When Courtney Zarkos found out Etsy would be raising its transaction fee from 3.5 to 5 percent and charging a 5 percent fee on shipping, effective July 16, she was angry.

Under the shop name The Brass Laurel, the Groton resident has hundreds of vintage items – a lighter shaped like a payphone, a Poseidon mug, woven oxford shoes – for sale on the online marketplace, where individual sellers list their handmade and vintage wares. This is in addition to her full-time job at Darlington Fabrics in Westerly.

"I feel like it's stopping a lot of sellers before they even had a chance," said Zarkos, 29. So she started a petition, which now has more than 2,600 signatures.

One signer from Connecticut wrote that artists and crafters are responsible for too many costs as is. One said the move will lead to the loss of Etsy sellers. Another said the company is taking advantage of small shops that "still work from the kitchen table."

Etsy, which has nearly 2 million sellers, announced the changes in a blog post on June 14. The changes also include introducing optional monthly packages for tools to help sellers grow their businesses.

"We're planning to invest even more in bringing buyers to Etsy, building seller tools, and improving your seller experience," the post read.

Etsy said it invested $78 million in marketing in 2017 but plans to increase that to $110 million this year. And when Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman's crafting competition show "Making It" starts airing on NBC this summer, Etsy will air its first national television ads.

Etsy's categories include jewelry and accessories, clothing and shoes, home and living, wedding and party, toys and entertainment, art and collectibles, craft supplies and tools, and vintage items.

Matt Beaudoin, owner of Mystic Knotwork, hopes that Etsy can put the money from the increased fees to good use.

"If they don't capitalize on it and they don't actually use it to fight back against Amazon, we may be looking at the end of Etsy," he surmised.

Beaudoin said the increased overhead for him won't be "earth-shattering," but unlike many Etsy businesses, Mystic Knotwork isn't a one-person show operating as a side hustle out of someone's home.

Beaudoin opened a second store last June, is seeing sales up 40 percent year over year, and has found that Amazon sales have outpaced website sales.

At the same time, he said that his sales on Etsy – of which there are more than 13,000 to date – are down about 30 percent year over year.

Beaudoin noted that while Amazon puts best-selling items at the top of search results, Etsy "wants to make the entry-level businesses successful, or at least appear to be successful," so its spreads top search results among more sellers.

That's great for the smaller sellers but not for him. But Beaudoin noted it would be "foolish" for him not to continue selling on Etsy, partially because the cost of entry is so low.

He added, "There's too much support in the indie-artist, kind of boho seller world to let it actually go away."

Jessica Eveleigh, owner of the Colchester-based soap company Treefort Naturals, operates on a scale between Zarkos and Beaudoin: This is her full-time business, but it's just her and one assistant.

"It's definitely a big bummer, and it's more than just a little increase," she said of the changes. Eveleigh said about 15 percent of her retail sales come from Etsy.

"I don't want to abandon Etsy because it's worked really well for me for the past six years," she said, "but that money's going to have to be made up somewhere, and I really don't want to have to pass it on to my customers."

Of greater concern to Eveleigh is the looming closure of Etsy Wholesale. She is considering beefing up her website and setting up her own wholesale platform.

Eveleigh hopes that Etsy's changes involve getting "back to the basics about where Etsy started" in 2005. She hopes that Etsy will renew its focus on handmade items and weed out those who are shipping products from overseas.

e.moser@theday.com