The Etsy Featured Reseller: Ecologica Malibu
From time to time, Etsy chooses some armpit hair enthusiast or hipster weenie from their legion of unemployed, and elevates them to the lofty position of Etsy Featured Seller. Etsy then publishes a feature on the newly-minted Hot Glue Czar, and everyone in Cupcaketown turns out to slobber over their wet-felted overlord.
I love the Featured Seller pieces, mostly for the the interview. Honestly, I’d be happy just to read about their dreams of living with bears in an ice cream castle, or seeing how long it takes them to mention Catcher in the Rye.
But every once in a while you get a little something extra.
This is Esty’s most recent featured seller, Ecologica Malibu.
Ecologica Malibu is run by Mariana Schechter. She’s super conscious about the environment, and makes all her furniture out of old boats and other reclaimed wood from places like Bali.
While all of Mariana’s pieces are different due to the unique nature of the reclaimed wood, the style is very distinct, and hard to mistake for anyone else’s.
Let’s start with the Rio chair.
Not only did Mariana build this chair herself, she also designed it! You can tell, because Etsy helpfully includes a photo to show you how the pros do it:
I know, right? She’s looking at swatches! She’s probably twirling her hair with her other hand and thinking really hard about the Earth.
It’s impressive all right. Even the commenters are amazed by her multitasking:
So would I! But with over 240 pieces in her store, Mariana is much too busy hammering boards together in the parking lot to give us a tutorial on building furniture from boats.
Hey, Maybe these guys can help us!
That’s a listing for the same chair on a Facebook page for a wholesaler called allfromboats.com (AFB). They import furniture made from old Balinese boats. And while it’s all handmade, it’s all handmade by them.
So, now I was a little confused. Is Ecologica connected to AFB somehow? Because that would not be very Etsy. Maybe we should see who the AFB dealer is in California.
Oh dear.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Maybe Bali Ha’i Imports and Ecologica are just in the same building. Selling the same furniture. And Bali’Hai only comes in late at night so Mariana doesn’t find out that they’re stealing her designs.
Or maybe that’s what everyone does in that neighborhood. Maybe they’re in Malibu’s famous Reclaimed Boat Wood Furniture district.
Here are some other remarkable coincidences!
BENCH
From Ecologica:
From AFB:
MIRROR
From Ecologica:
From AFB:
PLANTERS
From Ecologica:
From AFB:
Oh, I could do this all day!
You know what, let’s just save some time and go to Overstock.com.
Now, I’m going to go out on a limb here and give you my theory. And this is all just conjecture you understand, and I can only base it on the hundreds of links and photos and YouTube videos I’ve seen in the last few hours. But I think Ecologica might be a reseller.
And some of you seem to think so too, because you’ve even gone so far as to come out and ask her about it. And I have to admit, she’s given a very good answer.
Well, that makes me feel better! It’s just Mariana and 4 carpenters, making hundreds of pieces of furniture every day. THAT’S HOW YOU GET TO BE A FEATURED SELLER, SLACKER
I admit, it’s pretty incriminating. But Etsy’s not stupid. They carefully research the sellers they choose to feature. After all, these people are the best of Etsy; the most industrious, honest, creative and hardworking. So if there’s any proof that Ecologica is importing containers full of wholesale furniture from places like, say, Malaysia, Etsy would have found it.
BUY HANDIMPORTED
- Special thanks to longwintersoapco for additional research on this post
UPDATE: REBUTTAL BY ECOLOGICA
RETRACTION
I can see now that I was mistaken about a few things, so let me just state for the record what’s going on here.
Mariana gets wood delivered from Bali in containers marked “Furniture.” She takes them to an office building in Malibu and builds hundreds of chairs every month with 4 carpenters.
The rest of her inventory is produced by Kurt Einchorn, though his name is actually Eichorn. He hires workers specifically to produce her design products in Bali, and then ships those all over North and South America, making it all very Earth Friendly and completely handmade.
Thank you for understanding.
UPDATE: Etsy has issued two different non-apologies for this gaffe; first stating that they “clearly missed some critical information,” then revising this to say, “If we missed some critical information…,” just in case the first statement sounds too much like giving a shit.
They have also put Ecologica on the front page of Etsy, because you weren’t irritated enough.
Happy Earth Day!
April 21, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Old & Busted: amazeballs
New Hotness: amazeboats
April 21, 2012 at 10:42 pm
And this is the most amazeboats post ever.
April 21, 2012 at 10:48 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
April 22, 2012 at 7:30 am
Etsy finally “wrapped up” the Featured Seller comments at 10:25am Eastern…they must have slept in on this nice Sunday morning. Probably ate some scones, read the culture section of the newspaper, put a new sweater on the Yorkie, took a nice bubbly, wubbly bath…then opened up the laptop to see this shitstorm.
April 22, 2012 at 8:08 am
I resent the insinuation in this comment – there is nothing wrong with eating scones!
April 22, 2012 at 8:35 am
A bowl of Total, then?
April 22, 2012 at 3:46 pm
To be fair, it was raining in Brooklyn this morning. Just pouring. The commute to their laptops over cups of french-press must have been agonizing.
April 23, 2012 at 2:45 pm
“Oh! It’s a COLLECTIVE! You should have TOLD us! Of course, we can fix that. All we need from you is a photo of yourself interacting with the furniture in some way.
April 23, 2012 at 11:09 pm
How much of the value is attributable to the ideas of this slightly-clad woman? How much is attributable to the manual labor?
I think I would feel somewhat better if I knew the people who are actually making this stuff were getting a fair cut of the sales.
And had their voices also be part of the interview.
April 24, 2012 at 2:22 pm
That look on her face seems to say “I have a splinter in my twat!” Or maybe even…”I wonder how many asian STDs I am picking up by sitting on this ‘boat’ load of un sanitary lead paint?
January 25, 2013 at 11:49 am
Wow, Asian STDs? Nobody ever worries about Caucasian STDs =_=
April 23, 2012 at 12:20 am
Hey – you guys are all so quick to judge. Did you ever stop to consider that maybe it comes flat-packed from Indonesia and she and the four carpenters carefully follow the Ikea-like instructions using their trusty Allen keys and screwdrivers?! BUY HANDMADE!
April 21, 2012 at 11:13 pm
here is her rebuttal for the “dunces”:
http://www.ecologicafurniture.com/blog/refutation-of-spurious-comments-placed/
April 21, 2012 at 11:27 pm
I can’t get her site to work. She must’ve taken it down. YAY!
April 21, 2012 at 11:39 pm
was just on a few minutes ago – it took my computer 1-2 min. to load the reply.
April 22, 2012 at 12:42 am
Ah, now I can see it. People must be going to bed.
April 21, 2012 at 11:55 pm
I’ve posted the text below.
April 22, 2012 at 4:47 pm
How can I find this? Theres a ton of replies now and that site is down. Thanks
April 23, 2012 at 10:28 am
megannicole, search on my name. Or read HK’s screencap, above.
April 22, 2012 at 8:03 am
Site’s completely down as of Sunday morning.
April 23, 2012 at 12:05 am
Yep, it looks to have been taken completely offline. I’m getting a park page when I go there. (Basically, a place holder page for a domain name that’s no longer available.)
April 21, 2012 at 11:44 pm
Wow, you can tell she is brilliant because she mentions the title of a non-fiction book AND uses the word spurious. Even more impressive though is her picture, that look of mixed disdain and ennui must have take so much time to perfect.
April 22, 2012 at 12:34 am
Except the book is A CONFEDERACY of Dunces, so, you know, go her? Because she was on such a roll before.
April 22, 2012 at 1:19 am
Also, it’s fiction.
April 21, 2012 at 11:49 pm
so her responce basically was “you expect me to axually make the items im telling you I handmade myself, that is what children in 3ed world countrys are there for!”
April 22, 2012 at 5:19 am
Am I the only one who detests the straw man argument, “We are not Wal-Mar and consider such sugggestion a slander.”
Nobody is suggesting that, Kurt. We’re suggesting – with good cause – that your workers in Bali make the furniture that Mariana claims to be making in L.A.!
Sheesh!
April 22, 2012 at 2:26 pm
She removed it – I posted the full text and screenshot below – lest we forget her articulate response to us
Long live the Confederacy of Dunces.
April 22, 2012 at 10:44 pm
c check out her profile now.shes been coached on her wording by etsy.
January 25, 2013 at 11:51 am
The site’s up again minus blog post :/
April 21, 2012 at 11:47 pm
http://www.importgenius.com/importers/howard-r-schechter-and-mariana
April 22, 2012 at 3:56 am
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
April 22, 2012 at 7:16 am
That’s pretty common out here in LA, especially in areas like Malibu and Santa Monica. Much older man with a much younger wife.
April 22, 2012 at 9:30 am
<~~~ An American citizen married to a BROKE old dude. Old dudes is hot!
April 22, 2012 at 1:21 pm
What’s wrong with young women marrying old men?
As an old man myself, I think it’s a great idea. At least in theory. So far.
April 22, 2012 at 3:31 pm
What’s “old” for you? There are some women who think 30 is middle-aged.
April 24, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Darn- it’s gone, now that I have time to look at it!
April 22, 2012 at 10:50 pm
There’s a petition up at Change.org re: Malibu-gate…
please stop by and sign…
http://www.change.org/petitions/etsy-issue-a-public-statement-with-a-plan-to-eliminate-resellers
… even if you think this won’t change anything, your signature will help provide cover for the sellers who already signed (safety in numbers).
April 21, 2012 at 9:50 pm
This is making me facepalm so hard I can’t even think of a witty comment.
April 21, 2012 at 9:55 pm
I think I broke my nose on the third one…. this is so epic it’s beyond all other epic things before.
HOLY CRAP HK WHAT A COUP.
April 21, 2012 at 10:10 pm
I suppose we should just be happy they were smart enough to use different photos of the products. I also must add I would hope that her furniture never makes it to any classrooms… I would think the students would be so uncomfortable they’d never be able to concentrate.
April 22, 2012 at 6:15 am
And just wait ’til the first parent whips out a lead paint test kit.
April 22, 2012 at 7:18 am
You wouldn’t dare test this for lead! After all, they’re not Wal-Mart!
April 22, 2012 at 5:18 pm
I think my spine twisted into an arthritic curlicue of scoliosis just from looking at that first chair and imagining sitting in it in a classroom.
April 21, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Not gonna lie – my first thought here was “Hey, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is looking really good.”
April 21, 2012 at 11:52 pm
LMAO I went over to Etsy and vented my rage with a comment before reading everything here…and I called her Elaine Benes Jr. Great fat jealous loser minds think alike.
April 21, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Butthurt, boathurt….
April 21, 2012 at 10:40 pm
with my flippy floppies, I’m on a boat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM&ob=av3e
April 21, 2012 at 9:54 pm
In all seriousness though, how long before an Etsy staffer stops looking up and to the right long enough to shut this thread down for “calling out?”
April 22, 2012 at 12:44 am
Quite a while! They’re way too busy with their jump rope hunt, don’t'cha know? https://twitter.com/#!/Etsy/status/193351762554523648
April 21, 2012 at 9:54 pm
You can tell from her hands she isn’t doing any wood working. French manicures don’t hold up well to saws, sanders, nail guns, and wood glue. Most real artisans have scratched up fingers, super short finger nails with gunk under them, and wouldn’t waist the cash on a last min manicure for a photo-shoot.
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
I thought the same thing, except my attention was caught by that big ‘ol ring on her finger. I wouldn’t be caught dead working wood in a ring like that. Too damn many things can happen in a wood shop. I know not everyone thinks through how a ring can be caught and mangle your hand, but surely she’d not want to damage the ring.
April 21, 2012 at 10:19 pm
Yeah you’re right. I mean I could understand putting on my fancy stuff for a photo…but with all of these things combined it seems dubious at best.
April 21, 2012 at 10:23 pm
I had a friend who coulda lost a finger from woodworking with a ring on. Thanks to modern medicine, surgeons could repair the finger well enough so she didn’t lose it and it is somewhat functional. Some nerve damage just doesn’t heal. Thirty years later and she still can’t make a fist on that hand without her ring finger sticking out.
April 21, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Yikes…well I’m glad they got the finger reattached and she can still use it some.
I once knew a girl who got her pony tail stuck in a band saw… Long story short she had to have the chunk of scalp that was missing stitched up. The hair mostly grew back.
April 21, 2012 at 10:57 pm
yup, I have lopped off parts of my thumb, a hunk of my palm, and stabbed my left index finger to the bone with tools a few times.
I don’t even do very much work with wood, just occasionally, and my hands look liks a prize fighter wrangled with a chainsaw.
April 21, 2012 at 11:06 pm
I had a great uncle who was a big time hobbyist woodworker. He’d toil away endless hours in his shop, on the weekends, and into retirement, making beautiful things….He was missing the fatty side of his right hand, and the tips of his left hands fingers from about mid fingernail down..and past the first knuckle on the middle finger.
April 23, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Ah yes- I’ve heard horror stories. Apparently, in my old middle school, some kid thought it would be fun to scare the wood shop teacher.
The teacher was showing the different drill bit sizes for a drill press while he had one hand resting on the edge of the press, and a kid thought it would be funny to turn the drill press on and drop it next to his hand. What the kid didn’t realize is that the shock of the machine turning on made the teacher jump and his hand went right in the path of the drill- went right through his finger.
Another time a kid moved the wood the wrong direction on a band saw and the blade snapped- it flew partway across the room and the pointy end hit him dead center in the safety glasses, going THROUGH them partway and got less than an inch from his eye. He is braver than I to still teach the little miscreants.
April 22, 2012 at 7:20 am
I work with a guy who did lose a finger due to a wedding ring getting caught and basically stripping all the flesh off the finger.
