Thursday, June 11, 2009

Google Rankings, Keyword Stuffing and Lots of Fail Pie

I'm going to make this short and sweet and open up some discussion here...

We realize that many Etsy sellers are concerned about their rank in Google searches and the keyword stuffing. While Etsy fails with this on so many levels and their
keyword stuffing is hurting the rankings, its not as drastic as one might think. Your titles are key right now with search. I would worry more that Etsy starts your listing off as "Handmade Jewelry on Etsy" and then includes your title, which should be original and convey what you are selling. Control your titles and work on those first, and see if things improve. If not, you have a case of the Etsy Fails and would recommend finding a venue that suits your needs much better than what you are currently getting from Etsy. If you are feeling abused by them on this issue, why stick with them, KWIM?

Google is constantly changing their ranking criteria. What Etsy has done really has hurt us all, there's no denying. Keep on them, hammer away at it, and change things in your shop or start researching alternate venues.

43 Comments:

RRobin said...

Yeah, I HATE the way items we list now start off as "Blah blah blah blah on Etsy" before our titles. It is a relatively new branding move on Etsy's part and wasn't always that way.

Resurrection Rags said...

I would worry more that Etsy starts your listing off as "Handmade Jewelry on Etsy" and then includes your title, which should be original and convey what you are selling. Control your titles and work on those first, and see if things improve. If not, you have a case of the Etsy Fails and would recommend finding a venue that suits your needs much better than what you are currently getting from Etsy. If you are feeling abused by them on this issue, why stick with them, KWIM?
----------------------

actually this was brought up in those threads many of which are closed now they were a discussion of the complete issue and etsy decided to appease by making the keywords go away, you are correct that the title is the most important factor and there is anew thread discussing that issue since they refused to address it in the other threads.
Etsy has entered that category preface into the code on our product pages, making our title irrelevant in many cases, and taking up our character space with their own JUNK

The only products I can find in a general search for my product's most descriptive keywords are sold products the code is not on those pages

the discussion is here

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6183719&page=1


there has been much conflicting information on the subject in the recent storque articles.
why stick with them if we feel abused---the investment of time and energy to build a customer following that's why, my customers expect me to be there.

I am seriously rethinking-
am in the process of rebuilding my website and am on artfire this is my income when I can generate enough of it without etsy I will definitely not stick around

The Righteous One said...

We completely understand customer base issues and being where the sales are...a few steps to aid in any transition are (in general to anyone who is lost and wondering)
1) to get your own web address and promote this. You can forward to your etsy shop and then to your new shop and people will be able to find you.
2) have a mailing list so you can easily notify your customer base of a new way to find you
3) it takes time, start the transition early by having the cards for the new shop going into current etsy orders (of course this is once you've figured out where you're going - but if you have your own domain name this is easier)
4) keep demanding that Etsy gets better so you're not forced out by no sales - staying where the sales are only works if there are sales
5) keep your bottom line in sight. If Etsy is costing more than what you'd lose from customers in shifting to a new shop, then there's a lesser of two evils to choose

Paperstreet, thanks for the link to the forum thread

JoanieJ said...

I have finally figured out why my Etsy shop tanked.

I've been there just over 2 years & I always averaged about 80-100 views per day (I used to track item views in excel before GA, so my early stats didn't show people who just looked at my shop but didn't click items).

According to GA most of my views came from google, yahoo and also site search.

In April my average views started tanking and were averaging 40 per day by mid May. After the site search change I instantly dropped to 15 views per day. I'm now at 3-5 per day.

When I used to google my main keywords my Etsy shop came up on the first page. Now it comes up around page 9. Their own tags have trumped mine and made me irrelevant to the people searching for my products.

They killed my shop with their SEO and search "improvements."

I started my own website in February so I don't care. My page views are higher than Etsy ever was, and all the customers are mine.

Resurrection Rags said...

