‘Three Bird Nest’ $70K/Month Etsy Store Angers Some Etsy Sellers Over Handmade ‘Alibaba’ Claims

Perhaps you’ve seen the viral story about a super-succesful Etsy seller who runs the Etsy store named “Three Bird Nest.”

“California Mom Says She Grosses at Least $70K a Month on Etsy,” reported Yahoo! about the “Three Bird Nest” store run by Alicia Shaffer. With headlines like that, those interested in Etsy are heartily checking out the reportedly homemade lace headbands, socks and boot cuffs on the “Three Bird Nest” store, a store begun in November, 2011, when Shaffer simply wanted to make extra money for her kids’ extracurricular activities. A mere four short years later or less and the Etsy “Three Bird Nest” store has exploded in gross sales that top $70,000 to $80,000 per month.

If you want to also make millions from an Etsy store like “Three Bird Nest,” you could follow Alicia Shaffer’s lead, reports the Inquisitr, and once reporters began digging into the ways that “Three Bird Nest” products are potentially gained, an interesting story developed. The research starts by reading some of the top and most popular comments at the bottom of the Yahoo! article, which contained interesting tidbits about the potential source of the alleged homemade items on the “Three Bird Nest” store. Although the article speaks of the “Three Bird Nest” storeowner hiring models and extra employees to handle the workload, it doesn’t mention Alibaba. However, a top commenter does.

“What blows my mind is that I just went on Alibaba and looked up leg warmers. Not only is she selling the same products, but she’s even using their photos!!! Wow, I’m glad I never fell for this b.s. I mean how can you feel ok about buying wholesale at.99 – 2.99 and reselling at over $30. Good for her for making a living for her family, but shame on Etsy for allowing this to happen. Fraudulent. Fraudulent. Someone needs to create a new site where it’s crafters only again.”

Indeed, a search for an item such as a wholesale lace knit crochet leg warms and boot cuffs on Alibaba turns up an image, that when searched for using Google Images results in a page that lists fashion boot cuffs from the “Three Bird Nest” Etsy store, which means either the Alibaba seller could be using the “Three Bird Nest” images, or vice versa. And the “vice versa” potential is what’s angering Etsy sellers who adhere to the handmade edict and causing them to call foul on “Three Bird Nest,” or other Etsy sellers they allege are buying Alibaba items wholesale and selling them via Etsy.

Articles like “How Etsy Alienated Its Crafters and Lost Its Soul” from Wired News are also popping up online in the midst of the “Three Bird Nest” Etsy brouhaha, with former Etsy sellers explaining why they terminated their own Etsy stores. Not everyone is angered by the success of the “Three Bird Nest” Etsy store. Instead, some readers are using the controversy to examine how to spend approximately $300 on Alibaba for a minimum order of 100 boot cuffs and turn around and sell those same 100 boot cuffs for $3,200 — or $32 each — gaining nearly $3,000 of profit in the meantime. Like the sharks on Shark Tank would say, that’s a hell of a markup.

[Image via “Three Bird Next” Etsy store]