Changes chatter Handmade Rambling and handmade lip balm on a pig

Sometimes you will find yourself leaving a certain place and then later on you might find yourself back there in that place you once were certain you simply didn't belong at one point in time .  But you went back because you missed it or missed something about it or perhaps the people there..... and then..... what if you consider or even find yourself leaving that place once again. ????
What does that say about change. ????  I often feel that sometimes change tends to mow down the most unsuspecting of people.  And it follows up with backing over the people who never even knew what hit them in the first place.
Some people will feel the old "Screw me once shame on you.... screw me twice shame on me".... and yet others might feel like "Hey screw me all you want as long as it is worth my time" 
We all have different stories.... yes indeedy we do.
This "hand made" situation..... has recently been discussed a bunch by so many people that are from all over the rainbow in this colorful land of selling our on-line wares. And it is a very interesting discussion and yes there is a lot of speculation involved in this recent "transparency" change thing/collectively handmade/redefining your own dictionary/ deal.
I see many vintage sellers saying things like "I don't sell in that category so I don't see how this really affects me..... but so sorry for those it does have an effect on. " And what I would like to say to this opinion is that anyone who currently feels this way should perhaps simply go to eBay and do a search for let's say "Vintage rings" (for one example)..... and there are currently 167,000 + items when I just did that search and believe you me...... they are not all vintage rings :)
A site that welcomes big box sellers and big resellers....soon becomes inundated with sellers who will list things and not mind "fluffing" the title so that their items will be found.
There are those who will say "experienced" buyers will know the difference.  But some would say that you should be able to have some sort of "faith" that the item listed and categorized will be in it's proper place.... and a successful venue should be able to have some sort of control over said such thing.
Also....I would like to say that here is another thing I have been thinking about.   Okay.... just as an example of how some people say "Experienced buyers will be able to seek and find true handmade items".... I buy a lot of things on line and here is just one recent example of how I think I got somehow "bamboozled" in comparing one so called "hand made" item against another.
So there is a certain cupcake in one of the forums who is constantly popping in and saying how great the venue is la la la la la.  No worries cuz everyone deserves their "Happy" right?  Okay.... so I order a couple of her products and get them and am really happy and thinking how professional these are compared to some of the other "hand made" same type of things that I have purchased.  Then I later find out the "rumors"... some are stating that this seller actually buys the items pre-made and they are U.P.S.'d to her doorstep and she simply puts a label on the product calls it her own hand made product and then carries on the facade of being a stay at home mom busily home schooling the kids whilst stirring up pots of her hand made stuff. Since this new "definition" of hand made I have seen her make some sort of vague statements that if she "thinks" up a formula that she indeed is the one who "hand made" it.  And I would hardly think that ordering something from a company and saying "I would like 50 of those in peppermint flavor" would really be "hand making" anything even if you did put your own label on it before shipping it out.  But to each it's own.... it is what it is and at least now if these "rumors" are true she can stop fibbing about making all of this stuff herself and at least start calling her shop a "collective". 
My point is had I known that she was not making this stuff herself..... I would have thought that the products I purchased from the sellers who actually did hand make them were far FAR superior to hers.  Thus in my opinion if you put Chapstick on a pig you can indeed call it "Chapstick on a pig ".... but you certainly can not call it "hand made lip balm on a pig".   And to me there was absolutely no transparency on my purchase of this sellers' items BEFORE this new definition of handmade came about.  She was already lying about hand making the stuff and had no qualms whatsoever about it so of course she is gonna hop on that band wagon of how great these changes are for everyone.
And some are saying that if this certain venue would only create some sort of category such as "made by 2 hands" vs. "made by many hands"... yada yada that things would just be so much more transparent.  And I would simply beg to differ.  Number 1---- the reason these big box sellers are going to want to be on this "hand made" venue is the selling point that they can capture the "handmade buying" audience.  Number 2---- the ones who have already been lying about their product being handmade or actual vintage when they are in fact~~ HELLO???~~ neither.... will still keep lying and putting their things in whatever category that they think they can make the most sales and money in. And now that the site is embracing the "new handmade kind of peeps"... you can bet your sweet cookie that these categories are gonna be inundated with new types of shops who were once maybe "kind of sort of policed"
Sooo...the last time I looked.... to me at least...
"hand made" is a singular term.... meaning one set of hands~~~~
perhaps "hands made" could mean a collective or a sweat shop or whatever~~~ and certainly "thinking" of  "hand making" an item never really meant that I in fact "hand made " the dad gum thing. In my case it only meant that I hadn't yet gotten off of my arse and made the dad gum thing and yep I might have drawn it on paper in case I some day forgot about my idea..... but all it meant and still means to me is that I haven't made it yet.  If it is in my head or on paper... yes that would indeed tell ya'll that "Hello cruel world... I ain't had time to make it or break it yet. "  hee-hee  
And any site that does not "reveal" what is really going on or at least have a certain amount of transparency probably does not deserve me as a repeat buyer.
Even though I will say it again..... there are certainly many many wonderful hand made Artisans on that venue who do deserve to have many many sales and only time will tell how this whole thing plays out.  I hope they all get their Happy.... but I am kind of thinking that whoever can invent the next big "bubble necklace"  for less than $2 with free shipping is probably gonna be the next big thing over there in that "place to buy and sale all things hand made" land

#chapstickonapig #transparency #handmade #supporthandmade #changes #massproduceditems #gotbubblenecklaces?