Sorry to hear you’ve experienced some of the virtiol of idiots and social misfits in forums. I, too, have experienced such negativity on posts I’ve made in public forums that was totally uncalled for. All I can offer you is to learn to ignore posts by such individuals as they have nothing constructive to offer society and don’t let them win by staying away. That behaviour has been going on since the early days of public electronic forums (late 70s - early 80s) and those individuals get their kicks by trolling others since they have no social lives themselves. Hopefully you’ll find that the greatest majority of users are decent human beings who collectively have a great deal to offer you.
I don’t sell on Etsy, but I do sell on eBay (Apple2OnlineStore) and their fees are 13.5% of the price of the item + 13.5% of S&H + 13.5% of state sales tax. As a result of the mathemagics of compounding interest, for the overall average price of goods we sell, it results in a 18%-26% increase to the customer. (That’s a far cry from the 13.5% they advertise.) It is the consumer who eats those fees. And yes, the less expensive items have a greater cost overhead due to fixed transaction prices.
Seems to me that all of these platforms for selling wind up costing the sellers (who in turn pass along the costs to their customers) 20%-30% depending on the cost of the item for sale. We wind up driving new customers we get via eBay to our webstore, hosted on eBluejay.com, which has absolutely no fees. You need to evaluate the cost of the platform vs the benefits you receive in terms of exposure to new customers. Depending upon your customer audience, you might find a combo of large fee platform(s) coupled with small no-fee platforms in order to maximize your profits.
I just looked at the selling format you mentioned! Looks too good to be true! Can I ask how the sales taxes are handled? Collecting and paying the sales from the many different city, state and county rates is what keeps me from selling on my website!