Would you consider an Etsy/handmade/selling section?

[IncompleteSenten]

I have an Etsy shop and website and so on. I handmake things. Not going to say what obviously.
Would you consider a section where we can share our shops? Under name changes but you could set it so you must be a regular contributor and / or have been a member for more than however long, and people can report shops that are drop shippers.

I'd certainly pay for that. Maybe you have to be a premium member to have access to that facility? Anyone can view or comment but only premium members can share their shops?

You could be allowed only, say, one post a week to stop spamming the board with thread after thread?

But the OP seems to be mainly saying it would be Etsy shops that were promoted. And Etsy doesn't like women.

Would other websites be allowed? Who would decide what was good enough?

How would you police if MNers were regulars, or had been here long enough?

Would they have to post regularly? Because if you said "You must have been a member for three months" then someone could just join and wait. Or would they have to have over a certain number of posts? Which would just encourage "Yes I agree" type posts until the OP reached the threshold.

And loads of posters would forget to name change occasionally, so their shops would be linked to their MN identity.

And if it was self-moderated in the Etsy section - what if a MNer had a falling out with another MNer? Would they get chucked out of the section?

What if MNers were trying to keep out similar Etsy sellers?

Not a bad idea but who would police it. For example scammers , disputes etc.

I think this is a better idea than some kind of self-moderated, membership-limiting forum area.

And, as you say, obviously sellers would have to change their Mumsnet names. So how could they prove they were longtime/legitimate posters? Would MumsnetTowers have to get involved? I can't see that lasting long.

"Wah, OP said they were a MN regular, but I hate what they sent me and now they've disapprared, help me Mumsnet!" It give it two months until it implodes.

Far better just to ask for Etsy suggestions that people can reply to.

I said Etsy because I'm on Etsy but there are other handmade platforms. In fact, it'd be good for increasing their visibility imo. Etsy is no longer fit for purpose but the alternatives are just not very well known.

Re self moderating that doesn't mean back end access, simply a suggestion for mn to consider if a similar to night watch facility could be section specific to hide spam contributions to threads.

Re sabotaging other shops first of all I would hope people would be more grown up than that! And embrace the idea of a mutually beneficial and supportive community.

I would also hope any shit like that that did happen would be deleted by mn.

Agreeing rules would hopefully include attitudes towards each other.

And of course as with anything it would be observed and tweak as required.

Nothing is ever perfect but I think positives would outweigh negatives

Exactly. And simply by existing in a section on Mumsnet, it would seem like Mumsnet were endorsing those sellers.

"As seen on Mumsnet!"

Would that not mean any links to our own shops would be deleted as advertising?

I would also hope any shit like that that did happen would be deleted by mn.

You would be asking MN to get involved in commercial disputes.

But the whole idea is advertising. So Mumsnet would allow it in one forum, but not anywhere else? And people would be getting free advertising?

By deleting posts and having a policy that certain things were best settled off boards?
I don't really see that as getting involved any more than deleting posts between a couple that are arguing on here is MN doing marriage counselling.

Anyway, it's a suggestion. Some people like it, some don't. MN will have a think and decide if it's something they want to consider or not. People who aren't interested can hide the section same as any other.

Mn might come back and say we've thought it over and don't think there's enough interest / don't think it's a good fit but you never know till you ask.

There are already topic(s) where people pay to post there.

No. That's why I said about premium members and said it's something I'd be happy to pay for.

Something more affordable than the big banner adverts from BT and the like isn't the same thing as free.

I’d like it as a buyer but only if it were actual homemade things by Mumsnetters, not any mlm ‘businesses’ or those horrible word/phrase stickers that appear on everything in Etsy. If there was a way to police it so those weren’t allowed then great, otherwise no.

Very interesting idea - I'd sign up

I would like this. I haven't used my Etsy shop for a few years now, as their definition of 'handmade' became very elastic.

It might inspire me to continue making my products.

It would need to be carefully managed, to make sure that no mass produced products are listed.

It could be exactly what Etsy started out to be.

Your problem is - who polices it. Who decides what's handmade or tasteful enough to be allowed in?

And don't fool yourself that a load of trans badges and merch etc won't start to be posted. There's a lot of that on Etsy.

So it would be a paid area? Would you pay per post, or per account? How would anyone prove they were a "proper" MNer?

Did you even read the first post? It clearly suggests a paid area. MNHQ will know whether a person is a regular MNer when they "apply" for permission to post.

You seem strangely aggressive in your opposition.

I buy a lot on Etsy but I don't think Mumsnet is quite the right forum for this sort of promotion. It would be hard to monitor. There are plenty of other places where sellers can advertise their shops.

Well, OP suggested Premium membership. Which is not a paid area.

I guess I'm just trying to save everyone a bit of trouble, by pointing out the problems with the idea. I've seen things like this go wrong before. Just like Etsy has.

OP seems lovely when she says this:

Re sabotaging other shops first of all I would hope people would be more grown up than that! And embrace the idea of a mutually beneficial and supportive community.

But have you actually been on the internet, OP? Or even in AIBU?!

It couldn't be anonymous, as people won't buy from a seller without knowing their name and approximate location.
Otherwise you could end up with a UK buyer unwittingly buying from other far off countries.

People would be far less likely to comment adversely if real names were used.

How do you mean? Who would be using their real name?

My thoughts on it were (if MN decides to give it a go which they may well not) that we'd make use of the nc facility that already exists so I'd use my shop name on the mners with creative small businesses section and stick to my usual MN name everywhere else.

Mn premium is a paid for thing isn't it? Don't you have to pay a monthly subscription for that? I don't the MN premium membership is free.

Nothing is perfect and never will be, but it's just a thought and the good thing about getting together and talking about how things could be managed is it's step one of seeing is obstacles can be overcome, what would and wouldn't work, what the purpose would be and from mns pov would it bring value to MN or just hassle.

Or MN could just let us link to our shops if a poster starts a thread asking for ideas for what to buy someone instead. I'd have a username that's my shop and link only where appropriate and invited but mn atm would just delete that. Maybe MN would look the other way if we got a premium subscription 😉. We'd need to trust that we are more ethical than to just spam away.

Of course I want to advertise to mners! I'm a business. But I'm a small business. Hand making things and swimming alongside the drop shipping fuckers 😁. But I'm also a keen crafter and love to help other small businesses and love the idea of people like me helping each other out and showing people what hand made can be.