What’s All This Then? Why a Stand-Alone Website?

When I started my shop on Etsy in 2009, it was a very convenient and beginner-friendly way for a small-time-operator to sell things online. As I gradually got the hang of the site and especially got to know other makers and sellers there, I really enjoyed both the selling and the community.

But just as all things must evolve over time, so did my Etsy experience. In November 2023, I wrote a post on my old blog about how the site had changed in ways that I didn’t like, and why I was sticking with Etsy anyway.

So why this website? What happened to make me change my mind? Well, for one thing, my sales on Etsy have declined steadily year over year while the little annoyances, as I see them, have increased. The scale had tipped in favor of leaving.

For example, the site has become increasingly pushy with sellers and with buyers. I found myself frequently annoyed by their “help” and patronizing “encouragement” to conform to a certain way of operating, while also embarrassed about the things my customers were being subjected to — pressure campaigns to buy quickly and impulsively, which I had no control over.

That’s just not my “brand.” I’m somewhat ambivalent about consumer culture anyway. I mean, I like to buy things and I like to sell things, but only if the experience of doing so is enjoyable, unhurried and unpressured — and doesn’t encourage wastefulness, a la “fast fashion” and the like.

User-friendly opportunities for creating a unique web presence have proliferated since Etsy first launched in 2005 — there are now a lot more ways for the small-time operator and artist/maker to hang their shingle online that meet a variety of needs and preferences. We have choices.

I want to provide a pleasant visitor experience here. Hence, there are no pop-ups, no nagging reminders that somebody has that thing you’re looking at in their cart, no “sales” except calendars after Christmas. There will be no “you might also like” upselling. If you put something in your cart and decide not to buy it, I don’t care. If I find that abandoned carts are impinging on my storage space, I’ll find out how to delete them.

And I’m looking forward to launching a monthly email newsletter (that is, 10–12 times per year) for short articles about things that I’ve discovered, observed, and done that are too good not to share. You can sign up below and unsubscribe any time. I plan to send the first one out at the beginning of May.

—Sharon, April 2025