Activist Investor Elliott Management Targets Etsy

by: Rexford

Seems like these guys from Elliott Management are always stirring things up.  Activist investors.  As for this activist , any "value creation" will be for him and Elliott management alone.

by: Stone Cutter

*** Steinberg will be a Board Member ***

Heard on CNBC this morning, that Elliott Management will be Etsys largest investor at 13%. Partner Steinberg will be a part of  Etsys “Board”.

Today, on my Shop Managers link, Etsy tells me that if I bring in a buyer from my own website,  I won’t pay fees, from today through Feb 14th. Etsy sounds desperate.

I think Etsy is in a financial pickle,,,,worse than I thought. Elliott Management has a good reputation in turning companies around as said by other investors on CNBC.

I also heard this morning that Etsy had an investment into Pinterest that made them money. I hadn’t heard that news until today.

by: Sierra

Since it was Elliott that coerced eBay to sell StubHub & eBay Classifieds and was also apparently responsible for Wenig’s departure, does this mean they will do the same with Depop & Reverb, which are both owned by Etsy AND send Josh on his way? Would that be a bad thing?

by: LDWCallsOut

Changes made to Etsy under the influence of an activist investor won't matter much to shoppers.  Getting rid of the CEO and dropping a few subsidiaries won't rid Etsy of its millions of deceptive listings in the shops of dishonest sellers.  Etsy continues to promote bad business practices among its sellers -- the new Gift Mode showcases deceptive listings.

by: Stone Cutter

*** It’s all about the Buyer ***

Apparently, Elliot’s role will be to increase the “Buyers” experience which I find interesting. With that being said, it makes me wonder if Etsy is no longer retaining Buyers.

Let’s think about all the complaints we as Sellers have with Etsy….that their inventory has gone downhill and with those Sellers with bad product reviews that Etsy does nothing about. The reasons why Buyers do not return to Etsy could be for the same reasons we all complain about.

Apparently, Elliott has been in talks with Etsy for around 6 months. Think of Elliot as a consulting firm, but with a 13% stake.

This will be fascinating to watch.  

by: Tinysaur

Josh spent millions on a single Super Bowl ad that shows the weakness of the Gift Mode. If it weren't for the underling muttering ''Cheese,'' Gift Mode would be useless. Also, the message ''Come to Etsy for a cheap _thank you_ gift when someone gives you a gift you can't reciprocate'' shows the value proposition of Etsy in the crappiest light. Not to mention the Mime stereotype. Hope France doesn't ban Etsy over the ad.

by: Stone Cutter

….and Buyers may not be returning to Etsy, because good performing Sellers are LEAVING Etsy, while taking Etsys customer base with them.

Treating Sellers with respect could keep Sellers from leaving the platform.

A few of the best artisan jewelers have recently left Etsy. They pull in a good $10k-12K monthly while paying much cheaper fees on Shopify. Etsy does not know how to compete with the rest of e-commerce, because in their minds, they can just find more Sellers, as they’ve said in the past.

A site with good products AND good Sellers will increase the Buyers experience.  

by: Stone Cutter

*** While unloading groceries…***

This morning, upon a trip to the grocery store, I heard one analyst on CNBC say she would NOT invest into Etsy even with the latest announcement of Etsys new partner. She believes the stock price is headed into the 60’s. Etsy is currently trading at 75.

Even though this opinion is only from “one” stock trader, it does set the tone that Etsy is not the “golden child” it once was.  

by: Doggoneit

***She believes the stock price is headed into the 60’s.***

This is not unlikely or hard to believe, seeing it was in the 66 range a mere week ago or so.
And it's been there before, not all that long ago, all the way down to 64.

As to buyers leaving, this too is not a farfetched notion. I'm a seller there so I know how things work.
Against my better judgment I bought 3 things on the site within the past few months; not one of these purchases was what I would call a totally happy buying experience.
One was passable, two were unacceptable. Certainly not stellar, which is what the execs are striving for. They have a loooong way to go to achieve that status site-wide, and I will, for the time being, go back to buying my stuff elsewhere.
And while mine are but three examples, I would say that three failures out of three is pretty bad.

by: Queen of the Jungle

Gift Mode has totally de-platformed genuine vintage and handmade.   In fact Vintage has been shadow banned for years since Josh arrived and declared how much he appreciated that category.  What a liar!

As others have pointed out, Gift mode is mostly promoting mass produced items that you expect to find on Ali Express and Temu.

Why the Etsy geniuses have decided to get into a war they can’t possibly win is beyond me.  Why would anyone buy the same mass produced gift items on Etsy when they can get them cheaper and often with free shipping on Temu?

Etsy still has some of the best artisans and vintage sellers in the world but they are making it impossible for us to stay there.  Gift mode has destroyed both my handmade and vintage shots with one blow.   Haven’t had a sale in weeks after being on Etsy for over a decade with regular weekly sales.

Buyers are being directed to the mass produced garbage that they are promoting nonstop.  I haven’t seen the big Super Bowl ad but it’s no doubt just another nail in the coffin ⚰️  

by: cookiepuss

If only someone would just fix the effing search!

by: LDWCallsOut

Etsy's search isn't broken, so there is nothing to fix.  Etsy has been gradually moving search results from ''best match'' to where it is now (some best matches, but a lot of ''guided shopping'' items mixed in) since 2011.  

by: Rexford

LDWCallsOut says "Etsy's search isn't broken, so there is nothing to fix."