Thanks righteous one for all of that.
I actually did all of those things as far back as December when they decided to randomly exclude sellers from the front page scroller. I have my own website and My artfire shop is doing considerably well. and I started compiling a mailing list a month ago. My reason for opening the shop/s on artfire was to supplement my etsy income but I ended up spending more time trying to tweak my shop on etsy, and figuring out why the sales and views were so low, and optimizing for google and spreading links and and and..you know the drill promote your shop... which I now realize was fruitless until I figured out the code issues. I've done really well on etsy the past year, and hate that they treat the sellers so disrespectfully but I love MY business that I've built with my energy and creative spirit and I love my customers so I just try to keep it working there.
I'm passionate about my business but not about etsy.
I'm holding out hope that this will get fixed it's not something anyone will sit still for. There have been no cupcakes wandering into the threads to disrupt the discussions and tell everyone they need to have better photos, and twitter every time they burp, or to stop whining, so hey that's a plus.
And JoanieJ I have much the same experience with the views and sales tanking from 30-40 sold items a day to 0 - 3 sales a day if I'm lucky. 99% of my traffic was coming from return visitors and from searching using my name
I went from about 200 visits per day to about 50 on a good day.
so I feel your pain.

huh said...

I noticed that change a while back, and was pretty sure it would cause views to tank and the google rank of my shop to tank. It did. I don't care anymore. I still make sales to people who already have etsy accounts, so I'll keep that shop open but I am spending way less on listing fees there. My artfire shop shows up consistently on the first page when I search using product key words, and google searches do lead people to my shop there. I'll just concentrate on that

The Funny One said...

I've had the same experience as JoanieJ, with tanked views. The switch to keywords (in all its many guises)was the final blow. Added to the depressed retail economy, it's the end of the road.

Etsy's GA tweaks to "Handmade ______ on Etsy" listings means that all products are identified as Etsy products-------and that's what really worries me.

My name, my products, my designs, and the fact that I am the artisan are now obliterated by Etsy. My handmade products are now identified as Etsy Products.

Believe me, in a few months, people who search for handmade products will be thinking "Etsy" and not your name, reputation, and product. You will fade into the background until you're forgotten altogether.

This total separation of the artisan from their product listed on Etsy means that Etsy has completed it's 4 year effort to separate the (branded) business from handmade and those who create the handmade product. Etsy is first, sellers are out of the picture.

Etsy should go ahead and send out product labels to all their sellers, and then we can superglue it on our products and sell them as "Etsy Made"----------but wait.....aren't we supposed to get payment before our products are labelled "Etsy"?

It's branding run amok. A crying shame for handmade.

brandingconsultant said...

Yes, Etsy is indeed basically branding OUR hardwork as THEIR product. For all of the bitching and moaning in the forums about "so and so copied me, is using my photos, is using my descriptions, blah, blah, blah..." sellers should truly be OUTRAGED that their hard work is being diluted if not obliterated by not other rip off sellers but by Etsy itself! Indeed, if this continues, buyers will blur the lines of any particular seller and Etsy and basically "assume" that we are all mini manufacturers and artisans under the Etsy umbrella...where is our individual identity then?

I almost wonder if Etsy would not prefer it this way, they basically have thousands and thousands of artisans creating Etsy brand product. They are basically creating specific branded product lines by forcing upon sellers the "trends" that they are going to promote and push upon customers. So, if you are somehow not in those specific brand/trend categories, you have far less visibility, far fewer sales, and Etsy is simply sourcing and selling their own Etsy line of moustaches, deer, cowls and fingerless gloves. They might as well tell us where to source the "Etsy" tags to sew into our product or the "Etsy" hangtags to attach to our jewelry and make it final and official.

