‘Etsy made bank over the pandemic,’ says a petition by Etsy sellers urging users to boycott the platform. Thanks in part to an unexpected demand for quirky, hand-stitched face masks, the online marketplace better known as a cozy home for independent creators and artisanal goods more than doubled its revenue in 2020; the following year, it acquired two companies, Elo7 and Depop, for a total of more than $US 1.8 billion.
Despite these gains, on 11 April, Etsy planned on increasing seller transaction fees by 30% — a move that striking users are describing as ‘nothing short of pandemic profiteering.’
