Thousands of Etsy shops join a strike over service fees

• Hermeroteca A handicraft market at the click of a button where women rule

Almost

a portal for the sale of handmade products, have decided to go on strike.

Its

to protest, fundamentally, against the increase in commissions for the service, which charges a flat rate for publishing the different products for sale but also a percentage of each sale made.

Until now, the usual commission on Etsy sales was

, but since April 11, it

The company says that the increase tries to compensate for the increase in general costs but also higher investments in marketing and sales tools that ultimately benefit sellers.

For many vendors, the increase is inherently unsustainable, but not the only reason to protest.

The demands, for example, also include the growing problem of resellers on the service, automated stores with mass-

masquerading as handicrafts, and Etsy's advertising program, which requires at least sellers to invest a dollar a day to promote products within the website itself and that is key for an object to appear in search results.

Since mid-2020, the company has also forced those who sell more than

in merchandise to participate in external advertising campaigns (on websites such as

and which can increase sales commissions by up to 12%. additional.

The truth is that since it went public in 2015, the tension between the sellers and the company has clearly grown.

To grow their bottom line, Etsy

and higher fees.

But while the unease is palpable, the strike is unlikely to have a significant effect on the company's bottom line.

Although the number of merchants who this week will put a

in their stores varies, according to estimates by the organizers, between 5,000 and 14,000, Etsy has more than five million active sellers on its website.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• China