This blog post has been brewing around in my head for a while now, but I’m finally getting around to writing about it.

As you’ll recall from an earlier blog post, I love etsy. Love it, love it, love it. I love the idea of all of these handmade items from amazing artists all over the world being available in one spot where I can purchase them. I adore that there’s such variety there, even to the point of one woman posting her handmade item for sale as “A handwritten letter, in ink.. along with my lemon bar recipe.”. So fantastic.

I recently purchased two items from etsy. One was a handmade bag. It looked great online but when I received it I was even more pleased. The seller was in constant contact with me from the moment I purchased it, even going so far as to ask if I’d like the keyfob sewn on the inside or outside. She was fantastic and that made my first etsy experience so wonderful. Thanks Bizzy Lizzy!

My second etsy item purchased was a ring. I’m a sterling silver lover and the thought of having some handmade silver jewelry was certainly appealing. I started searching and came upon a shop that had some really lovely things. I purchased a ring and was expecting the same sort of experience I’d had with the bag, but it didn’t happen. There was no warm fuzzy contact, no emails, no “Hey Thanks for placing an order, we’ll let you know when it ships!”. Nothing.

Now, I’m a chatty kind of girl but if that’s not how they run their store, that’s ok. I don’t need chatty to get a pretty ring so whatever. I did get a note when the ring shipped so at least I knew it was on the way.

Here’s a photo of the ring from the etsy site:

When I received the ring I was crazy excited. I couldn’t WAIT for my handmade gorgeous silver ring. I ripped it out of the box and was immediately disappointed. It was much lighter weight than I’d imagined. The metal was much thinner than I’d imagined and I felt like I didn’t get what I expected.

Here’s a photo I took of my ring:

Now, in hindsight I probably should have contacted the sellers immediately and told them how I felt, but I didn’t. I’m not sure why I didn’t.. maybe because they didn’t feel the need to contact me at all during the two-three weeks I was waiting for my ring. Or, maybe it was because I hate confrontation. Either way.. I didn’t contact them.

What I did do, however, was give them “neutral” feedback. Not negative… neutral. I gave neutral because I wasn’t thrilled with what I received, but I also didn’t want to be ‘mean’, and realized that perhaps it was just ME and not associated with the seller at all and so neutral to me seemed like a good choice. I was immediately contacted by the seller who said:

“We never leave a customer unhappy. Now you’re stuck with a ring you don’t like and we’re stuck with feedback we don’t deserve.”

Now.. if you never leave a customer unhappy.. .how come I’m “stuck” with the ring? Why not.. right now.. offer to do something for me to change my mind? Why not fix it?

That same seller then contacted me again and specifically asked me to contact etsy and ask to have my feedback removed. I was actually shocked by this. I refused to change my ‘neutral’ feedback or to have it removed. The seller wasn’t pleased, but that’s how I felt.

The seller right now has over 200 comments/feedback. All of those are positive.. except mine. There are no negatives there, just my neutral. The seller then, in response, left me ‘neutral’ feedback with no comments at all.

I think this is a much bigger, deeper issue than etsy.. and I think we’ll have to talk about that some more.

[flickr video=http://flickr.com/photos/micala/2548078541]

For those of you that don’t know what etsy is, etsy.com is a website where people that handmake things can sell them (that’s the ‘nutshell’ version).  I started browsing etsy because a co-worker and friend (that actually works one floor DIRECTLY above me) showed me some jewelry she was buying there and I was terribly impressed with it.  Did I mention that I met this co-worker and friend on twitter and not at work? Now I did.

Etsy has things in what seems like a million different categories. After browsing around a bit, I ordered two things.  One ring from the same place she was getting her jewelry, and a messenger bag from a completely different person.  Almost as soon as I ordered the messenger bag, I got a message from the girl that makes them letting me know that she was so happy I ordered and that she had a few bags that were ordered before mine that she needed to finish, but that she’d have my bag done soon.  Over the next week or so, we sent messages back and forth about the progress.. she kept me up to date, told me when she started working on it, when it would be done and when to expect it in the mail. I thanked her for making my first etsy experience so great and she was fabulous. She was informative, appreciative and genuinely gracious.

I got the bag today:

If you’re wondering what my point is, I do have one.  This is social networking. This is not giant announcements or grand schemes. This is one person at a time, doing a good job, and being friendly and considerate.  It’s about Charlotte being nice and about me then telling everyone I know how great she is. It’s about being positive, and kind and knowing that ’social networking’ isn’t just about promoting your latest blog post, or telling people to go read something you wrote, or self-promotion.. it’s about an almost ‘grassroots’ way of spreading kindness.

If you want an exceptional handmade bag, then go to etsy and search for “Bizzie Lizzie”.

This is social networking.