August 18, 2007 at 1:21 pm · Filed under Etsy Staff · By Lis
Etsy’s hiring troubles are discussed in a Workforce Management article, Firms Hit Wall on Tech Worker Hiring in New York City.
Amanda Fung of Crain’s New York Business writes:
Brooklyn-based Etsy, an e-commerce site for homemade arts and crafts, is in dire need of software engineers as it continues to grow. With more than 250,000 registered users, 500,000 items listed on its Web site and more than $1 million in annual sales, it relies on engineers to maintain and increase its volume of business. So a few months ago, the two-year-old firm opened a San Francisco office, where it now has four engineers.
“There are more applicants out there,” says Etsy founder Rob Kalin, who expects to hire five more engineers by the end of the year. “More people come out with computer science degrees and want to work for startups.”
UEN’s coverage of Etsy’s efforts to hire new engineers can be found here and here.
August 18, 2007 at 7:37 am · Filed under Site Use · By starrydesigns
Sellers: If you click on “Your Etsy” and look under “Items”, you may have noticed a new link there. Yes, it is the “Cancel a Sale” link! It takes you to “Report a Transaction” where you can report your non-paying buyers. If you haven’t seen the link, go and check it out now.
August 17, 2007 at 10:27 pm · Filed under Forums, Site Maintenance · By JB
http://www.etsy.com/forums_down.php
The forums are temporarily disabled while we perform maintenance on them.
They’ll be back online as soon as possible!
Edit by starrydesigns
Forums are back up when I checked at 11:05pm EDT
Update by JB
haim says:
Yea, sorry about taking the forums down without warning. While we were doing the convos work we found an issue effecting the forums server itself. I pulled the forums down for a bit so we could do a quick hardware fix.
Also yes I did try and write up my first post correctly. (Affect, NOT, etc) cause some people were unwilling to let my poor little mistakes slide… ;)
August 17, 2007 at 10:05 pm · Filed under Bugs, Email Notifications, Site Maintenance · By JB
haim says:
We have to take down the convo system for work this evening. The estimated downtime will be 2-3 hours. This will only affect the internal convo system, and will NOT affect email notifications for sales.- H
Posted at 7:14 pm, August 17 2007 EST
Update:
Convos are down.
http://www.etsy.com/convo_down.php
update by JB
haim says:
Doing the last of the work now, after that we test and then hopefully bring them back. I’m hoping we should be done by 12:15ish EST….
He probably means EDT not EST
August 17, 2007 at 1:40 pm · Filed under Copyright / Branding, Laws & Regs · By The Janitor
Sarah, a lawyer at Etsy, said:
Hey,
The name Etsy, and other Etsy graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and service names are registered trademarks, trademarks or trade dress of Etsy, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The truth is if Etsy allows anyone to use marks similar to Etsy’s Marks in any way, either in products on websites or at events, without permission, Etsy could lose its trademark rights.
Etsy will be implementing a program where individuals will fill out an application specifying aspects of the requested use of Etsy’s Marks. Etsy will review the application and in many circumstances Etsy will grant limited permission to use the approved Marks.
This program applies to everyone, even street teams. Street teams will have to request permission to use the Etsy mark in domain names or in products.
Thanks!
Sarah
I added the bolding to the text above. When I asked what the bolded text includes as far as what’s on the Etsy pages, Lauren/Stellaloella said the policy would be posted to the site once finalized. That’s great but still doesn’t clarify what elements Etsy is claiming trademark rights in. They have registered some things with the US Trademark office but I’m just a little concerned with the breadth of Sarah-the-lawyer’s statement in light of some of her ideas regarding privacy/confidentiality of commercial emails to the public containing non-sensitive info. Sarah, the lawyer at Etsy, says
-an email from any Etsy employee
-about Etsy policy or procedure or any generically-applicable info
-which doesn’t contain any private or confidential info such as info relating to an account or another user
-which is not sent to someone under a non-disclosure agreement
is not something they think can be published - anywhere. Sarah wasn’t clear on what basis Etsy was going to try to enforce this, but the implicit threat is there, ain’t it? Click here for the full thread discussing this topic. I’ve been lax about posting about this issue separately but will be back to do so when I have a little more time.
Our previous coverage of the Etsy’s planned trademark licensing program can be found here.
Update August 19 by JB
SarahSays says: (bolding added by editor)
I hope this helps to clarify:
Scenario 1)
Knittie makes a knitted bag that says “I love Etsy” on it. She applies to use Etsy’s logo, she is granted the right to use the logo FOR FREE.
Scenario 2)
Sarah makes a website www.SarahlovesEtsy.com. Her website features her Etsy likes and her dislikes. Sometimes Sarah criticizes Etsy. She applies to use Etsy’s logo. She is granted the right to use the logo FOR FREE!
Scenario 3)
Meanie makes a website that has the word “Etsy” in the domain and features adult material. Meanie applies to use the Etsy logo. He is not granted the right to use it. He is asked to take it down.
Scenario 4)
Uncrafty uses a company to drop ship tshirts that says: “Etsy is nice.” This use does not comply with Etsy’s policies. Uncrafty is asked to stop her use of the Etsy logo.
Scenario 5)
Streetie is on a street team called “Streetie’s Etsy Street team.” Streetie applies to use Etsy’s name. Etsy grants Streetie the right to use the name, FOR FREE.
