Hi Etsy Team! This is heather from heatherp22.etsy.com , "Aquariart".
I am on the committee that is handling the jurying of new members. We have our first meeting next week and I would like input from members who have strong feelings about this issue. What do you think the criteria for being a member of our team should be besides having an etsy shop with inventory? I will be collecting comments from this post for us to discuss next week and we will make our decisions based on your input so this is your chance to have a say!! Please do.
8 comments:
Hello,
I believe the criteria for being a member should be:
You should have a shop on Etsy and Live in Las Vegas.
Items should be Handmade or vintage like Etsy has on their site.
I think that is what the team is about Handmade In Vegas.
This is what Etsy has listed about their teams. I copied it from their page.
About Etsy Teams
Etsy Teams are groups of organized Etsy members who network, share skills, and promote their shops and Etsy together. A Team forms around a shared location, crafting medium, or another interest.
Etsy's 450+ Teams make us not just a marketplace of individuals, but an interconnected and diverse artistic community.
Teams are Etsy’s biggest and most creative grassroots engine for support, networking and marketing – for each team member’s shop, for the Teams themselves, and for Etsy as a whole.
Kathy
I think that someone should have had their Etsy shop for a period of time before actually being on the team, say 3 months, because so many people sign up for a shop, then peter out quickly.
There also should be some kind of required participation, but not sure how far you want to take that. Maybe make at least 2 of the meetings a year, etc.
Required participation is a tough one especially in a city with work shifts around the clock. For example: I am trying my hardest to get to this weeks meeting since I missed the first one, but with my other full-time business, my hubby working nights and kids etc it's really tough.
I agree with the shop being open a certain amount of time as well. I think 3 months is a good time frame.
I agree that physical participation shouldn't be a factor for membership. I do think that a certain amount of online interaction wouldn't be out of the question though. Currently, we have a very large amount of team members who have said right from the beginning that they would be unable/unwilling to do fairs or meetings. But since Etsy is an online community, and we all should be online at some point or another, maybe requirements for online participation?
I agree Sarah,I think Online participation at the least. I think we are all here to work to promote our own shop and the shops of others,but if some people are "just here" they are not helping to promote the group to the masses. why should we be helping promote the shops of people who do not want to do the same. but just because people can't come to meeting..I don't think they should be excluded,but active participation online shows you want to be involved. I just think that the bottom line is if you want to be a part of a group you have to be willing to be involved in some way.I have learned that selling on etsy is Hard work, saless don't just fly in without doing anything, and it's nice to have a group of people who understand the struggle and are willing to do the work to "make it happen"
just my thoughts :)
Indeed - plenty of participation is possible from our respective fortresses of solitude... just think of how much
Howard Hughes accomplished from his penthouse at The Desert Inn, pre-internet!
Okay, I'm off to change my tissue-box slippers, now ;-p
Thank you all for your input. I personally don't feel comfortable making decisions about this is such a large group with out input. So We meet tomorrow afternoon. If you have anything to add to this please do it now or forever hold your peace as they say!! LOL
Heather
I think membership jurying is hard to qualify, which is why it's good there is a three person panel. Either you like a person's product, or you don't. It's hard to be objective sometimes. You can get a feel of a person's shop by their sales, their profile, their inventory level - but in the end, it's just your opinion on whether or not they add value or take away value from the team.
As far as required participation, it seems like a bare-minimum requirement should be using the team tag in the majority of your listings. The more people using the tag, the more enthusiastic shoppers will be about our group (more selection). And I know that not everyone has a shop announcement, but it sure would be nice to have a link in everyone's shop announcement to handmadeinvegas.com. We need as many people as possible clicking on that big yellow sun button to shop.
Other than that, though, I don't feel like we need to be too strict. First of all, it's a TON of work to keep track of online activity of over 200 team members.
Maybe an easy thing would be to have each member submit at least one item per year to our online team shop with a minimum value of $15? Proceeds of the shop would go towards the team fund. Plus, having a team shop increases all team members exposure and is great for all our sales. Or if a member already has a leadership role, they can be exempted from this? Or offer a bunch of different qualifying options to maintain team membership - some might be happy to submit items to online shops, others can maintain membership by coming to meetings, or some other significant team activity?
Sorry - so many ideas. But the point is that for now, let's keep it simple and easy since almost everyone on the team was invited with the invitation I sent out saying that there was no minimum participation requirements.
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