Luna's Baublebilities

Etsy Bitch is calling for a Strike this weekend.

Probably no one will see my banner in my shops because I've been in vacation mode since August but I'm striking anyway.  On behalf of those who are still trying to eeke out a living by selling handmade.

Please shop at ArtFire.  They do much more to make Artists' lives better.

Or else completely and utterly stupid.

I would think this was some sort of Horrifying Halloween Hoax if it weren't for the recent history of other, multiple horrifying "adjustments" over on Etsy.

On Wednesday, Andrew - an Etsy admin - posted here:

"Hi all,

We've made some minor adjustments to our search functionality to make it more user-friendly and to help keep our search results returning quickly.

- Due to technical limitations, we’re capping the number of items returned in a given search to 50,000. Our research indicates that clickthroughs drop to less than .001% and purchases drop to .000001% on item listings beyond 50,000 in a given search, so this change won’t negatively affect item discovery or sales. Also, many of our searches currently return less than 50,000 items. In those cases search listings will apear as they always have.

- When a visitor searches for something that our system has no match for, we won’t return any listings. Visitors have long been confused when we returned all items in this case. Now they’ll get to refine their search and find what they’re looking for more effectively."


Search at Etsy has been a huge problem from day one because the search function relies so heavily on tags that people add to their listings when they put items in their shop.   Sellers have been asking for YEARS that etsy address this issue.  So - did they fix the BLINKING blatant tag abuse problem?  No.  

Basically, what this new change means is that if you sell in a high volume category - like jewelry or supplies, the search runs out after 50,000 items and there is no longer any way to jump around and find items that were listed a long time ago.  Like yours if you didn't re-list yesterday.  Your 20 cents no longer buys you 4 months of exposure.  For some of us - jewlers, supply shops, you're lucky if your 20 cents buys you 4 days.

Artfulbeginings spells it out right here:

"So I just did some calculations for the top seller here, Yadanabeads. She has 1829 listings in Supplies. Main category "supplies" cuts off any listings made before October 27th (!). 940, or about half of Yadanabeads listings are from before October 27th - for those, she paid $188 to NOT show up in her main category, Supplies. She only needs to choose one main category, Supplies, to list and supposedly that listing should be good (i.e show up) for 4 months. The $0.20 is a LISTING fee, not a SEARCH fee."

and here:

"Going back to Jewelry, there are 1,617,214 listings. Of those, only 50,040 are showing up on the main category listing page (1251 pages, 40 listings per page). So due to the "technical" difficulties, Etsy is NOT honoring $324,234.80 in listing fees in Jewelry alone.

sadly, my math is good."


This is all very ugly.  Come visit me and a whole world full of excellent artists and crafts people on ArtFire

Earlier this week there was a rather serious security breach at Etsy related to a programming goof on some new tool.  (Sellers' full legal names instead of shop names were listed in Treasuries for about 45 minutes)  Etsy Bitch and the Forums exploded in panic begging Etsy to get sellers' private information hidden and, later, in rage and frustration at Etsy's perceived slow response and initially dismissive attitude about dealing with the problem. 

Etsy has offered apologies and claims to be beefing up security but they aren't saying anything about implementing better methods and procedures for rolling out changes to code.   This particular "glitch" would have been averted if Etsy had bothered to roll out the change internally for some testing before sending it out live to the world.   This is one of the major problem over at Etsy lately.  They have been rolling out new features and tweaks to old features for months and many many bugs keep popping up.  They have 60 engineers.  Dop you think they might take some time every week to review their work together, maybe help each other proof read a bit?  Have one or two other employees who know the site sit down to test the changes before making them live?  Apparently not.

That's a problem.  But the even bigger problem is their response to one (previously) very successful seller who posted her concerns about the breach in the forums somewhat stridently.  Today, her main shop has been shut down plus her other account and her husband's shop have been forum muted.  Admin have refused to help her or answer any of her questions.  They just kept closing down threads that she and friends started in forums asking Admin to please contact her.  Their responses are all run along the same line of  'we can't talk about private accounts here in the forums.  Why don't you contact live help, etc . . . this thread is closed.'
It sounds a lot like "We're going to take you to a secure location.  Where you'll be safe." 

Yes.  Their response makes me feel very reassured.  About this woman's ability to continue to conduct her business.  About the security of My own information which Etsy still has, even though my shop is on vacation and I don't intend to re-open it.  About Etsy's concern for seller well being.

It makes my blood boil.

