Well, That Didn't Last Long

Last time, I posted about how someone's extremely unprofessional behavior on Etsy left me steaming, stewing, and vowing to not purchase anything there for quite a long period of time.  Er, well, I guess "quite a long period of time" is only a few days.  I had forgotten that in mid-April, I'd emailed someone I'd previously done business with, asking her to do some custom work for me.  She had been on vacation (and, as a professional, put up a notice on her shop and auto-replied as such).  I'd forgotten about it, until she got back to me last night.  Since I have experience with her custom work, which is excellent, I decided to go ahead with the purchase.  So, I guess my self-imposed exile has ended.

I never intended to stay away permanently, nor do I want to imply that I don't support the DIY community (which would be pretty stupid, because that's the entire point of this blog).  I'm just going to employ a great deal more caution in the future.

As a shout-out to those sellers on Etsy who are absolute professionals, I'm providing a list of sellers that I've used in the past (some of them multiple times) that I've been truly impressed by.

• Birdz N Beez sells beautiful lockets.
• Kasket Kustoms motto is "jewelry to DIE for!"  What else needs to be said?
• Melissa Dawn Arts combines my love of kittehs with my love of pixies in the form of compacts, tins, and other media.
• The Mighty Squirm provides a wonderful selection of spooky t shirts on organic cotton.
• Purrfect Knits by Catmother is a shop I've gone to many times when I'm in need of a gift for a niece or nephew
• SobeBotanicals creates makeup (mostly veggie-friendly) in a fun variety of both natural and unnatural colors.  I don't wear cosmetics, but this is where I went when I needed green lipstick last Halloween.
• Sweet Anthem sells vegan perfume that she makes in her shop in Seattle.  She does have a long turn around time, but she's quite up front about it and trust me, it's worth the wait.
• Sweet Heart Sinner creates weird (in a good way!) pillboxes, business card holders, jewelry, and more!
• Teaman sells various blends of herbal, black, green, and white teas.  I can only speak for the herbal tea, but it is excellent and addictive.

This is just a small selection of the great sellers on Etsy.  As I said previously, 99.5% of the DIY community is truly spectacular.  I encourage people to use Etsy and local artisans all the time.  Just be careful who you buy from.

I'd love to hear back from the community on this.  Does anyone have any great shops to share?  Any horror stories?