As a customer service, marketing and branding consultant, I do find this disturbing for the sellers who work hard every day to find their spot in the handmade world via their shop on Etsy. I would consult them to start their own website, even sell off of their blog, or find another site that is more seller/artisan friendly. You are NOT developing a brand of your own if Etsy is sole internet presence. You are only serving the Etsy brand, and I would advise you that it will be pretty darn hard to "quit your day job" doing that. Unless, you are the favored fingerless glove shop...

Janine - Foxtail Creek Studio said...

It's a shame that they continue to claim this bit: "to reconnect makers with buyers" as part of their mission. CLEARLY not the case anymore.

All Wired Up TOO said...

I'm happy to have left etsy months ago!

Sellers need to give etsy the boot!


VIVA LA ART FIRE!

peacekeeperredux said...

For the last 2 years I have kept a google alert intact with my etsy shop name. I routinely received notices with my shop from google alerts, in my email box. I never receive them anymore.Most of my buyers found me via google. Not anymore.

I did not go to the SF Etsy Admin meet and greet on purpose. I am too old to endure the off the hook nonsense that was ladled out. I read about it on several blogs. They passed out crayons and paper and asked the 70 attendees to draw pictures for the Etsy Admin office walls.

I am too busy trying to survive in one of the most hostile cities right now, in the entire USA towards poor people, led my our Mayor, Gruesome Newsom. The leading Gay Rights opportunist. I have bigger fish to contend with than Etsy Admin. As a 60 year old native Sf-er , single and an artist for over 40 years I am in the lowest caste in a class driven city. SF is no longer the City of Summer Love. Newsom has 5 press secretaries, when Dianne Feinstein was Mayor? One press secretary, along with all the rest of the Mayors. Newsom has the same raging entitled attitude Etsy Admin does. I am overdosed with youthful entitlement, and empty soundbite communication. We are all misled by Etsy Admin. They really have no idea what they are doing. We are all experiments in their toy box.

Peace

The Funny One said...

Thank you, brandingconsultant, because I, too, am amazed that there isn't more outrage amongst sellers, even with so many locked threads and efforts to immediately stop any substantive discussion.

It's important to note that sellers who DO want to make, list, and sell Etsy-approved and branded products is NOT THE PROBLEM. The problem is that Etsy has replaced the individual seller (store name, product name) with the Etsy name and all products are now identified as Etsy products!

It's akin to walking into a Crafts Show and seeing every booth labeled "Etsy: handmade _______: artisan name ________". Who's going to remember who sells what?

And, to tell you the truth, who is going to be LOOKING at handmade in 12 months? When everything looks the same, the artisan is gone from the picture, the uniqueness of the handmade product is divorced from the person who made it ------- and it's all about who has cheaper prices.

Boring, boring, boring.

The changes that Etsy makes (without seller input) have profound effects on the handmade community BECAUSE OF THEIR IMMENSE SIZE. It's not a small matter. It changes the entire nature of trying to sell your own, unique, handmade products on Etsy.

life-during-wartime said...

I, too, am surprised how little heat the Etsy BS keyword fiasco has generated in the forums. Jeeze, Etsy, it is not 2001. Don't your marketing and tech people know any better?

But of course they do know.

Etsy is marketing to potential sellers of handmade, and doesn't give a gram of rodent's posterior product about how the SEs view existing Etsy shops.

This is the down side of low listing fees + no shop monthly fee. There is no such thing as a free shop, with no fees ever, even as the site continues to grow and prosper. Etsy sellers are paying for those free shops now.

The Righteous One said...

UEN has a very good explanation of what's going on if you haven't seen it already
http://etsynews.com

Dzign by Jamie said...

I no longer care what Etsy does. And I agree, find a new venue, or promote your own website!

I love my ArtFire shop and have had 400% more views and purchases in the last month. (probably exaggerating on the percentage, lol)

Feel free to contact me with questions on signing up!

Archivia said...

