Yeah, I agree with your take. I can see why people are annoyed with the eggs and dragons cluttering the shops.
But that being said— Most of the models I’ve seen are ones you can pay the creator for a license to print and sell it for a profit. It’s pretty easy to find that kind of deal and the contract is explicit in their listing. So, the original designers will be losing business too since they bank off of making cute model files and collect passive income from people who want to print and sell the item.
Considering how much crap is on Etsy, maybe I’m missing something, but I am not sure why the crack down now—and on 3D prints of all things.
I actually think 3D printers at home will end up replacing a lot of things that used to be shipped from China. I’m already seeing the edges of this but time will tell if that trend keeps going that way. But I 3D print so, I notice functional things I can make all the time.
I think you make a good point—I wonder what site they’ll jump to?
planish@sh.itjust.works 1 hour ago
Etsy IIRC is not meant to be a general marketplace: it’s meant to be for handmade or flea-market vintage type stuff.
They then have to turn that into hard rules, and one of them is you can’t just manufacture stuff and turn around and sell it: manufactured stuff has to be old enough, and I think they have a particular year.
3D printing is a lot like manufacturing, and a little like making by hand. The more people use it like manufacturing, the less Etsy will want to have it.