The Buckingham

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A strike against Etsy is being planned for May 10.

Etsy, which is a website that allows people to sell their own handmade crafts, will have more than 3,500 stores closing on May 10.  The event is being called Protesty and is over a controversy that began in late April.

The company chose to feature a furniture store called Ecological Malibu on the site, which caused outrage from some community members since the company is supposedly linked to an offshore factory.  This controversy is due to Etsy’s rule that reselling, or distributing mass-produced items, is prohibited.

Community members became so outraged that Etsy agreed to do a full investigation on the store, but learned nothing.  However, despite the fact that the case is closed, people are still angry.  They claim evidence against the store was not addressed, including a bill of lading.

The strike won’t have much of an effect though on the site, since Etsy has a total of 875,000 active shops.  The 3,500 stores closing on May 10 doesn’t even equal to 1 percent of the site.  Sellers also aren’t expecting to lose much business either.

This strike has led many to question how it is even going to be an effective protest, but Etsy administrators have stated that they plan to take the concerns of the sellers seriously.