I look for independent artists and craftspeople. I recent bought a pack of sci-fi posters for my apartment from an artists who designs it herself and who has an independent reputation.

My goal has now shifted to identify the thinnest intermediary between my dollars and the person doing the labor for the product/service I'm paying for.

Etsy suffers from the same review astroturfing and product category crowding that Amazon does, but the product categories tend to be narrower so it's never quite as bad.

Etsy is certainly _bad_, but getting to Amazon levels is a whole other animal.

It depends what you are looking for. I find small batch or custom made items from small businesses.

Recently a nice wooden piece from a shop in Germany and an address sign for my yard from some place in the Midwest.

For some things you do see endless shops selling cheap Chinese imports.

Etsy is even worse for sponsored ads, way worse.

I'm not the GP but I bought a wooden lapdesk on Etsy that I use every day.