There have been mounting calls for vendors to stop using Etsy because of the site’s refusal to pay them.
Some vendors had 75% of their profits frozen for 45 days due to the reserve system, so business was slow.
Stephen James, a vendor of home furnishings, is just one of the hundreds who have signed petitions and joined social media organizations demanding that all vendors leave the site immediately.
The potential size of any boycott is murky. Etsy has stated it will keep evaluating its reserve policies.
It also noted that seller feedback was taken carefully and that payment reserves were used to “keep the marketplace safe” and account for any returns.
As reported by the BBC, Small Business Commissioner Liz Barclay has seen an increase in the amount of complaints her office receives related to Etsy.
They had also seen an increase in the number of people entering online discussion forums to plan a demonstration.
More than 800 people have joined the Etsy Reserve Strike group on Facebook, where discussions center around finding alternatives to Etsy for selling wares.
A community forum on Reddit named r/EtsyStrike has been established. Etsy vendors also vent their frustrations in the Facebook group Not on Amazon.
In the event of a strike or boycott of Etsy, a merchant may choose to place their shop on holiday mode, preventing customers from making purchases.
There is no way to tell how many members in these organizations are actually vendors or how many would participate in a strike because of this.
However, a boycott may reduce the commission and fees that Etsy got from each transaction, and the platform has just under a million users in the UK. According to the BBC, Etsy has six million merchants globally, but only two percent of active sellers have funds in their accounts. Sellers on Etsy are calling for a boycott after their funds were
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