Storque articles: Etsy News

UK Edition: Greetings From Etsy's UK Blogger

2010-02-08T07:45:00-05:00

Hello and a very warm welcome to the UK Edition of the Etsy blog! My name is Amity, I'm an Etsy addict, and it's such a pleasure to meet you all.

Etsy and I go way back. I've been a seller since 2006, when I started out selling my photography on cards and postcards. Along with my changing passions, my business has morphed and shifted through several incarnations up until today, which sees me crafting fine silver jewellery most days of the week.

In a very short while you'll be hearing more from me as I report on all things Etsy UK and the creative scene at large throughout The Kingdom. I will soon also be joined by Matt and Benedikta in Germany and Amelie (a.k.a. AmelieFrenchie) in France as we grow our little European corner of the blog.

I couldn't be more thrilled to be on board. It feels like a real privilege to be joining the Etsy team, and it's so exciting to be reaching out to the UK — and global — community. I'm looking forward to having many of you take part and get involved. Who knows where it will lead us, but I can't wait to find out.

Help me feature you!
We're currently asking all UK sellers to tag each and every one of their items with the tag UK. We're working on improving our geographical search features, but in the meantime this helps me to find your beautiful wares when I'm trawling UK items under a specific theme. We also strongly urge you to fill out your geographical location on your Etsy profile so you show up in Shop Local results.

Get Involved!
Do you have a story or an interesting idea? Is there a UK holiday we should be covering? Please let us know in the comments section below.

Bookmark the UK Edition Featured Column!

I Heart Art: Portland

2010-02-04T12:30:00-05:00

Indie hearts beat strong in Portland, Oregon, one of the craftiest cities in the United States. Working from Brooklyn here at Etsy headquarters, I think of Portland as our sister city.

Today, we are announcing that we are joining forces with the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) and the Portland Etsy Team. We're calling our collaboration "I Heart Art: Portland." We are forging this ongoing relationship to foster opportunities and offer support for the local DIY/craft/vintage community. As a group, we'll be partnering to host a series of indie business talks at PNCA's Museum of Contemporary Craft and a series of Etsy Craft Labs this spring. (In addition to our regular Craft Nights at the Etsy Labs in Brooklyn, we've started collaborating with other museums such as the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco for similar hands-on sessions.)

Supporting local economies — especially through independent businesses — is important for Etsy, as a company and as a website built up on a vast network of local communities. Art schools and museums can help Etsy by serving as a home base for the local art and craft movement's events, and Etsy can help by connecting curators, professors, students and members through our mutual passion for art, design, collecting and learning. We are thinking of this project in Portland as a pilot for Etsy's outreach to local communities. Hopefully, Etsy will bring "I Heart Art" to other cities after this first run gets off the ground.

To kick-off this new relationship, Etsy, PNCA and the Portland Etsy Team will host an “I Heart Art" meet and greet at PNCA on Friday, February 26. This public event brings together the PNCA student body, the Portland Etsy Team, members of the Guild Council Program from the Museum of Contemporary Craft, and the thriving local arts and crafts community of Portland. Morgan, a.k.a. neonmorgan Etsy's new Teams Admin, and I will be there in person to make new friends and meet old friends face-to-face. We can't wait!

I Heart Art: Portland Meet and Greet — Friday, February 26 at 6:30 p.m. PT
Hosted by Etsy.com, Portland Etsy Team, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) & Museum of Contemporary Craft
Connecting Portland’s Vibrant Community of Makers
Swigert Commons
Pacific Northwest College of Art
1241 Northwest Johnson Street
Free and open to the public
www.iheartartpdx.com

If you're in Portland, let us know if you're coming on this Facebook event. (And become a fan of the Facebook page, while you're at it and follow IHeartArtPDX on Twitter!).

If you're not in Portland but are interested in this type of program, comment below with links to your local museum or art school.

