Artisans Cooperative: An Etsy alternative, owned and run by artists and makers
Artisans Cooperative: An Etsy alternative, owned and run by artists and makers
We have all experienced it: Some organization or service starts out good — or great, even — and then as time goes on, either costs and fees go up, or
Finally, there's a no-tech-knowledge-needed alternative to Etsy. I'm really excited about where this will go!
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For anyone wanting the link and not an article.
$1,000 buy-in with no trial period to see if this is even viable as a model? Oof. That's pretty steep. 🥲
It's a coop not a gofundme
That's not even relevant as my initial comment had nothing to do with a handout, and only pointed out that $1,000 is a huge chunk of money for most, especially upfront for a completely untested marketplace intending to take on an industry leader for the interests of small-time makers and micro-businesses. Don't be childish.
Can it be, that you haven't read the article? Because in it, you'd find this passage
That’s when she found out that there are other ways to earn points toward member-ownership, making it more accessible to those who cannot afford a $1000 expenditure. This is referred to as sweat equity, where artisans earn 25 points per hour by contributing their skills to the co-op
You can earn the buy in by supporting the site with "member activities" which you can read more about here https://artisans.coop/pages/membership
Points can be purchased (1 point/US dollar) or can be earned from member activities (such as hanging up flyers or joining a team), sales, purchases, referrals, handmade verifications, and more. Learn more about our Points & Tiers Policy.
Most member activities currently earn 25 points/hour, so undertaking one full time week of member activities (40 hours) in most cases will earn you the 1,000 points you need for membership.
The application could be better laid out; it should lead with that, instead of hit with the $1,000 upfront ask. Feels off, NGL.
But it doesn't. You can pay with work for the co-operative instead of actual money. It says in the article that they have the point system exactly for this; people who can't afford the cost