Etsy went public as a certified B Corporation, a status almost no public company held. It ran a marketplace for things made by hand. Knitters, jewelers, potters and vintage sellers set up shops, and buyers came looking for items they could not find in big stores. The company stood out for its focus on its sellers and its social mission. It filed to go public in 2015, ten years after it started in Brooklyn.

A Craftsman Versus eBay

Rob Kalin started Etsy in Brooklyn in 2005 with Chris Maguire and Haim Schoppik, and Jared Tarbell soon joined. Kalin was a craftsman, and he saw that eBay served makers poorly. His bet was that handmade goods deserved their own market, with a warmer feel and lower fees. Etsy grew slowly at first. Then millions of sellers joined, and it grew fast.

Face Masks, Then the NYSE

Etsy priced at $16 a share in April 2015 and jumped on its first day. The stock then fell as growth slowed and new leaders cut costs. Josh Silverman led much of the turnaround. Etsy later dropped its B Corp status. Sales boomed in 2020 when sellers made face masks during the pandemic. In October 2025 Etsy moved its stock listing from Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange.

Cover: Marguerite at the Spinning Wheel, Eugène Delacroix. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a woman at the spinning wheel (handcraft).