Etsy Blog Survey: Getting to Know Our Readers

2010-02-03T17:00:00-05:00

UPDATE: The survey closes tonight, Wednesday, February 3, at 11:45 p.m.! Take it now, if you haven't already, pretty please!

We're running a survey all about this Etsy blog, the first since we launched The Storque back in September of 2007. We kindly ask you to offer up ten minutes of your time to tell us about yourselves and your reading habits. Stand up and be heard!

Even if you're not the most regular reader, we still want you to take the survey. Question topics range from basic demographic info to types of posts people want and your opinions about the future of blogging on Etsy. This is super important to us, so thank you in advance.

Click here to take the survey!

Survey closes on Wednesday, February 3 at 11:45 p.m. ET. (It was launched on Wednesday, January 27, 2010.)
You may only take this survey once. (The link will redirect you to the blog if you try to take it again.)
We will not share any of your personal information.
After we've combed through all the data, we'll post some of the compiled results.

Read Posts About Other Etsy Surveys

Just Jewels Showcase: On Sale Thursday, February 4, 2010 12 p.m. ET

2010-02-03T10:11:00-05:00

Do you find yourself mesmerized by the sparkle in her eyes? Keep it traditional this Valentine's Day and dazzle her with gifts that gleam. The Just Jewels Showcase will be a treasure chest of splendor.

Info for Sellers

Get your items ready! We encourage sellers to add items that would give a flash of radiance this Valentine's Day. In order to keep the Showcase on-point thematically, the tool will only pull items placed in the following Categories: Jewelry (top-level tag being "jewelry") or Vintage.

The Just Jewels Showcase goes on sale Thursday, February 4, 2010 12 p.m. ET.
Go to the Showcase Gateway to purchase a spot.
This Showcase will run from Monday, February 8, 2010 12 a.m. ET until Sunday, February 14, 2010, 11:59 p.m. ET.
For $15 USD, Etsy sellers can purchase a 24-hour spot, which will be linked from a prominent banner on Etsy's home page.
Sellers determine which item will be featured in your Showcase slot. Sellers must use the tool in Your Etsy > Promote > Showcase. Learn more about this process here.

Future Showcases

If you are thinking about planning for other Showcases that may be more appropriate for your items, here are some of the front page Showcases we will be highlighting:

Spring Fashion Showcase: On sale Thursday, February 11, 2010; the Showcase will be live from Monday, February 15, 2010 to Sunday, February 28, 2010.
- Think light, flowing dresses and fashion accessories that help transition your wardrobe into spring.
Artwork for Every Room: On sale Thursday, February 25, 2010; the Showcase will be live from Monday, March 1, 2010 to Sunday, March 7, 2010.
- Think paintings, prints, sculptures and all artwork to transform the look and feel of a room.

What is this Showcase thing? For a general introduction to Showcase, read Matt's Storque article 13.5 Questions about the Showcase, and for deeper thoughts on figuring out if Showcase is right for you, see Beth's Showcase Deconstructed article.

Community Council Summary: January 2010

2010-02-02T16:33:00-05:00

The first meeting of the second seller Community Council is in the books, and it has been and is a learning experience for all of us. More than anything else, this first month and meeting has been devoted to orientation and assessment. Members of the Council have had a chance to introduce themselves to one another, but were very quick to jump into the task of getting feedback about Etsy from the community. They consolidated the thoughts you provided into a small series of broad topics that were referenced most often on a discussion thread created for this purpose in the Etsy Forums. I'll go into those in a little more detail in just a bit.

Vanessa, editor-in-chief of Etsy's blog, gave the Council an early look at her recently published article on spamming to make sure that the tone was lively but not too harsh. Council members enjoyed the article as it was written and thus didn't have any major recommendations for it. Additionally, we all talked a little about basic spam standards and the even more recently published blog reader survey.

