Etsy and eBay often try to differentiate sellers who meet certain performance standards, such as displaying "Top Seller" or "PowerSeller" badges next to their user names. Last week, sellers spotted a "Top Buyer" badge on Etsy to differentiate buyers. Sellers reacted in posts on Reddit, and some raised the question of whether marketplaces should be disclosing to sellers information about their buyers' spending levels.
In
one Reddit thread created on Friday, a seller said Etsy was testing a new Buyer badge in sellers' messages and wrote, "This will be very helpful. Hope they roll this out to all sellers." But other sellers wondered how it might be useful to sellers.
One asked why their buyers' spending level would matter. "Are you going to provide different levels of customer service because someone has a fancy badge that say they are a top buyer? Are you only going to respond to potential customer with the badge? That's seems like a bad business strategy because just because they are a top buyer on Etsy does mean they will be a top buyer for you."
"New: Only visible to you
"We're testing this badge to help you prioritize messages from the top 15% of US buyers by spend in the last 12 months.
"Keep in mind, your message response rate is based on your replies to first messages from all buyers, not just top buyers."
The original seller wrote, "Thoughts? I don't think special treatment for people with more money should be a thing. Not unless they know they're paying for it and go out of their way to pay for it.... You know what I mean???"
An Etsy seller responded, "I sell mostly custom items. Memorial pieces mostly, and some other custom silver work. I have tons of questions and convos between buyers and myself. I can't imagine ranking them like this. I appreciate the star next to customers that have ordered from me in the past (I have lots of customers that come back again and again), but to rank them based on previous expenditure over all of Etsy? Weird."
But another seller disagreed, saying it could be helpful to differentiate between buyers who ask a million questions but never purchase, and buyers who are "serious" customers.
Another wrote, "If you do custom work and you have people asking 1,000 questions eating up a lot of time I think this is helpful information."
And another poster wrote, "Etsy just can't win huh? I want every bit of data they'll give me. I want to know how many times someone blinked while looking at my item. And if I am on a spending spree, I would love a little extra butter on my biscuit when it comes to customer service. Be nice to me while I spend irresponsibly."
But a few sellers were concerned that Etsy was revealing the spending habits of buyers, such as one poster who said in part, "As a buyer I can't imagine most people want sellers to know how much they spend!" and adding, "As a seller I honestly don't care to know that. No one is going to get extra special treatment."
One poster had an interesting theory: "I think from a buyer perspective this could be a status badge like star seller is for us. It may encourage other buyers to feel good about their purchases. It could encourage other buyers to want the status, and cause less frivolous complaints." However, it's not clear buyers would ever see the badge. Currently, it's a test that appears to be only visible in sellers' messages.
Some sellers posting on one of the Reddit threads had suggestions for a different kind of badge for Etsy buyers:
"A verified buyer badge would be better. Someone who has made at least one purchase (that was not cancelled or refunded)," wrote one poster.
"They need a frequent fraud buyer badge," wrote another.
Note that EcommerceBytes is unable to see the reaction of sellers on the Etsy discussion boards, as Etsy has restricted access to sellers only. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, and let us know whether you think eBay or Amazon would ever roll out such a program displaying whether buyers were top spenders.
Should Etsy and eBay Divulge Top Spenders?