Thursday, January 15, 2009

Etsy: "We pulled Boner"

Okay, they didn't use those exact words, but the intent is the same in this thread started by Stellaoella.

She explains how they messed up implementing GA , how they discovered it doesn't serve the needs of the sellers they found out (geewhiz, we've only bee saying what we wanted to know for THREE YEARS, didn't you asshats read ANY of that?) and that GA may not be the package best suited for what we want.

So we're still hanging waiting for real stats while they have a wank somewhere in corner trying to figure out how to knit up a cowl-necked scapegoat.

A couple comments later she chimes in again with how to reset your store to report a little more accuately. (Note I said "a little".)

21 Comments:

TimEasterday said...

Why can't they allow a snippet of code to be placed in the store setup somewhere? Something like Blogger has where I can just insert the code from my own tracking service into a Java/HTML object. Seems so easy!

Anonymous said...

I am so glad I visit this site regularly - there is so much important information offered here. I would never have seen this announcement otherwise as I generally stay out of the cesspool affectionately known as the etsy forums (except to read the closed threads, of course). :-)

Jamy said...

Translation: "We freaked out when we saw how many of our members were going over to Artfire and panicked. What could we do? How could we win them back and make the ones who were left behind forget about that awful old Artfire?

So we slapped a quick fix GA bandaid on the problem, hid out all weekend, with a bottle of Mad Dog 20-20, and hoped that when we came back on Monday morning, everything would be right in our world again.

Stupid old Artfire. Why did they have to come along and upset our apple...er...cupcake cart!"

LOL I wish they would clean house and bring in a Lee Iacoca type person to kick asses and take names and jerk a knot in Etsy's proverbial neck. Same old shit...different day. :o(

eclipse said...

I am glad they finally said something, but:
(yeah you know there's gonna be a but)

1. This should have been said on MONDAY. Not Thursday. They ignored sellers for a week. Just as they have abandoned the entire Bugs forum for MONTHS.

2. They were given the solution by infivision. Artfire had the same problem and fixed it within 24 hours of being notified. Etsy is still "considering options" and dicking around.

3. I have not received any Etsy News emails about this, and it is NOT in the Storque. How many sellers use the forum? 2%? Why is this important information hidden in the forums?

eclipse said...

Ok correction, it is in the Storque0- buried in a week-old article, not as a new article
http://www.etsy.com/storque/article/3141/
UPDATE 1/15/2009: There is a known issue with the Traffic Sources reports in Etsy Web Analytics. Please read this Forum thread for more information about the issue and Etsy's plans to resolve it. We apologize for the problem. Thank you.

Angel said...

Umm... yeah. It took ArtFire how many hours to fix?!! WtF is wrong with Etsy??

Do they have too many people 'working' on this problem? What, are they tripping over each other? If so, please fire a few. A handful. If you're feeling really upset about this public clusterfuck fire TWO handfuls!

Put down down the hard liquor. Shit- put down the DRINK! Period! And get your ass to work if you don't want a mass mutiny on your hands.

I know I'm not exactly a big money maker for Etsy. But I am quickly learning what the word Diversify means.

*taking off to upload more listings to ArtFire*

Anonymous said...

Blogger Brass Monkey Designs said...

Translation: "We freaked out when we saw how many of our members were going over to Artfire and panicked. What could we do? How could we win them back and make the ones who were left behind forget about that awful old Artfire?

___________


That is EXACTLY what I was thinking when I saw that thread. They just slapped some shit together to make everyone love them again and it failed failed failed.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Artfire, I emailed them with an issue last week, and...

(don't pass out)

They responded withing 30 minutes, and gavee me *gasp* a PHONE NUMBER, whereupon, I called and talked to a...

...wait for it...



KNOWLEDGEABLE HUMAN BEING...


who...

FIXED THE FUCKING ISSUE.

It's amazing when you actually recieve the customer service that you are entitled to, merely by being a customer.

Anonymous said...

How is it I never heard of this blog?? What a hoot. How great it is not to hear all the smoochy kiss ups and see some truth.

Eveline said...

eclipse said...


2. They were given the solution by infivision. Artfire had the same problem and fixed it within 24 hours of being notified. Etsy is still "considering options" and dicking around.
******************

Make that FIVE hours of Infivision hearing about this problem on the forums. Five!

And all Etsy can do is 'oh, oops, it looks like we made a boo-boo, but this is how you can tie a cute handmade ribbon around it so it won't look so nasty'.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous HappyBunnyYouSuckandThat'sSad said...

Speaking of Artfire, I emailed them with an issue last week, and...

(don't pass out)

They responded withing 30 minutes

_______________

Artfire customer service rocks. They fixed a problem I had and I mean, worked with me until it was fixed. It took some time but they checked up on the progress and answered all my emails.

PaintedBullShop.com said...

Now Etsy is coming out with new features for teams, their own forums...who is chasing who now?

AF has has this in the works and went live with it already. "What do you see Oracle?..." I see another Etsy Fuck Up on the horizon.

The Funny One said...

It's a shame that Etsy is the standard by which the new sites will be judged, but I don't think Etsy gives a shit if sellers make the move to other sites ---- they added 20,000 new sellers (their official #) in December '08.

It's not the half-assed GA launch, or the fake apology, or the outright refusal to inform their sellers and make things right. It's the fact that Etsy just doesn't care.

And I really don't think they worry much about competition. Etsy sellers who end up on the new sites will leave because there is abolutely no advantage to being on Etsy if you charge more than $15 and make non-Etsy-approved products.

Pretty soon, many sellers will leave Etsy because they won't want to be associated with a site that turned handmade into a bargain bin for the creatively challenged.

Jamy said...

Etsy may be the standard now, but I can forsee, in the not too distant future, that Artfire will be the new standard. Etsy will end up becoming a cautionary tale.

Anonymous said...

hmm if etsy doesn't care about all the compeition, especially artfire, then why locked down threads about them in an instant and say they are all promoting outside venues? Most I have seen locked were not promoting but just talking about them and etsy has encouraged sellers to venture out to other venues but yet when mentioned boommmm lockie lockie.

I know I posted a snarky remark on the thread when they first annouced GA on how funny it was that artfire annouced there's and all of a sudden here is etsy's that sellers had been waiting on for monthsssssssssssssss.

I'm sorry but I disagree, etsy does care about there comp and they are running scared.

Bookman said...
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The Righteous One said...

Bookman, Artfire has been integrated with GA since they started (or shortly thereafter). Where are you getting that they only added it after Etsy announced it??

BTW, Artfire has also had the stats on its own page in the seller's profile so you don't have to login to a second site for basic stats like page views and referring URLs, and they updated the design this week.

There's a new standard in the online venue world and it's not even out of beta yet!

Bookman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Righteous One said...

Bookman, you're partially correct. I was wrong, I confused the Artfire based stats with the Google Analytics. Artfire has had stats for as long as I've been with them (Novemberish).

But they implemented GA in mid Decemeber. And the announcement may have been Dec 24, but my GA account shows that I added my artfire shop on Dec 22.

Bookman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Righteous One said...

Bookman, I'm not going to argue with you over who integrated what first. I know what my account says and they had advanced options for premier members earlier than all members.

This blog is about Etsy. Yes, people are going to compare them to the other options, but the main focus here is Etsy. Let's stick with that.