The Etsy Strike isn’t just about the platform increasing its fees for sellers, although that’s a wild move for the company to make after bringing in record profits for two years straight. Rather, it’s about how these fees are structured to hurt small businesses.
In essence, Etsy is forcing independent artists to operate according to the same business model and practices as Amazon. The most egregious instance of this is the platform’s insistence that we offer free tracked shipping.
Shipping costs rose steeply during the past two years. The pandemic also resulted in significant delays, and the new regulations regarding shipping packages to and from the UK haven’t helped. To ensure “customer satisfaction,” Etsy now penalizes sellers who don’t include tracking on every order, even if it’s just a single sticker. In addition, Etsy is aggressive about its policy of burying the listings of sellers who don’t offer free shipping.
What this means is that sellers are expected to absorb the rising costs of shipping. We are encouraged to purchase mailing labels through Etsy, which generally overcharges and also levies additional shipping fees on the seller. To give an example of what this looks like in practice, an artist would be expected to pay about $4 in order to mail a $3 vinyl sticker. This is exponentially worse when it comes to international shipping.
In other words, this protest isn’t about paying a few more dimes to Etsy for storefront rent. Rather, it’s about how Etsy is forcing small business to choose between losing money or raising their prices to levels that would substantially decrease sales. Artificially inflated prices also effectively shut out artists and crafters who don’t already have substantial online followings.
This is only one of many instances of how Etsy’s recent policies and fee structures hurt small businesses and independent artists. The situation is especially upsetting because it doesn’t have to be like this. Although Etsy was never without its flaws, the platform was relatively welcoming to part-time and amateur sellers, and this inclusive environment resulted in record-breaking profits for the company.
Unfortunately, this profit has led Etsy to consider licensing itself as a storefront for large international distributors such as AliExpress and Rakuten, who are already operating on the same scale as Amazon. This is especially unfortunate because Etsy forbids independent sellers from reselling professionally manufactured goods, thus creating a double standard that puts actual artists at a distinct disadvantage.
Etsy is a major platform for independent creators, especially as competition to table at in-person conventions is at an all-time high and platforms like Gumroad and Kickstarter are quickly losing their viability. Even if you doubt the efficacy of a grassroots strike against a giant multinational corporation, I think it’s still important to stand in solidarity with the artists, crafters, and other creators who are taking a stand against the entire online marketplace becoming like Amazon.
seeing some Bad comparisons in my notes so I gotta make something clear.
reading Dracula does not give support to the author. he is dead. he cannot make money off your enjoyment of the novel, it is in the public domain!! it is also a really important historical novel, and reading it bit by bit is a great opportunity to really analyse it, including the biases present in the novel that are still prevalent in modern depictions of vampires. reading it gives the skills to spot things like antisemitism in modern media, as well as just a general good context for the beginnings of this genre
reading Harry Potter directly supports jk rowling. she is still fully alive and profits off any financial or verbal support you give her books. she then funnels that directly into removing the rights of actual transgender people. those books are also not historically important, and there are a million other similar books that are better
Thank you for being soresponsive with the exchange, I have a feeling this is going to be the best one yet!!
When you receive your cards/whatever you get, if you’d like to post it on Tumblr, tag it with #ftexchange2015 so I/we can all see it! I’ll reblog it :)
You may ask, “Jenna, why do you want this? Isn’t there enough suffering in the world?” Well, you are right. But I want to scare the owners of this site. Not @staff, you know damn well they don’t actually call the shots. No, i want to scare the people who make decisions. I want them to know that we can act as a unit and wreck shit on our own accord, that this community can move mountains. I want them to hesitate next time they make an announcement. Popular sovereignty,motherfuckers.
I know most people know this but some people in the notes don’t, so reminder that you don’t have to wake up or anything to post it, just schedule the post like this:
now you just hit the blue schedule and forget about it until the day it happens
oh hell yeah im doing this gamers join us
i love this because everyone ive seen who’s reblogged this is like “yeah okay whatever” like nobody’s really excited about this it’s just something we all feel the need to do because it’s our duty to keep this website as uninhabitable as the fucking mariana trench
Wolf’s Head: A Red Dead Redemption Zine is a nonprofit mega-sized zine filled to the brim with top-notch RDR2 content: fully safe-for-work, spoiler-free and, best of all, it’s entirely for charity!
