me cannot read it. They will have to learn it one way or another.

I will not give in. I will not cave. I refuse to dumb myself down to make the new morons being churned out of the public school system feel ok.

Jonathan Product "Silky Dirt"

I received my samples of the product, and immediately began experimenting. This product is a variation of the original "Dirt" product from Jonathan. It's for people like me with longer hair, who want to shine it up a bit, and add definition. It performed well. I blow dried my hair, then proceeded to apply it to where I would do my "pump" hairstyle, as seen in my profile picture. I applied a larger amount to the portion I was to style, and it held the pump together without any use of hairspray. Then I took the same amount, emulsified it as per the directions and ran it through my hair. The shine was amazing, it took down all the little fly-aways, and added some depth to my hair. The sample size is .2 oz and will last me several applications. When I'm out of the samples I plan to purchase the full sized product. It's great for multiple uses, is 100% vegan, and essential water. You can also use it on your damp hair before a blowout, and create a mirrored lake shine. It creates a simple hold so your hair's not flying around, and yet you can run your fingers through it, and feel nothing.

Curel Hand and Cuticle VS. Lubriderm Daily Moisture Lotion

For one week I used these lotions. After each time I washed my hands I applied one. Alternating between the two for each washing.

The Curel lotion is by far the better of the two. Any of their varieties all have the one main characteristic I look for in a lotion. It isn't greasy. Not only that, but it absorbs quickly, and has no scent. Usually scented lotions have a greasy feel, and never really absorb, leaving a film on my hands. The Lubriderm felt greasy, filmy, and never really did anything for my skin. On day three I gave up on the Lubriderm because it was actually too slimy. I washed the Lubriderm off my hands because it never absorbed in my skin. Everything I touched after applying it left greasy hand prints, and the Curel lotion did not.

I suggest the Curel as the better purchase. The Lubriderm just didn't perform nearly as well.

Teavana

I love them! Their teas have the best flavor. They offer great varieties of instructions for brewing the different types of teas. I've tried several different types, and used the recommended German rock sugar to enhance the tea, without making it too sugary, and they always come out fantastic. If you don't have a tea pot, or a proper way to brew it, try a French coffee press! I used that to brew the tea (they taught me that it's best not to constrict the tea to tea balls, or bags) I didn't have a brew vessel, and realized that the coffee press would do fine. And it did! The teas are well balanced, and of course tea has natural health benefits.

I now find myself drinking more tea (it's fantastic iced!), and less Starbucks! (Don't get me wrong. I love my Starbucks, but my wallet doesn't)

give Teavana a try! They have locations in malls, and online.

www.Teavana.com

Ped-Egg

Amazing. This product is fantastic! I watched the infomercial commercials and was skeptical. I've used the pumice, files, callous razors, and so on. I saw the product at Target, $9.99. Good price in comparison to other products on the market.

It was easy to figure out, and work. You just run it back and forth over where you need it, and it literally grates the dead skin off. It's like a micro plane cheese grater, but for your feet. I could not believe how close to the commercial the product performed. I've had it for a couple months now, and it's still sharp as a tack, and nearly impossible to injure yourself with it, as you can a callous shaver. The Ped-egg also does not leave pits in your feet from uneven skin shaving. It's smooth, and soft. I can't get these results from the nail salon pedicures. Honest. I recommended it to my sister, and she's in love with it. She even said she has no reason to go and get pedicures anymore. The callous removal was the main reason she would go. There is one issue of course. It ALL does not make it in the chamber like on the commercial, but the stuff that gets out is minimal. I'd say about 1-3% of shavings come dusting out. But that's nothing compared to how much you see on the inside when you clean it out. This product performed well. I highly recommend the Ped-Egg