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Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.
Maybe Etsy should have “marketed” to disgruntled eBay sellers, many looking for a place to sell vintage goods. I buy on Etsy and the changes they have made lately have me buying much less. They took away the ability for me to easily save an item to a list. Now I have to “Heart” it first, add it to a list from a pull down menu, go back and “Unheart” it. Ridiculous – I think I counted 6 clicks where it was 1 or 2 before. Supposedly a test that has been going on since February with many complaints.Pages littered with “Promoted” items. (Don’t they get it? I hardly ever look at Etsy or eBay “Promoted” ’cause all that says to me is the seller pays more, so the buyer pays more. No thanks) I used to buy a decent chunk on Etsy but as a buyer unhappy with the changes they have made, I consider them as heading in the same direction as eBay – higher fees, do not listen to sellers or buyers, fixing what isn’t “broke”. I was seriously considering moving my eBay business to Etsy but now, not so much. Another one bites the dust.
more advertising? that’s a joke right? when’s the last time anyone has seen any eTsy advertising???
I started using promoted listings on Etsy to be found again and I have not raised my pricing on the item nor the shipping. I’ve always had a spot on the front page over the last 5 years; until the clumping and new search engine took over. My items landed on page 10. That hurt my sales greatly. With the new home page, a shop can have 5-10 items on the front page!
I am not fond of all the changes Etsy dropped on us yesterday either, the 5% on shipping is painful. Like most sellers I have a lot of thinking to do on how to handle the situation and over come it. Etsy is my cash cow, it well outsells my eBay. But I may need to branch out more soon.
@VeryGoodVintage2 – I remember when eBay first started initiating its anti-small seller policies in February 2008, eBay sellers were flocking to Etsy. Unfortunately, Etsy has chosen to take the same path as eBay: taking all the money they possibly can from its sellers.