Articles about Your Business by dbdc

The first half of 2016 saw two major disruptions in Etsy’s payment processing system, Direct Checkout. One came just before Valentine’s Day and another at the beginning of July. Orders were delayed, customers asked for refunds that couldn’t be processed, and uncertainty filled the forums where Etsy sellers tried to figure out what was happening to their shops. These outages hold important lessons for anyone running an online store. Chiefly, they underscore the importance of backups, communication, and planning.

When Etsy rolled out their new “Pattern by Etsy” service, everyone in the crafting/artist/maker community’s first question was “What is this? And should I be using it?”.  It was a reminder that, as we’re constantly being told by our ever-increasing cable bills, any number of inspirational decorative pillows, and that cool snack at Trader Joe’s that’s not there any more, the only constant thing in life is change. Especially on the internet. Part Etsy, part Shopify, Pattern changed the whole eCommerce equation again. Or it seemed like it did, anyway. But is the post-Pattern world really that different from the world we lived in before? Is it worth using Pattern by Etsy? And who should use Pattern by Etsy, anyway?