MY NEW SHOP IS OPEN! (Patreon)

Hey everyone! I just started a bigcartel shop which will be my new storefront from now on!

Here's a link to check it out! Bookmarking is encouraged! 

Oh! And for those interested, I also opened up a Gumroad. 

So, what happened to my Etsy? (DRAMA ALERT!)

As some of you may know, Etsy  unceremoniously banished my store AND my partner's store.

As the story goes; my partner's store (ButtonMashing) was over 5 years old, with thousands of orders, and hundreds of 5 star reviews. They had a few cases opened against them in those years; but that happens with literally any shop that's on Etsy as often customers open cases about mail getting lost in transit without realizing they can just contact the shop FIRST.

Despite that; any open case or slightly late order is treated as a strike against the account-- no MATTER the context. 

So, without warning, without a case even being opened, without ANYTHING happening, my partner's shop was closed last week.

And thus; because I am "affiliated" with my partner (aka, live in the same house) I was therefore deemed a THREAT to Etsy's marketplace-- despite Etsy admitting to me that my shop was entirely spotless. (No cases, and entirely 5 star reviews.)

It really stinks to be kicked off of Etsy for a bullshit policy, especially when I know both me and my partner's shop had high quality items and we were great with our customers.

Etsy's search function cannot be beat in terms of online shop services; and that truly will be what kicks my ass this coming holiday season. I had planned on using that service to hopefully sell my Yakuza merch and other fanart items just to help give myself a boost.

My shop has been a significant part of my income for the better part of a few months so this hit REALLY HURT. Thankfully, most of my sales came from here or social media so I don't think my original merch or books sales will be hurting too much-- but it will be a lot harder to sell fanart since I am not particular well known in any fandom.

All I can hope for is the continued support of everyone! With retweets, reblogs, and sharing in general I hope to continue to have physical merch be a part of my life-- and one day I may open up my own storefront totally unaffiliated with any site like this.

We are not the only people to have this happen to us either. Lots of people have left Etsy because of their extremely strict "quality control" and policy changes-- and their new one about shipping has seen more and more people leave. 

Thanks for your support, and thank you to everyone who encouraged me this last week and gave me advice-- I couldn't do this without you!