"We were attracted by the + small businesses, low commissions, good marketplace + side, but once we got settled in, they started to tighten their grip and bleed us dry," said the 30-year-old. , which operates its online store from Glasgow (Scotland).

New York-based Etsy boasts more than 5 billion annual sales, with 5 million users and 90 million buyers.

It recently infuriated its sellers by increasing the fees charged on each transaction (to 6.5% instead of 5%).

More than 10,000 of them decided to close shop for a week, from April 11, for a new kind of "strike".

Kristy Cassidy, a saleswoman of Gothic clothing and wedding dresses from Rhode Island (USA), led the offensive against Etsy's new policy.

"Rather than rewarding sellers whose work has made it one of the most profitable tech companies in the world, Etsy is ripping us off, ignoring us, and taking a condescending attitude," she said in a statement. online petition, which today claims more than 80,000 signatures.

Sellers around the world have joined his call, some accusing the platform of allowing the mass arrival of objects made in workshops, or of imposing an expensive surveillance system.

Josh Silverman, boss of the Etsy group, in July 2021 in Sun Valley, Idaho Kevin Dietsch Getty/AFP/Archives

“When we compare our commissions to those of other platforms … we think we are fair,” group boss Josh Silverman told the Wall Street Journal in mid-April.

"Ownership and Oversight"

Same anger a few weeks earlier among users of the Vimeo video sharing platform, after a price hike, or among those of the OnlyFans platform, known for its sexually explicit content.

The online sales giant Amazon has also had countless disputes with its sellers.

According to a recent survey in Germany, nearly 80% of them said they were dissatisfied with their relationship with the company.

The logo of Vimeo, a video-sharing platform, on a tablet screen, in July 2019 in Paris Martin BUREAU AFP / Archives

Uber is also facing mutinies: in India, drivers are currently refusing to turn on the air conditioning to protest against rising fuel prices and low fares.

“We are now entering a time of revolt and rebellion,” says Oxford University professor Vili Lehdonvirta, who tackles the power of platforms in an upcoming book, “Cloud Empires.” ).

For him, many of these movements have little chance of success in the short term, but in the long term the prospect is less certain.

According to Vidi Lehdonvirta, Etsy's behavior has a little air of deja vu, at Amazon or eBay for example.

The platforms create a protected space where sellers and buyers can meet, with guarantees in terms of security and quality standards.

And then their domination becomes too strong.

The Amazon logo on a tablet screen in August 2019 in Lille DENIS CHARLET AFP/Archives

Within the German think-tank Iza, labor market specialist Werner Eichhorst believes that companies like Etsy, Uber, or meal delivery companies have "very ambiguous" models that allow them to exercise "complete power to ownership and surveillance" on their users.

For him, investors in Etsy - listed since 2015 on the New York Stock Exchange - seem more interested in profits than in the well-being of sellers, and it would not necessarily be surprising if Etsy increased its commission further.

The two observers, however, invite the platforms to be cautious, because their sellers may decide to go elsewhere, or to found cooperatives.

“They can manage to turn up the heat very gently, but if they seem to break the norm or do something outrageous, then people revolt,” says Vidi Lehdonvirta, implying that Etsy was in this situation.

© 2022 AFP