Etsy boss Chad Dickerson says the company is in no rush to IPO

Etsy distinguishes itself from competitors like eBay and Amazon because the site is focused on community, says the man charged with growing the ecommerce site.

Another thing that separates the company from its larger peers is that it won’t be going public anytime soon, he says.

Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson was on BNN’s “The Street” today to talk about the booming company, which some suspect may join the recent tech IPO wave.

Dickerson says he functions more like a mayor than a CEO, noting that he is in Toronto to meet with 31 key sellers for the vintage and handmade items marketplace. The company’s culture, he suggests is vastly different from its larger competitors who might be looking to craft a piece of the market for themselves.

“We see Etsy as being really different from Amazon or eBay,” said Dickerson. “The real distinction is that when you buy on Etsy you buy from a person…it’s a very personal marketplace and that’s what makes us different from those traditional incumbents.”

Etsy currently has 40-million customers and one million sellers. The site grossed $1.35-billion in merchandise sales last year.

Etsy makes the bulk of its money by charging 3.5% per sale and a twenty cent listing fee. The company has not disclosed its revenue numbers, but Dickerson says it grew by 50% last year. He recently told Business Insider last year that the company has been profitable since 2009.

With regards to an IPO, Dickerson says it is not on the agenda this year. “We’re definitely the kind of company that could go public, but we’re not in a rush,” he said.

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