Wolf’s Head is a charity zine. Any and all proceeds will be donated to the First Nations Development Institute, which aims to strengthen Native American economies to support healthy Native communities. Help us support them!
Digital copy
This PDF contains all 150+ pages of Wolf’s Head and costs a minimum of $15, with the option to pay more. Remember: all proceeds go to First Nations!
If you are someone who runs an account on another social media platform, please properly credit the accounts on tumblr who are responsible for the content you recycle.
I have been seeing far too much of the content/research/writing from tumblr posts being chewed up and spit out by accounts on other social medias without giving proper credit.
It’s just not very kind, can really hurt the original creator, and it’s not very difficult to give credit where it’s due. :)
an irrelevant anti: the GazettE are so arrogant and don’t give a shit about their fans, and their fans are too far up their asses!!1!1
the GazettE: designs merch for their fans, gives their fans a food truck that serves member-designed recipes for cheap at their lives so they won’t starve or buy super expensive venue food, tells fans how happy they are when they see fans are happy, has a weekly radio show that requires fan-to-band interactions and does everything they can on social media to keep us fed everyday, thanks fans for everything-
Antis: GazettE are so arrogant and overrated and don’t give a shit about their fa-
Btw, just to clarify: None of the images in my theme previews are mine. All the square icons used are either by katesrick (those with vibrant colours mostly) or by elizabetbennet (the pastel coloured ones). As for large sidebar pictures, the credit is either in the gif/graphic itself (e.g. #42) or on the post (e.g #37). I couldn’t make out the source for some though because some blogs don’t exist anymore or moved without redirecting to their new url.
Digital versions of the zine tiers that include merchandise will also receive merchandise as well! (It will just take a bit longer to get to you than the PDF.)
Dangerous Things I Did To Daydream (and how to protect yourself)
Please note that these things should all be accompanied by attempts to reduce daydreaming to a healthy level, but of course that takes a lot of time and difficulty. In the mean time, these are some ways to protect yourself against the dangerous habits that daydreaming breeds.
Turned my earbuds up to full volume.
Please never do this! I have tinnitus in both ears from years of daydreaming to music, and I’m only 20. If you listen to sounds through headphones frequently in order to daydream, then please:
Use over-ear headphones, not earbuds
Put a volume limit on your phone so it never exceeds 50%
Spend time listening to things without headphones, playing them out of your phone/iPad often works just as well
Daydreamed while driving.
PLEASE NEVER DO THIS!!! Not only are you endangering yourself, you’re endangering other drivers and passengers!!
NEVER listen to music while you drive, try radio stations if you have to have something (these are harder to build narratives around)
Name hazards that you can see (other cars, stop signs etc.) out loud, to keep yourself focused and in the real world
If you find yourself unable to stop daydreaming while driving, please reconsider driving the vehicle yourself - try walking or public transport, or ask someone to give you a ride (say you’re tired if they ask why)
Went for walks/runs before sunrise.
I ran for 30 minutes at 5:45 every morning - regardless of whether or not the sun had come up - down a dark road with no streetlights, loud music in my ears, and no reflective gear. I could easily have been killed.
Run only when the sun is up!! Anything else is too risky.
Tell someone you trust that you’re going for a run, and tell them your route (a friend, someone you live with, ANYONE)
Keep music low enough that you could hear someone coming up behind you
Check behind you regularly when wearing headphones
If for some reason you get caught outside after dark, call someone and talk to them on the phone until you reach safety (this will also help you keep from daydreaming by anchoring you to the real world)
I know daydreaming seems like the most important thing in your world, but it isn’t - YOU ARE! Daydreaming is not worth compromising your safety.
If you are against BLM, you are unwelcome on my page.
If you support AllLivesMatter or BlueLivesMatter, you are not my friend.
If you think the riots are unjustified and irrational, unfollow me right now.
I am not black, but I support the black community all the way. I cannot possibly understand your pain or your suffering, but I’m with you. Now and forever.
y’all when a teenage character acts like a teenager (read: selfish, immature, emotional): omg what gross problematic trash they need to be CALLED OUT for this GRIEVOUS behavior
these tags are important to me
In every child and adolescent psychology class, you learn that teenagers can’t fucking help it. They can’t. They’re learning emotional regulation for more complex moments for the first time in their lives and their fucking brains don’t know how to react so they default to what they did previously. Teenagers are literally fighting their brains every step of the way.