Before delving into the bulk of what we discussed, I have to acknowledge that it's a challenging time to be on the Community Council. Much is changing under the direction of Rob Kalin as Etsy sets about gathering the resources to work on projects that are priorities to the community and also to Etsy staff. Rob covered many of these in his recent Q&A Forum announcements. As more work is done we'll be able to discuss individual projects in greater detail. Consequently, we didn't really talk specifics at this first meeting; I hope we'll be able to discuss those more over time and bring them to you as well.

So what did we cover? The first broad topic was seller tools. Among the most referenced topics on the Forum thread were batch editing tools and currency conversion tools. The Council recognized that there were many, many other tools beyond these two that would be helpful to sellers. Etsy recognizes this too, as Forum moderators in particular keep track of features and tools that the community asks for. Though we at Etsy have made efforts to provide individual tools in the past, now we are creating a seller tools team focused just on building tools like the ones referenced above.

Policy enforcement was also a topic that was very strongly represented. Though everyone on the Council wants to see Etsy do a better job in cleaning up persistent or blatant policy violators, some said that this should simply go without saying; it shouldn't have to be a topic of discussion. Frankly, we at Etsy agree. It's a matter that we're not happy about, and along with multiple new positions to assist the Support team we're also assembling a specific, multidisciplinary team for this task: the SCRAM (Systems for Catching Resellers and Abusers of the Marketplace) Team. The solutions to this problem require both more people and better tools, and we will get both.

The third strongly represented topic was Checkout, and this too encompassed a few different phenomena. There was a general consensus that the Checkout interface should be easier for first-time Etsy buyers to understand. Additionally, we discussed our want to avoid problems with non-paying buyers by not removing an item from a seller's shop until the buyer pays for it. Some Council members expressed concern in a system like this over artists who make one-of-a-kind pieces that multiple buyers may attempt to purchase at once. I'll make sure that we're looking out for our artists making OOAK pieces as this particular project goes forward.

There are many other topics that we wanted to cover but couldn't due to time constraints (search, privacy controls, etc.). The Council will continue to take input from the community for topics of discussion over the coming months, though the way that we collect those thoughts from you may change in order to make that process both easier on you and on the Council. I'll be back with another summary next month, and in the meantime the Council and myself will continue to advocate for you, the Etsy community!

More Community Blog Posts | Tech Updates

Valentine's Day Card Design Contest: An Etsy + CoolMomPicks Co-Production

2010-01-28T12:30:00-05:00

UPDATE: Winners! Winners! Winners! Coolmompicks announced the winners for this contest today. Guess what: Kristen and Liz couldn't pick just 9, so we have 12 talented designers to congratulate today. You can purchase the downloadable PDF from the EtsyStore for $3.99. The proceeds go to Children's Heart Foundation. Get those kiddos a'colorin'!

The winning card designs are...
Spaceboy Out of this World by Olliegraphic
Bunny at Mailbox by Nakisha VanderHoeven
Airplane Be My Valentine by One Cool Mom

All You Need is Love by Shannon Kennedy
Flower Balloons by Blue Tricycle
Huggie Hearts by Danamarie Hosler of greenstarstudio

Superhero LOVE Heart by Christine Liu
Dino Balloons by Zucchini and Me
Love Bird by Kate Endle

i love you by Olivia Mew
You Rock Guitar by Zom-b
Bunch of Balloons Creating Heart by Leo Jung

And if your creative design didn't win, don't despair! You can still get involved with our Special Delivery project — Etsy Admin will be delivering your Valentine cards with City-Meals-on-Wheels to NYC elderly this Valentine's Day.

[The following was originally posted January 15, 2010.]

When we met Kristen and Liz this summer for our CoolMomPicks: Blogs We Love post, we were eager to brainstorm a project to do together. We're very excited to announce that we are co-hosting a Valentine's Day Card Design Contest!

