Etsy sellers worldwide are upset with Etsy “demanding” free shipping for orders which has become table stakes to compete in the ecommerce world. Although there truly is no free shipping and the cost is likely built into the price of the item, the overwhelming majority of Etsy sellers are businesses of one.

Seventy-seven percent of Etsy’s sellers are businesses of one, and 28 percent live in rural areas, isolated from the urban centers where makers can organize to sell together and where many of the customers for higher-priced handmade goods live. For some, it’s not even solely about money but about validation of their art: knowing that someone out there doesn’t think what they do is worthless.

Not only does Etsy need free shipping to compete against the larger marketplaces of Amazon, Walmart and eBay but Etsy also has to make shareholders happy. How does the stock price continue to rise? More and more sales volume or Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) needs to flow through the marketplace. Therein lies the problem. If Etsy brings on larger brands, further alienation of the 77% Etsy sellers of one is bound to happen. Other initiative such as advertising and postage sales will help but largely won’t move the GMV which for marketplaces is the top metric of growth.

So where does Etsy go from here? I can’t see how Etsy doesn’t continue to recruit and drive larger sellers as ultimately the shareholder demands will win out. Etsy’s ability to focus on smaller artisans ended the day Etsy went public and took on a new stakeholder group to appease investors.