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Etsy is beta-testing stats. Yes, you heard me, it's not the egg nog or latkas going to your head, they wrote a Dorque article about it. Etsy brought on a small group of sellers to beta-test Google analytics stats.
We have contacted a small group of sellers to help us with beta-testing. We're
hoping to complete beta testing soon, and at that point, we will have more to say about the timing of releasing Google Analytics to the entire seller community. So expect an announcement here on the blog, in the forums, and to the Etsy News email list.
So...Merry Christmas..sort of. No site-wide email for this or the release (as they stated above). No actual timeline for its appearance. BUT they're beta-testing prior to release (which we always harp on them for not doing) and they're going to offer the stats for free. RobWhite is fielding some questions about it on Twitter so following him and Etsy (which autofeeds the Dorque article links there) may be a good way to keep up on its progress (bookmark the sites if you're not signed up for the social network).
Now that you've unwrapped it, don't throw away the bow. Etsy probably wants to use it to make a hammock because they forgot to buy Rokali a gift.
41 Comments:
This is a step in the right direction, and I mean that. No snark. I see a lot of new and professional faces coming on board with Maria and Chad.
I really don't think she had any idea just how poorly etsy was run before she came on board. Undoing a mess is so much harder than starting from scratch.
I agree, don'ttread, it must be a nightmare in there.
ArtFire has just made a very canny response. They're making their stats free for everyone, whether they have paid accounts or not, and they're going to try to implement Google Analytics for their sellers in the next two days.
Competition is indeed good. It keeps all these companies on their toes.
Just the fact that they're bothering to beta test it shows that somebody (Chad) is thinking ahead and doing things properly. It's amazing how much difference a professional point of view can make. The competition aspect doesn't hurt either because now that there are legitimate alternatives popping up all over the place, they need to step up their game.
How nice for that "small group of sellers." There may still be hope for the rest of us.
And thanks EB for all the work you put into this site. May you all have Happy Holidays and a bountiful New Year!
I've had quite a few long calls and emails with Chad over the past few weeks after they yanked my access to their stats. He definitely walked into a bear trap, but somewhat knew what he was getting into. I think this shows that Chad really is all about turning the ship around and sailing in the right direction technically.
ArtFire has live Google Analytics *right now*.
That's amazingly fast -- they said 48 hours, it turns out it was just a couple.
That's amazing customer service.
Guilds are rolling out tonight were crossing our fingers for it to anyways! I can wait till guilds are up! They're going to blow teams away with the features! Chat, own forum, blog? Wow no need to set up off site anymore! Who'd have thunk?
I agree it was amazingly fast..can't be as hard as the cupcakes on etsy make it seem~
I think Etsy had its own ideas about how to do stats, but ArtFire made things too hot for them to wait any longer and try to make it work. I suspect that the code underlying Etsy is a ghastly mess.
That's why they decided to go with Google Analytics.
I am glad they're beta testing the damn feature, though -- for once Etsy is showing some common sense. And if they try to charge for it, they've lost me forever.
It's a lovely irony that AF managed to implement GA in two hours from decision to reality. As I said on the Fora, competition is a very, very good thing for consumers, in this case, sellers.
MI Zombie said...
Far as stats yeah it's great and the cupcakes are tripping over themselves to smack the admin on their ass but lets not forget it's taken almost 4 years of bitching to get them. Then only reason we are is because ArtFire is making such a buzz? You come to your own conclusions! Does too little too late come to mind?
Sorry I am not that impressed really.
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What he said. Etsy can take their stats and shove them up their ass. They wont keep me there by promising me something shiny and new.
Fire 3/4 of your staff, then I may have a change of heart.
I like seeing least referrer stats right on ArtFire. I don't know. Etsy never does much less they have to~
Beta testing: good
Beta testing with a hand-picked group of cheerleaders, friends and yes-men: not good
Beta testing is one of those times when you need honest feedback, or even *gasp* criticism.
Artfire already has their free stats up and running for all members.
I love competition. It makes everyone try harder.
How nice for that "small group of sellers." There may still be hope for the rest of us.
