Entry tags:
That word doesn't mean what you think it means...
Dear Etsy Sellers:
I realize this will come as a surprise to you, but the word 'vintage' does actually have a meaning. Yes, it's true! 'Vintage' is not just an eye-catching label! I commend you for being savvy enough to realize people pay more for vintage items, however: there is actually a reason for that! It would really behoove you to investigate the meaning of this word before you paste it all over your offerings.
As you couldn't bother to look up the word in a dictionary and/or absorb its meaning, I'll make it easy for you: vintage is a synonym for antique. I will further explain that antique is not a synonym for 'old junk', no matter how many people use it as such. Antique or vintage items are well preserved, (usually) good quality relics of a bygone age.
Hence, if your item is handmade by you, by definition it is not vintage. Well... always assuming you yourself are not antique. However, if you are antique, the item would still need to have been handmade by you in your youth to qualify as vintage.
Get it?
If you are selling anything in every color in the rainbow, or in large amounts, or in custom sizes/lots/orders, odds are your items are not, in fact, vintage. Not unless you stumbled upon the jackpot of all warehouse sales. And the warehouse hasn't cleaned out its inventory in fifty years. This is because a genuine vintage item is most likely a one-off someone found at a garage or yard or estate sale somewhere -- something that was purchased years ago when the item was new, and then kept and handed down through the family until a buyer finally took notice. Therefore it will not be available in the present-day in vast quantities. See how that works?
Also note: just because your item is comparable to a vintage item does not make it vintage! A brand-new poodle skirt may be vintage style, but it is still a brand-new item. Similarly, a brand-new poodle skirt made from vintage curtains is also still a brand-new item. In this case, the word you would be looking for is 'repurposed'. That, or you need to be careful that the word 'vintage' is associated only with the fabric, and not the skirt.
Are we clear now? You can sell multiple hand-made items that are made from vintage materials (a single Victorian dress could produce maybe three or four baby rompers, for example) but you cannot sell multiple vintage Victorian dresses (just specify size in comments when ordering).
It really isn't that confusing. Please make an effort to develop your vocab, and/or stop trying to defraud your customers.
Yours in annoyance,
-Tae
ETA: Etsy considers an item 'vintage' if it was made in 1990?!?! Are you kidding me?! So... twenty-year olds are now antiques?
I realize this will come as a surprise to you, but the word 'vintage' does actually have a meaning. Yes, it's true! 'Vintage' is not just an eye-catching label! I commend you for being savvy enough to realize people pay more for vintage items, however: there is actually a reason for that! It would really behoove you to investigate the meaning of this word before you paste it all over your offerings.
As you couldn't bother to look up the word in a dictionary and/or absorb its meaning, I'll make it easy for you: vintage is a synonym for antique. I will further explain that antique is not a synonym for 'old junk', no matter how many people use it as such. Antique or vintage items are well preserved, (usually) good quality relics of a bygone age.
Hence, if your item is handmade by you, by definition it is not vintage. Well... always assuming you yourself are not antique. However, if you are antique, the item would still need to have been handmade by you in your youth to qualify as vintage.
Get it?
If you are selling anything in every color in the rainbow, or in large amounts, or in custom sizes/lots/orders, odds are your items are not, in fact, vintage. Not unless you stumbled upon the jackpot of all warehouse sales. And the warehouse hasn't cleaned out its inventory in fifty years. This is because a genuine vintage item is most likely a one-off someone found at a garage or yard or estate sale somewhere -- something that was purchased years ago when the item was new, and then kept and handed down through the family until a buyer finally took notice. Therefore it will not be available in the present-day in vast quantities. See how that works?
Also note: just because your item is comparable to a vintage item does not make it vintage! A brand-new poodle skirt may be vintage style, but it is still a brand-new item. Similarly, a brand-new poodle skirt made from vintage curtains is also still a brand-new item. In this case, the word you would be looking for is 'repurposed'. That, or you need to be careful that the word 'vintage' is associated only with the fabric, and not the skirt.
Are we clear now? You can sell multiple hand-made items that are made from vintage materials (a single Victorian dress could produce maybe three or four baby rompers, for example) but you cannot sell multiple vintage Victorian dresses (just specify size in comments when ordering).
It really isn't that confusing. Please make an effort to develop your vocab, and/or stop trying to defraud your customers.
Yours in annoyance,
-Tae
ETA: Etsy considers an item 'vintage' if it was made in 1990?!?! Are you kidding me?! So... twenty-year olds are now antiques?