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Etsy announced they are making the shop pages wider very soon. I think we all knew it was coming, but the design personally threw me for a loop. It's a big change, and all those cooing cupcakes aren't seeing how it essentially takes them out of the equation.
While exceedingly clean, look where the seller is - still under the shop sections. If you are a seller with more than 4 or 5 sections you will be pushed so far down that page that you cease to exist. Those of you with tons of them might as well give up being contacted. Once you go down "below the fold" (the point at which you must scroll to see) on a webpage you cease to be important. With Etsy has succeeded in making it look like THEY are selling your product. This is something I was hoping to see them fix wit the added space they are adapting. By moving it all to the left, where current site navigation is it is likely that entire column may be disregarded as not relating directly to your store.
pic1 - You are invisible, but do like shop messages are abbreviated, since many sellers have fucking novels on there.
pic 2 - I don't quite get what the shop message pop-over is for, I think it's from clicking the 'read more' on the shop message, but I really really hate it.
What I think you agree to seeing is that they have managed to successfully make seeing you, and contacting you for more info, nearly impossible for the average wandering shopper. It will be hard for accomplished buyers as well as it will be a hunt to find those two little boxes about you and your shop still crammed under your sections.
Why didn't they put it on top and sections under it? Your guess is as fucking good as mine, but I'm thinking they are back on the "merchandising" plan.
Fucktards. Fuckity fuck fuck fucktards!
How to fight this? Put YOURSELF in your banner. Your pic or avatar, your name, your email for contact since they will have hidden all that now. (They say new larger banners are coming btw, so time for people to pony up more money to manner makers - at least someone will be making money on Etsy, besides Etsy!)
ALSO: Put your name, location, email address and or phone number on EVERY LISTING. Don't let them steal your work as their own. You claim it as much as you can. BRAND yourself, don't be branded as "Etsy's Bitch".
(edited to fix some text that got cut)
Friday, August 13, 2010
Wider Shop pages will make you Etsy's Bitch again.
Posted by The Cranky One at 8:40 AM
Tagged: etsy fail, shop design, stealing credit
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55 Comments:
Oh well, guess my 73% bounce rate on Google Analytics wasn't high enough!!
Again, the sellers that will benefit from the wider page format are the ones who fit a particular marketing image.
Time to stop by the Etsy forums to hear the latest suggestions to "not sit around and whine" or to "get busy social networking" or to "change keywords in your titles" or something like that.
I call them Horatio Alger-bots.
with the current shop pages I'm under all 10 of my sections... so how is that different? *confused*
Wow. I used to worry about eBay buying them. Now I think it would be the best thing that could happen. Even eBay doesn't plaster its own brand all over everything this way, and I'll bet it is smart enough to hire people who really understand handmade and would run the site the way it should be run.
And really, Etsy's new changes? Just in time for Christmas.
remember "a working library" the new head of the design team from Rob's Dorque article? mandy or andy, she's gooooone. lasted what 3 months?
let's see how long it takes to roll out these completely etsy branded(how dumb to you think we are)wider pages?
p.s. ebay won't touch etsy, it's gonna be amazon or google, they'll never go public on their own.
Really good advice about putting your email address in your announcement or listings. Get a brand new gmail address if you have to, to be safe.
Even PalomasNest does that, so she can bring you straight to her website. One smart cookie.
*sighs*
I haven't spent enough time staring at it to be horrified yet, because the pictures are tiny... which is ironic, because I am viewing them on my opulent 23" imac screen... the kind of computer for which these wider pages were designed. Yeah.
Other than being annoyed as fuck at seeing that the example is front page repeat Gollybard — the only thought that looking at the sample images brings to mind is: this is the way it was on ebay the last time I bothered to look on ebay.
BTW, is there still a "list" view format or is everything gallery now? I can't be bothered to read the thread.
Meh. The last 15 people who contacted me — which, oddly, has happened with ridiculous regularity recently (where as I have gone for multiple months without so much as a peep or question) — none of them ever respond to responses. Of course, I always kind of wonder if they click on "reply" instead of "send" — and they probably think there's a glitch and I'm an asshole who can't be bothered to reply to their reply to my reply...
