‘Keeping Commerce Human’ – Exclusive Interview with Etsy CEO on Operations in Ukraine

While some businesses were hesitant to continue operations in Ukraine in 2022, online marketplace Etsy saw a need beyond mere numbers.

“At a time when it’s never been more important, people from all over the world can find ways to come together instead of being torn apart,” Etsy CEO Josh Silverman told Kyiv Post CEO Luc Chénier on the sidelines of Web Summit 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal.

During the exclusive interview, Silverman noted the resilience of Ukrainian sellers and how the Ukrainian government, postal service and Etsy worked hand-in-hand to maintain business continuity while supporting Ukraine and its people.

Silverman also has a message for those in Ukraine and around the world:

Etsy’s operations in Ukraine

Luc Chénier: Why is Ukraine important to Etsy considering all the challenges happening in the country? And considering the obstacles one would expect to be associated with selling and shipping with a country at war?

Josh Silverman: Etsy’s mission is to keep commerce human with about seven million sellers and over 91 million buyers from all over the world, with $12 billion of trade. We’re really proud of the fact that as a global marketplace, we can really bring together people.

At a time when it’s never been more important, people from all over the world can find ways to come together instead of being torn apart. We at Etsy have been so blown away by the resilience of the more than 40,000 sellers in Ukraine, along with the beautiful unique crafts that they make and sell to the world. It’s nothing short of amazing.

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Even before the war, we had a good number of sellers, but we’ve added about 14,000 new sellers in the past year since we opened our app payments platform to allow more opportunities for Ukrainians to sell their creations.

I have to point out that the Ukrainian government was very proactive in trying to get Etsy working better for Ukrainians. Your Deputy Minister [Mykhailo Fedorov] reached out to me personally to see if there was anything the Ukrainian government could do to make the Etsy process easier so that Ukrainian sellers would not be hindered in these critical times of war.

Supporting Ukraine

Luc Chénier: Do you find that many of the buyers are also buying products from Ukraine not only because of their uniqueness, but also as their way of specifically helping Ukrainians in these challenging times to make sure money goes directly into their pockets?

Josh Silverman: I’m going to speak personally first. We have many dishes and plates that are simply beautiful in my house that we had bought from a very talented and creative Ukrainian seller. When the war broke out, I came home to my wife and said that we needed to contact that seller and buy more dishes to support him. My wife said, “Oh funny you should say that because at 8 o’clock this morning, I already did that.”

But as a company, we were worried that sellers in Ukraine wouldn’t be able to ship products, and so the first thing we did when the war broke out was waiving all fees, all balances for sellers, which was about $4 million in fees that were owed to Etsy, and we viewed it as donating those $4 million to what we believe would go to a great [cause] because we knew that [Ukraine] needed us and all the help [it] could get.

We then proceeded to support Ukrainians further by letting them sell digital products. We saw large numbers of buyers come to Etsy, wanting to support Ukraine, where they would buy a digital download of a Ukrainian flag for maybe $20, and it was just a way to give $20 to someone in Ukraine. It was wonderful and we saw millions of dollars of sales [from] people just wanting to support Ukraine.

That may be surprising to many – maybe not to myself – because I believe that most humans are good and caring when the right moment and cause arise.

I would like to specifically point out just how great the Ukrainian postal service did at continuing to ship. I mean talk about heroes! [The people] at the Ukrainian postal service are heroes and we were blown away that these Etsy sellers in Ukraine were able to continue to ship products every day to buyers around the world without interrupting the flow of goods, even under such hard circumstances.

Luc Chénier: If you don’t mind, I’m very good friends with Igor Smelyansky, CEO of Ukrposhta and I will make sure he knows about your compliment on their service. It might surprise some that with the war, no flights happening in Ukraine, etc. Ukrposhta was recently rated number four in the world on delivery and time … and all this during a full-scale invasion!

‘ETSY is our major partner’ – Ukrposhta CEO

Kyiv Post also reached out to Ukrposhta CEO Igor Smelyansky about Etsy’s operations, to which Smelyansky voiced his gratitude for Etsy’s support for wartime Ukraine.

“Etsy is our major partner, and there are over 1.3 million Ukrainian-made stock-keeping units (SKUs) on Etsy, supporting thousands of Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their families.

“And we want to thank the entire Etsy team who had been with us from the first days of this full-scale war, helping to navigate through all the constantly changing conditions, yet maintaining solid business volume so needed for our businesses, many of whom are located near war [zones], such as Kharkiv, Donetsk region, Mykolaiv,” Smelyansky told Kyiv Post.

According to infographics from Ukrposhta, there are more Ukrainian stores on Etsy’s marketplace than on eBay. Ukrposhta also hosts webinars and live events for locals on how to conduct business on online marketplaces such as Etsy and Amazon.

On differentiating authentic sellers and products

Luc Chénier: How does Etsy differentiate authentic sellers from imposters?

Josh Silverman: We spent about $50 million in the past year just policing our marketplace, to make sure that the items that are on our marketplace belong on our marketplace and artificial intelligence is really helping us to be able to look at an item and say – for example, does this same image exist on a site that sells mass-produced products? Because if so, it probably doesn’t comply with Etsy’s policies and we just take it down automatically, so we’re using a lot of technology – plus we have hundreds of people who are looking at the items on Etsy to make sure they comply [with our policies].

Luc Chénier: We’ve had a huge problem in Ukraine, where there are a lot of people selling products on the pretext of raising money for Ukraine, but in reality, they are simply scamming people in order to “raise money” for themselves. Do you feel that there’s a responsibility on Etsy to police them somehow?

Josh Silverman: We do verify our sellers, and so we need proof of identification, proof of bank account and proof of location – so when we say that this item is coming from Ukraine, we know where that seller is located in Ukraine. We do list the location of the seller so as to let people know if the seller is located in Austin, Texas or the seller is located in Kyiv.

Message for Ukraine

Luc Chénier: Any last words to your Ukrainian sellers and the global diaspora and refugees who are using Etsy or thinking about it?

Josh Silverman: We at Etsy are so impressed with the creativity and craftsmanship of the Ukrainian people, who have such a long history of making amazing creations, and also the resilience of the Ukrainian people themselves.

And of course, a big shout out to the postal service of Ukraine for their great services. We are just blown away by the resilience of the Ukrainian people. We’re really proud to be able to play a role in helping to support them and to be a global platform for the Ukrainian diaspora and its displaced refugees as well.

We are amazed at the support from the millions of other people around the world who just care about what’s happening in Ukraine by buying products from Ukrainians. We are really humbled and proud to be playing a role in supporting Ukrainians in these challenging times.

Luc Chénier: So, in a sense, if anyone says “What can I do to help Ukraine?” You can donate, of course, but also by simply buying a product from a Ukrainian seller, and the money goes directly into their hands and the buyer gets a piece of Ukraine and its culture.

Josh Silverman: 100% agree! Slava Ukraini!