Has Etsy killed off the generous crafter?!

I think making money out of something you do for fun is great but I know what you mean, most of the time I just think 'what's the point of buying it when I can just make it anyway'.

Yeah, they over charge a lot of the time too. Personally 2/3 of all the crafts I do are so I can give people nice things. Give them away, I'd love to sell my stuff but I could never make it on a big enough scale to.

They charge so much so they can make a profit and buy more stuff but sometimes it is ridiculous for what it is.

I am only new to the whole crafty web world, but when I first started and was visiting craftster, it would bug me when lots of people were showing off their creations and then saying(like Cat says) go buy it on my blog! I mean yeh it's great to show off things you have made and well done to you, but places like that and here are based(or so I had thought) mostly around helping people to make crafts. So yeh I would hate when I saw something really cool and there was no chance of a tutorial

I would love to sell my own things, but like Roma said, I enjoy giving them as gifts and would never be able to produce enough to sell on etsy or something like that.

i would never sell my stuff. I love doing crafts, and though im not that good, if i was ever good enough i think it kills the whole reason why i craft to begin with. I make crafts and than give them to people i care about (mostly my boyfriend (or his one best friend that has some self esteem issues).... hehe) So selling them, though id get money to make more, i wouldn't put so much time into them, because they might go to someone i dont care about and would never meet. So they'd end up worse in the long run.

I make crafts and than give them to people i care about (mostly my boyfriend (or his one best friend that has some self esteem issues).... hehe)



That is exactlythe same as me. Spooky.

Most of the things I make I send to my mate up the North, she is very lonely and I like to think it brightens her day to get an unwarranted package with homemade goodies and a letter in

I can only really make something for a person I know. I get more inspiration that way. As obviously I know what they like, or would like.

omg! so cool, so i'm not the only one that does that. Yay for me and Roma!

and cool Opposite, i use to send small things to my pen pal when i had one, she loved getting things. I once recovered a notebook in her favorite color of paper and put some cool photos on it and sent it to her, she loved it.

That sounds nice Jasmin, I'm sure she loved it. I also made her a notebook. I would have kept it I thought it was great haha

I hate giving away stuff i intend for people but turn out so great that i want it. But than i make myself one, or remind myself that the person i send it to will enjoy it tons more than i would.

I can definitely see what you guys are saying! I do however sell things on Etsy (don't throw things at me now!) However, I'm also an avid Craftster poster and have never hesitated to help another craftster out if they wanted a tut on what I make. I'm more than happy to help out, give a tutorial, purchase list..whatever. There is plenty to go around. I've done well with my soldering..mostly private orders and craft fairs and only recently have I started seeing sales on my Etsy site. I am looking forward to the extra money. I also put a lot of time in my pendants. I love each and every one of them. It can take me days sometimes to finish one pendant because of color and theme choice, etc...I just think that some "sellers" get carried away with themselves and gives the rest of us a bad name.

Anyways, I saw this thread and thought I'd put my own two cents in...

Jenni

Yeah Jenni, I'm not saying that all sellers are bad, it's just the ones who use craft sharing sites for promotion rather than for making and sharing. Sometimes you'll get someone post a project and then when people ask questions, refuse to answer them or give help because it would affect their sales.

Yea...
Sometimes people pay too much for stuff they can easily make for much less

I definitely don't agree with that...and I've had quite a few people tell me "Your not selling your stuff for what it's worth"...bah..I have my own system..and I do take into account supplies, time spent on a project, and all of that..but I still believe that I can offer a good product for a fair price...if I can look at something and say..heck no I wouldn't pay that for it..I"m sure as heck not going to sell it for that jacked up price!

I have seen greedy people ruin it for everyone else..but at the same time..I do believe that if you're going to sell your work..you do need to be compensated for the amount of work that goes into it yanno?

I guess it's just a thin line..

Anyways..I really enjoy this topic!