_______
Despite my almost overwhelming joy, the same thing went through my mind.
I think it's interesting that Etsy goes like three years without delivering stats or even providing the *hope* of stats and then at the end of 2008 (during the onslaught of dozens of brand new marketplaces that provide Google Analytics) right out of the gate), Etsy suddenly caves and starts beta testing Google Analytics. Sounds like the competition lit the fire under Etsy's collective ass--not the community of vendors.
The staff are professional shit samwich eaters! They know if they eat 15 shit samwiches a day hey can stay!
Do you think they wait years and years to roll stuff out so people make a bigger deal out of it? Just a thought. I mean the admins are bouncing all the interwebs acting like they just delivered the messiah~
First, there's some leakage outside this supposed "beta group" because my Etsy listings have shown up daily in Google for about 3 weeks, and they are ALL listings that are 12-14 months old and sold 12-14 months ago.
All the other sites I have stores on post my new listings on Google immediately, so it's worked like instant (and free) advertising that I never got from 4 years with Etsy.
Letting out "news" with twittering, selecting a beta group (which is sure to include all the Etsy faves for sure) though, smacks of just more exclusivity from Etsy - their "big secrets" and "stealth" practices are old, boring, and prejudicial. Etsy excels at EXCLUSION.
Etsy excludes 98% of all sellers, never communicates with sellers, springs new and unwanted tweaks to the site that sellers never asked for-----------all the the purpose of increasing their 100% control over the site. A site that is full of individual sellers with 4 years of COMMMON NEEDS who just want to conduct their business in a professional manner and STAY IN BUSINESS.
I'm really tired of being excluded, as tens of thousands of other stores on Etsy are. 2008 just set it all in stone. Etsy is about Etsy and their complete control over a formula that fits their needs-------not that of sellers, not that of handmade as a small business for some) and these new tweaks will end up serving Etsy and their favorite stores, and not much else.
4 years of implementing their "secret" plan that has nothing to do with sellers, 4 years of ignoring sellers--------now, who in their right mind believes ANYTHING that Etsy says, twittered to the insiders------or hidden from the majority of sellers until its a goddamn done deal?
2008 was a year of no significant change or addition of tools and support service for sellers on Etsy. Not a one.
Having a beta testing group is good but it should be open to volunteers and it should be people who will try their best to BREAK it.
Etsy is NOT four years old yet, you know.
You're off by six months.
June 2005 to December 2008 = 3.5 years. =/= 4.
Strangly, for the past two months, I have had at least one new item show up the day of or day after I list it on etsy on my google alerts. I typically list at least two or three items at a time, but only one will show up on my google alerts.
We don't have stats yet either so suck that lol~
We'll see.. It took YEARS after the mention of batch shipping or vacation mode for them to come to fruition..
Also.. one must wonder where those lucky testers reside ;0
I believe stats were coming to Etsy anyways. They just came a lot faster than they had planned. I think that's why were testing them actually. This testing period gives them time to build them! That is what I think. There probably isn't any testers. I already know admin are liars so come to your own conclusion!
I would love to know who the testers are. Do you think they'd tell us?
as eclipse has said, i do hope these selected sellers are competent and critical, not just the usual bunch of rah-rah cupcakes as seen in just about every "yay thanks etsy, you're so great" dorq article mindless comments section
etsy - don't forget the slave in the chariot "memento mori"
ebb, I suspect there's no one at Etsy with a classical education.
Or they'd already be familiar with the concept of "hubris", too.
Wow the cupcakes at Etsy are really worked up over ArtFire! I hope they don't drown in a big batch of ArtFire frosting! lol
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5969118
I blogged about because it's beyond funny! I think if Etsy ran over a group of school kids in a cross walk these Cupcakes would still high five Etsy.
what??? The website developed by 'The amanuensis' without a classically trained scholar?
oh the horror!
*faints*
I am a beta tester. Sets up in less that one minute.... You have to wait until the next day until the stats from the previous day comes up.... its not realtime, like my websites AWSTATS but its good. I think its really cool to see where your unique visits are coming from, like from which country or continent. I would revail myself, but I was asked not too. I have posted in the forums and on this blog in the past.