Scenario 6)
Cardie has a business card that has her Etsy url in it and says: “buy Cardie’s art at Etsy.com.” Cardie does not have to apply for this use. This is fair use. Cardie is using the Etsy trademark to describe where she buys and sells all things handmade.
Why are we having a trademark program? To protect Etsy’s brand. It’s just that simple. That’s it. Just like Nike or Coca-Cola, Etsy is a trademark and as such, Etsy must police its brand or it will lose the right to do so in the future. So if a bad company makes a product and labels it an “Etsy” product and sells the environmentally harmful product and children are harmed, Etsy will be able to get this company to stop. If Etsy allows anyone to use the mark without permission, when the bad company comes around, Etsy will not be able to stop this use.
There have been uses of the Etsy mark that Etsy has not liked, and Etsy has asked for this to stop. Etsy has been policing its mark.
Hold tight. We love your creative uses that comply with Etsy’s policies. If you’re currently using the Etsy logo, keep doing what you’re doing. You do not have official permission YET, but as soon as the program comes out, apply (business as usual until we announce it). Most likely so long as your use complies with Etsy’s policies, Etsy will grant you permission to use the trademarks for FREE.
We will be very fair about the program.
I hope this helps,
Sarah
Posted at 8:44 pm, August 19 2007 EST
SarahSays says: (bolding added by editor)
Lollibomb: thanks!
Laurenrose: use your Etsy mini! No need to apply.
And in Scenario 3) when I said “adult material” I mean porn.
The program will apply to the name “Etsy” or the Etsy logo of the reddish orange rectangle with the white Etsy.
What I want everyone to understand is that in general, Etsy loves your uses. We have to do this to protect our brand.
August 16, 2007 at 12:44 pm · Filed under Bugs, Showcase · By Lis
Etsy experienced technical difficulties yesterday that have resulted in more than 36 people being able to register for the showcase. The “overflow users” will be removed from the showcase and issued a refund. See this thread for more details.
Edit by Lis If you reserved a showcase on one of the dates listed below, it’s possible that you have been “de-scheduled”. Info posted by RD in the same thread:
Okay, the following dates had overflow and had to have showcase slots removed and refunded:
2007.08.16
2007.08.17
2007.08.18
2007.08.19
2007.08.22
2007.08.23
2007.09.01
2007.09.07
2007.09.14
2007.09.15
If you signed up for a slot on one of those dates, there’s a chance you have been de-scheduled. Your Etsy -> Your Etsy Bill will show you if you are still signed up for a date or not.
August 16, 2007 at 3:59 am · Filed under Contests, Marketing, Miscellaneous · By quirke
See here for the 60 (yes, 60) winning entries and the 160 runners-up!
If one of your images appears in a winning poster, admin will be contacting you for permission to reproduce the photo for the poster.
And congrats to our very own Soap, one of the winning poster-makers!
Also be sure to check out the stats page on the poster entries for some interesting lists.
August 15, 2007 at 9:49 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · By Gemmafactrix
Holy wordy title, batman!
In this thread in the forums, I asked about the possibility of a dedicated customer service line for Etsy users. It’s been brought up on previous occasions, with admin input - here’s the latest, from RevolvingDork:
RevolvingDork says:
Yes, there is no Etsy phone support, and there will likely not be any in the near future. It would be a *massive* undertaking!
August 15, 2007 at 12:46 pm · Filed under Bugs, Showcase, Site Use, The Future · By starrydesigns
RevolvingDork says:
Hey all,
At noon today we opened up showcase sales for the next month. Because of the number of people signing up for the showcase at the same time, it brought the site to a crawl and may have caused some pages to time out completely.
This should be cleared up within the hour as the spots are all taken.
We recognize that site stability is more important than showcase sales, so we are now making plans to move the showcase to its own database so this won’t happen again.
We apologize for any inconvenience this slowdown has caused.
Posted at 12:35 pm, August 15 2007 EST
They are moving Showcase to its own database. Chris read our minds!
If Showcase dates were not charged to your Etsy bill earlier, check again! It should be there now, as per Chris in this thread.
For people having other issues regarding Showcase (for example: charged for 2 spots on the same day), Chris has rectified issues through this thread. You may try posting in there to get his attention.
August 15, 2007 at 10:51 am · Filed under Geolocator, Privacy, Search, Site Use, The Future · By starrydesigns
Acknowledging privacy concerns raised by Etsy sellers, Jared disabled the ability to search by place on Geolocator3 for now:
jared says:
Hi, we hear your voice for privacy concerns. The ability to search by place has been disabled and will not be re-enabled until a good solution is found.
Most likely we will make the ability for a buyer to find you by your location an opt-in for sellers. You can choose whether you want to appear on the map or not. By default a seller will not appear on the map.
Remember that we create these features to help you as sellers be more successful. Thank you for helping us get it right.
Posted at 12:17 am, August 15 2007 EST
Read previous post about Geolocator3 here.
UPDATE by Soap
As of August 19, seller location (city or town) displays. About 2 days ago, Geo3 had been displaying “Ayrshire, Scotland” for any seller. I thought that was the interim solution to having what appeared to be seller’s billing (or former billing) locations displayed. In some cases, the city provided is not publicly disclosed on the Etsy seller’s profile.