Now everyone who is married who works with him wears the wedding ring around the neck on a chain.
April 21, 2012 at 10:43 pm
Long story short…
Was in the Navy, lost my ring finger. The doc on shore wanted to take out the entire bone and narrow my hand down so it wouldn’t be, and I quote, “so noticeable at dinner parties.”
I looked at him and said, “doc… does it look like I got to a lot of fucking dinner parties? You’re not turning me into one of the Simpsons.”
April 21, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Hooray for typos. Should be GO TO, not got to. Damn missing finger gets me every time.
April 21, 2012 at 11:11 pm
You should have slapped him with the severed finger.
Srsly, sometimes doctors have the best intentions, but I wonder what they are thinking.
April 22, 2012 at 12:00 am
I do go to dinner parties, for good food and fun conversation with friends. If both are so lousy that I start staring at people’s fingers, I’m outa there (with a “sudden headache” or “early day tomorrow” of course, no reason to tell them that they are swill serving bores).
April 22, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Wouldn’t something like a missing finger make a great conversation starter at dinner parties?
April 22, 2012 at 8:59 pm
I sometimes use it to freak people out when I shake their hand. >:-D
April 24, 2012 at 9:06 am
Maybe the doctor was worried about how you’d deal with all the puns about finger food?
April 26, 2012 at 6:30 pm
VALID
April 21, 2012 at 11:17 pm
When my husband was in the army one of the men that jumped off his truck caught his wedding ring and degloved his finger D: if you don’t know what degloved means I recommend you don’t look it up unless you have a strong tummy.
April 21, 2012 at 11:29 pm
I can guess… *vomits*
April 21, 2012 at 11:30 pm
hehe if you click over to her feature page the wolves are circling.
April 21, 2012 at 11:31 pm
huh this was supposed to be its own post. sorry bout that.
April 22, 2012 at 12:10 am
Yep, that’s what happened to me. Now I can’t count past 9 1/3 without taking my shoes off. Although, now I do have a built in shocker and can do other funny party tricks.
April 22, 2012 at 12:12 am
I actually just let out a squeal of horror. D: I need to stop reading these comments, because I had thought my secondhand story about someone losing a ring finger to Space Mountain was bad (there are panels set up to deflect your hands if you hit them on the support structures, but this guy’s hand hit it at just the perfect point to catch his ring in a crack).
…Don’t put your hands up on Space Mountain. “Keep your hands inside the car” does not include having them up in the air.
April 22, 2012 at 12:50 am
My boyman didn’t know what ‘degloved’ was. I looked it up for him. It only took a fraction of a second to burn that image into my brain, cartoon turkey legs will never look the same…
April 22, 2012 at 5:39 am
Had to Google photos of a hand for a project I’m working on. Googling “ring finger” was quite an education… :/
April 22, 2012 at 7:35 pm
I only know the term “degloved” because I used to have pet rats.
April 22, 2012 at 8:09 am
Yep. My dad does a lot of woodworking. He’s pretty careful about it, but one night (when I was just a baby) he was doing some stuff and slipped. Bandsaw cut between his ring and middle fingers and about halfway down the palm. Fortunately, he got to the emergency room quick enough and they were able to reattach most everything. What was really miraculous is that the tendons were mostly unhurt.
Even so, he still has almost NO feeling in those two fingers, although he can use them just fine.
April 21, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Amen! You can tell from her “workshop” that she’s not making anything there, also! There’s even a shine on the front edge of that “workbench”!!
Great job by Regretsy on calling out of yet another Etsy reseller. The Bill of Lading was the best part!
Will Etsy shut her down? Naw! Why would they do that?!?
April 21, 2012 at 10:18 pm
I just assumed it was the display room from all of the finished product…and lack of saws…
April 21, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Why would someone have a display room if they’re selling online?
April 21, 2012 at 11:12 pm
you know..if you have people over to your studio space enough, it’s nice to have a sitting area where you can show off work. That’s legit. If you have the space (and she makes the money), do it…but yeah… it also smells funny that hers is so large and well stocked.
April 21, 2012 at 11:19 pm
I assumed at the very least they would send someone TO the featured seller’s location and take photos themselves, not have them supply photos on the “honor” system.
Not that I WANT a photographer HERE. Our setup is probably more typical of etsy sellers.
Our pottery “studio” is in the basement with the laundry/camping gear/cat-litter boxes, and in the attic you find our office, barn-wood photo booth, shipping and warehouse departments. And the christmas decorations. (And in between you’ll find a clay-dust pathway up/down three flights of stairs.)
Now THAT would provide some scary photos for “inspiration.”
April 21, 2012 at 11:31 pm
Danny Potter, the cat hair helps with the glazing right?
BTW, beautiful stuff! I need money to spend on pottery, grrrrrr.
April 21, 2012 at 11:48 pm
Fortunately the cat hair burns out right away. But we use bone ash in the glazes, and kitties have bones!
*ducks and runs*
April 22, 2012 at 12:10 am
Oh, and thankyou for the compliment ThisLegOfMine.
April 21, 2012 at 11:02 pm
Most real artisans on etsy don’t have room for over 200 pieces she’s got listed in her shop. That would also ring as a huge red flag. But no, hipsters are too busy looking up to nowhere with a “pondering” face to notice.
April 21, 2012 at 11:13 pm
I didn’t even think about that, but you’re right. I have heard many a painter whimper when they get the criticism “Work Bigger”. The response is “Where do I put it!?”
April 22, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Well, maybe sugardaddy husband bought her a warehouse? Which also serves as the living quarters for the four Balinese carpenters she’s got working for her for a pittance. Hmm.
You guys just don’t understand. In cupcake land all things are possible. ALL things.
April 30, 2012 at 10:53 am
She has a gallery – not sure if it’s open to the public
April 22, 2012 at 6:26 am
It has been painfully obvious, for years, that etsy condones resellers – because why would they bite the hand that feeds? But to now put them on a pedestal by making them featured seller! Well, if that’s not a new low…
April 21, 2012 at 10:00 pm
haha I posted just about the same, same time as you. those are not working hands.
April 21, 2012 at 10:17 pm
nah… I would hate to see what happens if you get an acrylic nail jammed in a band saw.
April 21, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Damn straight, TLOM. I make pottery, and I can assure you that I will never be asked to be a hand model, unless they’re looking for that “longshoreman” look.
April 22, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Hell, I lust draw, and it still manks up my fingetips.
April 22, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Er…”Just” draw, I meant to say…
April 23, 2012 at 8:50 pm
You can lust draw, too. I’m sure we’d all love to see it.
April 22, 2012 at 4:02 pm
I paint, and I just keep my nails short, because the gunk I get under them is impossible to get out.
I have done a lot of wood working in the past though, so I felt the need to comment.
April 22, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Nice. I hear lust drawing pays very well!
April 23, 2012 at 12:14 am
I would like to see some of your lust drawing work. Preferably before you mank up your fingertips on it.
April 22, 2012 at 5:31 pm
I’ve never done any woodwork. I am an archaeologist, though. Just a single day using a shovel and shaking big sifters without heavy leather gloves, and my hands end up blistered and peppered with splinters.
April 22, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Word of the day: Su-per-vi-sor. That’s how she works in the ‘woodshop’.
April 23, 2012 at 10:07 am
Now this comment reminded me of the time Rob Granito was revealed to be a no good lying art stealing mofo. There was a picture of him “right after” he ahd finished one of his pictures. There was paint on the picture he had painted. There was paint on his clothes. There was even some paint on his face. Do you knwo waht WAS missing paint? His paint brushes. Ooops! I personally love it when shit talkers try and “proof” that they are doing the work by taking a picture, and forgetting some major details while taking them, further more proofing that yeah, they are filled with shit.
April 21, 2012 at 9:54 pm
Buy Handmade, and buy on WePay.
April 21, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Waiting for the whiney cease and desist letter for “making me look bad in front of all my lime Kool-aid chugging buyers.”
Keep flaming these poseurs, April. If I could make a flamethrower upcycled from a vintage Hoover vacuum cleaner, I’d make it just for you. For now, here is my virtual gift of a flamethrower to keep flaming these twat-waffles to ashes.
April 21, 2012 at 9:59 pm
I just logged in to say thank you for the “twat-waffle” made my day/night
April 21, 2012 at 10:33 pm
April 21, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Etsy…reseller of Titanic proportions.
April 21, 2012 at 9:57 pm
How abali that? She shills ship shelves on etsy with the she hores…
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
D-mum, there just ain’t enough thumbs.
April 22, 2012 at 11:37 am
Thanks TT@G! You make me feel like I won the internetz!
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
She’s on a Bali high….
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Wow, just wow Etsy. Ugh, I’m so tired of this shit.
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Wow… just wow.
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Jesus Fucking Christ, are they eating cupcakes or smoking crack over there?!?! And how does this women make statements about her “designs” with a straight face?!?!
April 21, 2012 at 10:09 pm
I think the cupcakes have crack in them, because that way they can still twirl their hair with one hand while eating their cupcakes.
April 22, 2012 at 6:11 am
Crackcakes.
April 21, 2012 at 10:38 pm
As a general thing, I think we’re already an overly litigious society… but I hope the actual craftsman designing and producing these items sues the shit out of her. People want to spew the usual kind of Etsian, cupcakey crap? Fine. Irritating, but fine. This level of bald-faced fraud embellished by so very fucking much sanctimonious Mother Earth sermonizing, though, is outright disgusting. I hope this woman gets buried alive in legal fees.
April 21, 2012 at 10:51 pm
Yeah and for all her lime Kool-aid, save Mother Earth bullshit, how much fuel was spent shipping those items across the sea? Gas to drive the truck up from Long Beach harbor? Gas spent shipping items to Vegan, hot-box yoga practicing, solar panel installing, polyester goddess dress wearing, Hillbilly bajango douche garglers?
If they wanted to be really fucking eco, move to Oregon, live next to a lumber mill and build the furniture right there, and then only deliver to people within walking distance. That’s fucking eco, you wannabe Cherokee hair tampon smokers.
April 21, 2012 at 11:21 pm
you are so wonderfully venomous. <3
April 21, 2012 at 11:35 pm
Now there’s a mental image for ya. I wish I had more than one thumb to give.
April 22, 2012 at 12:39 am
Did you lose the other one on your bandsaw?
April 22, 2012 at 12:41 am
Hello, fellow Ravenclaw. I <3 you and didn't think the original comment over at the feature page could be improved, but clearly you have topped yourself.
April 22, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Whoa, m’am/sir, we are envious – they didn’t close the mill where you are, yet? Been reduced to chainsaw art and used pallet furniture here. Which is way more REAL than boatboard bullshit.
April 22, 2012 at 7:35 am
A wholesaler can’t sue a retailer for reselling, that’s the nature of the business. Back in the day I used to sell my jewelry (the cheap line anyway) to Urban Outfitters. The would remove the tags with my company name on them and replace them with Urban Outfitters tags. Not illegal, just kinda sleazy.
Misrepresenting herself as an artist on Etsy is sleazy and unethical, but again, not illegal.
April 22, 2012 at 8:28 am
It’s against Etsy’s terms of service. Legitimate handcrafters are shut down after providing hostage photos of their work with today’s newspaper and an Etsy-supplied code word, but this person is celebrated.
April 22, 2012 at 8:46 am
Would that Etsy would enforce their own TOS. But since they don’t…
April 21, 2012 at 10:46 pm
Look at her hands while she’s looking at “swatches.” Those are NOT the hands of someone who works with them. Those are manicured hands where the only callus is on the tip where she’s pressing all those buttons to call Malaysia long distance for her next order.
Where is the bandaids after digging out splinters? Where are the scars from using that bandsaw while drunk or tired? Where is that mangled fingernail from when you missed and hit your finger instead and it never grew back right?
I call poseur princess bullshit.
April 22, 2012 at 2:35 am
Silly you. She uses the voice dialer on her Blackberry.
April 22, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Simple answer: She bought faery gloves off of another Etsy seller. Et voila, her hands are protected for all eternity.
April 22, 2012 at 6:02 pm
They were blessed by the wombynly goddess.
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Yanno … I caught that masturbatory celebration before when I was looking for something on Etsy. I thought to myself “that’s crap, but … good for her. Whatever.”
Now? I’m with Sunnymuffins … just sitting here shaking my head. What the fuck, already?
Maybe that “I’m sucking lemons between my lower lips” look on her face is her being worried that she’s about to be exposed? Nah. Maybe she draws the pretty pictures and the carpenters are off in Malaysia, ’cause it’s easier to get crushed up boats in tsunamiland.
What the *SERIOUS* fuck?
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
This is really sad.
I’d be surprised if they bite the bullet and take it down.
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
I’ve got to say, it was pretty suspicious to begin with. Did nobody at Etsy wonder how a seller in California got her hands on so much Balinese boat wood in the first place?
April 21, 2012 at 10:41 pm
And WHY she decided to import it from halfway around the world? Yeah, real ecofriendly…
April 21, 2012 at 11:58 pm
Cheap, cheap labor…
April 22, 2012 at 2:36 am
Talking about taking a carbon footprint up the ass.
April 22, 2012 at 2:36 am
**Talk
April 22, 2012 at 7:24 am
Yeah, ’cause we don’t have wood in California. Oh, wait. Yes we do.
April 22, 2012 at 9:45 am
Yeah, but the people who own the wood in California will realize you’re going to make money with it and charge you out the wazoo.
April 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm
saw this coming. I’ve built furniture. I know what kinda manicure that gets you. check out her hands.
not that I’m sherlock holmes or anything, but it’s obvious at least that she doesn’t build, or work with wood.
and then all this….wowza. wasn’t there just an article about etsy clamping down on resellers? was that all PR bullshit then?
April 21, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Yes. All bullshit.
