I visit Etsy's Alchemy. Don't get me wrong, there are several legitimate requests on there. I have gotten several commissions that way. But seriously, the audacity of some people. My favorites are the links to other artists work on Etsy who charge $ 60 + dollars for an item but they only want to pay $ 20 for you to re-create it. And they are sellers on Etsy too! How happy would they be to see an alchemy request with a link to one of their items stating they'd be willing to pay a third to have it made? Unreal.
Since I deal in jewelry related items, I am always most interested in these. There are always a lot of requests for hand stamped discs. That they only want to pay .50 a piece for. Hello!!!! The sterling silver alone will be $ 4.00. And you don't think someone deserves to be paid for the time they spent cutting the disc, sanding, stamping, etc, etc, etc. That their time and skill is worth nothing?
Ok, some of them genuinely have no idea how much something they are requesting costs. But then there are the ones trying to get over by having another artist copy a design. I really only look at the jewelry related ones, but I'm sure all the other categories get hit the same way.
I don't know about you, but when I made a conscious effort to support the hand made community, I knew in all likelihood I would be paying MORE for items that were hand made not LESS. People who hand craft items are putting not only their well honed skills to work, they are putting their hearts and souls into their work. They aren't sitting in a factory mass producing costume jewelry that will be sold at some discount department store, and will be worn by every other discount shopper in the world. Sheesh.
Sorry for the rant. It started out as a good laugh that quickly descended into a mad cackle! Ok, I'm done now....
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