Posted on 05/13/2014 5:12:32 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday morning that Etsy is getting $5 million from New York state to stay in Brooklyn, a pretty nice sum for a company whose CEO publicly acknowledged just weeks ago that it “could only exist in Brooklyn.”
“A company like Etsy could only exist in Brooklyn,” Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson said during an April 23 appearance at a Brooklyn Tech Triangle symposium. “Almost all of our employees live in Brooklyn and our Manhattan employees are treated with scorn.”
Etsy, which was founded in Brooklyn in 2005, plans to add more than 340 jobs by 2019 (a figure that does not include the employees brought in two weeks ago under terms of its acquisition of Grand St., another local e-commerce site). To accommodate that growth, Etsy has signed an agreement to become the anchor tenant in a 200,000-square-foot space at the new Dumbo Heights complex just blocks away from its current location in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn. Crain’s reported the move last week. …
(Excerpt) Read more at crainsnewyork.com ...
More corporate welfare stupidness
what is etsy?
what’s so special about them that cuomo needs to bribe them?
I have an Etsy shop and was there pretty much from the beginning.
They have made so many changes most not for the better in my opinion.
They have moved away from what the company started as a venue for “Handmade”
it is not that anymore although my items are made by me and only me they now allow you to use factories to make your items as long as you disclose it and have some hand in the design of the item. Someone like me can never compete with a factory.
You would need a pretty high sales volume to justify a factory though, which will just price out many of you guys I bet
The article was a little irritating because it never told us folks far from Brooklyn what Etsy is. From your post, it sounds like it might be some sort of upscale, urban flea market where people lease space and operate some sort of business.
But just what is the Etsy business model?
Was this in jest? I couldn't tell from the article.
What kind of employer would say that about their workers? What kind of business would let some workers disparage other workers? Who would want to work for such people?
Etsy is an e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items, supplies, as well as unique factory-manufactured items under Etsy’s new guidelines, released in October 2013. These items cover a wide range, including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, food, bath and beauty products, quilts, knick-knacks, and toys. Many sellers also sell craft supplies such as beads, wire and jewelry-making tools. All vintage items must be at least 20 years old.[3] The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee of US$0.20 per item.[4] As of August 2013, 30 million users are registered on the website and by the end of 2013, projections of one million sellers and over US$1 billion in total annual transactions have been announced.[1]
source: Wikipedia
Etsy was like an Ebay site except it was for Handmade items. A person could start there own shop of items that they made from art to clothing.
You would pay .20 to list an item for 6 months which was changed to 4 months but still a bargain and if you sold an item they would charge you 3.5% of the sale and those were the only fees.
They then allowed people to sell vintage items and supplies along with handmade items. Now they have changed their definition of “Handmade” to allow you to outsource your items to factories to be made which is what bothered me. Someone like me who makes my hats all by myself can not compete with that and I could not afford to hire anyone.
I make hats and really have enjoyed having a shop there but they just keep changing things.
Here is the link to my shop don’t know if I am allowed to post it but just so you can see what Etsy is.
www.bkmhattitude.etsy.com
Is it fair to say Etsy is going the way of Ebay - discarding the things that made them unique; heading to “big box” model?
You are correct.
Thanks. I’ve gone to the website and am checking it out. As large as it seems to be, it’s odd that it’s not mentioned more around the net.
Seems like it. Being there from the beginning it was really fun
and it is nothing like it is now.
I have to say the people who I made items for were some of the nicest people and that was and is one of the best things about Etsy. It is fun and inspiring.
So he can drive his competitors out of business?
Why doesn’t everyone get $5million
It’s actually a fairly cool place, imho.
Thanks for the description of Etsy. And those are nice looking hats and caps.
So, I guess the article about the Brooklyn location and those employees relates to a headquarters and data center?
One of the Things Ety does that drives me crazy is they are constantly testing things on the site like a new Front Page or even the look of our individual shops and they do it live sometimes your shop is part of the test group sometimes it is not.
Not too long ago they tested our shops by hiding our individual Banners and these banners are ones that we had to create ourselves. Many shop owners made their own marketing materials around the banners and this was our own special branding people were pissed and Etsy just ignored the outcry about it.
So what you may see when you sign on may be different than what I see.
Thank you. Yes those are “Etsy” paid employees although some may be shop owners as well.
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