April 22, 2012 at 7:25 am
I think it’s time for someone with some programming skills to start an Etsy alternative that actually does ban resellers. I think this is so unfair to the people who are actually playing by the rules.
April 22, 2012 at 1:54 pm
There is one. It’s called Zibbet.
April 22, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Zibbet looked good until I saw that they require a PayPal account. Ick.
April 21, 2012 at 9:59 pm
I am amused at how many people have been pointing out her deception in that thread in the past three hours.
*grabs popcorn to enjoy the show*
(at least until knickey with a “k” shuts the thread down for calling out)
April 21, 2012 at 9:59 pm
That was hilarious. It also seems the interview comments have stalled on ETSY? Once there were a few “call outs” near the end, the other comments are frozen in time, and my comment didn’t even post.
April 21, 2012 at 10:06 pm
My comment was removed for sure.
April 21, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Are they screening the comments on there, or do they normally post in real time. I never give a single fuck to comment on a featured seller, much less LOOK at the flavor of the week according to ETSY.
April 21, 2012 at 10:13 pm
Looks like the comments are caught up now. A whole bunch of them just turned up.
April 21, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Yes. It’s turning into a regular feeding frenzy over there.
April 21, 2012 at 10:56 pm
I hope somebody’s taking screen shots cuz you know when the office opens on Monday morning all those comments are gonna be gone!
April 21, 2012 at 11:01 pm
saving it as a complete web page this instant. I’ll archive it somewhere too.
April 21, 2012 at 11:39 pm
I’m seeing new negative comments rolling in, but it’s slowed down. I think it’s due to the massive amount of people trying to comment.
April 21, 2012 at 10:00 pm
She needs the four carpenters to help open the shipping crates.
April 21, 2012 at 10:00 pm
I am speechless. I can’t believe a company as big and well known as Etsy is sooo goddamn lazy about checking up on these things. Anyone else would have their tail between their legs in embarassment for “featuring” something like this without fact-checking!
Also, I never knew there was such a,market for repurposed scrap lumber! I could’ve made a fortune in highschool from the shit we had laying around the garage…
April 21, 2012 at 10:06 pm
I think it’s because they genuinely don’t give a shit whether something is legitimately hand-made by the seller, not that they are lazy. They just want to protect the illusion that they are hand-made goods in order to make more money off them.
April 21, 2012 at 10:58 pm
At the prices she’s charging, all Etsy is seeing is their big fat commissions on her sales.
April 21, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Not Etsy! Oh no! Just another day, another fuck up…no biggie.
April 21, 2012 at 10:00 pm
Didn’t you know? Her and her carpenters sand it more, thereby making it an entirely NEW piece of driftwood.
April 21, 2012 at 10:04 pm
oh shit. I guess that’s how etsy is going to coach her to describe her listings now, to make them “etsy-legal”
when is the FTC gonna come down on etsy for their private redefinition of “handmade”? Isn’t there laws regulating trade, what you can call things?
April 21, 2012 at 10:01 pm
I actually got to travel around Indonesia last year, and spent about a week driving around Bali in a rented Jeep. There are a ton of artisans there, many of which who specialize in wood carving, but also furniture and sculptural pieces made from reclaimed stuff. Also, the prices are ridiculously cheap. It’s a shame I was back-packing… I pretty much wanted to buy everything, but I have no idea how I’d ever take any of it back with me. Also, not sure where I’d put it once I got it here… heh.
But anyway, I digress. Reseller… boo.
April 21, 2012 at 11:36 pm
That’s just it: if this was a company proudly advertising, “these are pieces made from reclaimed boat wood hand-fashioned by Bali natives!” (like, you know, the real company she gets them from) I’d be happy for them. Hey, it’s a niche, and that’s fine. But flat-out lying just so she can bilk the credulous – and getting a “good job” spotlight from the very people who are supposed to be protecting their customers – drives me into a very mild rage.
Etsy, you’ve been caught with egg on your face. Wipe it off.
April 21, 2012 at 10:01 pm
A) We don’t call out Etsy members, so I am shutting down this thread.
Regards,
Fuckwit McDipshit
B) Why isn’t April working for the FBI or CIA?
April 21, 2012 at 10:49 pm
“Fuckwit McDipshit.”Almost burst a blood vessel laughing at that one.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
April 21, 2012 at 11:48 pm
Thanks, it was my paternal Grandfather’s name. When he came over from the homeland, he may have had a drink or many – yadda, yadda, yadda…
I have to admit, enrolling my daughter in school with that name was a challenge.
April 22, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Who said she isn’t? :^)
April 21, 2012 at 10:01 pm
I cannot imagine how furious I’d be if I were a real furniture maker and saw this featured on Etsy.
April 21, 2012 at 10:12 pm
My first thought when I saw this was my cousin, who makes furniture. He’d shit bricks if he saw this.
April 21, 2012 at 10:24 pm
Seems like here’s a golden opportunity to contact the folks at AFB and notify them that she’s taking credit for their work. Could be interesting.
April 22, 2012 at 7:28 am
She’s the same company as AFB. They have the same address.
April 22, 2012 at 8:09 am
Look more closely…the addresses are actually slightly different.
April 22, 2012 at 2:01 pm
She’s not the same company. She’s listed as one of their authorized dealers.
April 22, 2012 at 7:24 pm
And in her brilliant “Confederation of Dunces” rebuttal, she quotes the guy who owns allfromboats as saying “all these products are handmade. In Bali. So when she says they’re handmade by her in California, you shouldn’t be mean and say she’s lying.”
April 21, 2012 at 10:55 pm
That’s a little of what I feel as a potter when I see all the people who buy pre-made or molded mugs and shit, slap a mustache sticker on them, sell them by the boatload and have Etsy fawn over them. Handmade my dimpled ass.
April 22, 2012 at 4:07 am
Mickster, that’s how I as I printmaker feel when I see people print copyright free images on old book pages using their inkjet printers — then sell a fuckton of them for around $20 a pop. I’m not saying some design decisions aren’t made in that process, but it’s nothing compared to drawing something original, carving or etching it, inking it, and printing it by hand or on a printing press.
April 22, 2012 at 4:31 am
That enrages me to no fucking end. I print mine at a local print shop and even that feels a little too easy, but at least I can actually sign them because they’re my own art unlike all those clip art resellers.
There was one girl selling clip art prints at a craft show I did and I was so tempted to lecture her. Then I saw that she wasn’t getting any traffic at all and looked miserable, so that helped.
April 22, 2012 at 9:21 pm
add to that being an ex antiquarian bookdealer & watching people print anything on ripped out pages of old & irreplaceable books.
the practice of pulling plates from books is called breaking &, in the profession, it is considered one of the very very lowest things you can do.
April 22, 2012 at 4:55 am
OKay…. I have enjoyed the threads on here for so long and never replied, but I am LIVID at this and felt I had to!!! I have been a furniture seller on Etsy for 4 fucking years hoping that one day I might be featured. And yes, I actually make all my peices myself… and I don’t even have 4 “builders” with me.
It is 7am in the morning and I need a strong drink after seeing this one. Thanks Helen for finding this really “hard-working seller” ! I need to move to Malibu
April 22, 2012 at 3:51 pm
You have some very nice pieces–I really love the poodle “fur” footstool!
April 22, 2012 at 10:30 am
No kidding. I’d be pissed. It’s along the same lines as a true artist producing their own prints, and the “artisian” who takes clip art and does the same thing. Now as a knitter, I could design a scarf, but I am not going to take credit for everyone that was ever knitted.
April 22, 2012 at 1:27 pm
The thing is, most of the seating furniture doesn’t even look like it could handle much weight. The first chair shown would put all the weight of the person sitting on it on the few nails holding the seat to the sides. There’s no bracing or anything to reinforce it. I don’t make furniture, and I’m no scientific genius, but normally on any weight-bearing structure you want to have supporting features. Yes? No?
April 22, 2012 at 3:14 pm
I can see it now, fat asses all over America collapsing through her “Hand made” chairs….let the law suits begin!
April 22, 2012 at 4:15 pm
At those prices, the only people who will be able to afford them are those who can also afford to be thin.
April 22, 2012 at 1:49 pm
I am a real furniture maker, and yes this is one more slap in the face from etsy. Same old shit different toilet.
April 22, 2012 at 4:53 pm
I cannot imagine how angry I’d be if I’d bought one of her dressers, only to discover that it’s dropship trash.
April 21, 2012 at 10:01 pm
My first thought before reading the post was “At least she’s looking at the camera and not off to the right with a thoughtful expression.”
April 21, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Samesies!!!
April 22, 2012 at 2:40 am
How can you tell the difference between a reseller and an etsy “artisan”?
A: The reseller looks at the camera.
April 22, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Heee, that and the lack of glitter animals.
April 22, 2012 at 11:43 am
…but there would have had to be something to be “thoughtful” about!
April 21, 2012 at 10:02 pm
BUT WHAT PROOF DO YOU HAVE?? I mean, she had a SWATCH!
April 21, 2012 at 10:05 pm
… plus, she had a PURTY PITCHUR of the chair that she OBVIOUSLY DRAWED her own self.
OF COURSE SHE BUILT THEM.
April 21, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Problem with swatches and reclaimed wood is that the wood surface is not consistent. So you could have a thick band of blue in one spot and it’s all missing in another… It could have cracked pain in a corner and be mostly intact the rest of the piece… Nah. If you’re going to sketch that stuff, you’re going to do it as generically as possible..Unless of course she’s faking the “reclaimed” wood. Possible. I’d have to see a piece to tell you, however.
Now I would believe that she is coming up with designs and having a factory in Bali put the stuff together…though from the overstock.com page, I’m going to bet that’s not the case.
April 21, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Yeah, she’s definitely not coming up with designs for All From Boats to build for her. Check these items out at a Florida tropical (read: Indonesian) furniture store. http://www.wix.com/balicargocompany/bali-cargo-company#!__march-container-2012
Look familiar, much?
April 21, 2012 at 11:08 pm
Also, there’s this guy
April 21, 2012 at 11:09 pm
crap. missing links.
http://allfromboats.com/information/about-us.html
April 21, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Kurt DOES say to contact him… Well, I’m down.
April 21, 2012 at 11:33 pm
On the other hand, a few messages will probably suffice. No need to spam HIM…
April 21, 2012 at 11:38 pm
I’m just trying to be fair. Your evidence trumps my speculation.
April 21, 2012 at 10:02 pm
And now we wait for the lawsuit from All From Boats.
Fun times.
April 21, 2012 at 10:03 pm
lol im sure etsy will be defending this person to the end of time
April 21, 2012 at 10:33 pm
I wanted to comment there but I fear they’d shut me or anyone else down before they admit they made a mistake
April 21, 2012 at 11:53 pm
That’s where having two Etsy accounts comes in handy, wink wink.
April 22, 2012 at 10:25 am
Well of course. If they didn’t they would have to start admitting that not all of their “antique, steampunk, vintage” items are handmade. That would put a huge red flag out to the oh so many buyers that believe that bullshit
April 30, 2012 at 11:01 am
The article is already rewritten and posted. But, again, just because she and etsy say something doesn’t make it true…
April 21, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Wow. Etsy is pretty much meaningless now, it’s just like the hipster version of Ebay. Except there are no auctions and they lie and say the things on their site are handmade. Well I guess the boat furniture IS technically handmade, it’s just made by a bunch of Indonesians in a factory.
Side note, April – Bali is in Indonesia
April 21, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Shit. Thank you.
April 21, 2012 at 10:04 pm
“I always felt that there was magic in the trees and a mysterious energy in the ocean”
Someone knows their target audience.
April 21, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Got to give a bitch her marketing props.
April 22, 2012 at 8:42 am
And a bitch she is!
April 21, 2012 at 10:23 pm
I’m willing to bet she is 80 IQ points higher than this interview lets on, she knew how to play these people and she would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for us meddling kids!
April 21, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Oh, definitely. She’s not stupid. Just a cold-blooded fraud.
April 22, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Scooby gang 4 life!
April 22, 2012 at 9:23 pm
it doesnt take a high IQ to be savvy & have a limited conscience.
April 21, 2012 at 10:24 pm
Is that a lyric from one of the songs on the Twin Peak soundtrack? OMG! Is she like the hot Asian woman who runs the mill (yeah yeah yeah, I know that character was not Indonesian).
April 21, 2012 at 10:25 pm
“and plenty of money to be made from the suffering of indonesian children”
April 22, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Of course. It’s the magic of the pieces of trees that people in faraway lands make into furniture for her, and the energy of the ocean over which her product ships…
April 21, 2012 at 10:04 pm
*sigh* How fucking pathetic is it that my first thought was, “Well, at least she’s not dumb enough to reuse the photos from All From Boats’ website in her listings.”?
April 21, 2012 at 10:04 pm
CHUCK NORRIS IS GOING TO BE SO PISSED
April 21, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Maybe Mr. T will claim copyright on this one.
April 21, 2012 at 10:06 pm
it looks like etsy is not alowing any new commits to that intervirew thing now
April 21, 2012 at 10:27 pm
As of now, they still are. A whole heap of negativity just turned up. Etsy is about to implode.
April 21, 2012 at 11:41 pm
And a glorious implosion it shall be.
April 21, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Two things: first, I hope all the Etsians who said they want to visit her shop next time in LA actually do. Perhaps they’ll notice the absurdity of this bitch having anything to do with woodworking. The scales may yet fall from their eyes. Second, I may need to borrow a shotgun, if anyone has a spare. I’m losing faith in humanity.
April 21, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Just a short trip up PCH for me, I may take a little trip down “Bali” way tomorrow with my camera, for shits n giggles.
April 21, 2012 at 11:37 pm
DOITDOITDOIT!
April 21, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Do it, and share the pics.
April 22, 2012 at 1:18 am
Please do it! PLEASE!!!!!!
