Why do you say that, just because things sold by Etsy merchants aren't sufficiently substitutable for each other?
I think Etsy sellers are certainly less in competition with each other than say, idk, oil sellers, but I do think there is some degree of substitution between the kinds of things sold on Etsy, and so to a degree they are competitors.
> etsy is not 'the market'
So? It's a significant part of the market. A cartel influencing just one seller doesn't necessarily make it not-a-cartel.
> sellers have not agreed anything to each other
Have they not? Isn't that the whole point of the strike? Communicating to other sellers "hey how about we all do this thing together? if only a few of us do it nothing will happen, but if all of us do it we can influence Etsy".
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If you replace the many small Etsy sellers with a smaller number of larger sellers, this starts to look very much like a cartel "bullying" a buyer. Like OPEC refusing to sell to the US unless they abide by certain policies, or something.
Like GP I don't think this is bad or anything, but it's interesting to note that cartels and strikes are kinda similar in shape, and it's more "sliding" properties (how many sellers? how big are they? how strong is the competition between them?) that differentiate them.
I think they are obviously very substitutable And surely many of them are selling elsewhere and consumers aren't being forced to pay more. there doesn't seem to be a conspiracy behind it, this is a very public petition , like boycotting russia . It would be quite a stretch if this falls anywhere near anticompetitive. What's next, banning uber drivers from boycotts?