Etsy needs to hear the voice of the masses on this topic or it will die no sooner than it has been brought to light. We are trying to make #Etsyfail a trending topic on this one. I highly suggest turning the tides of self-promotion and RT this Twitter message:

@Etsy Sellers! Views and hearts low lately? Please read up and RT about the latest #Etsyfail http://bit.ly/oVGNi & http://bit.ly/15wxlW

Archivia said...

We are trying to make #Etsyfail a trending topic by getting folks to read and retweet the following:

@Etsy Sellers! Views and hearts low lately? Please read up and RT about the latest #Etsyfail http://bit.ly/oVGNi & http://bit.ly/15wxlW

fircid said...

usually i agree with you bitches but my views are higher than ever and so are sales with the new new improved advanced search

eclipse said...

"They passed out crayons and paper and asked the 70 attendees to draw pictures for the Etsy Admin office walls."

oh man, now I am sad I missed it. I have a few pictures I'd love to draw for them! LOL

itsalovelycake said...

I completely agree, the funny one. There is already a big orange E for Etsy on the tab -- but we sellers need our names to be prominent to the buyers! My views and sales are definitely down since the change.

UnHip said...

I am working on my own website now, getting serious about it, because Etsy has crossed the line.
They have been edging towards it for more than a year, but this bullshit is a complete leap.

Unless it is fixed, I take my website URL out of my profile as soon as my site obliterates all references to Etsy. And that will be soon.

I follow the "rules"; Etsy has proven over and over again that they are not willing to do the same. Just another way to get hits for Etsy at the expense of their own customers-- it's cheap, it's sleazy, and it's the most damaging thing they have done as yet.

These Etsy employees are SO not creative-- they are exploitive and lazy. Damn those individuals, and damn the CEO for okaying their strategies.

What is the point of using Etsy if it gets no new customers for me? I can do it myself cheaper without having to give away any of my profits or renewing to be seen only by people already viewing Etsy. It's incestuous; the cycle is complete.

Anonymous said...

In the UEN article they copied stellaloella's June 11 post which says, "The tech team has released a fix that resolves this issue. ...With this fix, no longer will “handmade” be appended to meta keywords for shop pages..."

Oh really? Checked all my titles today, June *13*, and guess what? Every one of them still have: "Handmade Dolls and miniatures on Etsy - ..."

Needless to say, I am not a happy seller.

And, NO ETSY! You do NOT have my permission to brand/own my products/items!

life-during-wartime said...

Etsy removed their wording from the shop section titles on shop pages -- that's what stellaloella refered to. Etsy is still eating up a bunch of characters at the front end of all the item titles, though.

Even when (if?) Etsy fixes all the metatags, I am thinking it will take weeks --if not months -- for the SEs to find and update all the shops and items. They need to fix it now for shops to be ready for the winter holiday shopping season.

And where in the world is Lou, the marketing guru? He wasn't in any of the podcasts.

The Funny One said...

GoldenUnicorn has it right, the metatags have not changed. And, if the changes stellaloella writes about (without sending an email to all sellers)takes as long as you suggest, Etsy will have already replaced any association of the product to the artisan who made it on Etsy. Listings on Etsy will be forever be identified as Etsy Products (to fit the Etsy Brand).

We are all aware that Etsy orchestrated this massive change to feed the branding monster and elevate their google status and standing BEFORE they announced the selection of the Etsy Council (kangaroo court, anyone?). The metatag issue is one that would never be put in front of sellers anyway, since Etsy isn't interested in hearing what sellers think. Will the "Council" really make it any different?

Ready for the Christmas Season? Etsy thinks about those kinds of things before November 15th? If at all? Promote a retail holiday before the actual holiday? What a concept!

life-during-wartime said...

Maybe it's not such a hot idea to continue to renew items, list new items, or relist sold items until this is stopped.

How long ago did Etsy change the metatags to 'Etsy brand' the items in the shops?

archaic design said...

I agree with, TheFunny One,
My name, my products, my designs, and the fact that I am the artisan are now obliterated by Etsy. My handmade products are now identified as Etsy Products.

crossed the line? yes. hopefully it's copyright infringement.

etsy makes it too much work to even think about listing anymore on their site.