April 22, 2012 at 6:18 am
Please, please, please do it.
April 22, 2012 at 7:31 am
You beat me to it
I was going to do the same thing. I have to get a bike ride in and PCH is right there.
April 23, 2012 at 3:26 am
Please please please do it!! Ask them where the workshop is!
April 30, 2012 at 11:06 am
Seriously, I’d go and make no mention that I know anything about etsy – “I saw your gallery while driving and thought it looked so interesting! Can you tell me a little about your items? I really like knowing that you use reclaimed wood. Where does it come from? Are you the artisan? I’d love a tour of the workshop. I’m writing an article on eco-friendly living and your furniture is so fun – I’d love to learn more!” etc.
April 21, 2012 at 10:07 pm
“I want my furniture to be in classrooms, homes”…. Yeah, because if our children don’t eat Balinese Asbestos paint-chips, she’s gonna run out of future clients.
April 22, 2012 at 12:03 am
I prefer my edible paint chips to be made out of lead.
April 22, 2012 at 8:45 am
Ah, retro, that’s the way to go.
April 21, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Did anyone else see this quote in the interview?
“So many designers and craftspeople eventually mass produce their products. Mass production makes it easier to sustain bigger profit margins, but it takes away from the individuality of each item.”
ORLY?!
April 21, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Saw this just as I posted the same thing. What balls.
April 21, 2012 at 10:12 pm
I’m beginning to doubt that she’s even Brazilian.
April 21, 2012 at 10:25 pm
I bet she HAS a Brazilian.
April 22, 2012 at 2:43 am
It’s probably the only thing Brazilian about her.
April 21, 2012 at 10:25 pm
I’m sure her wax is
April 23, 2012 at 12:20 am
I’m sure her nuts are. NVM, I got nuts in… I mean nothing.
April 21, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Of course, she wouldn’t have anything to do with mass-production. Or production in general…
April 22, 2012 at 11:58 pm
I’d call her a whore, but that would be incredibly insulting to the moral integrity of sex workers.
April 30, 2012 at 11:09 am
LOL, THEY don’t lie about what they do
April 21, 2012 at 10:10 pm
“Although I’ve always been creative, I was always very business-oriented. I was more of a person who makes things happen than an artist. ”
Well, at least that bit is honest.
April 21, 2012 at 10:10 pm
I cant’ believe she had the chops to say this:
What does handmade mean to you?
“There is something personal and unique that occurs when you craft something with your hands. So many designers and craftspeople eventually mass produce their products. Mass production makes it easier to sustain bigger profit margins, but it takes away from the individuality of each item.”
BALLS!
April 21, 2012 at 10:15 pm
“There is something personal and unique that occurs when you craft something with your hands.”
Too bad she’s never experienced that something.
I’m so pissed right now.
This is way beyond Alibaba shit.
April 21, 2012 at 10:10 pm
Have some relevant gifs:
And we all know that this wouldn’t be complete without the classic Picard facepalm.
April 21, 2012 at 10:18 pm
I never noticed that she was a reseller – I just saw that pic of her about to twirl her hair & smarming about how she wants to “inspire” people, and I couldn’t click away fast enough.
April 22, 2012 at 3:50 am
D: MAH PHOTOBUCKETS. DAMN.
April 21, 2012 at 10:11 pm
She needs to admit the “4 carpenters” are 12 year old boys working in a sweatshop in Bali.
April 22, 2012 at 12:56 am
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
April 22, 2012 at 8:33 am
Shut up.
April 22, 2012 at 1:12 pm
That’s 12-year-old boys, dear. Not 12 one-year-old boys.
April 21, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Ship just hit the fan.
April 21, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Poop just hit the propeller
April 21, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
April 21, 2012 at 10:13 pm
I like this quote from her
“So many designers and craftspeople eventually mass produce their products. Mass production makes it easier to sustain bigger profit margins, but it takes away from the individuality of each item.”
April 21, 2012 at 10:17 pm
lol – MontanaRed just said the same thing
April 21, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Hey, she’s still using exploitative labor practices to give everything it’s unique quality.
April 21, 2012 at 10:13 pm
With apologies to Johnny Cash:
♫ “If I were a carpenter,
and you were Ecologica,
and you got exposed as a fraud,
I think you’d have ojida,”♫
April 21, 2012 at 10:14 pm
They can’t ignore stuff like this forever, can they? I mean eventually they’re going to have to acknowledge the stuff you (and others) uncover.
April 21, 2012 at 11:08 pm
I keep hoping that someday there will be a tipping point with this kinda stuff, but then I realize for all their earthy, crunchy, happy, fuzzy, bull shit mission statements, they are just like everyone else and all about the Benjamins. As long as this duplicitous crap puts money in the coin box, they are going to continue to look the other way. Especially with an IPO on the horizon.
April 21, 2012 at 11:57 pm
WHOA WHOA WHOA–
stop right there. IPO?? If that’s true, you know what that means to us as sellers, don’t you? WE. ARE. SCREWED. We are just the furniture being sold with the house. Of COURSE they don’t care about the resellers because the only thing that matters now is the numbers. They screwed us, left without saying goodbye, and they’re now trolling for fresh pussy before the semen stains on the sheets have even dried.
April 22, 2012 at 12:39 am
By now, are you *really* surprised that Etsy is just another internet startup? It’s the most cynical one I’ve seen yet, but everything about that site screamed “we figured out how to make money without doing any work!” from the very beginning. Too many people looked at Etsy as an advertising framework, not enough saw it for what it really is: a way for a bunch of folks to get YOU to produce, store, and ship product without THEM having to lift a hammer, rent a warehouse or store, or tape up a box. And then the smug bastards charged you for the privilege of posting a few pictures.
I could run a better site by myself. Shit, I’ve got access to scads of server space and bandwidth. I just might do it.
April 22, 2012 at 1:54 am
…and I just found my site name. It’s FUCKLOADS better than “Etsy.com.” Oh, you bastard FJLs, you’re making this straight former soldier start a damn crafting website.
April 22, 2012 at 3:10 am
If you’re not in the forums yet under another alias, go take a look. Regretsy has a lot of intelligence and experienced sellers and consumers. I think a union between handmade sales and WePay would have a lot of punch if handled correctly.
April 22, 2012 at 5:34 am
I don’t go on the forums much, but I am in awe of the amazing STUFF that gets made by folks and is available through WePay stores. A couple of pieces are hanging on my wall right now.
I just want to set up a catchy, easy-to-remember aggregate site that’s set up the way they should be: no resellers (we all know about AliBaba) and fair treatment to all. I’m doing a bit of research right now, and I think I’ve got some good ideas. I’ll bring them over to the forum once I’ve got the domain name registered (it’s seriously too good to pass up, and not camped) and get some feedback from those that’d be (hopefully) using it.
…and if people don’t like my ideas, that’s cool. “Fairness,” after all, implies the right to fail as well.
April 22, 2012 at 10:18 am
If you do it, I’m in.
April 22, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I’d be interested, at least.
April 23, 2012 at 12:00 am
I like your idea. I like the Etsy concept and would love to actually support the sort of artists they say they provide – so I pretty much only buy from Regretsians now; any reseller who dared these parts would be shredded in no time.
April 22, 2012 at 12:28 am
Did I hear IPO??? Holy Crap!
April 22, 2012 at 1:22 pm
I’m dying to leave Etsy, just on that report alone, nevermind all the other crap.
April 21, 2012 at 10:14 pm
IDK if this smack down could be any more complete.
April 21, 2012 at 10:14 pm
I’ve been over there reading the comments, and adding my own… Dammit if I don’t keep trying to give the thumbs up to all that call out…. Damn them for not having a thumbs up button
April 21, 2012 at 10:15 pm
June 1st is my anniversary for closing my Etsy shops, and every post like this makes me even more glad that I’m no longer associated with their lame-ass douchery.
April 22, 2012 at 8:53 am
I placed mine on vacation after realizing that all the treasury/groups/blogging crap was such a waste of time.
April 22, 2012 at 8:53 am
Then, I discovered this site and knew I made the right decision.
April 21, 2012 at 10:15 pm
(Yes, I’m back … because I’m so dumbfounded over this one)
Okay … so it’s OBVIOUS that she’s reselling.
What the fuckitty-fuck-fuck-fuck was going through her mind when Etsy said they wanted to feature her as a seller? Was her ego so huge that she honestly thought NOBODY WOULD NOTICE SHE WAS ACTUALLY RESELLING?
I hope she enjoyed her two minute flush of glory … because I’m hoping that being exposed as a cheat/reseller gets her ass kicked for a loooooong time.
It’s snotty crapheads like that who make people who really DO work hard to be original have to scrabble longer and work harder for respect.
BAH.
April 21, 2012 at 10:25 pm
The funny thing is, if I had a horse in this race, I’d be more pissed with Etsy then Ecologica Furniture and it’s owner. She’s a business woman using social media (facebook, twitter, blogs, etc) to sell products to consumers. Reading from her blog, it looks like she used Etsy as another social media platform.
Etsy should have been the gatekeeper but there’s a hard bottom line they want. They get too much money from resellers. She probably just went along with this whole featured seller bit because it fits with Etsy policy.
This is how they do things over there so why would she hesitate to be one, if this has been proven to be the Etsy business model time and time again?
April 21, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Still, people need to take some responsibility about how they promote themselves and not use false advertising. It’s not cool to lie and claim you design and make things yourself just because it’s good for business.
April 21, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I agree with you. I’m not saying it’s ethical or right. It’s just that in her head and in many peoples heads “it’s all spin”. It’s all just marketing. And thus it’s ok.
That’s what’s so messed with Etsy. They seem to operate under the model that “hand made” is just a marketing gimmick. A label for a specific target market to latch onto, much like “natural” or “low-fat” on food.
April 21, 2012 at 10:58 pm
Oh geeze. I don’t mean the artisans who make hand made items and sell through Etsy use hand made as a gimmick.
I mean Etsy staff who keep featuring resellers and allowing them to thrive think of it as a marketing gimmick.
April 22, 2012 at 11:09 am
I will now forever think of Etsy as those foods that say they’re [insert food thing] free for the fuck of it. I mean, I can’t be the only one who has looked at some powdered drink that says “gluten free” or “zero cholesterol” and thought, “I fucking hope so!”
There are foods that announce they don’t have stuff for a reason, like plantain chips being gluten free, and then there’s everything else!
I hate when food tries to make itself seem healthy almost as much as I hate when reseller shit tries to pass as a product of an artisan’s blood, sweat, and tears.
April 21, 2012 at 10:52 pm
I dunno, I think for once I’m actually more disgusted with the seller than with Etsy (not that I don’t have enough of the feeling to go around). Plagiarism and similar crimes have always gotten under my skin; add to her cold-blooded fraud the sickening moralizing, and I have to hope the actual creators of these items will sue her to within an inch of her life—and that she spends the rest of it scrubbing motel toilets to try to pay off her lawyers.
I mean, she’s a businesswoman, all right. But that’s not stopping her from being scum. She’s multitalented.
April 21, 2012 at 10:55 pm
Well, if it’s the same company as HK posits, I’m not sure there is anything for her to be scrubbing toilets about.
Though if she where that lovely french mani might finally get a chip in it. The wood working is sure not doing it.
April 21, 2012 at 11:49 pm
infidelicity, you nailed it. We must blame Etsy first for not doing due diligence and not enforcing their own policies; THEN we can shred Ecologica a new one.
April 22, 2012 at 2:17 pm
One thing that’s had me annoyed about this is… not only does this appear to be reselling, which is against Etsy’s TOS, but she also sells her wares on her own Ecologica website. I’ve never sold on Etsy, but from having reported items for various reasons before, I do seem to remember that offering the same products for sale on your own website or some other platform is also against Etsy’s rules, isn’t it?
April 22, 2012 at 3:34 pm
If they’re the exact same objects, yes. If they’re similar, no.
April 21, 2012 at 10:16 pm
“There is something personal and unique that occurs when you craft something with your hands. So many designers and craftspeople eventually mass produce their products. Mass production makes it easier to sustain bigger profit margins, but it takes away from the individuality of each item”
The amount of nerve is astounding.
April 21, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Craft Star needs to hurry the fuck up and open. I’m so freaking done with Etsy.
April 21, 2012 at 10:27 pm
oh yes.
April 22, 2012 at 8:31 am
Me too and how.
April 22, 2012 at 1:30 pm
I’m moving to CraftStar too. I have to build my own traffic anyway, why in the crap am I giving one shred of it to Etsy?
April 22, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Ok, this is the second time I’ve heard someone mention Craftstar. Details, please?
April 22, 2012 at 4:31 pm
https://www.facebook.com/thecraftstar
That’s their facebook, and this
http://forums.regretsy.com/topic.php?id=24519
is the Regretsy forums post about it. (The post will need a Regretsy forum/blog commenting account to read it.)
April 22, 2012 at 2:15 pm
I’ve been done with Etsy for a while. Moved to Zibbet ages ago, keep being reminded why that was such a good idea! Though Craft Star does look like it will have some pretty awesome features, whenever it finally opens.
April 21, 2012 at 10:17 pm
I especially enjoyed the part where she comments on resellers taking away from the individuality of each item. That part was beautifully written.
April 22, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Beautifully crafted bullshit.
See, she can craft something.
April 21, 2012 at 10:19 pm
“She helps me infuse my work with whimsy and playfulness” *gag*
April 21, 2012 at 10:20 pm
OH SNAP!
Looking at the comments – it appears that there are a few crafters, because they are asking some good questions. Johnny Wolf and Alison Sandford would like to know more about her process.
April 21, 2012 at 10:22 pm
How do you figure you’re NOT going to be caught? I wouldn’t even begin to have the balls to do something like this.