Which is not hard today, what with me being estrogen poisoned again.  I'm exhausted.  My productivity in the house and studio is at an all time low.  The studio problem is probably best explained by the illustrations here and above.  It's just not there yet.  I keep hoping that the storage issue will resolve when we get the workbench turned back into a dyeing table and I have that under counter  and shelving storage available.  There's a plan to take out the closed grey door (which you can't see - in either photo, it would be just to the left.) and install 'pass through' type shelves there in the door frame.  That should help.

Maxx has been a handful.  He was sick all last week with a cold (Tuesday through Friday) watched too much TV and has been sullen and surly just about every waking minute for the last week or so.  He generously shared his virus with Bryan and I so that we could be stiff, headachey and miserable for a few days.  Now that he's well enough to go back , he is being particularly troublesome about getting ready for school.  He would rather play in his new tree house. 

(Can I blame him?  Not really.) 

His little surly act is getting very old very fast.  He has also been having a LOT of potty accidents.  Right now I'm chalking it up to an hour ride each direction every day to school and back and trying to re-adjust after summer vacation.  If it persists for more than another week or two, we may have to go see the doctor about it.  Doing laundry is a problem - we still have no washer over here so pissy laundry on a daily basis is really wearing me out.

I was supposed to take THIS in today to get it fixed before it produces more just like it.  We used to have 3 cat carriers.  Could we find any?    Go ahead - guess. 

No carrier.  No fix.  Maybe next week.

I have a new calling which suddenly has several responsibilities landing in my lap.  I can delegate but even that takes some energy and planning - you know, I'd have to actually think about it.

We ran out of construction money and need to send the bank a packet of receipts and a progress report/estimate for finishing up stuff.  That requires thought, too.

Oh and to top it all off - I need a trip to the dentist.  I haven't been in a veeerrrry long time.  We do not have family dental.  I am askeered.

And - yes.  that cat DOES have that much attitude.  She's very sweet about it but really.  She is the queen.  Or goddess.  Or something else infinitely better than me.

It started with growing frustration with the same items and same sellers featured on the front page over and over again.  It escalated with a low but growing level of discomfort with the tone of admin in the forums and more & more underground reports of  previously successful sellers being shut down for arbitrary reasons after publicly complaining about a problem with Etsy.

It got really bad when my sales tanked this April - worse when after weeks of rude Admins insisting that there had been NO CHANGES so we were ALL IMAGINING the drop in our exposure and sales, news of a top-secret change in search function came to light.

Then the Etsy Hacks stopped working.  (Etsy Hacks were these wonderful little tools that allowed for quick re-listing of sold items, searching prior sales, managing inventory and just generally tracking all sorts of crucial business information that was impossible to do without them.)  They were created by a non-Etsy engineer who was later hired by Etsy to make the whole site function better but the only thing that has happened is that Etsy has managed to disable all of his original tools and has completely failed to institute replacements.

Then they changed the page width and lay-out, obscuring seller information in favor of the "Etsy Brand."  They also have failed to implement any changes to protect sellers from scammers, evil games from bitter competitors and non-paying buyers.  They also fail to prevent re-sellers from taking over top search categories and have actually been been featuring them on the front Page more and more recently.
In the midst of this, they spent the  time and energy to produce an embarrassingly adolescent ad for  new coders.  This was a real "help wanted" video.  I kid you not. 

And now they have rolled out a tax tool that will basically make it impossible for sellers in several states to actually OBEY the TAX LAWS!!!

I am so totally done with Etsy.  My shop will be in permanent vacation mode beginning today.
Maybe I'll consider coming back if they fix search, bring back the Etsy hacks, create a tax tool that won't put NYS sellers at risk of audits and tremendous fines, begin to enforce their TOU in a fair and uniform manner and hire some admin who treat honest sellers with some respect.

In the meantime, you can see my supplies and sparklies over at ArtFire - right there in my sidebar.  They SHOW how much they value their sellers in so very many ways.  I'l write about that someday soon but right now, I need to go dye some Alchemy scarves and work on a Gorgeous little Purse/Tarot Card envelope.

Since I'm obviously feeling confessional this week, having posted a photo of my epic cake FAIL of last week over at the Beorningstead blog , I thought I would let you all take a look at my latest bead fail.

Pretty weird, right?











The latest Beadwork magazine has a short tutorial on making sparkly beaded rings so I played around with the project a bit yesterday. 

I made a sort of fun little orange spiky flower ring.


