Field Notes from the Handmade Underworld: Holiday Edition

I was just working on my own product page when Etsy suggested a “You may also like…” item — a reversible basketball jersey. My territory. My niche. My exact product category.
So I clicked.

And what I saw was… familiar.

A shop that mostly sells Disney clip‑art shirts was suddenly offering custom reversible basketball jerseys — for half of what mine list for. 

But then something else caught my eye.

I scrolled down and under their listing, Etsy suggested “You may also like” items.
And wouldn’t you know it?

Four of them looked nearly identical.
Same stock model.
Same badly rendered, off‑center, crooked “customization” mockups slapped on top like someone used Microsoft Paint with a shaky mouse hand.

So I dug deeper.
(Meaning: I clicked the links.)

And what did I find?

Four shops, all running Christmas sales on January 4th, all selling the same reversible basketball jersey, all using the same clip art on the same long‑blonde‑haired model.
And except for one shop, the owner photos were all women named Amy, Ashley, and Amanda — all with long dark hair. Apparently “brunette or redhead with a soft smile” is the default setting for Etsy’s version of a sharp, savvy businesswoman “just trying to make it in a man’s world.” Either that, or Walmart has some empty picture frames somewhere.

This is a pattern I’ve been documenting for a while now — what I call Shadow Shell Shops.

Three of these shops (the A‑names) opened about a year and a half ago. The fourth claims it opened a year earlier, but that’s almost certainly because it was an older U.S. account that got rented or repurposed. These networks often start with one “anchor” account and then spin up additional shells around it.

How the scheme works

• A factory or overseas operator acquires or rents U.S. Etsy accounts
• They offer a small commission around 7% of gross
  
• They use stock photos for the “owner”
• They clone listings across multiple shops to dominate search results
• They check every box Etsy wants to see — fast replies, fast shipping, “handmade,” personalization, the whole checklist
• They start with clip art stores and then if it is successful, they migrate to selling products.
• Some are drop shipped from POD suppliers in the US, others from their own factories.
• They upload hundreds of mass‑produced items and mark them as “handmade”
• Because each shop looks like a different “small business,” Etsy’s system treats them as separate, legitimate sellers who pay all the taxes and file all the "legal paperwork"
  

A Closer Lens to Find Authenticity

And once you see that final piece, the only question left is whether any of these listings are actually unique. So let’s test that.

Most devices — phones, tablets, desktops — already have visual search tools built in. Google Lens is the easiest: right‑click any listing photo and hit the camera icon, or tap and hold on mobile to “Search with Google Lens.” In seconds, you’ll see where else that exact image appears online.

Take the example shown here: one football bow design appears across multiple Etsy shops and clip‑art sites — sold as print transfers, mockups, and finished shirts. The same graphic shows up in listings from all four stores pictured, plus dozens more. That’s not coincidence. That’s a network.

Which begs the real question:
If Etsy’s AI is smart enough to match photos and show buyers cheap copies of my work — right on my own product page —

• why can’t it identify identical listings across these Shadow Shell Shops?
• Why doesn’t it suppress them in search?
• Why doesn’t it flag the duplication?
• Why doesn’t it recognize that four shops selling the same jersey, with the same mockup and the same model, aren’t four independent makers?

Instead, Etsy boosts them.
On sellers’ product pages.
As “You may also like…”

And if it’s this easy for me — with nothing more than Google Lens and my fingertips — to detect shadowy shell stores, why does Etsy allow this?

Let’s look at the numbers.

Across just four of these shops, there are 3,387 sales in the last 30 days and 1,976 active listings. Three of them have been around for about a year and a half; one has been operating for nearly three years. Not one lists a production partner or any shop helpers. 

There’s nothing wrong with making money on Etsy — that’s the whole point of the platform. But when a shop is moving this much volume, with this many listings, and discloses zero information about how that work is produced, it raises real questions. At this scale, transparency isn’t optional. It’s required by the INFORMS Act law, by Etsy policy, and by basic fairness to the independent makers who actually follow the rules.

All four of these stores claim to be in Houston, Texas. Only two list a business registration number — both vague, both incomplete. The other two? Nothing. No transparency. No accountability. No traceable business entity at all. 

To put it in perspective: these 4 shops have sold more in a single quarter, than I’ve sold in ten years. That kind of output doesn’t happen without a production pipeline — and yet none is disclosed. By law if you hit $5000 in sales OR 200 transactions you must register with the INFORMS act.

So how exactly are Amy, Amanda, Ashley, and “Shop Lady” managing all this?

Breaking the Script

I messaged all four shops from their product pages.

All I asked was the most basic buyer question in the world:

“What brand of jerseys do you use, and do you print them yourselves?”

Here’s what I got back:

• Amy from Teetrendunited — “checking the details”

• Amanda from Teerealmus — confidently claimed they print everything themselves

• Ashley from Singleladytee — thanked me for reaching out

• Teeshirtfactoryusa — cheerful wave emoji and a promise to respond soon

Four shops. Four scripts. Four versions of the same canned greeting.

And then... Nothing... Crickets.

• Not one answered my follow up questions.
• Not one could name a jersey brand.
• Not one could confirm they print anything themselves.

Apparently a basic question any real maker could answer was enough to send the entire network into witness protection.

They hit “reply” within 24 hours to protect their Star Seller communication rating — and then vanished. Box checked. Script complete.

Meanwhile, real makers get buried in search results by a coordinated cluster of Shadow Shell Shops all pretending to be different people.

Four shops. Four identities. One product. Zero transparency.

The Investigation Continues

This isn’t about competition.
It’s about clarity, honesty, and the basic expectation that “handmade” should mean something.

If you’re a maker: keep documenting.
If you’re a buyer: ask questions.

And if you’re Etsy: perhaps take a deeper look between the lines.
Use your AI for good.
Bring humans back into the process.
Enforce your own rules.
Use the tools you already have to protect the people who actually make things.

And honestly — if you need help figuring out what’s going on in your own marketplace…
heck, hire me.

Author’s Note
This investigation is part of my ongoing work documenting Shadow Shell Shops and the systems that enable them. If it helped you see the marketplace more clearly, good. If it made you ask questions, even better.

— James