Etsy Tests Appear to Send Shoppers Away from Sellers' Listings

by: Snapped

Another page ‘borrowed’ from eBay’s playbook.  Without listings upon which to place them, they have no ability to be sure ‘ads’ are seen, thus justifying their expense.  And without ad revenue, they can’t show ‘promised growth’ to the street.

As eBay explained when they first started this disreputable practice, they want the ‘buyer’ to use their site to search first (and see THEIR ads).  And even though they have a strict policy against a seller doing any ‘redirecting’, they willingly and hypocritically embrace the practice themselves.  This way they at least make something off the buyer even if they buy elsewhere - or from a competing seller (where they may make even more in the aggregate despite the ‘alternative’ possibly being cheaper.  Even if it isn’t quite the same item.

Etsy is as eBay does.  Surely that has been apparent elsewhere too, for a while now.  

by: LDWCallsOut

I've been seeing the link to find similar items on the main listing photo for several days now, but didn't check it out until reading this post.

Just like most shopping suggestion features on Etsy, it works unevenly at best.

I did NOT see any items featured that linked to other sites.

All the tests I did involved counterfeit luxury brand items, since that is what I am most likely to search for on Etsy.

I searched for ''cc brooch'' and got results showing mostly counterfeit Chanel CC logo brooches, along with some shoes, belts, and brooches with other luxury fashion brand logos.  I picked a commonly found faux Chanel brooch from the first page of search results, and clicked on it.  Then clicked on the link to find similar items.  Etsy informed me that there were no similar items found -- even though the search results page had dozens of similar items showing.  Yeah, sure.

I clicked on a faux YSL logo brooch from the same page of results, and Etsy showed me not just similar items, but identical items, all the same photo from the Chinese manufacturer used in listings in different Etsy shops.

I tried using the photo link to find more counterfeit belts and bags (Gucii and Chanel) and got a bunch of unrelated items.  Not belts matched to the belt photo, and not bags matched to the bag photo.

The best results were for similar items to a Telfar tote bag, but I had to scroll all the way down the page to see more items like that, past ''similar items'' that weren't, ''shops with similar items'' that weren't, down to a row that said ''search results'' which you could see by simply doing a search for ''telfar bag''.  

It's hard to believe that Etsy invested staff hours on creating this useless feature.  

I would never use this failure to search for more items of interest because, heh, it simply does not produce any meaningful results.

by: The End

I dominate in my category.
So I show up in ALL the stuff from "other sellers".
It's ALL Me    :o)

by: Rexford

Little eBay lives.   Have you ever seen a dog roll around in a dead animal carcass?   Etsy is this dog.   eBay is the dead animal carcass.    Etsy may actually be more greedy than eBay if that is even possible.

by: The End

Etsy : I sincerely believe Josh Silverman is just a "Beard" for China.

by: Stone Cutter

*** It’s all about your business model ***

This article says.... “If the search shows items less expensive than our Etsy listings, it may be the reason we are all losing sales.”

I doubt very much that slow sales are because of this new feature. Slow sales are more likely because consumer spending is beginning to weaken. This week, top retailers are reporting that future earnings will be softer than expected as interest rates continue to increase, putting a strain on consumer spending.

The best success is when Sellers have unique products that nobody competes with .

And here is more proof that selling mass-produced items, even those mass produced vintage items, will leave Sellers in a sea of competition with other Sellers.

As a jeweler, all of my pieces are one-of-a-kind. Potential buyers stalk my shop until a piece of jewelry appeals to them. If you create unique products you have no real competition. 80% of my new listings sell within 2 hours.  

by: The End

Stone Cutter is exactly why we should have some kind of Artist Award once a year.
That's PHENOMENAL !
The brain power behind the ability to continually create new pieces AND make folks happy with them is special.

by: LDWCallsOut

So far I have not found any vintage items that this feature is programmed to show similar when you click on the link at the bottom of the main photo.  

It does work with some new mass made vintage style products from China.  Probably because so many Etsy shops are selling the same exact items, all with fake ''vintage'' dating.

For my test I always selected photos that showed the product clearly with no other items staged in the picture.  The AI still could not tell what it was.

This feature has only been programmed to work with a small range of items, even though the link is always there.

Am guessing that any shop owner that holds this feature responsible for declining sales is sadly mistaken.

by: Etsy Seller

I have seen the 'similar item' button on my own listings and have clicked it to see what Etsy thinks that I sell.... ALWAYS a funny thing, Etsy cannot show a similar listing, if only because no one else makes what I make!
My "competition" are resellers of sweatshop-made low quality crap.
My buyers want what they want and don't look at the $5 stuff.

Also, on my grey camelhair items, that 'similar item' button takes the buyer to woven metal items - Etsy bots still cannot tell the difference between grey metal and grey fiber/yarn.
Or, Etsy sends them to photos and paintings of camels... Not quite, Etsy, not quite.

by: Eliot

Honestly, Etsy started doing this years ago. I didn't know that they had ever stopped because I just threw my hands up and stopped worrying about it. When asked about it back when they started doing it, Etsy basically told us sellers to pound sand so....

by: Dea

and...here is the reason to have a website and drive all ad's, social media, and posts to your website. Not etsy, because all you effort may never result in an etsy sale, but will certainly continue to put money in etsy's pocket and into other sellers coffers all on your dime.  

by: The End

Etsy STATS are 6 hours behind and short on data.

by: Snapped

“Slow sales are more likely because consumer spending is beginning to weaken.“

ABC News reported today that, despite the Fed attempting to quell inflation by increasing interest rates so to slow spending (thus reduce prices), consumers are continuing to spend.  And prices continue to rise as a result.  This month’s IR measured at 5.7%.  4.7% even if subtracting housing and transportation costs.  

Their sources indicated the Fed’s would have to (will likely) get “more aggressive” in their actions.  

What hasn’t changed is one indisputable fact.  If you can’t ‘see’ it, you can’t buy it - at any price.  

by: Whatever

as a shopper (buyer) i do go there to search for something before i go to the net.  I'd say perhaps 90% of the time I don't get the right results even when I'm very item specific. And if I find an item and want to see what else the seller has to offer I swear I give up because I can never figure out how to see their other actual items. Most of the time I just give up and leave in disgust. I swear I don't know how any Etsy users make any money there. And I've sold on ebay for 23 years so I'm not totally computer literate

by: Whatever

I don't sell on ebay or amazon anymore either. There is life after ebay and amazon

by: LDWCallsOut

I am no longer in this test, so the links on the photos have disappeared.

@Whatever -- if you want to see more listings from the same seller, you need to click on the SHOP NAME link.  That will take you to the shop's main page.  Problem with this is that Etsy is constantly experimenting with making the shop's name link invisible.  For me, both the item listing title AND the shop name are now small text, no bolding or other treatment to make them stand out.  The shop name links for me are just below the listing title.

It looks like Etsy really wants shoppers to forget that each item they view is listed for sale by a shop owner, not Etsy corporate.  Really bad idea.