Noticed a 1 star review today “Never received”. Buyer reached out that they did not receive. Apologized and told buyer it showed delivered, refunded in full. Told buyer GPS coordinates showed delivered to correct address so must have been stolen. Ho hum. This is one advantage Amazon has that if were a feedback it could be easily removed and not being a review would not tank the listing.
@MakerPlace
Just checking if this could be removed as it will now tank the listing.
As an employee of MakerPlace and as an artist who makes one of a kind puppets by hand I really do understand your perspective(s). I have my opinions (as an artist) on what qualifies as handmade and what hugs the line.
There are elements in many products that aren’t based in classical art-making skills, but still require some kind of handmaking. Personalization on mass produced items for instance. I see others have pointed to this type of listing. I agree that it isn’t as handmade as other genres- but technically someone did several steps of the process by hand. We investigate and remove items that are clearly violating rules, but we can’t really jury or curate seller listings if they follow the handmade agreement. There is a line between policy enforcement and gatekeeping we have to respect.
Overall this thread turned into a lot of very informed seller insight and carries a lot of good points. This entire conversation will be in my reporting that our whole team receives and reviews.
Hi Wade. Can you reach out to Seller Support on this? [email protected]
Gotcha. Thanks.
Good points and thank you for your transparency here.
So I what understand there isn’t much wiggle room by what is and isn’t allowed.
But surely you can choose what to promote on the main page and promotional emails.
If someone’s first thought is “cheap alibaba junk” that shouldn’t be on the front page.
If marketplaces aesthetic is “handmade” then all your promotional stuff should reflect things that the general population can instantly recognize something special.
I get it, from a business standpoint cheap items in mass production is how you make money.
But you could market in a different direction. Capitalize on fomo (fear of missing out). You should be promoting limited things so that I have to check makerplace all the time because I might miss out on a a truely unique handmade item. Limited time drops, item exclusives, etc
Anyone can go to Etsy or amazon handmade and pick up the “Ali junk” that you’re promoting. Why should anyone come to makerplace if it’s already on Amazon or Etsy. If at first glance makerplace is just another clone, no one will come back.
Be different please.
The latest post on Makerplace’s Instagram shows a girl who designed the artwork and then had her pins mass produced. They left the tracking number visible in the post, a quick glance shows her importing her pins from China. I suppose it’s perfectly acceptable since it does say on Makerplace that
"Handmade By: The Seller
Our process: It’s our concept and somebody else fabricates all/part of the product
I can see why Makerplace would promote this, the Illustrator has 170,000 Followers on Instagram. Partnering with Influences is nothing new and I am not here to slam the seller. Doesn’t seem like she “needs” makerplace since she looks like she is successful on both Etsy and her own shop. I’m mostly just posting this to demonstrate just what Makerplace is about.
They say they want to promote “handmade” but at the end of the day they are no better than Etsy or Amazon. Saying that anyone can design something and import it from China…well you’ve opened up the barn doors at this point and let the cat out of the bag.
This is not going to go well, also given the way Michaels only seems to know how to do do business by having huge “sales”. They are going to spend a lot of money trying to prove how different they are from Etsy and Amazon.
And more proof that Michaels is super ok with designing a product and then importing it: Alicorn has now earned themselves a “Featured Maker” badge.
At this point it woudn’t even surprise me if LG was to come in selling Fridges, or Samsung selling TV’s. Maybe we should just let Elon Musk sell his Tesla’s on Makerplace??? I bet that would really put Makerplace on the map!
Michael’s used the personalized card excusing Alicorn for their product but maybe a 1/3 of their listings are not personalized. The rest involves a laser engraver burning the name on their AliExpress product. The product is light enough to ship with e-packets and cheap enough to get 100+ units and still be below the $800 import tariff threshold.
I think one thing that needs to be looked at here is the value to the end customer. I think paying $15 - $20 for something that’s personalized, even if it’s just laser engraved, is a good value for many buyers. The most important thing for a marketplace is that when customers buy something they feel like they got good value for what they spent. If someone’s strictly buying cheap junk and reselling it, and customers feel like they overpaid for some cheap junk, then the marketplace ends up with a bad reputation.
Even if it’s “just laser engraved” most people don’t have a laser engraver sitting around to use for free.
To me personally, there are differences between:
Even Amazon has tried to distinguish between Amazon Handmade and Amazon Custom.
And my biggest folly is thinking that “handmade” should mean OOAK or small batch.
Even in the customization space…are you simply taking a mass-produced blank and adding basic text with a widely available tool using its standard settings, in a process that anyone else could easily replicate? Or are you taking a blank and transforming it into something unique that others could only imitate but not replicate because you use a process (or piece of art, or phrasing, or other details) that is your own? 
Or could be a combination of the two …
We do this
And then add customized personalization with a machine.
Technically, we are handmade as we make each order before we put the customization on it. However, a bigger operation could machine make the product and then put the customization on it.
The customer would only think of the item as being customized either way … and that is what creates this grey area of what is and what is not handmade.
Another argument that can be made here is, does it matter WHO’S hands made them? Does it only count if the artisan made it themselves? What if they hired people in the US to do it? What if they hired people in China to do it? Let’s assume in all cases it’s someone making it “by hand.” How many units would be considered “mass produced”?
Defining handmade in itself is nebulous since technically if chinese hands are making them, it’s still handmade. The focus should be more on whether the item is unique and good quality. A reseller likely has stuff that’s not unique and looks/feels cheap. Where the item is made is not necessarily indicative of quality. Keep in mind iphones are made in china and those are not cheap or low quality.
The bigger issue is the reselling of these inexpensive personalized items for $30 or $40 when they could be purchased directly from Alibaba or AliExpress for a couple of dollars.
Marilyn
I’m assuming the aliexpress version that sells for $2 isn’t personalized. A $20 charge for laser engraving something seems reasonable to me. I’ve seen those kiosks at the mall that sell laser engraved stuff, and it’s the same deal, they imported a bunch of blanks from china, personalize it for you on the spot and add a hefty markup.
Oops. Wrong guess. The AliExpress personalized jewelry starts at under $1. Check out the screenshot.
Marilyn
That’s a bit crazy they’re making customized stuff for 3 bucks.
Well, you gotta convince whoever’s in charge of makerplace whether they should or shouldn’t allow it. I would lean towards the fact that they’re just reselling someone else’s stuff so it probably doesn’t fit their requirements. Though if they’re falsifying proof that they made it (eg, with a video of them handmaking 1 unit) I could see why they’re letting it slip through.
It definitely isn’t real silver and especially not the .999 fine silver. It looks like that junkie Tibetan silver which sometimes contains lead or arsenic. Gross!
Marilyn
The Alibaba title reads as “New Metallic” which is a way of saying scrap metal in jewelry …