Here's the concept: Little kids like to color in and customize Valentine's Day cards and hand them out to their cute little friends. We're putting out a call to artists to submit the black and white line-work for such cards, and the lovely ladies of CoolMomPicks, Kristen and Liz, will pick nine winners. These will be laid out as printable PDFs for moms and dads to purchase in the EtsyStore. All proceeds will go to the Children's Heart Foundation. We love that we're able to support a charitable cause, encourage little ones to get creative with crayons, and challenge Etsy sellers to create great designs.

So whether you're an expert doodler, serious artist type, or somewhere in between, let's see what you've got! — Kristen & Liz

Click here to find out the submission details, deadlines, and rules for the contest. Good luck! We can't wait to see the entrie

Team Tip: Etsy Team Grants!

2010-01-27T16:25:00-05:00

*The Etsy Team Grant program is up and running!*

Does your Etsy Team need a helping hand from Ulysses E. (Etsy) Grant, Etsy's Team Grant mascot? He's here to help with a new program that subsidizes some Etsy Team promotions! This new program is called Etsy Team Grants and will assist creative, dedicated and energetic Teams with Etsy promos and financial resources. This monthly granted funding will help Teams represent themselves at craft fairs, art shows or other local events, help subsidize team advertising or take part in other opportunities. The applications are reviewed monthly and we have a set budget for the hundreds of Etsy Teams, so make your application shine! Here are some tips:

Elect one person from your team to be the leader of this project, communicate well with your Team, and have them apply on the Team's behalf.
Make sure to include detailed descriptions of Team promotions and events your Team has successfully completed.
Tell us why and how your grant would help spread the Etsy message in the most effective way.
Be creative! Let us know how your Team will be creatively using the Grant, or contributing more to it.
Make a promise to us that you will document the promotion with photos, blog entries or even video!

FAQs
Here's some of the information you'll need to know about grants, which can also be found on the Teams page for Etsy Team Grants here.

When is the due date for an application?
We review applications on the 15th of every month. We will let you know if your application is accepted or not as soon as we can. Applications submitted after the 16th of the month will be reviewed the following month.

How do you decide who gets a grant?
We can only give so much each month. We will make decisions based on the activity level of your team, the location and focus of your team (i.e. if we haven't already subsidized an event or Team close to you geographically, or a Team with a similar reach and market, your chances are better), the number of Team members that the grant will assist, and the overall benefits to Etsy.com.

What can we use the grant money for?
Grants can be used toward projects that promote your Etsy Team and Etsy, such as advertisements in publications, fees for table spaces at existing events, or other creative ways to promote Etsy and your Team.

Who should apply?
Any Etsy Team can apply for a grant. You should elect one point person from your Etsy Team to apply for the grant. It can be your team leader or another member who is in charge of the event or promotion. This person should have a good idea of the goals of the Team for the grant, and communicate well with the Team throughout the process.

How much money can we ask for?
Ask for what you need! If it doesn't work within our budget, but the application is really great, we'll work with you to fund at least part of the project.

How many times can a Team receive a grant?
The limit is twice a year per Team. If you are thinking of applying for another grant in the future, make sure you follow up your first grant with lots of information and great photos!

How do we receive the money?
In most cases Etsy.com will send the payment via Paypal to the address that your team chooses.

Our Team has another promotional idea that isn't a craft show or an advertisement — can we still apply?
There's a section of the application that allows for you to explain your innovative Team promotion. We encourage innovative ideas that show promise of being effective and promoting Etsy and your Team in a creative way!

If you have any more questions about this initiative, please ask them below or send an email to teams@etsy.com! Don't forget to check out the Grants page, where you can find the application.

Valentine's Day Just Because Showcase: On Sale Thursday, January 28, 2010 12 p.m. ET

2010-01-27T10:21:00-05:00

Valentine's Day isn't just about goopy couples sharing milkshakes, declarations of love via boombox under balconies and a never-ending stream of rose bouquets on the subway platform; it's also about showing the depth of your adoration for the friends and family that make your life awesome. I hope you never need an excuse to show your BFFs some platonic love, but if so, now's the time to say, "Thank you for being a friend" — Golden Girls style. Get out the cheesecake!

