This Storque article hints that the long-lost Alchemy feature is about to make a comeback!
Alchemy is a feature on Etsy that enables buyers and sellers to connect through custom orders. Let’s say you’re a buyer and you have an idea for something you want to buy, but after digging and digging on Etsy you still haven’t found it. You can go to the Alchemy section of the website and describe your idea; then sellers bid on the project and you can decide to strike a deal or not. Or say you’re a buyer and you admire a particular item in a seller’s shop, but you want the seller to customize it in some way. You’ll be able to initiate that custom order directly through an Alchemy link in the seller’s shop. That is, if the seller opts into this Alchemy feature.
If you’ve got a request, go make a comment, or check out the forum thread.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
OMG!!! Alchemy is there!!!!!! and there’s an option in store appearance about accepting private requests
March 12th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Well that’s part of their inability to “just be a venue” TwistedStitches…they need to learn to step back and just facilitate….they want to have their dirty little fingers into everything that goes on (like a bunch of kids!) lol
March 12th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Another thing that I thought of about alchemy is that if Etsy finally does start doing it where they receive payment from buyers and then pay you for transactions…alchemy is going to be a HUGE mess. I still can’t imagine that they think this is a smart way to go.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Finally! I loved alchemy. I did most of my business through alchemy. I did have a few dead beat buyers through it, but all in all it was a lovely experience. I didn’t like how they had it so you received 2 feedback points for the transactions, that never made sense to me.
That whole Wired situation was just odd. I personally felt that the guy who ordered all those items was going in to this whole thing with the intent to give a horrible review. I remember that after it was all over and the thread that got started in the forums had reached the Wired people attention, they wrote an article saying that etsy’s community was full of a bunch of whiney crafters. That only enraged the forums more.