Etsy to Factor Shipping Cost in Search Rankings

by: quirkyantiques

Anyone that cares enough to bounce an item off their list because shipping is more than $6-is not my customer anyway. My shipping prices will remain unchanged. I lose money on shipping as it is.

by: Snapped

“  "to help make it easier for you to set more competitive shipping prices by optionally moving some of your shipping costs into your item price." “

Thereby what, making the item price LESS ‘competitive’ as a result?  Did anybody ask for all this ‘assistance’; and how exactly is it made any “easier”?  The ‘option’ was always there to try and bamboozle the buyer with seemingly cheaper shipping.

What this is, is an effective ‘cap’ on what Etsy has decided to define as being a ‘reasonable’ ship cost.  For you.  The ‘option’ is to ‘choose’ to be deemed less desirable to buy from as reflected in your ‘ranking’ if you don’t go along with it.  And the effect is to further discourage transparency and truth in transaction detail to the buyer.

Maybe they can coin a new term here - Hafree Shipping!

by: HappyOne

Maybe Etsy should have shipping price just under price of the item. Scrolling down three pages to find price (that many times is unreasonable) has been a turnoff for even looking for items on Etsy.

by: Flying Childers

OMG- these people have no shame!  Not to mention what a confused bunch of ass clowns that are running the joint.  

They are always coming up with ways to game the system that supposedly are to help the sellers but which actually make our selling more difficult.

Wasn't it just a little while ago that they were telling us we should run sales with big discounts on our items and then add the cost somewhere else like shipping??

Instead of all the gimmicks, maybe just make it easy for potential buyers to find actual HANDMADE and VINTAGE ITEMS.   That is what Etsy is all about, right?

by: Lynze

Etsy is at it again. Now they are threatening us with a decrease in our ranking and visibility if we don’t do what they say.  We have no recourse but to obey or see our sales tank.
We sell on their platform and are forced to agree to their terms of service. They have a team of lawyers that have turned us into unpaid slaves with no rights.
Oh joy, they are providing a tool we can use that increases our selling price for the decrease in our postage costs.
What we really could use is a tool that helps us estimate our profit. A good start is to add a field when we list an item where we can enter an estimate cost to us for the item and an estimated cost to ship it. Now we enter our selling price and it gives us an estimated Profit which is only less our selling fees.
That is a worthless number and is not even close to what our estimated profit should be. Give us something that is a reliable estimate that we can work with.  

by: mindelec

i thought that amazon was pretty tone deaf to the actual cost of shipping, but etsy just pulled miles ahead.  glad i don't sell there.

by: Ophelia1

Etsy has definitely lost what was left of their pea-brain!  I received my list of 190 items that they want me to reduce the shipping to under $6.00, well, all of these items are heavy and odd size, and 5 of them in particular are over 7 lbs each, and measure 30" x 18 x 3, so if anyone out there knows of any shipping that will ship these pieces to anywhere in the US for less than $6.00 please enlighten me!
I will not make any changes, I don't care what the TOU's are, at this point if they hide me in searches so be it!  I am not in business to loose money, if I wanted to work for free it would not be for Etsy, that's for sure!  I am and have been working on an alternative selling marketplace and/or my website, maybe this is the final kick I needed to tell Etsy where to go and how to get there!  

by: Rexford

Rigged search.  As if it weren't already rigged enough with their algorithms.

While this is not actually price fixing, it sure is close.   Hopefully regulators will eventually crack down on these schemes.  Sellers know what it costs to pack and ship products safely.  Apparently Etsy think that they know better.

by: looseendsvintage

Once again, Etsy is making a change that makes absolutely no sense.  As of October 1, listings with costs less than $6 will be prioritized in search.  I sell vintage, many items weight 2 pounds or more.  Incorporating costs in excess of $6 to item price is not only deceitful, it is not feasible.  Making the prices of the items incompatible with comparative items is ridiculous, thus making the item unsellable, as customers do their homework and look to purchase same or similar at lowest price.  How on earth does this help Etsy sellers, particularly vintage sellers, with heavier items than handmade jewelry etc?  I have yet to see a policy coming from Etsy that actually helps vintage sellers.  After 15 years, still waiting.  What a disgrace.