Yeah, I expect the roll out of the new format to be just as smooth as people still think they "sent" convos that they actually didn't since they clicked on a button that doesn't do anything. Oh, whoops, I see they fixed that "send" / "reply" bullshit. I wonder how many three-years-after the problem had been brought to their attention it took them to do that?
They will fuck this up somehow, whatever it is. I wish they wouldn't, but they will.
And, of course, like everything else, they won't bother to extend the courtesy of telling their sellers that they are rolling out updates which is why the site will have at least 3 consecutive days of fuck ups...
Can't wait for the glitches, that should be fun and a half.
— Of course, if they are going to emulate ebay: how about emulating the "company stays in contact with the users" bit — where they email notify you about stuff. Ebays legal dept. and customer care people have been sending me on point, not at all hard to understand email notifications for years, even when I don't have jack shit listed. They're just professional about keeping me updated like that.
Yes, glitches = fun + 1/2
if you have a mac on FF click t he small pic it will enlarge, it seems to auto size it to fit... fyi
Uh--I don't really see what's causing a bee in your bonnet about this. Well, I see it, I just don't believe it. Those little bits about me and my shop are already crammed under my sections, that's nothing new. But by my count, I can see exactly five more items on the front page of this store, without scrolling, than I can see currently if I visit my own shop. This is a plus. I don't want people to come to my shop and immediately be bombarded with detailed information about who I am; I want them to come to my shop and immediately be bombarded with things that they want to buy. If they like my items, they will click through to see who I am and what I'm about.
"Branding" isn't just something that you do with a banner, a shop name, a picture of yourself, and an e-mail address; it's your product itself, and the product itself is king. Buyers don't come to Etsy looking for sellers, they come to Etsy looking for things to buy. If your goal is to create a distinct brand, and I can't look at your product and say, "Oh that's a __________, I'd recognize it anywhere," you probably have more issues than Etsy shop layouts.
The problem isn't just the wider page per se, it's a lot bigger than that.
Try virtual invisibility to search engines, despite careful keyword usage in titles and item descriptions. We rely on the ability of folks to find us via search engines, especially if we want a stronger customer base than that of other sellers. Etsy is not interested in increasing presence via Google searches, they rely on sellers to do tons of social networking, thinking they are doing it to promote their own shop when all along they are doing Etsy's work for them.
I found this short post that might be useful since sellers are concerned about showing up in search engines:
http://www.handmadeology.biz/home/55/
Though it is from last year, I found a few points are likely still relevant:
1. Etsy sellers do not have many options to customize SEO. We are left to a few things like tweaking titles, changing things up, etc. It's sad to see all the newbies having to hear the same advice, thinking they have mondo forms of control over SEO on Etsy. They don't.
2. Without page rank, you don't exist in virtual land. Somehow you have to get inbound keyword links from high-profile sites- though this article suggests posting meaningful content on high ranking blogs, Google is not counting inbound links from blog posts as highly as they used to. The article has some other good suggestions.
3. I like that the article points out that there are too many forms of SEO advice and that little of the advice applies to sites like Etsy- they are more relevant for one's own website. Again, many sellers are spinning wheels when they would be better off setting up a simple website and spending their energies there where they might have more control.
4. It takes a long time to get page ranked at all, let alone jump a number. New sellers of any kind should take heart in that.
For those who don't see the problem...currently, the seller info is under the categories which are under the banner. In the new design, the categories are under the Etsy logo and the seller info still pushed down the page.
Do you see that? Etsy is putting your categories and your items under THEIR name, instead of under your banner or your seller information.
They're morons so they don't get the difference, or they're smart and hoping we're all morons who don't see the difference. But it's a huge difference in regards to buyer associations, merchandizing prospects, and even search engine cataloging - just like that damn "Etsy" text in the title bar they fought withe sellers over when it pushed sellers' names out of the search results.
Does anyone else notice that the new design now makes all the shops look like the Etsy front page by pushing the menu to the left. Less individuality so less ability for buyers to pay attention to what shop they're in. And why should they, they're just on Etsy! Sellers? What are they?!
Thank you TheRighteousOne... I really truly didn't get it before... but now I understand.
Ditto The Righteous One. You hit all the marks.
Are all the Etsy engineers left-handed? Not even Amazon would switch navigation links on the left hand side----it's anti-intuitive! Shoppers, if they hang around long enough, will hate it.
