Etsy Sellers Irked by Changes to Listing Layout

by: HappyOne

Etsy is a pain with its ''likes''. I get one or two small sales a month but twenty or more ''pings'' on my phone of Suzy Q likes this or that but never a sale of that item. I guess this is Esty's way of letting me know there are people looking at my listings.
Change to listing form now defaults to ''automatic renewal of unsold listing''; this should be a choice not a default.
I bet a few ''new Etsy sellers'' get all happy when they see their weekly $ deposit (wow I'm making money) only to be disappointed when the credit card bill comes in at end of month with all the shipping and Etsy fees. The ''Sneaky'' 30¢ listing fee applies to each item sold from a multiple quantity listing. So pay 30¢ to list five items and when all five sell  pay an additional $1.20. Sure read all the small print and I would have known this. Just my2¢

by: mcposty

There is no proof that had they not done that sales would fall.

What data proves hiding description increases sales? That's asinine.

by: felyne

They are public and the only people they have to answer to are their shareholders. They will now have to find clever ways to up their fees every so often.  

by: moonmyst

It's funny, I just messaged an Etsy seller who forgot to put some measurements in her description. Turns out I too never saw the little "more" word that now needs to be clicked on in order to see a seller's entire description. Now I know why the seller answered me in such a rude way. Some new employee at Etsy must have thought extra clicking would be helpful . . .

by: marcello

I really thought we were done with all the mindless, incompetent tinkering with sellers shops. Maybe the new CEO didn't fire enough of the old inept Etsy hipster staff! Foolish me, I thought they would work on the serious problems this site has like the ineffectual categories, dismal out-dated search functionality and rampant keyword spamming. No, they are still obsessed with sabotaging sellers shops with their amateurish, incompetent blundering.
Hide the item description and the shipping calculator by putting intrusive redundant seller reviews smack in the middle of the item listing, effing brilliant!

by: golfgirl

I don't know that it is affecting my sales but it sure is taking valuable time away from actually completing orders!  I'm also tired of answering questions that are CLEARLY in the Item Details (Description) page that buyers used to just scroll down to see, and now have to click 'More' to see.  It is bad enough that mobile users have to click the Tab 'Item Details' to see the description.  Valuable information like Sizing is on that page so that's the most frequently asked question....about sizing.  Just more wasted time for Sellers.  Etsy is becoming like Ebay, making unnecessary changes that wreak havoc for Sellers...without Sellers there is no Etsy.  

by: AntiquesEtCetera13
Web Site

I have no problems with any of the changes and have not had any customers ask me any questions because they cannot see my full listing details.
In fact September has been a great month for sales.
A real happy bunny.

Ken - Antiques et Cetera

by: betsys.bijoux
Web Site

Not a fan because I have had to explain it to both customers and team members.  Plus really not happy because the take the time to mess up something that works but the thank you coupon code which hasn't been saved to packing slips for weeks is still not fixed.  Ship 3 orders in one day and have to manually insert code into each one.

No more changes until the broken stuff is fixed first!

by: Flying Childers

Just another example of the lame, hipster employees that are still at Etsy trying to justify their miserable existence.

Another thing- how many of the people who ask you a question about an  item actually come back and buy it?  In my experience it's less than 1 in 25 who take the time to send me a question who then purchase the item.  

Even though they have to make the shareholders happy, it makes no sense to keep adding features that cause the sellers to lose money.

Soon or later the stupidity is going to catch up when Etsy is left with a bunch of Chinese imported junk that is easier to find on other sites including Walmart where I often see some of the same jewelry that is sold on Etsy.

by: SparklingSisters

I agree that the recent listing changes are not working out well for me or my customers.  I've always gotten a few questions here and there about info that's already in my descriptions but not like the last few weeks!  I've had so many questions about info that's already in my descriptions that I came up with a paragraph I add to my responses to those questions:

"Unfortunately Etsy now shows only the first few lines of the listing detail. If you click on the orange +More link, you'll see the entire listing description. Sorry for the confusion!"