April 21, 2012 at 10:23 pm
And wouldn’t want to. I’m sure I’ll need at least a shred of integrity at some point in the future.
April 21, 2012 at 11:45 pm
That’s your problem right there. You have integrity. See, if you want to be a rich and successful businessperson like Ecologia, you need to dump unnecessary weight like ethics and integrity.
April 21, 2012 at 10:23 pm
I am thoroughly amused…
http://www.ecologicafurniture.com/blog/how-reclaimed-wood-furniture-is-made/
Is it just me, or does this look like a collection of photos of people just touching the tables with tools, and not actually assembling anything?
April 21, 2012 at 10:33 pm
I’m imagining her calling up some friends or relatives or whatever. “Uh, hey, can you like, pose with this furniture? People are starting to ask to many questions. I need something that’ll shut them up.”
April 21, 2012 at 10:35 pm
lol yeah, no one is actually doing anything…
April 21, 2012 at 11:03 pm
I beg to differ. Watched my father do a fair bit of rough carpentry and refinishing ih his time. I noted sawdust around some of the bored holes, and one of the workers was putting some kind of putty in knots and holes.
April 21, 2012 at 11:09 pm
But I trust you all to know a reseller when you see him/her/it. I’ve helped run a successful small craft show; we could count on the legit crafters reporting the resellers.
April 22, 2012 at 1:30 am
“Assembly” is NOT the same as “Making”!
April 22, 2012 at 12:50 pm
Exactly. It doesn’t show how they get from boat to table pieces to actual table. Just the table pieces and placing them together then a lot of pictures of them just around the table. You can do that with Ikea furniture! Get some sawdust, spread it around, take pictures of you assembling it. Bam. Totally handmade. Because placing pieces together yourself is the definition of handmade, amirite?
April 22, 2012 at 1:55 am
I left this comment on her blog (requires creating an account, which was easy enough):
Are these photos from Bali or Malibu? If the latter, where are the photos taken? The pieces are shipped to Bali Hai Furniture in the Malibu Mall on the Pacific Coast Highway and it doesn’t seem likely there is a wood-working shop in the mall. Just for starters, it’s surely against zoning regulations!
Also, where is Marianna in these shots? Etsy requires that the ‘crafter’ directly supervises anyone assisting in construction of her furniture…
Also, since the marine paint contains really toxic chemicals, do Marianna’s ‘four carpenters’ wear respirators when they are cutting the wood? Why aren’t they wearing any protective equipment in the photos? That is most certainly against OSHA regulations!
Also, has the paint been analyzed for safety in a residental environment – especially for homes with children in them?
April 22, 2012 at 6:43 am
Oh please tell me you get a response! If handmade crafters have to go thru the ringer for children’s itemss…..
April 23, 2012 at 2:55 am
If I get a response, of if the comment actually makes it through moderation, I will be more amazed than by anything which has ever happened to me in my life!
I’ll let you know if it comes to pass, though. Just don’t hold your breath!
April 22, 2012 at 7:36 am
You are my hero today!
April 23, 2012 at 2:56 am
Why, thank you!
April 22, 2012 at 8:57 am
I think the website has been deactivated. I’m getting nothing but a form page for inputting the website info.
April 22, 2012 at 9:06 am
Yup the entire website’s been taken down, but one can still use the ‘cached’ feature on Google to bring it up a stored copy.
April 21, 2012 at 10:23 pm
So many questions!
Why did they pick her? Why don’t they do a little research?
Will Etsy finally be forced to shut down resellers?
Will real crafters leave in droves?
What the Hell does it say on the ‘Group Sales’ link of http://www.ecologicafurniture.com/?
It’s become a freaking episode of Lost!
April 21, 2012 at 10:52 pm
The “Group Sales” section makes no sense at all. It’s actually kind of awesome if you use Google Translate to translate it from Spanish to English. I’m assuming it was gobbledygook random placeholder text used by the website design software and they forgot to fill in their own text. A sample:
“Add a sauce for your comment. We need more pain and annoyance. We are moving more and needs more high life. Now I want more more more more here and here. But the need is to put you down, here’s your pool, here’s a great hatred. The more you use my Scenario.”
April 21, 2012 at 10:57 pm
Ugh, sorry I meant Latin, not Spanish. (See, this shit messes with my brain).
April 21, 2012 at 11:09 pm
lol, the more you use my scenario
April 22, 2012 at 1:32 am
IIRC, Lorem Ipsum is a rant about how miserable life is.
April 22, 2012 at 12:45 am
That text on the Group Sales page is called “Lorem Ipsum” (for an obvious reason). It’s used by graphic designers as placeholder for text in a layout, and it is intentionally nonsensical Latin. The idea of running it through a translator boggles the mind. It must have boggled the translator as well.
Class is dismissed.
April 22, 2012 at 2:56 am
it’s funny, but I’ve always known what lorem ipsum is FOR, but never knew what it MEANT. that it is nonsenical complaining makes it even better (as a design-sketch proofing tool)
April 23, 2012 at 12:09 am
Lorem Ipsum is what happens when you make copies of copies – bits start to get lost until it’s just a degraded shadow of the original. Kind of like an Etsy knockoff.
April 22, 2012 at 3:45 pm
I said it was placeholder text. I just ran it through the translator for fun.
April 22, 2012 at 6:35 pm
It’s actually taken from text written by the philosopher Cicero. Exactly how similar it is depends on where you jack the text from.
April 22, 2012 at 1:02 am
It’s supposed to be nonsense, because it’s just a blank page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum
April 21, 2012 at 10:25 pm
I did a really simple google search for Bali Ha-i Imports and the 5th result (after the link to this page) showed a different Bill of Lading with the shipper being from the Phillipines. Under the Declaration of Goods it said:
“HOUSE HOLD FURNITURE MADE OF WOOD HANDICRAFT MADE OF WOOD WARCBOBE BEDSIDE SOFA CONSOLE BOOKSELF STOOL HOUSE HOLD FURNITURE MADE OF WOOD HOUSE HOLD FURNITURE MADE OF WOOD MIRROR PHOTO FRAME BASKET CUBE AND TRAY SIDEBOARD PLANK MIRROR PHOTO FRAME BASKET CUBE AND TRAYCHAIR TABLE CABINET SCREEN RACK BOX BEDSIDE SOFA CONSOLE BOOKSELF STOOL BED DESK HANDICRAFT MADE OF WOOD HOUSE HOLD FURNITURE MADE OF WOOD BED DESK SIDEBOARD PLANK MIRROR PHOTO FRAME BASKET CUBE AND TRAYCHAIR TABLE CABINET SCREEN RACK BOX SIDEBOARD PLANK BEDSIDE SOFA CONSOLE BOOKSELF STOOL BED DESK HANDICARFTS MADE OF WOOD CHAIR TABLE CABINET SCREEN RACK…”
I’m sure its a coincidence, though.
April 21, 2012 at 10:58 pm
My cousins probably made the stuff coming from the PI. They work hard at making cheap shit to send over here. Then they spend their paltry paycheck on some chicken feed and San Miguel’s.
April 21, 2012 at 10:25 pm
I pretty much saw where this was going when I opened the page. Still the bill of lading floored me.
But not as much as the actual furniture and prices.
Why the fuck would you pay 500 bucks for an uncomfortable chair with shit design and covered in what is probably hideous bottom paint?
I’m surrounded by old ass wood, a nautical tradition and an ability to design something with nothing but a ruler. Even if I make a chair out of an old boat (and get heavy metal poisoning from the copper and zinc in the paint soaking into my FJL ass) I’m not going to have it shipped from fucking INDONESIA to get here. It’s one thing to keep shit out of the landfill, but when you have a container of it shipped 1500 miles you’re probably not being very fucking “green.” Just have your neighbor’s kid nail a fucking stool together out of some old ikea furniture and half-ass your designer conceits properly.
April 21, 2012 at 10:29 pm
The first thing I thought when I saw that chair is fuck that.
April 21, 2012 at 10:29 pm
they didn’t have the wood shipped. they had the pre-made furniture shipped to them. they’re not even assembling it.
April 21, 2012 at 10:29 pm
if it had been unassembled wood, the bill of lading would say, “wood”, not “furniture”.
April 21, 2012 at 10:38 pm
That’s what kills me about this. To the point where after about 4 edits the above was the most coherent I could be. (Haven’t even drank that much.) It’s not like it was any kind of exotic wood reclaimed from boats and shipped over in planks. Not koa or old growth rosewood or anything. They had people nail together shitty furniture, filled a container with it and shipped it over. I’ve got pallets and nephews, I could do the same thing without shipping it across the fucking Pacific Ocean and then charging ridiculous prices. I could easily have my brother’s kids make shitty adirondak chairs out of discarded wood here for less than minimum wage and only have to drive 10 miles to pick them up from their house. And I’d charge half price.
April 21, 2012 at 10:44 pm
half price/less than minimum wage for you, here, is a week’s wages in indonesia, though.
April 21, 2012 at 10:53 pm
I don’t begrudge the poor indonesian woodworker for making good wages, don’t get me wrong. I wish them all the best, but I can’t help but picture them saying to their foreman at whatever the name of that company is, “You know we can cut curves, right? We can make a chair that won’t be confused for a medieval torture device. Fucking hipsters.”
That’s how the shift starts in my head, anyway. And to all you carpenters in Bali, if you’re reading this. “Fucking hipsters, indeed.”
April 21, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Whoever “Crossed Promises” is on Etsy, you made me fucking choke on my popice with this gem:
“BTW… does she even have a daughter? How do we know she didn’t just order a random child online to claim as her own? “Handmade”
I ♥ you!
April 21, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Full agreement! <3
April 21, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Ditto! I love all of you… No really I do :/
April 21, 2012 at 10:38 pm
Luna, that’s me. And like a derpface I posted my comment a ways below you.
I’m so sick of Etsy’s shit. I’m wondering how long they’ll keep sending me a statement for the $2.40 I owe them in fees with nothing in my shop… it’s almost been a year. If I could figure out WePay a bit better I’d open up there. Eff Etsy.
April 21, 2012 at 10:28 pm
This gives a whole new meaning to “nice boat.” (I am a moderate Anime fan.)
Now, could it be possible that All From Boats actually hired this purty lady to act as an ironic hipster handicrafter, gave her the interview lines, and prepared separate images of the same items to post on Etsy, when they saw that Etsy seemed to take a liking of their products despite their origin? Given Etsy’s tendency to approve anything cupcakey, I think it’s a realistic scheme that some company, if not AFB, is bound to use.
April 22, 2012 at 6:14 am
I thought the same thing when I saw both addresses were the same. If she was a reseller, surely she’d use her own separate address for taking orders and the like?
Since her “contact me” details go straight to AFB, I suspect she’s just an Etsy-friendly front for AFB.
April 21, 2012 at 10:29 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
April 22, 2012 at 1:26 am
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
April 22, 2012 at 1:28 am
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
April 22, 2012 at 9:53 am
FLOUNCE!
April 22, 2012 at 1:43 pm
I actually read your comments and downvoted them for the sense of justice it gave me, but I’m a jerk like that.
And I actually agreed with your first comment, once I understood what you meant, but then you flounced, so I downvoted you.
And justice wins again.
April 30, 2012 at 11:27 am
No, it’s just that making fun of someone’s physical appearance is never cool.
Having fun at their expense because of their intentionally bad or unethical behavior is another thing entirely
April 22, 2012 at 1:23 pm
It has nothing to do with ignorance or disagreement. Cheap shots at people’s appearance simply are not looked upon favorably here.
We have a MUCH higher standard for insults.
April 22, 2012 at 6:18 am
A) I don’t know what you mean by “cat-ass face”.
B) Whatever it means, it’s hardly the point.
April 22, 2012 at 7:12 am
Or more succinctly, make fun of her practices, not her appearance. That is all.
April 22, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I suppose “cat-ass face” means a face like a cat’s ass. But to me she looks pretty hot. I think the problem is her cat-ass ethics.
April 23, 2012 at 12:43 am
If my mumsnet education serves me well, I’d assume “cat-ass face” is the same as “cats bum mouth”. It means a disdainful expression, i.e. pursed lips. So it doesn’t refer to her physical attributes or level of attractiveness, but the face she’s making. Synonymous with “face like she sucked on a lemon”. I know that’s bolting the stable door after the horse has already flounced, but I enjoy using “cats bum mouth” as an expression and was sad to see it downthumbed.
April 21, 2012 at 10:29 pm
Y’know, the seller’s a piece of shit, but it’s the commenters who blow me away. I would never have believed that people would say things like that as anything other than satire if it weren’t actually there for me to see. The *definition* of insufferable.
I just… wow. Yeah. I can’t even.
April 21, 2012 at 10:29 pm
“BTW… does she even have a daughter? How do we know she didn’t just order a random child online to claim as her own? “Handmade”"
I hope she sees that one.
U MAD BRO?
April 21, 2012 at 10:35 pm
But, but… her daughter inSPIRed one of those pieces.
April 21, 2012 at 10:41 pm
Sure… inspired. I bet it’s the sister of one of the kids who actually makes those chairs and stuff. That’s why she has such a connection to the work.
April 21, 2012 at 10:36 pm
I love that so much
April 21, 2012 at 10:30 pm
For a few seconds, I thought this WAS the actual interview on Etsy. My mouth dropped at reading “reseller” and “Hot Glue Czar”, and for a moment I thought a FJL had hacked Etsy. Then I realized I was on Regretsy, but the reseller was still very real.
You do so much detective work for Etsy, you should get paid for it. Or at least they could let you do a blog post.
April 22, 2012 at 1:27 pm
I’m rooting for a TV show. “Helen Killer: Reseller-Outer.” I’d watch that shit.
April 21, 2012 at 10:33 pm
You, my dear, have stirred up a maelstrom of comments on Etsy. People are going nuts- and justifiably!
