Shopping on Etsy Sucks Now
Slate Technology
Slate
4.6 • 636 Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by senior reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek, Amanda Mull, to talk about how the enshittification of online shopping came for Etsy. The platform used to be a thoughtful reprieve from the cheap, mass-produced products on Amazon, but now it’s plagued by a number of the same problems. With cheap junk and AI allegations abound, where can the Shein and Temu-haters go to actually find what they’re shopping for?
This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This festive season of McDonald's... |
| 0:01.7 | Get... |
| 0:02.0 | Grinched deals every day. |
| 0:03.0 | Okay, okay. With a sausage sandwich for just... Let's see. Nine and MP? Six chigger mcnuggets for just... Nine and ap. Fine. Get Grinch deals every day in the McDonald's app. 18 plus app only ends 24th of December. One use per offer. Fees apply to delivery. Participation varies. Please and Cs apply. Ready to launch your business? |
| 0:21.7 | Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs. |
| 0:24.9 | Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business with easy |
| 0:29.7 | customizable themes that let you build your brand, marketing tools that get your products out |
| 0:34.3 | there. |
| 0:34.8 | Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time. |
| 0:37.5 | From startups to scale ups, online-person, and on the go. |
| 0:42.1 | Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. |
| 0:44.5 | Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. |
| 0:48.6 | Thank you. Hey, I'm Kate Lindsay, and you're listening to I-C-Y-M-I, or in case you missed it, Slate's podcast about internet culture. |
| 1:11.6 | And today we're welcoming back to the show, culture writer Amanda Mull. |
| 1:16.6 | Hello Amanda. |
| 1:18.6 | Hi, nice to be here. |
| 1:19.6 | It's so good to have you on this absolutely freezing day. |
| 1:22.6 | We both just barely made it here. |
| 1:24.6 | But Amanda is a senior reporter at Bloomberg Business Week. |
| 1:28.5 | She writes about consumer culture. |
| 1:30.2 | Previously, she was a staff writer at The Atlantic and has written some of my favorite |
| 1:34.7 | pieces, including the HGTV Occasion of America, your sweaters are garbage, it's too easy |
... |
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