"They plan to increase our transaction fees by 30%," the petition added. "We’re going on strike on April 11 to call on Etsy to hold itself accountable to sellers and buyers. Sellers will put their shops on vacation mode in protest. Buyers can show support by agreeing to boycott Etsy from April 11-18.
"The strike is just action number one," she said. "What we want to really do for the future is form a solidarity support movement — peer support, artisans supporting each other." Etsy previously increased its seller fees from 3.5% to 5% in 2018 which had been met with backlash from sellers. Another controversial program rolled out by Etsy in 2020 was its Offsite Ads program which bills any seller making $10,000 in sales per year a 12% fee to promote advertising. "Offsite Ads pushes Etsy’s advertising costs onto their sellers, by charging us an additional 12-15% fee for each item sold through the Offsite Ads program.
In a statement to Marketplace, Etsy claims the fees will help weed out resellers who crowd the market and make it harder for independent businesses who sell unique and custom items from being noticed. "We’re committed to supporting our community of 5.3 million sellers around the world by helping them grow their businesses.