April 21, 2012 at 10:35 pm
It’s sad when Etsy features “artists” and “craftspeople” like this woman, because there really are so many people on Etsy with actual talent and skill. To feature people who turn out to be liars destroys Etsy’s already shrinking integrity, which isn’t fair to people who truly create beautiful items. I have run into a number of sellers on Etsy who make unique, wonderful items and have purchased some great things from them. If Etsy would actually administrate their site to weed out the resellers, more of the real artists and crafters would have a chance to use the site as intended.
April 21, 2012 at 10:36 pm
That is some hard core sleuthing! This woman is a massive twat.and that furniture is shite. who would pay upwards of $500 for a god damn chair? Hope she gets sorted out.
April 21, 2012 at 10:37 pm
I don’t want to go to bed yet, I wanna see this shit play out on ETSY, and see if ANY of their staff even see this happening. I want to see if the whole interview gets deleted, or just the non-fluffy-pink comments of all the etsians not licking her bunghole.
April 21, 2012 at 10:37 pm
Holy crap. I knew that I really didn’t like that smug bitch the minute I saw that pose of hers. And that quote about ruling the world with her furniture or something. And then her changing all of her listings to start “Etsy featured seller.”
Breathtaking callout. I can’t wait to see how especially little Etsy does about this one!
April 21, 2012 at 10:39 pm
So,right now this fat jeolous loser is in his bed typing this while wearing only white carbon neutral socks and 5 week old underwear( saving water ) at my Malibu pad laughing my ass off while watching Logan’s Run on TCM…………Wishing that Logan’s Runs premise could extend to Etsy……….
April 21, 2012 at 10:41 pm
Well, well, well… lookie what we have here. A WHOIS lookup for Ecologica:
April 21, 2012 at 10:43 pm
Not that it wasn’t obvious from April’s post, but this is irrefutable proof, no?
April 21, 2012 at 11:01 pm
I don’t think that actually gives us any new information though. We already had the address, phone number etc. (it’s even listed under seller information on Etsy).
April 21, 2012 at 11:48 pm
I only posted it because it has both the ecologicafurniture.com and the Bali Ha’i name together, which the screenshots in HKs post did not. No biggie, not like she didn’t shoot herself in the foot in the end.
April 22, 2012 at 12:45 am
Oh I see
(I didn’t think she ever denied owning the Bali Hai store).
She’s certainly not making the situation any better for herself! Even in her “refutation” she (unknowingly) admits she’s breaking Etsy’s TOS.
April 21, 2012 at 10:44 pm
From the Ecologica website:
“What was once a ship mast, can be whittled to a shelf.”
WTF?! Clearly this woman does not know anything about carpentry at all.
April 22, 2012 at 1:12 am
Whittled? Seriously? I just snorted coke (a-cola) when I read that…and I’m not a carpenter.
April 22, 2012 at 11:21 am
After I “whittle the mast” can I “diddle the deck?”
April 21, 2012 at 10:44 pm
You know what? I’m using that list of real Etsy artisans as a crib sheet for whose stores to buy from. There is some seriously gorgeous stuff there. (Like this: http://www.etsy.com/shop/resonanteyes or this: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PearlesPainting )
I encourage other people to check out these shops!
April 21, 2012 at 10:47 pm
awwww…shucks. man I hate that I have to dig so deep for things that are unique on etsy.
that’s sweet of you xox
April 21, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Thanks for pointing out those shops, I don’t generally click on the linked names here. (I’m in the middle of day 3 of reading Rev. BIOU13′s blog and it has consumed all of my spare time.)
The stuff in those shops are amazeballs. Once I get some cash saved up I know where it’s going.
April 22, 2012 at 8:48 am
Hey, cool! Thank you for reading!
I came here to point out that obviously this is a complete misunderstanding, because the two addresses are TOTALLY different, unless one of them just doesn’t know their own address (22941/22491), but then I found my own name in a comment and got excited so never mind about the address thing.
April 22, 2012 at 11:29 am
Holy shit. I just about died laughing at your most recent post with Google Search Terms. Fucking bookmarked your blog.
April 23, 2012 at 11:55 pm
How can I find this blog?
April 21, 2012 at 11:30 pm
Seriously, there are some very talented people around here. Resonanteyes’ fox painting is so cool and I love the intricate work in PearlesPainting. I wish I had money D:
April 22, 2012 at 11:40 pm
The hand-painted tile jewelry is heartbreaking.
And resonanteyes has a drawing of a pink pangolin, which is about the most awesome thing I have ever seen.
April 23, 2012 at 1:19 pm
I love pangolins, axolotls, and walrusses. I basically draw things I like
April 21, 2012 at 10:48 pm
Grasshoppers=Etsy
Flick=HK
Ants=people flooding Etsy to complain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4GIAdlbtLY&feature=related
April 21, 2012 at 10:49 pm
oooh, it’s still a comment free-for-all over at etsy … the mods must be sleeping. as Laura from YesterdaysSilhouette says:
Yikes! Current weather at Etsy: Sh*t storm!
April 21, 2012 at 10:53 pm
love that her profile says the furniture is created with integrity.
April 21, 2012 at 10:54 pm
Someone created it with integrity. Just not her.
April 21, 2012 at 10:55 pm
Maybe Integrity is the name of one of the “child artisans” in Bali?
April 21, 2012 at 10:55 pm
You outdid yourself.
April 21, 2012 at 10:57 pm
I am splashing in the poop puddles of this shit storm.
April 21, 2012 at 11:01 pm
I’m afloat in a boat.
April 21, 2012 at 11:08 pm
Is the boat made of wood and painted pretty colors? Cause then maybe Ecologica Malibu can get some other people to make some furniture out of it for you and resell it to you on Etsy.
April 22, 2012 at 8:41 am
Why yes it is made from wood and painted pretty colors. My cousins in the Philippines made it. We were going to use it to shuttle tourists around Malatapay and Apo. But then figured WTF, why not sell it as furniture to those tourists.
April 21, 2012 at 11:50 pm
does it have a pony?
April 21, 2012 at 11:00 pm
There is nothing in the English language to describe the happy tingles I’m feeling right now.
April 22, 2012 at 11:33 am
Pens, Petja might have something for you on the last CF4L post. Here’s only one in an amazing list he posted:
Or, “Riemuitsen raostani” mean about “Joyfull of my slit”
April 21, 2012 at 11:02 pm
This is from the ecologicafurniture website:
“At Ecologica, a chair is not just a chair. Each piece of Ecologica is a patchwork of the past. Each creation, a collage. The building process is the uncomplicated mastery of skilled workers in the outdoors with hammers, nails and hands.”
Outdoors – yeah. Like in the garage the blog post shows.
So, if you go to:
http://www.ecologicafurniture.com/customer/account/login/
and create an account, you can comment on her blog post about being an etsy featured seller! Any takers???
April 21, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Ooh! Ooh! We’re now a “confederation of dunces”!!
http://www.ecologicafurniture.com/blog/refutation-of-spurious-comments-placed/
April 21, 2012 at 11:04 pm
Jinx!
April 21, 2012 at 11:13 pm
so she has disclosed all of those “hired workers” as co-operative members of her shop, right? RIGHT> GUYS?
April 21, 2012 at 11:51 pm
YAY! We can has butthurt!!!
April 21, 2012 at 11:04 pm
…aaaaaand… we have butthurt:
http://www.ecologicafurniture.com/blog/refutation-of-spurious-comments-placed/
April 21, 2012 at 11:10 pm
hot damn.
April 21, 2012 at 11:13 pm
She draws the shit and has someone else mass-produce it. NOT HANDMADE.
April 21, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Here’s the full text of the post (which must be getting slammed because it takes forever to load):
Because of the slanderous, and spurious comments made today by certain people. I have attempted to respond almost instantly I have contacted Kurt Einchorn. I am including the e-mail that was a result of my conversation with Kurt:
“Mariana Schechter is the designer of the vast majority of the products we select the wood according to her expectation as to the color texture and arrangement or each specific product.
(cont.)
April 21, 2012 at 11:14 pm
She sends us the details of required dimensions and styles. Some of products that she has designed by her includes: Brazilian Lounge, Rocking Chair, Rio Chair, Santos Bed (Mariana is Brazilian hence the names), and the children chairs Mariana’s daughter is name Minna and she designed them for her. I understand that some of her designs are constructed and assembled in Malibu from wood we send her. She is our exclusive distributer for all the products she designs, and for all our products in North and South America.
(cont.)
April 21, 2012 at 11:15 pm
We are not Wal-Mart and consider such suggestion a slander. We have hired workers specifically to produce Mariana’s design products, with Mariana’s selected materials. As to all future products that I am sending from now in to the future to avoid any confusion I am carving Mariana’s name on to the back of each piece.
Kurt Einchorn. All From Boats”
As to those of you “purist” who think we are misrepresenting the handmade nature of this product, read carefully Kurt’s comments, see also the photographs of handmade work on our website and be advise that similar complaints were made months ago to Etsy which conducted an extensive onsite investigation and completely exonerated us.
(cont.)
April 21, 2012 at 11:22 pm
So, this Kurt dude (who the fuck is Kurt?) is saying that a bunch of workers at All From Boats make the furniture for her? It’s special for her? Yet they also sell that exact same furniture on Overstock? But the one’s they make for her are special? Because it’s for her? And the problem is that the workers don’t slap her name on the special furniture?
This whole thing is pure special. That’s for sure.
April 21, 2012 at 11:26 pm
Kurt is the owner of allfromboats.com
April 21, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Just because you put someone’s name on something doesn’t mean that they made it. That goes for the supposed message from Kurt Einchorn and any furniture with her name carved into it. You’re already morally suspect, why would we trust you to report evidence in your favor?
Here are some relevant Etsy policies regarding handmade items:
“To be considered handmade, the seller must substantially alter the design of an item produced from a ‘ready to assemble’ kit.”
“Handmade items must be created by the seller operating the Etsy shop (or a member of that shop).”
Based on the pictures we’ve seen she fails to meet the criteria on both counts. If what she says is true and she did design the furniture (showing that she has some artistic ability and isn’t just trying to make a quick buck) it still reflects poorly on Etsy because of the way they’ve treated other sellers in similar situations (http://www.etsy.com/teams/7718/site-help/discuss/10178820/page/2/).
April 22, 2012 at 12:02 am
If you look at the Overstock pages it mentions that her product is featured as part of a program called Main Street Revolution which allows small businesses to sell through Overstock’s website.
I couldn’t find anything on All From Boat’s website about any special working relationship she has with them though, so it’s just as likely she misrepresented herself to Overstock too.
April 21, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Of course there are bills of lading, how else can we import our wood? Both, Kurt’s email and Etsy’s investigation proofs that we import our wood sometimes in a semi finish state (including painting and hand carving). All you self-proclaimed “detectives” have discovered what we have already posted months ago
(end)
April 21, 2012 at 11:18 pm
THANK YOU! We’re breaking their site from too many of us viewing it.
April 21, 2012 at 11:18 pm
Thanks for posting this, Rana. Her website went down before the blog loaded for me.
April 21, 2012 at 11:30 pm
Screen cap below (though it’s more for posterity…)
April 21, 2012 at 11:05 pm
April—I think this may be the perfect storm of calling out Etsy on their bullshit. With the information you have, and that Bill of Lading, you should send a “press release” to the blogs and other media who have followed you in the past, like the one who wrote about your epic battle with PayPal.
We can do this!
April 21, 2012 at 11:05 pm
*pops popcorn*
Who has the guts to start a forum post asking about it over in cupcakeville?
If you do, please share a link(S)….
April 21, 2012 at 11:11 pm
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7718/site-help/discuss/10178820/page/2/
April 21, 2012 at 11:13 pm
That would make my night…. but please be a super troll and ask about it like… Why are all of those commenters being mean to that nice lady and her beautiful eco friendly ethical boat remnants?
Post links.
April 21, 2012 at 11:25 pm
no can do. I rely on my art sales there for my rent!
April 21, 2012 at 11:26 pm
although if I was BUYING FURNITURE FOR FORTY AND RESELLING IT FOR THREE HUNDRED I WOULD HAVE ALREADY PAID RENT A YEAR IN ADVACNCE BY NOW APPARENTLY
April 22, 2012 at 3:58 am
…and paid tons of fees to Etsy so they would look the other way*!
*Up-and-to-the-right, probably!
April 21, 2012 at 11:39 pm
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/10173151/page/1
April 21, 2012 at 11:08 pm
Congrats on the beautiful work!
Somebody upstairs must like you, Helen. You found de facto evidence that Etsy doesn’t give a shit about the product featured on it’s site and showed up sixteen paid employees in the process:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304299304577349731690704306.html
April 22, 2012 at 12:14 am
P.S., I sent off an e-mail to the author of that article about this and I really hope they do a follow-up. There are probably a lot of investors who’d like to know what Etsy is doing to protect what they consider the core of their business.
April 22, 2012 at 1:21 am
I think it’d be great for a bunch of people to push for a follow-up. I’ll send an e-mail tomorrow when I’m slightly more coherent.
April 22, 2012 at 2:00 pm
I sent a note to the WSJ author last night. I think it’s a worthy follow-up story – couldn’t be more timely. I imagine it will take some external push to help etsy understand the gravity of the issue.
Author email at the bottom of the wsj story – let’s be awesome and articulate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304299304577349731690704306.html
April 22, 2012 at 3:07 pm
I didn’t wake up ’til 3 pm, but I finally sent mine off. I attempted to be as eloquent as I ever am, so hopefully it’ll help.
April 22, 2012 at 2:14 am
I was just thinking about doing the same. I read that article a few days ago and wondered how long it would take for Etsy to screw up again. Didn’t think it’d be as massive as this hhahaha
April 22, 2012 at 12:47 pm
justsayit posted a link to their investment firm:
http://www.usv.com/team/
It would probably be worth it to send a few their way too.