Etsy has been slapping it's name on every product listed on the site since 2008, this just makes it a sealed deal. The sad fact is that all the fave Etsy sellers already make and list what Etsy tells them to (by picking the same products and styles for 5 boring years) because Etsy makes it crystal clear that they only like people who make what they like.
Etsy jams everything down everyone's throat - both sellers and shoppers. They are so stuck in a bizarre universe of their own making that they don't have a clue how bad they are at it.
Redefining resellers as third-word collectives should have been the final icing on the cake.
Etsy just admitted (for the 150th time) they have NO IDEA what handmade means.
It's now a personal matter -- do you want your handmade products to be denigrated on Etsy? Replaced with the Etsy brand name? Reduced to $14 and under?
When you go, take your customers with you and please tell them why it's better to shop elsewhere.
Sellers can't stop this trainwreck, it's time to get off the tracks and tell people why. (If Etsy doesn't implode all on its own first---it's getting closer every week!)
still simply shocked that the paypal payment express checkout experienced epic failure in just 4 days.
After almost 5 years, nothing Etsy does (or doesn't do) surprises me anymore. They just fail at every turn.
I now find myself saying "That is SO Etsy!" whenever I hear of some fuck up or another anywhere. Anything juvenile, narcissistic, or unethical. "They want HOW MUCH for that hunk of junk? That is SO Etsy."
Quoting the Stubbon One...
"They want HOW MUCH for that hunk of junk? That is SO Etsy."
**
I pretty much think that whenever I see what passes for "vintage" in Etsyland, especially on the Front Page.
$45 for an old (but not more than 50 years and not unusual in any regard) baby dress with no provenance THAT YOU ADMIT HAS A HOLE IN IT? Ah, but it is beautifully photographed, and it was on the Front Page of Etsy! That makes it worth it, right? Even with the $5.50 postage?
A couple of old books? Not rare, perhaps ill-kept so they look even older than they should, not sold by a knowledgeable dealer in antiquarian books, and the same ones that you can get for $2 used on Amazon (with $3.99 shipping) -- $34 on Etsy, with $12 shipping. Ah, but they are photograophed so they look like Anthropologie or Pottery Barn props! That makes then worth it, right? FP and all, and screw the TOU and "prices must be reasonable" and "under $14" because things like that don't apply to Admin Faves! That, too, " is SO Etsy!"
Quoting the Stubbon One...
"They want HOW MUCH for that hunk of junk? That is SO Etsy."
**
I pretty much think that whenever I see what passes for "vintage" in Etsyland, especially on the Front Page.
$45 for an old (but not more than 50 years and not unusual in any regard) baby dress with no provenance THAT YOU ADMIT HAS A HOLE IN IT? Ah, but it is beautifully photographed, and it was on the Front Page of Etsy! That makes it worth it, right? Even with the $5.50 postage?
A couple of old books? Not rare, perhaps ill-kept so they look even older than they should, not sold by a knowledgeable dealer in antiquarian books, and the same ones that you can get for $2 used on Amazon (with $3.99 shipping) -- $34 on Etsy, with $12 shipping. Ah, but they are photographed so they look like Anthropologie or Pottery Barn props! That makes then worth it, right? FP and all, and screw the TOU and "prices must be reasonable" and "under $14" because things like that don't apply to Admin Faves! That, too, " is SO Etsy!"
I'm really not a fan of the sidebar moving to the left either - it's so 1999!
There are many reasons why it's much better on the right (being next to the scrollbar, not being one of the first things search engines 'read' on the page, etc.).
I wish they'd just left it where it was to start with.
I'm not entirely thrilled with the snipped shop announcement. So many buyers don't read that already, that snipping it will make them barely glance at it even less, imo.
I understand wanting to bring the featured items and shop items further up the page, but I think they snip it way too early, if that makes sense.
It's abundantly clear that no etsy web designer has a shop here or they would have left the sidebar on the right next to the scrollbar.
Do they not shop elsewhere? Maybe their mommies still buy their clothes on line for them.
How many designers and IT people can etsy cram in one place and still fail?
Working on that check out, boys? Ooops sorry, etsy respects weekends.