Reviews should NOT be above the shipping information.  The customer needs all the relevant info about the cost and description of the item BEFORE they should see reviews.  The reviews should be moved down and shown AFTER the shipping info.

Sellers are not a priority to Etsy management even though without us, they'd be out of business.  It doesn't matter to them that the changes they make inconvenience their sellers or makes their lives more difficult.  If they have an inkling that it may bring in more $$$, that's all they care about.  

by: Louise

Who would imagine Reviews are more important to a customer than what their shipping cost will be? Haven't noticed my sales going up since they did that - actually still going down. Why not spend their time on things that matter. They added FedEx labels for purchase some time back but no calculator. You have to go to the FE website, put in all info to get shipping to put on your listing. They said they may add that later (cart before the horse). This is something they make money on so wouldn't you think they'd finish the job? If I go thru that I may as well print my labels on FE.

by: Etsy Seller

Not a fan of the 'more' button and I could give a fuzzy rats bottom to see what is in other sellers shops or similar items (they are never similar, ever).
Etsy has already said to change your listings descriptions to have the most important info in the first three or four lines or about 140 characters.
What a PITA to have to change 800+ listings!

Etsy SEO is still a nightmare - any relief in sight on that?

by: Sierra

I've had an Etsy shop since Etsy was about 1 year old. They've only raised fees ONCE in all that time ... from $.10 to $.20. The 3.5% transaction fee has remained the same as far as I can recall.

@HappyOne - the listing fee is currently $.20 (you said $.30). And yes, it's a good idea to read the fine print when money is involved!

@mcposty - maybe showing reviews improves sales ... though I find that VERY hard to believe. Reviews weren't hard to find previously. Putting reviews between the description and the shipping is ridiculous. Whoever designed that needs to find a new job elsewhere!

@Ken - my Etsy revenue is up for this year; September is pretty good. I rarely receive any questions about my items and that hasn't changed.  

by: The End

Sales are WAY DOWN compared to last year.
Good thing I have a Real World job that pays pretty good.
Looks like everybody is saving for retirement late in the game.

by: BuildingMyOwnSite

@marcello said:
I really thought we were done with..... mindless, incompetent tinkering.... I thought they would work on: ineffectual categories, dismal out-dated search, rampant keyword spamming. No, they are still obsessed with ......   their amateurish, incompetent blundering.  Hide the item description and the shipping calculator by putting intrusive redundant seller reviews smack in the middle of the item listing, effing brilliant!

(Well said, Thanks for saving me all that typing!)
—
Ina said: ''However, not everyone was complaining''
- .....and another (seller) said Etsy's second-quarter financials showed an increase in sales, ''which means there were MORE PURCHASES''.
Well, OK, then get Etsy to tell you the following:
#1) The Percent of Etsy sales by True Handmade Sellers
#2) The Percent of Etsy sales by Fakes, Resellers, Asian slave labor factories
SOME of the sales increases will come from the #1 group.
MOST Etsy sales increases will now go to the #2 group.
—
Etsy is a public corporation now.  They are NOT stuck in ''Ebay Auction Mode''.  They will do ANYTHING to increase Revenue, Cash Flow, Profits, and they DON'T CARE ABOUT LONG TERM !!!  Etsy's FUTURE is with ASIAN SELLERS, NOT YOU.  You are now a product of one more Wall Street Train Wreck.

And I really am SORRY, but MOST True Handmade Sellers are all done at Etsy.

by: Louise

My Views along with Sales have been horrible. A critique of my shop said if I adopted Etsy's Policies it would give me a bump. That tells us they control things. Since I complained in the Forums, my horrible sales and Views, the Views have been cut in half and NEVER this low since I started on Etsy. I feel things are going down the shooter.  

by: Twiganne

Has anyone tried Artyah.  Same as etsy but fee to list just 10 cents and same FVF.  They are working on using google search to direct more buyers to the site.  I am just wondering if anyone has been making any sales there.  I know of a lot of Etsy seller starting to list their items there as well.