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Have you noticed? There is now a "USD" (U.S. dollar) under all prices on shop listings that is the same size as the price.
"In this first phase, you will see this change in several places, including Checkout, Search results, view detail pages, Gift Guides and on Your Etsy. There are some places, such as the Treasury and Showcase, that will be changed at a later date."
Supposedly, this is the first step to adding on additional currencies.
There is a discussion thread that has taken a weird turn...some members think the USD isn't important or that it's "too big". Maybe they don't realize that this little change has been needed for international sellers who live where it's legally required, since Etsy began. Way too long to wait, actually.
Does this change answer the international sellers' call for their countries' rules? You tell us. And be sure to stop by that thread to add your voice.
10 Comments:
It seems like a bandaid. Yes, it's needed, and no --I do not care about how it looks and am glad something is being done however insignificant.
What concerns me is that it might take another 3 years for Etsy to do some functional programming in order to make the international shipping more functional.
What are the Storque and the forum announcement section for if they only use it after the fact? They practically beg for people to get all bent out of shape when they roll shit out the way they do. The way they do this, people either get pissed off or defend Etsy to the death....
I have lost all faith in Etsy's desire to actually make the site more workable-- they promise, they seldom deliver, and when they do something it's always a big surprise. I get so sick of "we're working on it" and "thanks for the feedback"* when the only feedback they are interested in are the ones they intend to do anyway. Other ideas and concerns, they don't give a rat's ass.
*(It's also an insult to the intelligence to be told this patronizing shit constantly)
(Case in point:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6149017)
Sorry--I think that if the Ausie sellers were so worried about being hauled off to jail, they shouldn't have been selling on Etsy in the first place--why sell for years and then all of a sudden complain about the currency? Does not compute.
whatsthebigdeal, the sellers have been asking Etsy since it started to make this change. Many sellers DID leave. But why alienate an entire customer base? They made a mockery of the request when they inserted the gif image into listings over a year ago, then they dragged out the current improvement.
It's about what is standard for an ecommerce site, not just the needs of sellers from a particular country.
This wasn't a sudden complaint - it's always been there. And the international sellers have had to do extra work in order to sell on Etsy legally (read through the threads, they're professionals who actually talk to their tax people).
This is one of the topics that make us laugh when Etsy tries to push that it's 'international'. Because it is very far from it. Look at Muka's response about how surprised she was at the number of countries that have dollars (non-US) as their currency. This is something sellers have been telling them for 4 years! They just don't fucking listen.
I think the USD is a little larger than it needs to be, but overall I'm fine with it.
I don't like that when in gallery view it cuts off the seller name.
If I ever made it to the FP or a GG, I would like my full name to show, so people looking at it can get some name recognition, instead of 1/2 a name.
Just make the USD smaller, or on a line below the price (like it is when the item is over $100).
It seems like no one ever actually looks at these changes before implementation, to see if they're creating stupid unnecessary errors.
Did no one see this and say, "hey, maybe we shouldn't truncate the sellers names."
Yay to USD big and bold (from someone in another of those pesky dollar countries). I'm glad it's been made more prominent, sad that it's taken so long and peeved that stylistically there's a lot of overkill with its addition as if etsy is trying to piss off some factions
Yay too for the USD long overdue. But I agree with YNOT about the rollouts. Etsy implements changes without any pre-announcement because they simply don't care about what sellers think yay or nay. What Etsy works on is based on their own agenda, not what sellers have been asking for since day one.
This is a site that is so far behind and so slow to roll out scalable improvements that they spent countless hours adding a "Promote This Item" to shops without adding ANY PROMOTIONS for sellers to buy!!! If that isn't action without a clue, the horse left the barn and is halfway to the North Pole.
I love how people are now complaining that US customers are not used to seeing USD, and that it makes it look as if the products are not made in the US.. Well gues what, about 40-50% of the items on Etsy aren't. Biiiig shocker, right?
How nice it must be to live in a bubble, thinking the whole world revolves around you....
The main problem with the lack of US$ identification for me as an Australian seller is the large number of Australian customers I've had who have had absolutely no idea they were shopping from me in US$ on Etsy. Being new to Etsy, they had no reason to assume the currency being used wasn't their own given that I am an Australian seller.
I've had a lot of cancelled sales from buyers who only realise when they get to Paypal. I've heard of other sellers in the same situation being accused by local customers of trying to scam them!
So this has always been the real issue for me, not whether it's legally required in my country to have it shown.
And anyway, as I understand it, it's a trade requirement in the US for any online store to clearly display which currency is being used. Etsy failed entirely on this front for a very long time.
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