Hi I was doing a focused study for my degree, and a chunk was dedicated to grey areas. Through lack of inspiration I found out about etsys problem with dropshipping. Which I totally agree with BTW, pls don't shoot me down.
So I ordered a bunch of jewelery, as a friend of mine has an etsy store selling jewelry and she makes about 4 sales a year, it's not through bad quality or rubbish listings, it's simply handmade costs are significantly higher than Chinese factory costs
I recieved the package two weeks after ordering, 6 days before the delivery due date (I'm in the UK) I pestered the seller for a discount, they gave me one before I ordered, I then pestered again for tracking. They gave me the tracking well before the item said dispatched, all though the tracking was royal mail and not some international carrier. They were very polite and seemed happy to help.
The items came and were packaged how you'd expect - grey bag, with small cardboard surrounding each item. I was expecting plastic crap but my gosh they are good!
The metal is exactly as pictured, the stones are probably synthetic but the colour and texture is beautiful! I wore a bracelet on a night out and returned home expecting green skin and never got it, the metal didn't fade or change colour or lose finish, each item was £12-£20 whereas the control group I bought where I could verify they weren't dropshipped had similar qualities but it was double the price!
All sellers agreed to a refund/ return and a short telephone interview when I explained my study. I really wasn't expecting either group to do that but 100% of them said yes. I guess they saw it as a marketing opportunity. The dropshippers were not selling from aliexpress they all had set up networks of factorily owners and agents who made or procured the products on their behalf. None of them sold anywhere else other than etsy.
I just wanted to give my two cents, I know dropshipping is frowned upon here, and rightly so when something says made in Scunthorpe and it's made in shanghai it's obviously dodgy. But does anyone think that etsy should just allow dropshippers and give them chance to show that's what they're doing? And maybe include a check in search results you can tick to exclude them if that's what you want?
Interested to hear some more opinions on this as it will give me more fuel for my study.
Sorry if I've offended anyone or completely missed the point. Hope you all have a lovely day 😎