Amit Gupta’s Blog

Etsy Alchemy = DIY Outsourcing

I’ve been watching Etsy’s Alchemy for the past week or so. It’s a truly awesome idea.

Etsy’s a site where you can buy handmade stuff made by individual crafters (bags, shirts, jewelry, laptop cases, stuffed animals, patches using IM slang pretty much anything.) Each item’s page lists the materials used, relevant tags, and shows a bio of the creator.

Cheap handmade stuff made by real people. Cool, right?

It gets better.

Etsy Alchemy is brand new; it’s like RentACoder for physical objects. You spec out something you want made, then use a simple form to create your listing (description, ideal price, quantity, deadline, materials), upload some images if you want, and hit submit. Then the fun begins: people bid on creating your dream object (whether it’s a Batman-themed laptop bag or an Octopus sushi crochette animal), you pick a bid, and sometime later, you get exactly what you wanted.

DIY (Do it Yourself) becomes DIY (Design it Yourself) and you leave the doing to someone else. Most of the fun, none of the hassle. Brilliant! I hope this one takes off.

Link: Etsy Alchemy

Posted on 27 January '06 by Amit Gupta, under DIY, Design, Technology.

7 Comments to “Etsy Alchemy = DIY Outsourcing”

#1 Posted by Amit Gupta (27.01.06 at 16:01 )

The internet is tiny sometimes. Minutes after buying the OMGWTF patch I mentioned above from Etsy, I got an email from the creator Steve Cooley, seconds later, an IM from my friend Dave Morin. Turns out Steve works just a few cubes away from Dave at everyone’s favorite fruit company. :)

#2 Posted by Nick Gray (30.01.06 at 15:09 )

Etsy looks neat - I checked it out and ordered some greeting cards. I am curious to their quality. Will report back in a few weeks when they arrive. Thanks for the tip.

RE:the economic models behind this, my friend Akshay sent me this link a few days ago - http://davistudio.blogspot.com/2006/01/techno-swadeshi.html He said it was via your friend Seth Godin.

Still, this Etsy stuff is total hobby. $3 and $5 art crafts aren’t going to get your friend at Apple a new job any time soon.

#3 Posted by Steve Cooley (01.02.06 at 05:44 )

Hey, Nick..

it’s unlikely you’d ever see this comment, but.. maybe you will.

I’m not looking for a new job, I’m looking to be a one man empire. It’s not about replacing my day job (which I love), it’s about being able to execute an idea, and have someone else handle almost all of the boring crap.

I don’t have to go reinvent the wheel to have a storefront.. Etsy handles the that, and paypal handles the money, and I just get to be the unstoppable creative force that I try to be, unencumbered by the dreary realities of running a hobby business. The hardest part for me is keeping stamps around. I get to do what I love and get compensated for it… not just in my day job, but with my free time, too.

Like any realistic artist, I pimp out my skills to people who want them… How I pay the bills is with professional skills. Of course I’d rather be completely financially independent, preferably with a branding exercise like this… but who knows what these avenues will lead to? I don’t, but I’m going to find out for myself.

The etsy effect is what lets me explore new income opportunity without having to sink all of my free time developing the infrastructure.

-steve

#4 Posted by Amit Gupta (01.02.06 at 23:07 )

Thanks for the link, Nick! When I find the time, I’d like to read more about Swadeshi and how the concepts apply to a global marketplace of individuals.

p.s. Steve — the patches are great, thanks!

#5 Posted by Nick Gray (02.02.06 at 08:25 )

Hey Steve- Actually, I paid someone on Etsy to keep checking this post for me… just kidding, Amit emailed me. Thanks for a great reply (and I checked out your patches, they are pretty cool). Etsy seems like a good way for artists to get easy cash flow infrastructure. Maybe it will turn into a dating site one day.

#6 Posted by Ian Gilman (14.03.06 at 01:37 )

More DIY outsourcing, for wine:

http://www.crushpadwine.com

#7 Posted by ati (21.06.06 at 07:23 )

You said “Cheap handmade stuff made by real people. “, and that’s actually a sad thing. Etsy is not meant for “cheap” - like in “getting designer wares for cheaper”. If you want “cheap”, then Woolworth may be the right place, or any dollar store.
Many of the sellers underprice (and can harm the artists who sell on Etsy and have to make a living from their products), because they are either inexperienced in pricing and managing a business, or they don’t care, because to them, it’s just a hobby.

However, what’s truly amazing about Etsy is the fact that most of the sellers made the items they offer themselves. You will hardly find mass-produced and import wares, and those who cheat the community are a rather minority towards all those really gifted and honest artists.

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