- cross-posted to:
- StopAI@thelemmy.club
- cross-posted to:
- StopAI@thelemmy.club
Former Etsy Seller Emily Olson quit the platform after she says AI slop took over, making it harder to compete with cheap, digital pieces. The trend reflects the broader debate surrounding AI and art, and whether they can peacefully co-exist.
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This from the company with a “Celebrate Human” ad campaign? 😂
People still use Regretsy?
Last time I looked at etsy they had 100s of pages of ‘alligator alcatraz’ merchandise.
The platform needs to die, it isn’t what it once was. Hopefully the legitimate sellers have found a better alternative.
Ohhh no, those poor drop-shippers!
As someone who used to sell on Etsy, drop shippers pushed artists off well before ai was a thing.
I used to sell hand made fine silver (99.9% pure silver) chains, but there’s no way to compete with the drop shipping behemoths selling “genuine 18 karat gold” for $30. Every category, and every tag was flooded with pages of them before you got to any real products. Search for any of them on Ali express and you find identical listings for $1.
Some of them were so big they had teams of employees. And Etsy celebrated them, posting articles and interviews, pushing them to the top of the website and saying “look how successful you can be with Etsy!” Was literally the pyramid scheme strategy of showing one successful seller to convince you to sign up, but that seller has the category locked down. Meanwhile Etsy still makes some money off of you for being signed up.
The chains I made cost ~$200 just in materials plus around 8 hours of labour. And this is back when silver was $30/ounce. It’s currently $89. (both in Aussie dollars). It was just me, in my spare time, in my spare bedroom making stuff, because I enjoyed it and people covered the cost and enjoyed the chains. I did well for a while, until I did well for them to notice and start selling close enough items to push mine down a few pages with SEO. I ended up making myself some stuff with the rest of my stock then just shut shop. Haven’t taken the tools out of their boxes again since.
Ai is just the final nail in the coffin for Etsy’s credibility.
As a consumer, I noticed and dropped Etsy. I came for the love of the craft, I stayed a little when I could still find real results many pages down, but by now it’s not worth it. I remember the last thing I tried to buy something on Etsy, ended up buying in on a big-but-reputable brand website instead.
Remember, you’re a customer, not a consumer! Don’t dehumanize yourself :)
Well caught, thanks!
I know there are a few platforms attempting to fill the niche that Etsy used to, but of them I prefer Artisans Cooperative, because co-ops are cool. Also they’re on the fediverse! @coopartisans@social.coop
How do we know any of this isn’t AI or bullshit made in China? I think just can’t trust to buy any of this stuff off the internet.
I think it’s just a lot more heavily vetted. You can’t even sell on there AT ALL without being a member of the co-op, which costs money in the first place
Well that doesn’t rule out scams and cheap crap. If all it takes to make tons of money is to pay in that isn’t good enough for me.
Because they specifically have policies against both of those things.
Sorry having rules in place doesn’t stop scam artist. Again in today’s world can’t trust nothing I can’t see and touch. Hell sometimes not even that. Example went to state fair and saw three booths pushing clearly AI generated art pieces and shirts. It was fucking sad that it was even allowed.
Look I get it. I’m as tired of the slop as any of us. But did the state fair you attend have rules specifically against gen ai art?
Not sure didn’t ask. But again that site can have all the rules it want. There always someone who will exploit it until they get caught then what they just get kicked off the platform.
Yes. Read the last bit of your last sentence again. They get kicked off the platform. I really don’t see the problem.
Because until then they rip people off with no recourse. Don’t you get it. Doesn’t matter if when they get caught they gat kicked off the platform. Because all the people who bought said garbage thinking it was real lose their money and damn sure the trust of said site again.
