• Evkob@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      You definitely still can find real people making cool handmade stuff, but yeah there is a fair amount of just bot-posts reselling cheap wares.

      You need to be somewhat tech-savvy (at least in terms of distinguishing automated accounts from humans, which might be more of a social skill) and knowledgeable about whichever craft you seek to purchase, though. And Etsy as a platform has gotten pretty bad for small-scale creators, demanding more of them (such as encouraging them to offer “free” shipping at their own cost) and offering less support.

        • Whimseymimple@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          The Artisan’s Coop is building itself right now. Only time will tell how successful it will be, but they’re taking their time to try to build a useful and real cooperative.

        • Evkob@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Sometimes it’s possible to contact people via their social media accounts and figure out a way to make the transaction happen without a middleman, but I imagine that’s not all vendors. I’m not aware of any alternative platforms to Etsy at the moment, sadly.