AdiosAmanuensis said...

I JUST NOW have comprehended the full scope of this massive BS and they really truly have crossed a line here.
I have spent YEARS and countless $$$$$$ trying to brand my products, get the NAME out there, make it know, make it memorable, and I remember seeing MY NAME come up in google. now that is completely gone. I'm furious. To say the least. I am so over these scammy, lying jerks. They don't give a crap about helping us make a living, they just want more sellers.
They ARE the giant commercial NOBODIES they claim to contradict.
They want our money, they want our work, they want new sellers, and as long as we're all relisting and pumping the etsy name and bringing in more sellers to do the same they're happy.

I'm blaming Maria Thomas for this crap. She knows big business. She knows the game of $$ and how to play it. You better believe she's looking to turn etsy into the new handmade walmart, and maybe even minus the handmade part considering their lack of action with resellers.

It effing stinks, stinks like dirty money.

TIRETRACKS said...

Etsy's customers (the idividual sellers) have been run over by the bus.

The fastest "fix" for bringing in new customers is to sacrifice the individual people who list on Etsy.
Yes, it's
1. cheap
2. easy
But it's also
1. sleazy
2. malicious
3. business as usual for Etsy in that all their "improvements" seem to be functioning on the backs of the artisans who list there.

It has always been about getting newbies to sign up and fork over their $ up front. Now the front is the front of the google search: google finds Etsy but not our shops.

I said it months ago and it has just gotten worse: they eat their own. Soylent Green is people.

justbitchy said...

Does anyone know if Artfire can take etsy content and create an Artfire shop?

Some selling sites can take content from other sites and create a new store with it.

I have too many products to list them one by one on Artfire and maintain my sanity.

Etsy has completely fucked sellers with this one.

Create your own websites.

No matter what they do it will take weeks for the search engines to sort this out and etsy may face severe penalties.

The Righteous One said...

justbitchy, as far as I know there is not that capability on AF, but there is on Silkfair (with some tweaking of the imported listings for category alignment).

Many new sites are adding the capability to import Etsy listings - it should be mentioned in the seller FAQs of any venue you're looking at moving to that does do it.

The 'import Etsy listings' may be a good idea for AF developers (if they're reading)

greengirlsunite said...

Boy..do I hate to sound like a moron, but I have to admit that everyone here is MUCH more site-savvy than I. I do know that my sales suddenly tanked, and my hearts went out the window. I told my cousin-I can't believe I was going great guns one month and slid to a dead stop the next. Could someone here be kind enough to gently take me by the hand-I am not a computer newbie, but rather a newbie as to how the Etsy machinery works. For two years I've been doing well..and now..belly up. Would you mind, some kind soul, explaining to me what-and WTF-etsy is doing to us? In everyday language. For instance..I do not understand keyword stuffing..metatags..and the whole branding issue.I do thank you for your time.

Horatio, Dear Horatio said...

The categories on Etsy are just stupid (no offense to Leah from Craftster, who apparently chose them - Etsy, the $100m corporation, you'd THINK could have done better by now).

Worse is when companies (there are like 20 of them at least) copy Etsy's categories, just like sites used to copy Ebay's categories. Tip: Etsy's categories were really poorly chosen. If you're going to make a handmade market place - the best thing you could do is rethink the categories.

Anyway, so, to make those categories leading search terms is stupid. FUCK the word handmade, too - seriously, Rob Kalin can shove that word back up his ass, where it came from. I hate the word handmade now. Spamming Google with it isn't going to help anything.

silkfair said...

Hi everyone,

I am representing Silkfair, and allow me to metion the following :

- you've all put in the efforts building up Etsy, and have done a tremendous job. No matter what you do, you don't own that brand. Any marketplace is about building up the marketplace's brand.

