"Etsy has been making too many unnecessary changes lately and doing things such as eBay has done and now the sellers are confused and upset and leaving. The Etsy moderation team in the forums is horrible. Personal information revealed and not removed upon request. The place is so full of overseas mass produced items claiming to be hand crafted. Etsy allows them to remain. Etsy is not a true handcrafted place anymore. "

"For those that haven't a clue about Etsy, it's a venue much like ebay, but one primarily for vintage and "handmade" goods (most of the time).

In two words: total niche.

They're skewed towards arts and crafts, so there will be gobs of stuff one might encounter at flea markets, home and garden shows, garage sales, or randomass bazaars. At worst, you'll be wading through a lot of gross-looking curios or the most commonplace items made from Michael's top-of-the-line, DIY fodder, and at best, there will be interesting artwork (useable or not) and the odd, non-handmade line that would be near impossible to unearth most elsewhere. The variety of subcategories can be enormous. Sometimes you can find extremely high quality practical goods, but why someone would choose to remain with Etsy alone (at that point) is beyond me since they'd easily fetch greater prices on auction-based sites.

Nevertheless, Etsy showed up on my radar several years ago when some disgruntled artists moved from larger, more impersonal channels in hopes to increasing sales, visibility, et cetera. In a sense, they are the nice hippie alternative for casual sellers.

Although it's clear that pricing is fairly inconsistent, the sales/seller setup is unknown to me as I only browse and buy. There have been no returns or problems on my end thus far, but I appreciate the Paypal option--and recommend it for any and all transactions. (The user interface may be innocuous, transparent... but you may think differently once there's closer inspection of objects on display.)

The only real use I have for them is as an alternative search "database"; one never knows what serendipitous results will crop up with the most random entries, so it's a viable source that shouldn't be overlooked. And in the case where a line of goods appeals to you, bookmark the seller ASAP because you may never find it again through their indiscriminate site search.

This post will be updated if there's a substantial purchase in the future.

Recommended (for the aforesaid reasons)."

"I thought the transaction went smoothly and I will definitely buy from them again!"

"I have purchased from Etsy numerous times and I haven't gotten a bad item yet. They are reasonably-priced and unique, since it's all supposed to be handmade (although some people seem to get around this). Most sellers are also very kind, especially the ones who made ornaments for my husband's first Christmas in America and the one I worked with for my bridal garters. I absolutely love buying earrings and bath products from them."

"This is a really neat place =)
I sell and buy there.
Very nice unique items not found anywhere else!
LOVE IT!"