Etsy Lets Sellers Opt Out of Offsite Ads in July

by: Whatever

here's my take on it - Etsy is watching the demise of eBay and is waking up to the fact that if they have no sellers their screwed. I would have to assume that many sellers are also leaving Etsy as well as eBay and their taking action to stop the evacuation which is much more than eBay ever did beside philfer the pockets of their sellers for their own greedy gain.

by: The End

I'm gone off Etsy 'til they get rid of the 12% "Success Penalty Fee" and NEVER try this scam ever again.
Etsy can't hold a candle to the setup I have now  :o)
Who Knew ?

by: Flying Childers

I am sick and tired of Etsy management's virtue signaling and social engineering on my dime.  If they want to play politics, let them do it somewhere else.  Etsy is an e-commerce platform, not another version of Politico.
I pay them a nice commission on every sale that I make and if comes from one of their outside ads, it could be 30% or more.  They even charge commission on shipping which it total BS.
TheEnd- maybe you can recommend another site based on your comment.

by: purpleiris

"Prominent Etsy expert Cindy Lou"

Seriously? That girl is expert of nothing but gaming the system. Try reading her posts on Etsy that explain how to do just that, blatantly going against Google's policies, arguing that she's not, before you go calling her something she's not.

I'm sorry, I don't normally talk down about others, but this one has been spreading misinformation that has helped Etsy lose its Google traffic to the detriment of the entire site and its sellers. She is the last person anyone should be calling an expert on the subject.

by: purpleiris

Just wanted to add that not only is she spreading misinformation, but she's one of the trolls on the site who has her posse to make life difficult for anyone who disagrees with her. She and her posse are the very reason I was perma-banned from the forums to begin with and I never did anything but try to help others.

People like her are part of the problem, so, please don't ever include her as part of any solution because she simply isn't.

by: Geetar

When a platform makes more off your sales than you, then you work for them, just no benefits, no paid vaca.... Just like those wonderful "careers" at Uber and Lyft! This dope probably thought that they could have sellers under foot. At least ebay and Amazon have buyers, and traffic.  Only difference is Etsy has no traffic, no buyers. They thought they'd fleece buyers right off the bat before they got big.
FYI...You dont get without giving!

I have a better idea. How about instead of buying inventory, I just take that money and give it to you Etsy? Dope's!

by: The End

Dear Flying Childers;
Can't divulge.
Corporate is stalking, invading and destroying our venues.
Legislation to kill this attack against us is pending.....
And there will be prison time.

by: purpleiris

Sorry to get sidetracked there, but it needed to be said; especially since it's the ONE thing that stood out to me in the article. As for the topic at hand, it should be illegal for any business to force another business to pay for something they don't want -- and certainly not at the rates they're charging.

by: The End

Dear purpleiris ;
It IS illegal, it's called "Duress", "Coercion".
At present, corporate is somehow getting a pass to perpetrate this.
Why the Legislation killing this is on the way.......

by: purpleiris

@The End...They need to stop pussy-footing around and get the job done. Anyone else see the significance of the timing of this pandemic?

by: The End

Can't argue with that.....

by: purpleiris

What's worse is that sellers really can't verify the traffic they're allegedly getting. Unless I can personally see where every click came from, I'm not about to pay for what could be ghost traffic or shills.

by: purpleiris

I said, "I'm sorry, I don't normally talk down about others..." -- specifically, other sellers.

I also said, "I never did anything but try to help others." -- most especially how to get found on Google, having written an easy to follow, but info-packed article on the subject whose sole source was Google's own help pages. On Etsy forums where the trolls stroll, that's like putting a huge target on your back. The only way to protect yourself is to burn the bridge they live under...namely, Etsy.

by: Life During Wartime

If shop owners are concerned about hate speech and conspiracy theories, why are they selling on Etsy?

Etsy welcomes shops that sell Q Anon merchandise, a reference to a meme that is nothing but misinformation, hate (especially anti Semitism), and conspiracy theories.  More than just keyboard ''talk'', they have targeted individuals as perpetrators of imaginary actions, and are viewed as potential domestic terrorism threats by the FBI.  

Etsy has no virtue to signal.  

by: purpleiris

"More than just keyboard ''talk'', they have targeted individuals as perpetrators of imaginary actions, and are viewed as potential domestic terrorism threats by the FBI."

The really sad part is that they've seemingly enlisted the forum trolls (other sellers) to do away with those who are onto what they're doing. I have to question if those folks are really that stupid, even doing things to their own detriment (ignoring Google's policies -- or translating them to suit their unethical purpose), or if they're getting some kind of incentive for ruining the site.

by: purpleiris

Sorry, I forgot to say that it definitely serves Etsy purpose to keep sellers from getting found on Google. If sellers are solely relying on Etsy search, then it's much easier to squeeze funds out of them under the guise of improving traffic and sales.

To gain back that Google traffic (that they thought they could do without), they began hijacking listings on Google that were done by sellers following Google's policies, sending them to their marketplace page with that seller's item at the very end. I went 8 solid months without a single sale before I realized what they were doing and reported them to Google.

Nothing Etsy does is for the benefit of their sellers. They will kill the business of sellers who ARE business savvy if they speak out against the unethical things they do.

by: purpleiris

If anyone questions how I know they've lost so much traffic, do a poll on their forums asking sellers what percentage of their traffic is Google organic. The last time we did such a poll (in early 2018, which was when I was banned), almost every seller had single-digit numbers while my Google numbers were giving Etsy traffic a run for its money.

While my posting privileges were finally reinstated earlier this year, I no longer sell there and have no interest in revisiting where the trolls stroll.

by: Life During Wartime

I know about the trolls.  I started getting temp muted after I posted in the Forums (in 2012) about none of my current listings showing up in Google organic searches, while the sold item listings were super relevant.  Since I sell Vintage, the sold listings would not lead potential buyers to related/similar items in my shop because I had none for sale.  And I said that no one should believe that getting a spot in a home page Treasury (back when Etsy was doing that) will help with sales or future traffic unless your shop sells items that match a trend that Etsy is pushing.

In less than a year, I was perma-muted, even though one of the drones (Etsy employees) admitted in her email that my 3rd strike post actually didn't mock or attack anyone.  So, I know from personal experience that if you mention that there's a man standing behind the Etsy curtain playing with Google presence, you will be silenced.  

I haven't been an active Etsy seller since US shops were forced to use Etsy Payments.  I don't trust them with access to my bank account.  

by: purpleiris

I don't trust them, period. LOL I should have shut down in the fall of 2016 when I discovered them hijacking my Google ranking. The only reason I didn't was that I had shut down my Bonanza store and lost my Ruby Plaza store (when they shut-down the site) in the same month.

So, all I had left was my Etsy shop, producing the bulk of the sales, and my eCrater shop, which the Google Gods seem to enjoy hiding in organic. After being perma-banned, my store was hidden in Etsy search and Google was all I had left to produce sales.

At the time I made the sudden and final decision to leave, they were already on thin ice. I was just giving them the remainder of the year to stop playing their games, but it had already been over a year. That comment from their marketing person (forget her name) was the final straw.

To hear it come out of an executive's mouth, plain and simple...? Uh-uh. I don't do business with people like that, which is why I have never sold on eBay and am leery about Amazon, never having sold there, either.

So, there ya go...LOL

by: purpleiris

Correction: It was Etsy CFO Rachel Glaser and her "seller churn" comment.

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/abblog/blog.pl?/pl/20
19/6/1560287511.html