And I beaded a setting for a scintillating rivoli and then decided to see if the duck bills I bought with the latest mega box of beads would work with this  design.





Ummm....






I was shooting for something floral but it certainly didn't turn out that way.  I think it looks like some bizarre sea creature gone horribly wrong.  Molly says it looks like a butt.  (If you have a large, short haired dog, you will instantly see what she means.  It is rather sphincter-ish.)

If only I had made it in pink.






Speaking of butts.  I'm so disgusted with Etsy.   They had full frontal female nudity on their front page a couple of weeks ago.  Oh - the artist's photographer had airbrushed out some specific anatomical details on top and the models hands were covering her groin area but it was still nudity on the Front Page.  The item in question was a hoop skirt support made to be worn under period costumes or alone as a "futuristic design statement".  The seller makes latex clothing.  Most of the images for the clothing available in this shop border on or qualify as soft p*rn.

You know what?  That's FINE.  If someone is having fun making a living selling titillating little costumes - go ahead.  I have no problem with that.  I don't even have a problem with them using racy images in their shop to sell their wares.  It's their shop.  I do not believe in trying to censor other artists and I think that there should be a place on Etsy and other venues for all kinds of  art - whether that art contain happy unicorn, Christian iconography or images designed for a mature audience.

I DO have a HUGE problem with Etsy putting those soft p*rn images on their Front Page and I'll tell you why.   

For those of you who don't know much about FAS/FAE, one of the major challenges kids with this disorder have is a more than average level of difficulty making good sexual choices.  These kids are at a higher risk for STD's, teen pregnancy, date rape - etc. because they have an overwhelming curiosity about sex and intimacy, very little to no impulse control and very poor decision making skills.   I thought that we would be dealing with this issue in - oh about 10 years or so, during puberty.  But no.  It is here NOW. 

Maxx is hyper-interested in breasts and other lady parts.  He has already been exposed to p*rn on the school bus.  He asks inappropriate questions quite frequently and tries to engage in inappropriate touching with me and Molly.  We have had incidents of inappropriate tickling with other female family members that we have had to address with him.  We try to dress him in jeans because if he wears softer pants he runs around all day grabbing his goods.  We have had numerous discussions about biology and male vs. female anatomy, respecting people's privacy and what sort of touching is appropriate and what is not.  He levels off sometimes for weeks at a time until something sets him off - like seeing magazine covers in the grocery store or a scene in a film or on TV that shows a lot of skin and/or cuddling. 

Now some of you might say - "Oh, he's just a boy - boys are just interested in girls!"  Yes.  Boys are interested in girls.  As they should be.  Maxx is Obsessed with female bodies.  There is a difference.  His behavior and manner change when he is obsessing.  It is very troubling.  We work hard to keep questionable images out of our home in order to make at least this space safe for him.  He has enough issues to work through that he shouldn't have to be grappling with that particular obsession right now.

I left work at Creative Spirit because the owner was preparing for a new exhibit containing several "adult" images.  I was fine with that until he made it clear that he intended to hang one of the largest paintings front and center at the bottom of the stairs leading to the only bathroom in the building.  His intention in hanging the piece there was not to draw attention to a particularly masterful painting but in his own words, it was to "shake up the moral foundations of this community a little bit." 

Never mind that we had several parents visit the store with their children and if a potty stop was needed, these kids would have to be brought down through the gallery - right past the 'mature' content.  With no warning whatsoever.  I don't know if this guy ever actually hung that show that way or not.  I left and didn't look back. 

Etsy's front page is on our drop down navigation bar menu for Firefox because I stop into Etsy every day to manage my shops there.  I can no longer trust that opening Etsy with Maxx sitting on my lap or hanging out around the computer is safe.  I'm strongly considering shutting down both of my Etsy shops.  My supply shop has tanked over there.  Either something is STILL broken in the search or I've made some sort of blacklist as a result of speaking too bluntly in the forums about the numerous problems sellers have been having since March.   Either way, that source of income is drying up has dried up.  Pair that with not being able to trust Etsy to follow their TOU/ Dos and Don'ts and NOT put nudity on the front page makes me think that never clicking on that Etsy link again might be a good idea. 

Sigh.  Thinking about Etsy lately makes me depressed.  Thinking about FAS makes me feel overwhelmed.  I've had to think about both of them in one morning - I guess Ziggy and I should go walk off that Nutella on a rice cake I just ate and then try to figure out what on earth to do with these stupid duck bill beads.  Any ideas out there?






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