HA!   I'd say that is your opinion.  I think that it has been broken for more than a year.  I think that, like eBay, both Etsy and eBay are using AI and algo's for THEIR own benefit, not the buyers and not the sellers' benefit.

They just can't seem to figure out that when all sellers sell and do well that their own bottom lines do well.

by: Ebay-weary

It is a matter of opinion whether Etsy search is broken, but even if it is doing exactly what they want it is still crap.  If I search for something it is usually quite specific.  When I get back 20+ pages of "matches" mostly unrelated to my search — and no way to narrow it down — I quickly give up.

by: Tinysaur

Seems like Josh was thinking he was Bezos Jr taking an online book store and turning it into the modern equivalent of Sears Roebuck. Books became a back burner business. Etsy's handmade is Josh's book store as he competes to find the bottom against Temu. I'm only getting sporadic sales on the lowest price items in my store lately.
Pressuring us to offer free shipping without corporate support like Amazon Prime was the beginning of the stupid ideas. Since then, it's been non-stop delisting threats without compensation or incentives (like the $10,000 advertising cap with permanent extra 20% dip in our pockets, and Star Seller, pfft) without regard to how individuals do business through Etsy. The management team obviously doesn't buy from their own site, and doesn't care that they're not technically employers, even though they treat sellers like the Department of Labor doesn't exist.

by: CAROLINASGIRL

I think there are some very valid points here.

I left.... high seller. One thing that really aggravated me is I was paying for ads that DID NOT take a buyer to me. So basically all the under the radar 10,000 month ( or whatever the number was) folks got FREE ads on my back, in my opinion. Does this sound about right?

Everytime i googled, etsy ads came up, testing these ads, they did not come to me. Some not even what I sold. Personally, I feel I am competent to do my own ads if I so choose. I do not like being "forced" into anything!

Etsy in the beginning in my opinion was still arrogant, believe me, they allowed basic stealing of my watermarked pics and I got slapped.

I also noticed that every month, starting about 5 years ago, would have to go back and look, my sales were down at least 25-50% every month. Every year my sales were down 50 % until it just was not a viable site anymore for me.

I soon noticed, all the newbies were now showing up top in the search. That was not hard to figure out!!!

I agree, it will be really interesting to see what happens next!  And for all the cheerleaders, I have so much more going now that I can control. I no longer have to wait for the shoe to drop, wait to see what they throw out next. No trying to figure out why my sales are dropping when other platforms are growing.

I have to ask why would anyone drive their traffic to etsy instead of to your own site? Never understood that. As far as the lowball sellers go ..... and there are a ton!  If you have no overhead, you have no inventory, I guess making 25 cents is a happy thing. In figuring out what some sellers were making, sometimes they were actually in the hole! It is not hard to figure it out!

Of course, I hope all that are still on etsy are able to continue in prosperity.  

by: cvsharkey

He said this in 2019: "The eBay Board and leadership team regularly engage with our shareholders and value their input. We are focused on delivering value for our shareholders, customers and employees by driving the best choice, the most relevance and the most powerful selling platform to deliver growth."

Did it result in eBay growth for SELLERS?
When these people talk about customers--they refer to BUYERS. So the only ones left out of his comment are the SHOP OWNERS. They used to be Etsy's customers, but they are now considered the weakest link in the company.
So sad.

by: BargainzBabylon

Getting rid of Silverman would be a good start, but unfortunately Etsy may be beyond fixing. Shopify is really creating a better platform for artisans.  

by: Whatever

I read all the post - seems like alot of current sellers desperately trying to figure out how to sell.  I needed that. Once a week I think about selling again on Etsy. I used to. There was a reason for that. Not now apparently. Just this morning I went there and searched for a couple of things. I actually am still a consumer. I found so much misrepresented import crap it was ridiculous - I know where Ali and Temu are. I wanted to keep the money in the USA. Until all consumers are tired of being ripped off it will only get worse for all these sites. I gave up looking for a nice vintage item and simply left.

Until those high paid CEO idiots are gone things will not change. Most of them have no business being in retail. America is out of wack making China and India rich beyond their dreams.  I have this idea kicking around in my head of consumers boycotting non-essential goods for 30 days. Let the stuff stack up at the ports like it did with covid. Oh and can we stop the chinese drugs coming in at the same time?

by: LDWCallsOut

Some pressure might be applied to celebs who shill for Etsy with its millions of misrepresented products.  Like the ''Chiel Gifting Officer'' Drew Barrymore.  Personally, I am not vibing with that pseudo military lingo.  How much is Etsy paying her (does she really need the $$$) to promote shops that are dishonestly listing cheapie imports as handmade or vintage, and competing with American small businesses owned by artisans, artists and antiques/vintage dealers?  Does Officer Barrymore realize that she is pushing sweatshop made products over skilled artisan work, and the carbon footprint of new junque over reusing older items (vintage)?  The Officer needs to be called out for her association with Etsy on social media.