Etsy.com peddles a false feminist fantasy.
Even the success stories don’t seem to be generating all that much income. Rikrak, one of the featured 50, boasts of having had more than 1,500 sales on Etsy since she opened her “store” in 2007. But her wares are mostly small-scale quilts: placemats, napkins, coasters, and the like. The last time I checked, her most expensive item was listed for $21. Many sell for as little as $4.50—meaning the available margins for profit are almost non-existent. Assuming, generously, that every one of these 1,500 sales was for $21, she’s earned just $31,500 in two years—or roughly $15,000 a year—and this is before time and materials and Etsy’s own cut. In her profile, Rikrak says she also sells to boutiques, and credits her presence on Etsy with helping to score some of these accounts. Still, it’s hard to see how, with margins this microscopic, anyone can generate much of a profit on the site.
(Link: Etsy.com peddles a false feminist fantasy.)
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