I was going to mention it to Gawker, but after doing a search it seems like the only Etsy posts are just (uncredited) Regretsy knockoffs I’m sure it will turn up eventually without our help.
April 22, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Eh, I e-mailed Gawker anyway. Couldn’t hurt.
April 26, 2012 at 5:11 pm
BAHAHAHAHA! And I quote:
ArtFire: Sells handmade, vintage, art supply and commercially produced items. Site caters to more traditional crafts, like making benches and soap, says chief operating officer Tony Ford. ‘There aren’t a lot of people making purses out of birch trees and knit mustache cowls,’ he says. 15,000 active sellers and 100,000 members, based in Tucson, Ariz.
Those fucking birch tree purses and mustache cowls. Fuck them.
April 21, 2012 at 11:08 pm
Aww damnit!! You guys broke the internetz before I could check it out! It won’t even load…
April 21, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Regretsy. The /. for crafters.
April 21, 2012 at 11:22 pm
Apparently Ecologica posted a refute about “spurious allegations made” on her blog, but I can’t get it to load either.
http://www.ecologicafurniture.com/blog/refutation-of-spurious-comments-placed/
(Unless her lawyer advised her to quit now before it got any worse)
April 21, 2012 at 11:30 pm
Scroll up. Rana has it posted here.
April 22, 2012 at 12:02 am
Oh sweet thanks! This comments section is moving so fast I didn’t even see it
April 21, 2012 at 11:49 pm
I srsly need to go to bed, but I need to see what happens. Plz take screen shots and lost them tomorrow, its already almost 3a and I have spawn that will be up at the ass crack of dawn expecting me to feed and clothe them.
April 21, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Aren’t the Balinese fishermen at all pissed that somebody keeps cutting up their boats?
April 21, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Epic smackdown: more delicious than any cupcake ever baked.
April 21, 2012 at 11:16 pm
i hope someone screen capped her blog before she pulls the insults.
April 21, 2012 at 11:18 pm
See above. Rana posted the full text.
April 21, 2012 at 11:19 pm
I’ll try to get a screen cap too.
April 21, 2012 at 11:29 pm
Here you are (I’ve also copy-pasted the text, above, if this is too small too see):
April 21, 2012 at 11:34 pm
Sorry, had to pull the image. I’m not sure I’m allowed to host it under Flickr’s TOS.
HK, if you want a copy, let me know.
April 22, 2012 at 3:01 am
Use TinyPic. They don’t care what you post. I have never had anything (even goatses) taken down by them.
April 21, 2012 at 11:24 pm
I know there’s a Mariana’s Trench joke in here somewhere, but where?
She’s hit the bottom of Etsy’s ethics? No…
I hope Mariana gets trench foot? Not quite…
A vagina joke? Yes, but what?
April 21, 2012 at 11:46 pm
Someone made a Mariana Trench joke on the etsy page haha. Ctrl-F it, I don’t remember who.
April 21, 2012 at 11:26 pm
Wow…I think Regretsy users are causing a “denial of service” attack on her site—it’s not loading anymore. Or it’s been shut down…
Either way—I’m so proud of you all right now I could just plotz!
April 21, 2012 at 11:27 pm
She told HGTV that the wood was reclaimed from “structures”….
April 21, 2012 at 11:30 pm
Just found this …….
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/10173151/page/1
April 21, 2012 at 11:33 pm
I don’t know who would do such a thing.
April 21, 2012 at 11:37 pm
“this is why we need to appreciate regretsy sooner or later…”
April 21, 2012 at 11:44 pm
I LOVED that response. Seems some of them are coming around!
April 21, 2012 at 11:49 pm
added as much as i can…i don’t want my shop shut down, i still need to rely on it for monies.
April 21, 2012 at 11:46 pm
Look who has a Faaacebook!
https://www.facebook.com/ecologicamalibu
On your mark, get set, GO!
April 21, 2012 at 11:48 pm
Yes, but she is deleting posts almost as soon as you can post them.
April 21, 2012 at 11:50 pm
Paypal tried that too. They couldn’t keep up with the tide of FJL’s though.
April 22, 2012 at 12:10 am
I hope we can overwhelm her, but she’s keeping up pretty darn quickly!
April 22, 2012 at 4:48 am
She has to sleep sometime…
April 21, 2012 at 11:51 pm
https://twitter.com/#!/ShopEcologica
April 22, 2012 at 8:36 am
…and she can’t delete Twitter posts. Just sayin’. Once something’s been posted it’s there forever. Just remember to hastag and ‘@’ so she sees it
April 22, 2012 at 3:43 pm
She’s locked the account. (Smart.)
That doesn’t keep the hashtags out, though.
April 21, 2012 at 11:53 pm
The first chair has me puzzled. Did people in Bali used to make their boats out of old vegetable crates? Because that is what it looks like it used to be to me – just recut & with 1 side missing (Perhaps to become a footstool for in front of my “plush sofa?”)
April 21, 2012 at 11:59 pm
When stories like this come out, I have this image of April throwing back her head and shouting “Release the hounds!!” right before hitting the Enter key.
April 22, 2012 at 12:14 am
That made for the best visual in my head!
April 22, 2012 at 12:30 am
Complete with maniacal cackling?
April 22, 2012 at 12:36 am
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
April 22, 2012 at 12:00 am
Lets get it trending on twitter. #stopecologica (instead of shopecologica)
April 22, 2012 at 12:01 am
Now how am I suposed to get to sleep when I don’t know if that second item is really a “bench” or a “two people seater sofa with arm.” I really like the latter. I can just hear myself, in a Hyacinth Bucketish voice, saying, “Please come to my outdoor-indoor barbeque and you may sit on my two people seater sofa with arm.”
April 22, 2012 at 1:36 am
Perfection!
April 22, 2012 at 5:09 pm
But it’s not dusky pink.
April 22, 2012 at 12:05 am
HA!
http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/125860359/Boat_wood_arm_chair.html
April 22, 2012 at 12:06 am
That ain’t the only one on there, either. Search Bali furniture boat and a whole boatload of results comes up. All under the name Casa Viana, who is supposedly a Portuguese company located in Indonesia.
April 22, 2012 at 12:17 am
http://allfromboats.com/our-furniture/seating.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=fps_flypage_nonmember.tpl&product_id=289&category_id=27
Similar? Not exactly the same, but the design of the chair is very close.
April 22, 2012 at 12:27 am
How do we know those are her though?
April 22, 2012 at 12:30 am
At least 3 items on the allfromboats website can be found being sold on alibaba.com… none of the three are on miss “i build this shit with my workers’ bare hands” site, however.
April 22, 2012 at 12:12 am
I hope someone is saving that web page every five minutes or so. I’ve got to go to bed, and I know it won’t be there in the morning.
*saves the page one last time*
*takes my stub and goes to bed*
April 22, 2012 at 12:15 am
Oh, and someone should go tell this chick she’s fucking stupid.
http://blog.homesav.com/2012/03/ecologica-know-the-history-behind-your-furniture/
April 22, 2012 at 1:15 am
Done. Though, “your comment is awaiting moderation” can only mean one thing: that blog is just another run by tenderheart hipsters who don’t want to be told what is, as we here at Regretsy have so spuriously deemed, THE TRUTH. Sigh, sadface, etc.
April 22, 2012 at 12:15 am
where do I post a screenshot of the comments from etsy again? just in case. I figured out the whole-page screenshot thing finally.
April 22, 2012 at 12:21 am
Just hang on to them for now. Etsy hasn’t deleted anything (yet). You can create an account on an image hosting site like flickr or something.
April 22, 2012 at 12:22 am
wow- this chick has no shame .. shes using people to make money …
Loving reading all of this by the way!
April 22, 2012 at 12:23 am
Confederation of Dunces…. almost as catchy as Fat Jealous Losers….
April 22, 2012 at 12:43 am
and it shares an acronym with Cash on Delivery.
April 22, 2012 at 1:14 am
If you aren’t familiar with John Kennedy Toole’s masterpiece, it’s actually “A Confederacy of Dunces”!
April 22, 2012 at 1:22 am
It’s been stated before, above, but it’s a misquote (and utterly ignorant) reference to John Kennedy Toole’s brilliant and hilarious book A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. The hero/anti-hero is, in fact, the definition of a Fat, Jealous Loser. So the joke’s on her.
April 22, 2012 at 3:38 am
I, personally, have bean plants growing through the handles on my filing cabinet!!
April 22, 2012 at 12:29 am
I’ll be eagerly anticipating the shit-storm that happens on Monday when the cupcake interns go to open their e-mails and their computers crash from the sheer force of the pissed-off artists.
April 22, 2012 at 2:22 am
I REALLY want to know what it’s like at Etsy headquarters when something like this happens. Do they shuffle around frantically getting chai all over their mustaches trying to figure out what the hell to do? Everything is just so forced zen, I’d pay to see them just lose it in their offline habitat where no one can see them.
April 22, 2012 at 4:02 am
I would guess it’s more like take a sip, hit delete, take a sip, hit delete… [ad nauseaum, then go home sick from work]
April 22, 2012 at 9:10 am
I suspect it more “empty entire inbox” take a sip, go play fooseball.
April 22, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Thank you . “Forced Zen”: another memorable tag / oxymoron, courtesy of Estycultur.
April 22, 2012 at 12:31 am
i was laughing hard when i saw that, earlier someone said what threw them off is that she has so many items in her shop, i do too but they are all handmade
that said , my hands look icky and my fingernails, uh boy, i have taken to paint my nails with black nail polish every day so you do not see the dirt too much LOL
April 22, 2012 at 11:50 pm
I especially like the spiral galaxy pendant.
April 22, 2012 at 12:33 am
http://www.ecologicafurniture.com/blog/refutation-of-spurious-comments-placed
“Mariana Schechter is the designer of the vast majority of the products we select the wood according to her expectation as to the color texture and arrangement or each specific product.
She sends us the details of required dimensions and styles…..I am carving Mariana’s name on to the back of each piece.”
Do they not understand what handmade means? The idea is handmade by the seller. Not some person that’s probably being paid nothing for that work!
April 22, 2012 at 12:20 pm
She can’t even carve her own name on the damned things. Laziest plagiarist ever.
April 22, 2012 at 12:34 am
What the fuck. I REALLY thought my Saturday couldn’t get any better than the last post, but this takes the French manicured sprinkles on top of the Four Carpenters and a Bill of Lading cake.
I just gained ten pounds of overindulgence. Thanks, Regretsy. <3
April 22, 2012 at 12:39 am
Even her refutation against our “spurious comments” basically admits that she is violating Etsy’s TOS. So basically she’s implying that she designs some of the furniture and that she MIGHT even have an employee assemble a little bit of it onsite. Although I doubt that’s even true. And even if it is it still doesn’t meet Etsy’s guidelines for “Handmade”.
Kurt’s email:
“She sends us the details of required dimensions and styles.” = I’d like to order 3 large benches, 16 small boxes, 6 medium chairs…
“She is our exclusive distributer for all the products she designs.” = It’s true, because she doesn’t design any products, so she is the exclusive retailer. Of zero products. You can see the stuff from her shop being sold on a number of other sites by other sellers, including All From Boats’ own site.
April 22, 2012 at 7:45 am
She and All From Boats are the same company. AFB just decided to sell on Etsy, so they made up a fake seller and a huge pile of crap about how it’s handmade.
April 22, 2012 at 11:01 am
It is handmade, just not by her.
April 22, 2012 at 12:49 am
I totally understand why Mr. Kurt Einchorn (sic) is farming out his furniture designs to someone who lives 9000 miles away. Surely no one in Malaysia would ever think of making a bench that looks like two wooden milk crates nailed together. Gotta go to the States for that kind of vision!
April 22, 2012 at 1:03 am
I dunno, Bronc. From what I can see – and aside from the email, whose provenance I highly suspect – it looks like Kurt is being honest about his business. Like I said way above, he comes right out and says, “hey, I’m selling furniture made in Indonesia.” To me, it looks like one of his distributors (Ms. Mariana) thought she had struck a good way to market her slice of the pie, and never expected anyone to notice and/or care.
April 22, 2012 at 1:40 am
Christ, I see why Bronc included the (sic) now – the fellow’s name is Kurt Eichhorn! Thanks to Ms. Chapman who pointed this out on Facebook! Good job, Ms. Mariana, you’ve now faked a letter from your distributor. Good luck not selling whatever inventory you’ve got left.
April 22, 2012 at 1:44 am
Oh, I believe he’s honest about his business. Whether or not he wrote that e-mail is another matter, since I’m fairly certain he’d have spelled his own name properly.
I don’t even know that Mariana is really that much of a flim-flam artist. She could very well be legitimately employed by or affiliated with All From Boats.
I just don’t think anything she does should qualify her as an Etsy artisan, and definitely not a “featured seller” who claims to be doing it all herself.
I don’t exactly know what her real story is, but it’s clear to me that is not the tale of the little crafter who could. This is not some woman working out of her tiny storefront, hammering recycled planks together to make furniture. This is someone who’s most likely an importer for a large company, passing off that company’s products as her own handmade creations.
April 22, 2012 at 1:57 am
On that, good sir, we agree.
April 22, 2012 at 1:59 am
Exactly!
April 22, 2012 at 1:06 am
I’ve found *at least* 7 designs on his website on alibaba.com. They are clearly the same design. Whether it’s a matter of people in Indonesia stealing his work as their own, or vice-versa, I don’t know, but it’s very suspicious.
April 22, 2012 at 1:20 am
Ignoring Mariana’s letter for now, does he claim that these are his designs or just that he’s an importer?
