Etsy Moves Descriptions during Busy Holiday Shopping

by: Lisa

I remember when Josh took over and he promised to not make changes during the holiday season.

regardless, this is to force you to use the  new text on picture feature

(which you should  have been doing anyway with your fave photo editor because buyers do not  read the description)

by: Stone Cutter

*** How desperate are you when…***

How desperate are you when you make a dramatic change to your user interface right in the middle of the holiday season?

The answer: Very desperate.

It’s times like this, is when employees are worried about losing their jobs if the site goes south. Now, every VP at Etsy is “under the gun” to make things happen before the holiday season is over.

Etsy has already announced a hiring freeze which is code for “we aren’t making enough money and your jobs may be next”.

This holiday season, consumers find more relevance in shopping on Amazon.  

by: COVID-19

Awesome! This is just like the eBay where eTsy gets its inspiration from.

by: ThebigR

All this feature does is cause buyers that are interested in a item to email you and ask about facts that are  already in the description,but they don't see it and the semi interested buyers just to move along. I wondered why I was getting all these questions about items in etsy....  

by: LDWCallsOut

As I have commented on several topics related to this issue in the past, I have never been in the test that makes the item description/details disappear or hard to find.  Just to be sure, I clicked over to Etsy to verify.  And, yes, the description is exactly where it has been like forever.  So not every Etsy user/shopper is in the test.

Can't understand why Etsy shop owners are surprised that if their own shop's descriptions are in a different place then the descriptions in other sellers' shops are likewise moved.  The test isn't applied to SHOPS, it's applied to USERS.  Which is how it has always been.  Just because you see your shop differently today doesn't mean all Etsy users are seeing it the same way.

But...someone is out of their freakin' mind to play around with tests like this during the Winter Holiday shopping season.  It's like Etsy management is determined to rack up a loss here.  Seriously, WTH?

by: Stone Cutter

*** Layout, might be better ***

If the Buyer can find the new “Item detail” tab, I actually like the new description format, better.

The old format requires the Buyer to read a long column of data which is a bit ridiculous for Sellers who have a lot of information. The new format puts the item description completely “under” the photo which I find much easier to read.

But to make this sort of change during the holidays?. Really?

by: Tinysaur

A/B split tests with different sellers isn't actually and A/B test since the items they sell are different. No matter, if your items sell well, you're going to be used for testing. They don't care about YOUR bottom line, just theirs.

by: Fly on the Wall

I'm an Etsy seller too, and I about freaked yesterday when I checked three of my listings in a row and couldn't find the descriptions. I immediately went to the forums and found out why, and where they moved them. All I could think was, ''OMG, this is absurd!'' Like, WHO really thought that this was a good idea?!?! And I never knew it was coming!

The least they could do is make a pop-up for buyers, to navigate them to where to find it. OR... highlight the word ''Description'' so that it ''pops'' on the page, but nooooooo...

I've always wondered why so many sites intentionally try to HIDE descriptions vs. making them easy to find. Makes no sense to me.

I also wonder if Etsy left the description placement alone for handmade sellers, but moved it for vintage sellers. I'm vintage.  

by: quirkyantiques

I'm now in this "test" along with a forum full of sellers-and so are my customers it seems. Last week I got 2 emails within days both asking the length of a bracelet that I already had listed in the details. I thought it was odd at the time. As a shopper I exited out of two shops a few days ago thinking they were trying to be sly by not adding descriptions. I shop for a LIVING and it took ME 8 minutes puzzling out where the heck item descriptions had gone. I've had to add this announcement to my shop PLEASE NOTE: Etsy has changed the way some listings display. If you cannot see my item description at first glance please look under the photographs for the section ITEM DETAILS. The work around other sellers are using is to now have to screenshot their listing descriptions and waste a photograph slot. I refuse. I need all of the photograph slots so buyers can see what they're actually buying.

by: quirkyantiques

UPDATE: A seller on the forums said she just got off of live chat with Etsy. This change is being "rolled out in stages" meaning it is NOT a test any more-but permanent. And they thought it would be a stellar idea to do this during the Christmas shopping season.....I can't think of a better way to sabotage sales. Merry Christmas.

by: Stone Cutter

UPDATE: As of this morning, my descriptions are back to where they originally were; along the right side of the photo.

Who knows what Etsys intentions are and whether Etsy even knows what Etsys intentions are.

by: quirkyantiques

@Stonecutter   Mine too.......and a bunch of people complaining at the same time as I was, their pages are back to normal. It would be FINE if the description WAS under the main photo but NOT in a drop down box! Those reviews are right in your face though which is the last thing you need to read really.