etsy woes

I've had some issues with Etsy. Or, rather, I should say I've had issues with some sellers on Etsy. I love the fact that it's this neat, online place where artists can sell their goods. What I don't like is that, being a lady who has pretty good sewing skills and a knowledge of fabrics, as well as a what I would think is a good eye for design...

1) Many sellers greatly overcharge for their products. Just because you see someone else, who happens to have AMAZING draping/sewing skills and good fabric/design choices can get $150 for a dress doesn't mean your work is worth that. A simple, "pillowcase" style cinch top made in cheap quilting cotton is not worth $50. HARDLY. Also, a very basic a-line dress in stretch fabric isn't worth $200, either. Before you sell anything online, consider your skill level as a craftsman and be honest about the quality of your product. Otherwise, your stuff will sit on Etsy for months and annoy people like me who keep finding your crap every time they search for good stuff. The one good aspect of this is that seeing these poor quality items makes the good stuff all the more noteworthy.

2) Sellers list key search words that don't fit their products just to get more hits. This especially applies to maternity items. When searching the word "maternity" on Etsy, I get results for clothing items that could never EVER in a thousand years work for pregnant women. Tight, form fitting blouses, sleek, non-stretch dresses and tailored pants (without an ultra low waist or tummy panel) are listed with the term "maternity" for no reason. The only thing I can guess is that either these people are totally ignorant or are trying to muster up more hits. This also happens when I search "vintage." I keep on shaking my head thinking, "either you have no clue what vintage means or you're just using this b/c it's a hot term."

3) Sellers are not held to task for not fulfilling their orders/having items arrive different than promised. I bought a tummy panel off of etsy back when I was about 3 months preggo. It just came about a week and a half ago. Doing the math, that means it took her TWO MONTHS to get this fulfilled. And when I did, one of the tummy panels wasn't even sewn together! YEAH! You heard me, I got two squares of white cotton I can only guess were meant to be sewn together, but shipped out anyways. I went back and checked and this gal has TONS of negative marks in the past few months, all with the same crit: seller never responded to my inquiries, seller never sent package, items arrived in the wrong size/cheaper fabric than pictured. I've since complained to etsy and hope they'll do something about this, but I'm not holding my breath. It seems others commented on complaining to etsy, to no avail. UPDATE: just went to check on my complaint/communication with said seller and their shop has been deleted. TRIFLIN!

For these reasons, I've found myself avoiding Etsy, save for sellers I know/trust. I feel like it's such a cool site set-up, but I'm tired of all of the poor examples of craftsmanship outweighing the good. I think I lost it when I saw a simple wrap skirt that I KNOW has about $15 total fabric value with novice-at-best sewing skills and MAYBE an hour tops to make for sale at $75. I'm sorry, but I don't think your crappy sewing skills are worth $65/hour, honey. Just sayin.