Thousands of sellers plan to boycott Etsy after announced fee hike

When Tricia Robinson first got on Etsy in 2013, it was to help save her cat's life. 

"My cat got really ill and I was getting vet bills through the roof and I couldn't afford to pay them," Robinson said. "So I created an illustration that was inspired by him and I sold it." 

That's when Robinson realized she could use the platform to sell more of her work and actually make a living off of it. 

But after receiving her first payment from Etsy, the Montreal artist says she was struck by the difference between her sales and the amount that was being deposited into her account. That's when she paid attention to all the fees Etsy charges sellers on the platform.

At first, she was okay with it.

 "It kind of became this thing of like, okay, well, I'm making money as an artist. I have access to this online marketplace. It's pretty cool for the most part," she said. 

Etsy was founded in 2005, offering an online marketplace for artists and craftspeople to sell handmade and vintage items as well as craft supplies. The website has attracted millions of buyers and sellers and provided a platform for artists to become entrepreneurs.   

But over the years, Robinson says she started to see her margins shrink as Etsy's grew. A policy introduced in 2019 incentivized sellers to offer free shipping for purchases over $35 US by promising to optimize those shops to U.S. buyers. Robinson first refused to opt in, but eventually caved as she saw her US sales disappear. 

Offering free shipping was taking off at least half her profit margin, she said. That's when things started to go downhill on the platform for Robinson.  

"[Etsy] was this really great marketplace that did celebrate handmade and local small business," said Robinson. "But they're not like that anymore."

Now, Robinson is one of thousands of sellers who have said they plan to boycott the site from April 11 to 18 after the site announced it would be hiking its transaction fees from five to 6.5 per cent.

This comes after Etsy's strong fourth quarter earnings, which beat expectations. 

The announcement led Kristi Cassidy, a seamstress from Westerly, Rhode Island, to start a petition after posting on Reddit calling for an Etsy sellers' union. Cassidy told CBC News more than 11,000 sellers plan to join the boycott.

"The post was basically asking when does this end because it's just getting worse and worse and I don't think it's going to end unless we do something," she said.