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Etsy Sends Shoppers to Items that Already Sold

Ina Steiner
Etsy
Etsy Sends Shoppers to Items that Already Sold

Etsy sellers are seeing a spike in the number of shoppers who have viewed their listings – unfortunately, they’re listings for items that already sold – some going back over a decade. The problem appears to have started as early as Wednesday, December 4th.

“Again this morning Etsy stats are telling me that my shop is getting 34, 35, and 36 visits per hour all night long,” one seller wrote in part on the Etsy discussion boards on Thursday. “Normal for my shop is only 1 or 2 views per hour after midnight. When I looked at what items were viewed, those viewings were ALL sold out listings going back to at least 2010.”

The seller said they had never seen archived items being viewable from 15 years ago and surmised it was a technical issue. “Is anybody else experiencing the wonky stats,” they asked? Other sellers responded on that seller’s thread and on another thread opened on Friday by a seller who wrote in part, “Again today, EVERY SINGLE VIEWED ITEM is a Sold Out piece, some from over 10 years ago!”

One seller indicated the problem could be caused in part by Google driving traffic to old Etsy listings. “If you want to pay Google to appear on their site it would be a great idea if the items you feature are actually for sale. Otherwise you are wasting those precious advertising funds on posting pretty pictures.”

The way sellers discussed the problem they have been seeing over the past week indicates there was a sizable spike in views to their listings, and some pointed out that negatively impacted their conversion rates. Etsy uses conversion rates as a factor in determining search visibility. (“Increasing your conversion rate may improve where your listings rank in Etsy search,” according to Etsy.)

Written by 

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/.

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2 thoughts on “Etsy Sends Shoppers to Items that Already Sold”

  1. *** Yes, and I love it! ***

    I too have noticed that many of my older sold items are being viewed and my activity has definitely spiked because of it. Fortunately, I’ve picked up more followers, too! I have no problem with older jewelry items being viewed if it brings in new possible customers into my shop.

    Also to note…I do not pay for Google Ads. Therefore, this issue could be on Etsy’s end. Maybe Etsy wants it this way in order to bring in more buyers. As a jeweler on Etsy, this season seems very slow for many jewelers as some jewelers are significantly bringing down price points in order to make sales.

  2. I have noticed this as well. A lot of my traffic for old sold out listings has been coming from Pinterest. Even if I have deleted that pin forever ago. I suppose, it was pined by someone else and exist on their boards still?

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