I wish they would fix the damned "search this shop" function so that it was ALWAYS an option and didn't just pop up on the toolbar somewhat arbitrarily.
Having a dedicated button for searching the shop in an obvious place would help immensely.
Best to snip the announcement anyhow. If it's important, put it in your profile.
I try not to base my comments about changes simply because I am used to doing this a certain way, or used to seeing things the way they were.
My initial reaction is there is a lot I don't like about this 'improvement' and I'm sure a large part of that reaction is because it is such a huge change from the way it was. If everything stays as it is in the proposed changes, I imagine I'll get used to it.
I see the need to shorten shop announcements for consistency. I understand there is value to having pictures above the fold. I understand that a lot of sellers feel they've had an important feature taken away from them, but I don't know of any other site that lets you have unlimited announcement space.
I don't like moving the navigation links from the right to the left, I think they did it to conform to the design on the front page. Which was never an issue for me because I rarely go there. I think it's counter-intuitive because the scroll page feature is on the right hand side, and it's a pain going back and forth.
The new page layout is a bit busy for me, my eyes don't seem to know where to look first. It could be just that I'm accustomed to seeing them a certain way, but even when I go to other websites, I don't seem to get that same reaction.
I think my biggest problem with all of this is that they seem to have an idea where these changes are going to lead but they keep us in the dark. We have nothing to go on but what is right in front of us. If we had a sense of the bigger picture, some of these changes might be easier to accept.
they must have a plan, even if it was some time in the future before it came to fruition, it seems like letting us know what their ultimate goal is would be helpful in eliminating some of the complaining.
Not to be a buzzkill on the snark (I love it!) but, re: the banner not covering the new layout of the shop sections...do you think they might eventually widen the banner to compensate for this? that is, make the banner larger, so it goes across the whole site, just under the top navigation buttons? Just a stab-in-the-dark theory...
This is the work of a evil ginger genius. First of all Etsy is battling many different things. Details Magazine just chronicled Etsy as a “social-commerce” site and this isn’t good news for anyone. This makes etsy a trendy social networking playground that will become as relevant as friendster or face book in about five more years. Companies are suppose to create trends, not be a trend themselves.
If you are a trend, you will go out of style. Etsy is a trend plain and simple. People travel to etsy to hang out, play with shop toys, and view their favorite shop owners. They don’t go their to shop. Etsy and Youtube are both making the same changes in order to save themselves from being put out of business by the same people that made them popular. Retard Yokoo is a etsy celebrity but I am telling you she is putting them out of business slowly but surely. She attracts more attention than sales and when people finally buy her acrylic trendy crap they blog about how ugly and cheap it is.
With the upcoming changes and I am sure there will be more owls, pirate eye patches, and pom-poms head bands will all start to look the same and people will have to stop flooding the market with garbage. It will also make people understand how to run a business better. If you are worried about your brand because of these changes then you don’t have a brand and that’s what these changes are all about. Etsy is focused on one thing…making money and you should be to not being the popular child on some lame website. Let me make this simple for everyone. When etsy gave a big hug to The Sampler you should have known who etsy’s target market was and their shopping habits. P.S. The Sampler is almost out of business and etsy never talks about them. Oh yeah and The Sampler was created from Live Journal and who cares about LJ… NO ONE!
See what I mean. Fast popularity is not always a good thing and is usually indicative of 15 minutes of fame.
RRobin said...
$45 for an old (but not more than 50 years and not unusual in any regard) baby dress with no provenance THAT YOU ADMIT HAS A HOLE IN IT? Ah, but it is beautifully photographed, and it was on the Front Page of Etsy! That makes it worth it, right? Even with the $5.50 postage?
----------------------------
Wow, as a vintage seller I take offense to this. I don't deem to be knowledgeable in YOUR craft and wouldn't dream of insulting you, why do it to vintage sellers? Most vintage sellers on Etsy have a reasonable grasp of what vintage is and what its market value is. Textiles; as in your baby dress example; are become exceptionally harder to find as generations neglect the garments that are passed down to them. An item is worth what a buyer is willing to pay. If you think its overpriced, THEN DON'T BUY IT. But I can guarantee there isn't a single vintage item on item that wont sell at some point because it inevitably is just what the buyer was looking for.
