A model with a handmade necklace from Etsy's website. Etsy blog Etsy is facing challenges as it never has before.

The artisan marketplace's shares have declined 43% since the company went public in April.

Even though Etsy is the fifth-most-visited marketplace in the world, after Amazon, eBay, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart, analysts at Wedbush fear it is slipping.

Here are the biggest issues plaguing the brand.

1. Etsy is losing money.

"When Etsy disclosed its first earnings report last week, it showed a quarterly loss of $36.5 million — which it attributed to corporate restructuring and adverse currency-exchange rates — compared to a loss of $463,000 in 2014," Jenni Avins at Quartz writes.

Etsy argues that it is pouring cash into investments.

2. Amazon is building a huge competitor

The online-retailing behemoth Amazon is targeting Etsy, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Amazon is contacting top Etsy sellers via Facebook and email and inviting them to try its "Handmade" site, which seems to offer similar categories to those of Etsy.

"The invite points to a questionnaire on Amazon's site that asks sellers which primary product category they fall under, listing 11 general subjects such as apparel, baby, and pet supplies," The Journal reports. "The poll lists subcategories for jewelry and home and kitchen in particular."

3. Counterfeit goods are running rampant

Analysts say counterfeit goods are bringing down the business and causing quality sellers to flee the store.

One seller, Grace Dobush, started selling handmade cards and journals on the site in 2006, shortly after Etsy opened, she writes in an essay on Wired.

But now she says Etsy has "alienated" the crafting community by allowing people to sell cheap wholesale goods purchased from countries like India and China.

As a result, crafters are increasingly moving to other platforms, such as Shopify.

While Etsy started as a way for artisans to reach a broader market, it has become too big to scale, she writes.

"In practical terms, scaling the handmade economy is an impossibility," Dobush writes. "So while Etsy maintains a hipster facade, they lost their indie cred years ago."

Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson defended the company's practices on a conference call with analysts.

"We strive for a balanced approach that takes into account the interest of our sellers and IP owners, and we believe it is working," he said. "We at Etsy partner with major brands to address the problem of infringing articles. In fact, we are often accused of being too aggressive in taking down material posted by sellers."