Reader Comment
8:42 PM Friday, June 26, 2009Submitted on 2009/06/25 at 2:39pm
<em>I am extremely skeptical of this seller’s jewelry section. Her profile states that all of her items are “hand sewn” and it mentions nothing about working with jewelry, metals, glass, etc. Her materials listed are generally along the lines of “pendent, chain”… Last I checked putting a pendant onto a chain didn’t count as “making” something.
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5575096&section_id=5408940">
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5575096&section_id=5408940</a>
Most of her “pendents” look like something you’d get at a cheapo teenybopper jewelry store.
Case in point: <a href="http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21267807">http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21267807</a></em>
ed: I think this should have been the case in point-http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26295526
DISCUSS!
And remember this is an editorial comment from a reader, no offended parties allowed!
Uncreative, admittedly, but I don't see how this shop is any different from the countless others where someone buys a bead or pendant or a charm and then puts it on a chain or a wire. There are thousands of shops on Etsy where people are doing this. According to Etsy's TOS, this kind of thing is handmade.
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
That can't even be called "collected and assembled". They look so cheap and nasty. The flip flop and BFF pendants are as bad as each other, but yeah, they're not the only seller sticking a charm on a chain and calling it handmade.
Also, what's with the Obama banner?
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
This is what slays me. Stuff like this sells well while well-thought out things don't. Bead-stringing is also reviled, when a lot of it shouldn't be, because it takes talent to find beautiful beads and put them together in just the right way (Ross-Simons catalog, for instance, or Sundance catalog, is full of these sorts of examples). But those cheap silver brass pendants, with a hole punched in them and a plated chain? Selling, selling, selling? That's disheartening. Etsy is not the target market for a lot of artists.
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Bead-stringing and the 'beads on a headpin' earrings so many people on Etsy like to mock require so much more design skills than sticking a pre-made charm on a pre-made chain. I have a hard time seeing the creative aspects of that, and the handmade aspects as well.
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Those pendants are all from Hobby Lobby. I was there just yesterday and saw every one of those. Their website doesn't have a comprehensive showcase of their products. I wish I could show you guys. lol
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Well the tree of life pendant is from Hobby Lobby. I bought one exactly like it. I used it in beaded necklace, for myself.
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Dude, I can't believe people buy that! There's not even a headpin in sight.
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
There is nothing handmade about it, but these shops are all over. You could spend tons of time picking them out, but what's the point?
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Yeah, it sucks.
Funny thing is I once bought a necklace on etsy that was 2 pendants strung together. However, it was the combination and the funny title that hooked me. The thing still makes me laugh. You can do this creatively.
Sadly, you can't distinguish from the people who are actually putting a pendant on a chain from the people reselling the pendant chain combo.
Admittedly, its a slippery slope.
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Etsy does allow hand assembled jewelry, which is what this is. It does sell well, and I've listed a few of this type of stuff in my shop because dammit, it sells and I am going broke here. Nobody seems to want my stuff lately, so I've been experimenting with putting some premade pendants on chains to see what happens. Do I feel like I'm cheating? Yes, but I would like to be able to buy some groceries this week. chinacherie is another shop like this, she sells tons and tons of premade pendants that she puts on chains, not too much work there, but her customers don't seem to care.
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
I don't really see plopping a pendant on a chain as handmade. I never have and I never will. I am wise enough to shut up about it the forums though.
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Not sure but it looks like these necklaces are re-sells... and $1.00? What is up with that??? After etsy fees and pay pal fees... what's the point of listing? These look like those necklaces you get out of the gumball machines. What do you guys think? Are these re-sells?
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5261562
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
regardless of how uncreative this work might be, it is tasteless to tear this seller apart because their materials are poor or they make sales. this kind of shop obviously has filled a market niche of some kind.
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Please please flag this shop, loaded with mistagging, non-vintage vintage, and things listed as supplies that are not.
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7500714
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Perfect!
EtsyCallOut September 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM