Etsy was always an excellent marketplace for handmade and unique products where I used to love shopping for gifts. It's was all about supporting individual artists and small businesses... yes, I'm talking past tense.

Sadly, as Etsy has grown, the standards have slipped.

People use sites such as Alibaba, a wholesalers marketplace for factory-produced goods and knockoffs, to fill their shops, and so many consumers don't have a clue.

A Cute find on Etsy?

What you are really buying:

Dropshipping and cheap mass produced goods have flooded Etsy, making it harder to find genuinely handmade products. Resellers buy factory products wholesale and then re-sell them on Etsy, masquerading as a "handmade" business.

The integrity of Etsy as a handmade shopping destination is gone for me. 

The low prices offered by these resellers are making it hard for authentic handmade sellers to compete.

This isn't just hurting shops on Esty but all artists. When consumers see cheap goods like these, they think the artists' more expensive creations aren't worth the price charged by the artist.

It's a shame that Etsy put so much effort into new incentives such as Star Sellers but can't find a way to regulate products being sold.

I will be doing my shopping direct with crafters and at Not On The High Street from now on.