Admin responded swiftly today to user concerns about the number of times items from EtsyLabs appeared in the Gift Guides.
matt says:
Hello Friends,We discussed this, and we think you are right. The items are now removed. Thanks for the feedback.
Love, Matt
Prior to the decision to remove the items, EtsyLabs had 14 items throughout the various guides.
What is EtsyLabs? Admin Mary explains:
EtsyLabs says:
Hey there!Thanks so much for your question and concern. The purpose of the Etsy Labs shop is to supply buyers with promotional Etsy merchandise that would like to help us spread the good Etsy word in style. Almost every design we sell in the shop has the Etsy brand name on it. We also use it as a space to purchase classes that are taught in our community workspace housed in the Etsy offices.
All the money made from the Labs shop sales goes to offset the cost of promotional goods for events and street teams.
Update!
Apparently admin’s items will also be removed from the Gift Guides.
matt says:
We are also working to remove the admins from there too. It takes a minute, because there are so darn many of us.Un Moment, SVP
x,m
January 17th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
yes, there is a pinged $1.01 charge or something like that that they use to verify the card…there have been threads in the fora about people having trouble signing up to sell with their cc info because they couldn’t verify the card
January 17th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Alicia that is one of the approved methods of verified consent listed in the COPPA law.
“accepting and verifying a credit card number in connection with a transaction”
But many people register first, and then add the credit card info to upgrade to seller status later. I think the law requires that the website gets the verified consent before the child registers, or before any personal information is collected (email address included). So if a child registers as a buyer and then upgrades to seller a few months later, Etsy wouldn’t get the “proof of consent” until after the the fact.
I can’t remember if Etsy verifies your card as soon as you input the card number? Like charges a small amount to make sure it’s a real card?
Has anyone opened a new shop recently that can confirm that?
Things might have changed since I registered because the payment system was all different then.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
about the children accounts: since sellers have to provide valid credit card info at shop signup isn’t that verifying parental consent?
January 15th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I was surprised that I actually got a response to my post. I was pretty ticked that they would be just *that* insensitive to the community. I had posted many times - not asking to be included (hey - I’m on the permanent blacklist now!) or calling for boycotts, etc. - but to ask that they please at least pay attention to the fact that I watched new users go to etsy (pre-Christmas), hit the GG and think that all the sellers on etsy were represented there. Finally, a month later, they did add a note saying that the GG were just a small sample of all the etsy sellers. Too little, too late, IMO. I’m a developer and I *know* how long it takes to make a simple change like that.
So yeah, they took themselves out. I did find it really funny that my RSS feed showed that after they did that - dissenters to my post had their items added. :)
Ah well. I do just fine without the GG, even though I think it’s not fairly spread out amongst sellers. I’d rather them turn pounce into a random item tool at this point than worry any more about GGs.
January 15th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Thank you for your vital info, and to get back to Etsy - allowing children to open stores is just one result of the “anything goes” attitude of the CEO who also lets his employees run amok on the Forums, creating policies and rules depending on how they feel that day, and muddying up the Etsy message. It smacks of arrogance and disrespect for their sellers, and seems to be getting worse each day. Etsy creates rules by the bucket-ful, refuses to abide by them, and then tops it all off with a threatening Storque article about Paying Your Bill. The ill will they create makes all this a little hard to swallow.
January 14th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I hope all child-run stores do state the age in the description because I’d prefer to do business with adults, or at least teens over 16 (which are adults in some other countries). I can’t stop children under 13 from buying from me though, which then gives me their real name and street address. :-( I feel like this is making me complicit in violating the COPPA laws, without my choice.
I wish parents would understand why this is dangerous and that it’s not the same as a lemonade stand in your front yard. I think most parents do get it, but hopefully the ones with children running stores will make sure to use a PO box and a false name for the child. Real name + city is often enough to find the street address anyway, if the city is small enough or the name unusual enough.
Everyone thinks about places like myspace being dangerous for children but at least those sites do close down accounts if they know someone is under 14 and gave a fake age to register. (you are required to state your age in order to register)
http://signup.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=join
You are also required to check a box saying you have read and will abide by the TOU, which contain the rule about age restrictions.
They also have a COPPA compliance notice on their site and give safety tips like not to share your real name and address with strangers.
http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.viewpage&placement=safety_pagehome
Unfortunately they had to adopt these measures after several crimes and tragedies occurred. It would be good for other sites like Etsy, as it morphs further into a social networking site, to be PRO-ACTIVE and adopt similar measures BEFORE a tragedy occurs.