Okay, this is a little off topic but I think many here will appreciate this. I was just watching Zoolander, any of y'all remember that flick? Well, I was sitting thinking about NYC and Brooklyn and Hipsters when I noticed some of the Zoolander modeling pictures had him with a cowl/turtleneck pulled up over his face, he was holding the top of the turtleneck down around his eyes, and giving that model idiot "look". I thought wow, that looks just like someones avi over at etsy...(the one that hides behind the cowl) sooooo...it made me think of the whole scene at Etsy HQ, & all the cupcakes. If Etsy continues to run it's business like it has been, those cupcakes will have to go give the Etsy "ugoogoololly". (Zoolander's way of saying Eulogy) However, I would definitely like to be at that "after party".
-JJ & PaintedBull
Beta testing has its benefits, but when did Etsy actually "test" anything? They just implement the changes and ignore the protests until they die down and disappear. Then proceed with biz as usual, which is still a big bad secret.
I'll put money down on just who was chosen as the test group (cheerleaders) and what Etsy comes up with in the end is probably not what sellers have wanted and voiced for at least 2 years. They have a proven track record of tweaking the site for their own purposes, whatever those are. (Make it easier and reduce their workload?)
Exactly why I do not think there is any testing taking place! They NEVER tested ANYTHING before and now something that is so easy as this that ArtFire can implement it in 2 hours needs WEEKS of testing? NOT!~
You can still color me skeptical~
Yep that is how GA works. I wonder why Etsy can't give at least real time referrer stats ON Etsy? That would probably require another 6 weeks of testing!
Let me introduce you to Etsy's newest cupcake infivision. After only being on the site for ten days he has already ate 100 shit samwiches!
It's too bad he wont be selling on ArtFire because we really needed more pigeons on a sidewalk pictures in this world~
google analytics ARE available on AF now...honestly...I'll believe it when I see it on etsy. How many times have we seen threads started and left for hundreds of pages, just to throw a bone?
my name is ebb (i've been allowed to reveal this nugget)
i also set up my stats for my shop, in around 10 minutes (but then i haven't managed to quit my day job as a SAHM a la etsy and had to wrangle some computer time from my wee guy).
the instructions/help fom the site were explicit and easy to follow
and the stats work well
but there is no secrecy
they are available to all with an artfire studio - no mystery so far
have i been cheated out of something?
I don't know any etsy admin.
I am not admin.
I am a seller on etsy who just makes things and sells them.
I belong to 0 groups.
I was asked to test the google analytics. The test group is real. We are favorites of no one. Give them some credit.
mmm.. Shit samwiches..
Can we get any more childish? It's nice of you all to try to use the bait tactics in the forums though. It is plenty entertaining for sure. I'm no more cupcake than I am ArtFire hater. But it's nice that you paint with a wide brush. Or wait, is that fingerpainting, since this appears to be kindergarten. If I were all cupcakes and rainbows about Etsy I would never have created etsyfeeder, which even this here blog decided to cover as a valuable tool. But hey, whatever. Keep spreading the hate.
I hope you excuse our scepticism (not of you, justsoyouknow, of Etsy Admin). They have been known, once or twice before, to play favourites. I wouldn't at all have been surprised if that was happening again. They have also been known to tell us one thing when they've been doing another (or nothing at all).
Thanks for letting us know that in the case of at least one beta tester, Etsy is not playing favourites with this. :)
Oh please your spreading the frosting so thick I got a cavity just watching you spread it!
I don't feel negativity about beta testing GA on Etsy.
On most sites, you just install it in about a minute, and voila!
But we all know that Etsy's programming infrastructure is a tangle of Programming 101 convoluted Flash tidbits and patches. Really, there's just no telling how a change will trigger bugs in the system.
Until Chad's had time to re-write the entire system, he's smart to beta test, even if "he shouldn't have had to."
I have to express: I find it extremely irritating that news and information about Etsy functionality are communicated via a different site - Twitter.
Even though they've got 6,500 followers, that's not sufficient to communicate to 200,000 seller accounts.
Communication FAIL.
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