Witchcraft Is Big Business On Etsy

Forbes

Despite a near decade-long ban on the sale of “metaphysical services,” the $6 billion arts and crafts e-commerce platform hosts thousands of spells promising everything from untold wealth to cures for chronic depression — modern day snake oil sold as “entertainment.”  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/09/15/witchcraft-is-big-business-on-etsy/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, Witchcraft is big business on Etsy

00:06In 2021, Nick the Alchemist started selling magical spells on Etsy.

00:12For just a few dollars each, he offers spells for pet protection, quick money, and overcoming

00:18fear and emblems known as sigils to confuse your enemies, attract women, or become a quote

00:24famous influencer.

00:27Most of his dozens of spells have been rated 5 stars by apparently happy customers.

00:33Since then, he says he's made about $100,000, enough to help him quit his job as a stocker

00:38at Lowe's in Michigan, where he lives.

00:41The 28-year-old entrepreneur said, quote, I've always been drawn to entrepreneurship,

00:46but I've been attracted to metaphysics and spirituality, so I just put those two things

00:50together.

00:51Before my Etsy, I tried a lot of things, dropshipping, writing articles, creating websites, nothing

00:57stuck until the Etsy shop.

01:01For almost a decade, Etsy has been a showcase for handcrafted, one-of-a-kind items, generating

01:06$307 million in profit last year from 9 million sellers.

01:11Its selection is as vast as the human imagination, featuring everything from tea cozies to quote

01:17human face pies.

01:19But alongside the custom pet portraiture and six-foot plush giant squids are listings for

01:24something the platform has banned for nearly a decade, magical spells.

01:30Sellers like Nick the Alchemist offer thousands of them, such as, quoting, Extreme Millionaire

01:35Lotto Spell for $13.13, Best Death Spell for $60.87, 14th Dimensional Master Energy for

01:45$365.01, Wonderful Holiday with Family Spell for $19.00, and Child Athlete Spell for $11.95.

01:56Etsy does not break out witchcraft and wizardry in its quarterly financials, but interviews

02:01with people who claim to practice it and some rough math suggest the platform has facilitated

02:06millions of dollars in spell sales.

02:09Etsy's own public data shows that some of its most popular spell sellers, who boast

02:13hundreds of offerings and thousands of largely five-star reviews, have made hundreds of thousands

02:18of dollars on tens of thousands of sales.

02:22Etsy did not respond to multiple detailed requests for comment on its policies, buyer

02:26protections, moderation practices, and witchcraft and wizardry sales numbers.

02:32It's worth noting that Etsy's rivals don't appear to struggle as much with so-called

02:35metaphysical services sellers.

02:38It's almost impossible to find spell listings on Amazon, though the company does host listings

02:43for materials associated with magic.

02:46And while eBay has a few, it appears to be orders of magnitude less than Etsy.

02:51eBay spokesperson Scott Overland told Forbes,

02:54Our intangible items policy prohibits the sale of items or things that buyers can't

02:59track or confirm they have received, including spells, souls, or ghosts.

03:06There is currently no scientific proof that magic exists.

03:09Danny Biddle, the chief investigator for the Center of Inquiry, an organization devoted

03:14to defending science, said,

03:17This is snake oil, modern-day snake oil.

03:20There is no evidence whatsoever that any of these things work.

03:23It's no different than prayer or thoughts or well-wishes.

03:28Charles McCrary, a professor of religious studies at Eckerd College in Florida, told

03:33Forbes that most spells marketed on Etsy feature a disclaimer noting they are offered for entertainment

03:39purposes only, which provide them legal protection in most states.

03:43But it's hard not to view them as deceptions, especially when Etsy exempts them from the

03:48platform's mediation system.

03:50The platform says,

03:52Orders that do not provide expected results cannot be mediated through Etsy's case system,

03:56should concerns arise.

03:59Many sellers won't do refunds either.

04:03It's an understatement to say that Etsy, a company with a market capitalization of over

04:07$6 billion, has historically struggled to moderate its website.

04:11It has been caught hosting deepfake pornography of female celebrities, counterfeit and mass-produced

04:16goods, and AI-generated tripe.

04:20Since 2015, Etsy officially has explicitly forbidden the sale of, quote, metaphysical

04:24services, which includes prayers and also, quote, spellcasting, or, quote, items with

04:30a metaphysical outcome, for example, attracting wealth, love, gambling luck, more business,

04:36employment opportunities, or assistance with legal or relationship situations.

04:41Yet a cursory search for any one of those terms, and others like them, returns at least

04:4620 pages of results.

04:49For full coverage, check out Cyrus Farivar's piece on Forbes.com.

04:55This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:57Thanks for tuning in.

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