- at Silkfair, you have complete control over the Meta tags for both your shop and every single listing. We're the only one doing this.

- Silkfair not only has Etsy import, but we've also just released the new Custom Shop, where you can completely brand and own your own Custom Shop, while maintaining a Market Shop. We're the first and only one that's doing this.

Here is an example :

This seller had quickly built up a Silkfair Market Shop,

http://bjohnsonjewelry.silkfair.com

and then owned her own domain, and within a few seconds, was able to get her Silkfair Custom Shop up

http://bjohnsonjewelry.com/

This Custom Shop is completely customizable via a graphical interface that's very simple to use. Additionally, you have full control over the html/CSS and you can do whatever you want. We have seller who's customizing and integrating into their existing blog. To quote what several sellers who tried it have said - it's simple like using blogger.com.

And best of all, you own your own brand, and can have the same inventory within your own custom shop and in a market shop without additional efforts. There is also a bulk-editing feature if you have lots of inventories. And you don't get penalized just for having a wide variety or quantity of products. So, basically, we're all about helping you having your business your way.

Although we have a wide variety of product categories, we do have special landing zones (sub-sites) for handmade / one-of-a-kind products. We welcome all inputs on how we can make that suit your needs.

Unabashedly, I can state that we are the leader in innovation and technologies amongst the marketplaces. We are the first to provide an Etsy import function, and provide a fully functional shop complete with it's own blog and forums with video capabilities. We are also one of a few marketplaces that push our contents worldwide via a content distribution network, for faster access around the globe. Every shop and each individual listing's Meta tags are in complete control and customizable by sellers, and we are the first and only one that's providing that. So, what you are all angry about, it's just not here at Silkfair.

We're also releasing sitemaps for each Custom Shop, so that sellers don't have to worry about inserting their custom domains into search engines, and worry about being picked up.

Will others copy us? Sure, but we're cranking out more innovations, and plan to stay ahead by providing technology that's really worthwhile to sellers. We've checked out many sites, and have yet to see any real innovations for us to worry about.

If I still have your attention by this point, then that's good. I can extend a special program/deal for Etsy Bitch readers if anyone or The Righteous One is interested.

http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/2009/05/etsy-alternative-9-silkfair.html

http://www.silkfair.com

Al of Silkfair

Resurrection Rags said...

etys' usual response in a situation like this is to roll out a new bright shiney toy ! wellllllll!
the front page now has recently listed rotating with showcases above the beloved treasury!
the forums are going to be chaotic tomorrow......unbeliveable !! *head>>> desk*

The Funny One said...

While the Google Rankings issue continues to heat up what really matters is if Etsy does some Monday morning quarterbacking and locks all the threads to kill the discussions, as usual. That makes it a good time to move your stores to one or more of the new sites.

If you really want to be heard by Etsy you might do it by snail mail, since we all know email to support@ is a shot in the dark.

Thanks Dear Horatio for bringing up the "categories are just stupid" point because it's so true. Many of the new sites are not only copying Etsy's category mess, they're also copying the lazy-ass so no advertising crap that Etsy continues to get away with, even though it's on a branding mission ---aha! and still tells sellers they have to do all the site's marketing for free!

Only NOW, sellers have bigger mountains to climb on Etsy - they have to market their stores to OVERCOME the fact that they no longer show up in Google searches because they are shut out by the Etsy pre-label applied to all listings. Etsy has actually made it harder for sellers to market their own stores.

Etsy's nutty categories and subcategories are only one layer of the massive confusion that Etsy imposes on sellers in the most invasive manner ever seen on an ecommerce site that hosts storefronts (including Amazon).

While the Etsy seller adheres to the wild and wonky "tag rules" that are based on an insane categories list, ALL OF ETSY'S SITE BASED PROMOTIONS USE OTHER TAGS and LABELS!

No wonder the poor buyer can't find a damn thing.

