I just opened an Etsy account. Please share the pros and cons. I have not bought or sold yet, but with Ebay getting worse everyday, I thought I would try Etsy out.

 

I have bought a few watches on etsy and I have about 25 "stores" whose stock that I regularly check. I have also bought custom straps and other accessories. I have only had good experiences with the sellers.

The search engine is terrible and there doesn't appear to be any way to save searches, so it is really a pain to look for watches.

 

I have had good experiences with sellers on Etsy. As with other online marketplaces, you just have to look at the reviews and feedback.

But yes, the search engine is a real pain. There are not many filters you can use so you have to manually go through all the listings.

 

Etsy is a place you can search for individual items for sale? I thought it was just for home business startups...

 

Ordered some custom made day cravats off Etsy. Very good and pricing was excellent. As others have said, buy the seller.

 

Does Etsy offer buyer guarantees?

 

I bought a very well priced manual wind Cartier (for the significant other) off Etsy. That one worked out, but it seems like a real mine field. As mentioned, the search and general navigation is not good.. so I find myself looking around rather infrequently.

 

I had a very bad experience, and refuse to use it as a result. I bought a watch, and the Paypal payment was not immediately received by the seller. The seller then sold the watch (obviously at a higher price) to someone else, and cancelled the transaction.

Etsy, which like so many f*cking Internet-based companies these days, refuses to offer phone support, so I was forced to complain solely through email. After the first level rep failed to satisfy, the issue was escalated. Not only are sellers apparently allowed to cancel purchases for any reason, but:

a) the payment delay was on Etsy's end, not Paypal's

b) because the transaction required an exchange of dollars to Euros, I lost a meaningful sum even after a "full" refund

c) the higher-level reps failed to take any responsibility for my having lost money, and refused to issue a further refund

d) f*ck that short-sighted company

 

I believe I purchased a strap from @panchoskywalker from Etsy before he joined the forum.

 

I’ve many buys there over last 3-4 years, only one seller flaked out. Made whole via Etsy. No need to go to PayPal.

 

I had a shop on Etsy.
The platform is very bad to my opinion for a seller.
They think only on how to take your money like a seller.
First they charge you 0.20 euro for every item for four months period than you have to repay if the items are not sold.
Second they take 30% if an item is sold.
Than you have to pay per click on advertising.
I payed 0.22 euro per one click on an item.
You have to be careful with that.
You have to manually fix that to the amount you want to pay per click.
I was talking with other sellers and they were putting it 0.02 euro per click.
It is very complicated to work like a seller with Etsy.
As I said above,they think only how to make money for themselves and if you
pay you get first on the searching engine.
Good luck with it.

 

Is this right, or a typo? I heard that sales fees were 5%.

 

they definitely take a cut

 

I have bought a small number of craft items on Etsy, leather straps, skinning knives, probably some collectible ceramic items as SWMBO appeasers..
I had considered testing it out as a selling platform but was never inspired so to do.

EDIT: yesterday I searched EBay for "Omega pocket watch", I've just run the same search in Etsy and seen a lot of the same listing photographs.

 

I never sold an item on Etsy but that is how much was the fee when I had to agree to the terms and services.

 

Here's the fee schedule: Fees for Selling on Etsy. $0.20 to list or to renew an expired listing, 5% when sold, 3% + $0.25 [US] or 4% + 0.30 € [Europe] for payment processing, and 2.5% for currency conversion if necessary. So for an item valuable enough that the fixed fees aren't material, it looks like 8% to 11.5% depending on seller location and currency exchange fees.

 

Tried to buy a hand made knife off there once, gave up, never had such a head f#ck trying to pay for something in my life. Felt sorry for the seller n the end.

 

This makes more sense, since they are presumably trying to undercut eBay.

 

I've bought a few things on Etsy and have been happy with every transaction, but never bought anything as expensive as a watch. I have bought a watchbox, a pocket watch holster and leather chain, and a leather valet tray.

The most interesting thing I bought was design services. I had the custom logos for my website designed by a person on Etsy, for a fraction of what a traditional design firm would charge.