April 22, 2012 at 1:23 am
He says that he is the builder and that they are built by him and his team in Bali, Indonesia. He doesn’t actually say anywhere that he designs them, although it is loosely implied.
http://www.allfromboats.com/information/about-us.html
April 22, 2012 at 1:25 am
From his site:
“I have been buying fishing boats from Indonesia and creating beautiful pieces of furniture from them for over twenty years.”
This is the only place he says he makes the pieces.
April 22, 2012 at 1:21 am
Kurt Eichorn is the owner of All From Boats, which is the supplier for Ecologica/Bali Hai. Maybe Alibaba is buying the furniture from All From Boats as well?
Kurt lives in Indonesia and the furniture is made in Indonesia. So far Kurt doesn’t seem to be lying about anything, unless he really said that Ecologica (Mariana) designs her own furniture (that he then builds with his team), and that she is the exclusive seller of her designs. Because she’s obviously not the exclusive seller.
April 22, 2012 at 1:31 am
Alibaba is a bulk export marketplace. More than one company sells there. The pieces that match what are sold on the site are listed as being made by companies other than allfromboats.
Someone is not being upfront. Either he’s not creating these pieces- which, to be fair, he doesn’t actually claim to make any specific piece, so he may well be buying them from other manufacturers- or he is, and someone else is claiming credit.
April 22, 2012 at 1:34 am
Jinx! Sort of. It’s this sort of thing that keeps me from buying overseas; I’d love to send more money to other countries, but I cannot abide the abuse of the “global marketplace.”
April 22, 2012 at 1:44 am
Oh, how do you know that the items on Alibaba are not made by Allfromboats? I don’t know much about Alibaba.
April 22, 2012 at 1:53 am
The company selling the items lists it on alibaba just like someone would list from Etsy. They have a profile.
Example:
This is allfromboats site: http://allfromboats.com/our-furniture/seating.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=fps_flypage_nonmember.tpl&product_id=289&category_id=27
This is from alibaba: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/125860359/Boat_wood_arm_chair.html
The alibaba one is listed by a company called Casa Viana, who claims to have made the chair.
Maybe it’s a common chair shape? Maybe it’s a design one can go to a store and buy? I don’t know.
April 22, 2012 at 2:00 am
You know, I just noticed that the Casa Viana profile says they started the business last year, so it’s more likely to be the second of my two scenarios up there.
God, does anyone have any spare wine? I think I need a refill, and I’m all out.
April 22, 2012 at 2:10 am
Lol, maybe they are all just resellers of resellers and are all getting their goods from a huge factory mass-producing this “handmade” shit and utilizing Indonesian slave labour.
April 22, 2012 at 5:24 am
Eichorn might own more than one company… or be in partnership with another company as well as being sole owner of AFB… or he may have a variety of business relationships of different types.
April 22, 2012 at 1:33 am
Isn’t AliBabe a bit like Amazon Marketplace or, well, Etsy, where it’s an aggregate sellers’ forum? It’s been a long time since I’ve mucked about with them, but I’m pretty sure they just act as middlemen to get customers to overseas suppliers. If so, he could simply have an account with them – indeed, it’d be kind of foolish for him to do otherwise.
But, anyway, we don’t care about Mr. Eichorn, as he’s not the one who listed the pieces on Etsy, lied about their provenance, nor agreed to be their goddamn featured (re)seller.
April 22, 2012 at 1:41 am
This is true. And even though I did find multiple examples of too-similar-to-be-coincidental furniture designs on both sites, none of them matched up to Pants-on-Fire’s claimed designs.
She may very well have designed the furniture she lays claim to, but I’ll be damned if that means they’re handmade.
April 22, 2012 at 1:47 am
I agree Abby. Even if she did “design” some, or even all of the items she’s selling on Etsy, she still lied and she’s still breaking Etsy’s TOS for “handmade”.
April 22, 2012 at 1:42 am
Wait, unless he meant that Mariana designs, say, 5% of her stock – the supposed email from him did say “some” but it also said “the vast majority”, which I doubt – and that those few pieces are not shown on the All From Boats site. But mostly I’m thinking “Design: I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Ecologica is still not the sole distributor for All From Boats for all of North and South America – as it said in her “refutation” and was attributed to Kurt.
Man, anyone else feelin’ like a wannabe Nancy Drew here? I better go to bed now, lol.
April 22, 2012 at 2:12 am
Er, I’m 33 years old and male, so not feeling a whole lot like Nancy Drew. Maybe both the Hardy Boys rolled into one?
April 22, 2012 at 11:11 am
Actually, I wouldn’t necessarily call that ‘stealing’ – some of those are very simple, generic furniture designs. I’ve seen a lot of doll furniture made along those lines.
April 22, 2012 at 12:50 am
I also found this website where she claims to handicraft her furniture as well…
http://www.alternativeconsumer.com/2012/03/15/ecologica-craftsman-furniture-created-from-reclaimed-wood/comment-page-1/#comment-578407
April 22, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Nice that there is an uncredited FJL comment about her stuff there too.[ Regretsy? Soitenly not!]]
April 22, 2012 at 12:52 am
Man, I really need to just go to sleep…
Before I do, I want to call out whoever authored that post on her blog, David Olio or “admin” – it’s a CONFEDERACY of dunces, dumbass, not a confederation.
April 22, 2012 at 1:10 am
Oops – sorry, Betty Cracker, just scrolled back and saw your post.
April 22, 2012 at 1:18 am
such an amazing book. and he was so down about not being published. while seeing all the pap and crap that was.
sort of…ironic. that that book would pop up in this situation.
April 22, 2012 at 1:32 am
Yes, and the joke’s on her, because Ignatius is the one who believes in such a confederacy, and he’s pretty much an embodiment of a fat jealous loser who thinks he’s smarter than everyone else.
April 22, 2012 at 1:10 am
“Designing” something is NOT “making” it — it is especially NOT making something by hand.
“Finishing” something is NOT “making” it.
“Hiring workers to make Marianna’s designs” is NOT “Marianana making furniture by hand”!
Also, Etsy was really quick to deep six a dressmaker for listing one item with a factory-made corset as part of a gown and yet is o.k. with this mass reseller!
Right.
And now I have to consider changing my username to “Dunce Confederate”!!
April 22, 2012 at 1:21 am
March on, Dunce Confederates, march on.
It’s time for bed.
I can’t wait to catch up on this in the morning.
April 22, 2012 at 12:34 pm
April 23, 2012 at 3:39 am
The stars and bars weren’t the symbol for the Articles of Conferderation!
April 23, 2012 at 10:47 am
They were, but that’s not the stars and bars. Wikipedia FTW.
April 22, 2012 at 3:09 am
I’ve always wanted a chair that gave me splinters in the ass.
April 22, 2012 at 3:26 am
Ah, but these splinters are so special they will also likely give you a dose of toxic chemicals, as well!
April 22, 2012 at 4:02 am
So I’m not the only one who looks at that furniture and gets the willies? I keep imagining splinters and lead paint chips. These things do not fill me with the desire to purchase furniture.
April 22, 2012 at 3:51 am
Does anyone know CA import laws, especially with respect to toxic contents of raw materials? Is there a difference between importing painted wood which contains toxic materials and importing painted furniture?
I know that CA law is much more stringent than U.S. law about toxic contents of paint and such because I see the notice on the paints I use.
Are they equally stringent about wood painted with marine paint which contains toxic substances? Especially marine paint from Bali, which probably doesn’t have as many environmental regulations as the U.S. does about pesky things such as heavy metals and such.
Where I’m going with this is that if Marianna is importing wood to make furniture, she may have a host of additional regulations to satisfy which she doesn’t have to worry about with importing furniture.
If so, she can’t have it both ways. She can’t tell Etsy that she’s importing wood and tell CA that she’s importing furniture!
April 22, 2012 at 4:39 am
Oh but apparently she can! She can both import just furniture & just import wood in the same way that she can both make all her furniture by hand with only the help of four other people AND have furniture that she designed made for her by a manufacturing company qualify as hand made. See how that works?
April 22, 2012 at 6:36 am
Ive bought furniture in the past that has a tag on the bottom saying it meets the laws/policies whatever to be sold in California. So I agree, good point ^
April 22, 2012 at 7:38 am
Actually, my husband just pointed out to me that if she *IS* telling the truth (which I doubt) about the contents of her shipping crates, she could be in big trouble for falsifying customs forms. She absolutely CANNOT state on the shipping forms that the crates contain furniture if they actually contain unassembled wood. It’s called customs fraud.
April 22, 2012 at 12:52 pm
I’d wondered about that. I sent a
box of assorted crappresent to a friend in Canada recently, and they made me put down every last little thing on the form – the postperson on duty even changed one of them on me to make it more accurate.April 22, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Not only that, but I *think* the shipping and customs rates are different for finished products vs. raw supplies. I lack the Google-fu to figure this out (plus I have a killer headache right now) but I know that’s the case for trucking costs in the US; each and every different type of good or material is rated at a different cost, and it is VERY specific. I really doubt she’s knowingly paying what is likely higher costs for importing her “raw materials”.
April 22, 2012 at 7:48 am
I think, and I’m not sure about this so someone correct me if I’m wrong, that as long as the furniture has a warning label that it might contain chemicals found to be toxic in the state of California, that she’s fine.
April 23, 2012 at 2:48 am
I don’t know, which is why I was asking if anyone knew California law, but by Federal Law you have to test raw materials used in the manufacture of a wide variety of products to determine if they’re toxic. I don’t know if furniture is on that list, but products which children would come into contact with are and furniture would be in that group.
I doubt just can say the product you make in the U.S. might contain toxic materials and leave it at that. My sense is that you have to have the raw materials tested or use raw materials which have been tested by their manufacturer.
My sense is that you might be able to do something like that with a finished product you import, but I don’t know and don’t have the bandwidth to look into it.
April 23, 2012 at 3:35 am
I love my friends. One pointed me to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the fact that small businesses – those who make less than $1 Million a year & make fewer than 7500 units – can get an exemption to testing or showing non-toxicity. Remarkably, small businesses like that don’t even have to show their children’s toys are non-toxic. Yikes!
There’s even a website. Now these are Federal standards. He didn’t know about California.
Hoovers.com shows Ecologica Malibu at $130k a year, although the free version of their database doesn’t show number of units.
April 24, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Actually, the website you link to shows that the exemption does not apply to items covered by 16 CFR s. 1303, which includes:
Even if their product was in Group B, while they wouldn’t have to proactively test, they would have to pull any products that were found to not meet the applicable standard.
April 22, 2012 at 4:37 am
I don’t know what the big deal is. You can clearly see her here overseeing the workers.
April 22, 2012 at 4:56 am
Hahaha! This pic made my morning. I just posted in the comments on Etsy about how she looks like a hired model who has never touched a tool. Normally the featured sellers have photos of them in their actual workshops, not just some room with a bunch of the already made furniture.
April 22, 2012 at 6:11 am
Just wanted to post the link the photo of the workers is from… The photo was supplied by unEcologia Malibu to a home furnishings blog…
April 22, 2012 at 6:40 am
LOL….Well done! Well Done! Coffee shot from my nostrils! Great to see she’s overseeing the work being done…and keeping that white dress white. Simply amazing! LOL
April 22, 2012 at 5:08 am
This whole thing has made me so sad that I’ve gone from long-time lurker to poster.
The explosion on the etsy forums shows how tired people are of doing the right thing, working hard and getting nowhere.
The ‘nothingness’ of the etsy admin replies on these issues is what makes people so upset – re-reading the etsy guidelines in the last thing anyone wants to do.
It’ll be interesting to see what admin have to say…in Australia it’s night, but I guess in Brooklyn it’s almost time for corporate cupcakes to rise and shine…I can’t wait.
April 22, 2012 at 5:12 am
Oh if I could only see the look on my father’s face upon hearing that people would pay $840 for a bench made of old wood with chipped paint.
April 22, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Truly, that is unspoken crime: that people would pay big bucks for/want furniture so ugly and uncomfortable. And it’s mass produced, so clearly this is a niche. Other than seafood restaurant decor, I can’t see the appeal.
April 22, 2012 at 5:12 am
Ha! David Odio seems to have all sorts of trouble with spelling. His ‘website’ features a “Qhote.of.the.day” and a resume which is still a blank template which reads, “Click ‘Manage’ to fill this gallery with your photos…”.
He must think he’s photographer. He also seems to think we should dump all our friends, family and possessions because we are sharks, not monogamous swans.
Nice guy.
April 22, 2012 at 6:00 pm
To clarify, David Odio wrote the “Confederation of Dunces” rebuttal. He apparently works for Mariana.
April 22, 2012 at 5:17 am
If you need some more proof she imports all the furniture pre-made take a look: http://www.importgenius.com/importers/bali-ha-i-import#sample
The receiving address is the same as the other two companies above. I cannot claim credit for doing the research. Some other DYI vigilante posted it directly on Etsy. Even if I believed that she designed this crap, clearly a bunch of other people in another part of the world build it for her. Not exactly the ethos of handmade.
April 22, 2012 at 5:19 am
When are the “Confederation of Dunces” Tshirts coming out on zazzle? I want one.
As a genuine woodworker trying to eke a living, this kind of resold crap masquerading as handmade really pisses me off.
April 22, 2012 at 5:42 am
…..so to submit recommendations for **featured sellers** in the future just flag them as resellers. Seems easy….Thanks Etsy!
April 22, 2012 at 5:51 am
Check out the outrage thread on Etsy….the community is not happy
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/10173151/page/46/
April 22, 2012 at 1:23 pm
I’m impressed that it is as long as it is. Usually those sorts of things get stomped by page 5.
April 22, 2012 at 6:18 am
OK, who asked if reseller was going to be a new search category? Because I love you.
April 22, 2012 at 1:41 pm
That was one of my favorite comments on that thread.