Gardening Tools on Etsy becomes "Digging in the Dirt" - is there a tag for that??? A weird assortment of products become "Equestrian Prep" --- is that a category?

And the new and ever so "Show Some Skin" summer Etsy promo------right at the top of the front page --- is that a new tag or just another way for Etsy to sound hip while it's DRIVING BUYERS AWAY with their ever-confusing tagging and labelling?

It's a mess. As a seller, you just lost your Google store name ranking, you get bonked for using incorrect tags, you can't tag because Etsy keeps changing the rules and uses bizarre and tasteless promos all over the site, and you can't list a damn product on the site without being obliterated by the "Handmade on Etsy_________" search parameter that throws your store name off the search grid.

And you can't join in on a discussion with Etsy in their very own forums for fear of retaliation.

Etsy is like signing up for a craft show, and getting a 350-page Intructions Booklet that lists what you CAN'T DO and CAN'T BRING, and CAN'T SAY, all with the subheading "Etsy has the right to change any rule any time, anywhere, and for any reason without notification."

justbitchy said...

In response to the "handmade" issue.

The FTC clearly states that "handmade" means from raw materials, not assembled work.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with assembled work, but that is technically, according to the FTC, handcrafted.

So, basically, Etsy is a huge misrepresentation.

Unknown said...

at the silkfair representative -

I must admit I haven't heard too much about your site other then the review here at etsy bitch and your brief comment. I'm wondering what you have to offer as a competing venue. As I understand it you are not specifically a handmade venue in the first place (When I tried to check on this your site was down for maintenance by the way 11:58 EST, not the best message to send to potential buyers and sellers).

But one of the key factors to an online selling venue is traffic to the site. You can have the most innovative product in the world and shout it from the roof-tops but if no one hears you what good is it. Now I know you have to promote promote promote yourself, but at a certain point the venue is expected to bring a little foot traffic by. Just comparing you to your non-etsy handmade competitors yields this graph at compete.com:

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/artfire.com+1000markets.com+silkfair.com/

I really like the etsy auto feed you offer, but how can I justify setting up my storefront in a ghost town?

forum rubbernecker said...

This sucks.

That's all.

Mara said...

I'm not sure they even want sellers anymore - and the branding ideas seem strangely (eBay) familiar....

I haven't put anything on Artfire yet, but I just might, in case I have to move....

BrainSpun said...

I'm not moving or changing anything until Etsy admin comes up with an explanation of WTF is going on. The forums are a complete clusterfuck and admin is nowhere to be seen! So many poor sellers have been running themselves ragged changing their whole shops, trying to figure out a way around this mess.

stace said...

i usually do REALLY well on etsy. lately, it's crickets. for 3 years, i've done great sales.

this is killing me.

i am already gearing up to get away from the fees... but, ugh. in the meantime. if i don't friggin twitter, or myspace, or whatever, i get low views. which was never the case before. i like those social sites to be an addition to my store, a way to communicate with people, not a place i HAVE to go post to just to get sales. daily. lame!


i will take some time this week to spread some stuff around to other storefronts. see what happens.


i've been meaning to really try out artfire. it seems to be growing well.

Amy said...

man, ya'll know u have a kick ass blog when u get 39 comments..

Blogged about my protest! :)
Feel free to re-share
http://blog.mamaslittlemonkeys.com/2009/06/monkey-witchy-and-plurk-walk-into-bar.html

justbitchy said...

I think it is amazing and commendable that so many sellers have been so helpful in the forums. They really did an amazing amount of research and have shared so much useful information.

That said, I can't help but think that they would do better using their time setting up their own websites or using a service like BigCartel and their own URL.

Honestly, Etsy does this every single time they roll something out. Every time. This isn't going to change. Ever.

If you want to use Etsy as an additional selling site, well, that's fine, but you really need to have your own website.

It's not that expensive or difficult, especially if you use a template based shopping cart like BigCartel or Shopify.