Etsy And Spammers Fund Raisers

[kmmcrafts]

Those of you that sell online, do you get people messaging about their charity and asking for a particular themed item from your shop to donate for a charity.  I always just ignore those and delete the message.. Guess that's why I don't show as having star status as I get about 5 of these charity things a month, . That star seller program is a joke and it's a shame they have to implement something like this to get shops to offer good customer service.. and then it hurts shops that do give good customers service but don't want to take time to answer stupid spammer's messages. Until they implement the program to search ranking I'll just keep ignoring the spam.  As for the customer seeing your star status.. it only shows on the main home shop page and most shoppers land on a item page, plus most shoppers don't even know what it is. Feedback rating is more important that stars.

Now don't get me wrong, I like to donate to "local charities" etc. but for those trolls trolling through etsy shops asking shop owners to donate a specific item to their charity is wrong.. in my opinion and here is why I feel that way.  Most people turn to Etsy to start a small business to "make money" and these days especially for the new sellers getting sales and actually making some profit is getting really tough. In the case of my last spammer they are asking donations for their "air traffic controller" event. I believe it to be a real event as they offered a tax number etc. for my donation. Yes it is a tax deduction and all but this trolling small businesses just irks me. But I guess what gets me is the fact that these guys make good money ( I know because my father-in-law was a air traffic controller, LOL ) and so you make well into the 6 figures and asking a etsy shop owners that most of the "average sellers" only make $40,000 or less for donations.. I feel like telling these spammers how about supporting these small businesses by buying the product, and donating it yourself. LOL 

They go on saying that there will be 1500 people at the event and they'll post my product to their social media site etc. for my business exposure. The question I have is how many of the 1500 people to attend the event would get to see the item ( Christmas ornament ) and how many of them that do see it actually celebrate Christmas and would even want one or like it enough to come see my store.  How many of the 1500 people are already one of the 20,000 followers I have across my social platforms plus the reach I have beyond that, LOL.  I can go place a tax deductible google or facebook ad for the same value and reach 15,000 people.. they aren't doing any favors with their 1500 attendance. 

The other issue is local charities I can get feedback or even attend the event. Sending the donation in the mail I never hear from them again until the next event with them asking for another donation.. 

12 years ago I probably would have jumped for the exposure and many shops do, that's why they continue to troll the small businesses on Etsy. 

If you "really" want to help a Etsy shop buy the item and then give them the exposure rather than ask for free stuff in exchange for exposure. Otherwise you're not helping at all for these small start-ups

Am I wrong in my thinking?

[new2woodwrk]

Not a fan of Etsy, but I do see your point. I would be concerned these are scammers looking for free items to sell. Offering a tax id is fine, if it is real and not just a sequence of #'s. I tend to be very skeptical of anything requested either in email or on our websites.

I've yet to experience "charity grabbers" on any of my sites. Even if I did, I still only donate to local charities and then there are only a select few.

 

[BadBob]

Mark them as spam and move on.