Info for Sellers

We encourage sellers to add items that could would make heartfelt Valentine's Day gifts for friends and relatives. There are no category restrictions for this Showcase.

The Valentine's Day Just Because Showcase goes on sale Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 12 p.m. ET.
Go to the Showcase Gateway to purchase a spot.
This Showcase will run from Monday, February 1, 2010 12 a.m. ET until Sunday, February 7, 2010, 11:59 p.m. ET.
For $15 USD, Etsy sellers can purchase a 24-hour spot, which will be linked from a prominent banner on Etsy's home page.
Sellers determine which item will be featured in your Showcase slot. Sellers must use the tool in Your Etsy > Promote > Showcase. Learn more about this process here.

Future Showcases

If you are thinking about planning for other Showcases that may be more appropriate for your items, here are some of the front page Showcases we will be highlighting:

Just Jewels Showcase: On sale Thursday, February 4, 2010; the Showcase will be live from Monday, February 8, 2010 to Sunday, February 14, 2010.
- Think all things sparkly to spice up any winter wardrobe.
Spring Fashion Showcase: On sale Thursday, February 11, 2010; the Showcase will be live from Monday, February 15, 2010 to Sunday, February 21, 2010.
- Think light, flowing dresses and fashion accessories that help transition your wardrobe into spring.

Valentine's Day Gifts For Her Showcase: On Sale January 21, 2010 12 p.m. ET

2010-01-20T11:29:00-05:00

Looking for a Valentine's Day gift that will reflect the true romance of your relationship? The artists on Etsy offer the care and craftsmanship your lady deserves. This year, explore the intimacy of a personalized, innovative, or one-of-a-kind treasure in the Valentine's Day Gifts for Her Showcase. She will return the favor in kisses, tenfold.

Info for Sellers

We encourage sellers to add items that could would make the missus swoon. There are no category restrictions for this Showcase.

The Valentine's Day Gift for Her Showcase goes on sale Thursday, January 21, 2010 12 p.m. ET.
Go to the Showcase Gateway to purchase a spot.
This Showcase will run from Monday, January 25, 2010 12 a.m. ET until Sunday, January 31, 2010, 11:59 p.m. ET.
For $15 USD, Etsy sellers can purchase a 24-hour spot, which will be linked from a prominent banner on Etsy's home page.
Sellers determine which item will be featured in your Showcase slot. Sellers must use the tool in Your Etsy > Promote > Showcase. Learn more about this process here.

Future Showcases

If you are thinking about planning for other Showcases that may be more appropriate for your items, here are some of the front page Showcases we will be highlighting:

Valentine's Gifts Just Because Showcase: On sale Thursday, January 28, 2010; the Showcase will be live from Monday, February 1, 2010 to Sunday, February 7, 2010.
- Think items that would bring a smile to your platonic loves.
Just Jewels Showcase: On sale Thursday, February 4, 2010; the Showcase will be live from Monday, February 8, 2010 to Sunday, February 14, 2010.
- Think all things sparkly to spice up any winter wardrobe.

Do You Love Etsy's Blog? Be Our Intern!

2010-01-19T16:00:00-05:00

Hello faithful readers!

We are desperately seeking Susans! We at the Etsy Blog are looking for an intern to work with us in Brooklyn. We're looking for someone who is very detail-oriented and creative. Most of all, we want to work with someone who is passionate about Etsy and blogging.

Because we are a small team, you'd have a big impact and be kept pretty busy. If you're interested, please check out the description and apply here. (There's a little homework assignment at the bottom of the job description, so make sure to send it along with your resume and cover letter!)

Unfortunately, we can only take candidates who are in New York. Yeah, we know about the Internet and working remotely, but trust us, it'll be a much better experience for the intern (and for us!) if you're able to work face-to-face with our team and with the other Etsy Admin.

We are excited to hear from you!

— Vanessa, Alison, Eric, Tara and Michelle