Via Metafilter today, a long and elaborate discussion regarding women selling crafts on the Internet.  The bloggers at Slate's new feminist blog feel that Etsy is a ghetto for women who have been sold the dream of working from home and making a living selling crafts.  This is the conclusion they have drawn from the fact that most Etsy sellers are women.

It is very true, as the article points out, that very few people selling on Etsy are making a living from it.  For most people, Etsy is a way to finance their hobby.  That doesn't stop people from dreaming that they can make a full-time job out of it.  But hey, it doesn't hurt to dream, right?

I found this article very interesting because I was once an Etsy seller.  I sold hand-dyed yarn along with a friend.  We found that the market for hand-dyed yarn suffered from an economy of scale.  Put simply, the amount of time and the cost of materials could simply not be recouped from the price of a skein of yarn.  It was fun and I don't regret having done it, but I did dream that I could do it full time, and eventually found that I could not.

I don't feel that Etsy somehow suckered me into selling on their site.  Their fees were very reasonable, particularly when compared to the cost of showing at a crafts fair.  At a crafts fair, you will have a lot of overhead, regardless of whether you sell anything.  Etsy is essentially an online crafts fair where the barrier and costs for entry are very low.

I think Sara Mosle may have misunderstood the situation.  She assumes that the people selling on Etsy have no other reasonable choice, or are too stupid to see that is not a feasible place to make a living.  As many people pointed out on the Metafilter thread, Etsy is a great way to promote yourself elsewhere.

I wonder what she would think about the fact that eBay has a higher percentage of female sellers than any other entrepreneurial venue.  Over 50% of eBay Sellers are women.  This is interesting because only two and five small businesses are started by women.  What is it that eBay can offer women, which the rest of the world cannot?

The standard answer is that eBay allows women the flexibility to work the hours they choose.  Many eBay Sellers have children, and are expected to maintain a home, and both of these conditions prevent them from taking a traditional job.  I think, from my experience working with eBay Sellers, that a lot of women felt that they would have an easier time selling on eBay then working at a traditional job.  There is no glass ceiling on Ebay, at least not a gender related one.  If you have to take your sick kid to the Dr., You don't have to ask anyone for permission to do so.  If you need to stop working for 2 hours to make dinner or pick up the kids from school, no one is going to bat an eye.

From my perspective, women who began online businesses are more like men who drop out to follow their favorite band.  These women are tired of the traditional structures, and want the freedom to live life on their own terms.  The Internet allows them to do that.

In summary, my reaction to the our regional article is: that's a feature, not a bug.