Talk about sour grapes. Vintage doesn't even attract the same target market as your shop, so why the bitter attitude? I have a handmade shop AND a vintage shop, and I don't begrudge anybody the right to sell on Etsy. Have more faith in your product and quit insulting folks working just as hard as you (if not harder) on their shops.
Quoing Takapitcha...
" I don't deem to be knowledgeable in YOUR craft and wouldn't dream of insulting you, why do it to vintage sellers?"
**
Takapitcha, you do insult me. You presume I know nothing about vintage. You know nothing of what I sell and/or what my credentials are.
The banners look lost in this new format. They seem more like a side note. The idea that Etsy will go back later to change the banner size is implausible.
People may be looking for an item in your shop but if they find they like it but you also need something memorable so they will recognize it the next time or it's Etsy.
But even if everything looked just perfect, is it going to work? does anything? Ah Etsy, you are so consistant, you always know how to mess a Christmas season for sellers.
Why are you two taking offense? I sell vintage AND handmade, and the only people's opinions that concern me are the ones I know and respect. Some random person's comment about a particular piece is not an excuse to get bent out of shape. (in other words, grow up and give yourselves a break)
You've made some very good points, Truthful said...but Etsy is sending out all those press releases claiming to be "social commerce" when they (1) have no idea what that actually is and (2) they have to justify spending 5 years worth of big-o bucks on a million pages of a blog that put the snark in snark. (And gave a whole new meaning to Trite.)
Like you say, the trend machine drives itself into its own grave, but the sticky problem with Etsy is that it is taking the reputation of the handmade product right with it into 6 feet under.
They not only overdid and oversold their whole gimmick, they did permanent damage to handmade forever. Go to a craft show and see what you get, a world of Etsy Trinket-Trash.
Fans of Etsy-defined-handmade aren't even looking at Etsy anymore because it's 5 yrs later and they aged-out of their sudden need to drop dollars for fake mustaches and plushy dial-up phones for their dorm rooms.
They're at Bloomies and H&M looking for the 80% off racks.
That is, if they still have a roof over their heads, TP in the bathroom, and milk in the fridge.
Oh, ye who abandon ship to leave us with designers who don't have a fucking clue, except that something has to be rolled out before Christmas.
Matt is in Germany, Anda follows this week, MaryMary moved to Virginia and new cool kids have taken their place.
Only, they know nothing about handmade, craft or the web.
Social commerce does not put food on the table.
THE FUNNY ONE…Thank you! I’m glad someone can see this. Because I think you have to be blind not to see this. The last indie influenced commerce site to generate this much buzz and attention was girlshop.com and they are also out of business. A college kid just sent me a link to storenvy.com with a tag that stated “etsy who?” hehehe. I also no longer attend crafts shows. Crap deluxe placed on a table for everyone to see. Etsy is the crotch kick of the handmade industry and smart people will just sit back and watch as it to becomes non-relevant.
I see the wider shop fubar and another distraction to keep people from sticking to the real issues.
That being THE CONTENT TEAM SUCKS DEAD RATS.
I see my shop name four times above the fold, and etsy only once.
Not including my shop name at the bottom of every single listing picture.
In other words, my shop name is plastered all over that page.
Etsy trying to take credit for my items- huh??
If a shopper is so dense that they can't figure out that these are products by a seller and not etsy, then they probably wouldn't make it through the checkout process anyway...
I may be in the monirity, but I vastly prefer my column of sections, etc to be on the RIGHT, not the left. I even have it set that way on my own journals.
It's disconcerting to me for it to be suddenly on the left.
I wish they'd give us the options of setting up our shops on our own, to make them more unique and more 'ours'.
But that's wishful thinking, I know.
I also don't like how they made my already small avatar for my shop, even smaller now. Way to make us even more invisible and make all the shops even more generic instead of individual.
And I just know that this new change will be chock full of bigs, errors and glitches, as per usual with Etsy.
Okay all. I've been a reader for quite some time and love what you do here. This is my first time posting as I am thoroughly fed up.
Not only am I WAY concerned over what we're in store for with the wider shop pages (holiday season coming and all) but today I had it out with someone on the forums who attacked me, my credibility and my character. I've been on Etsy for just under 2 years and I am so soured to it, I just can't wait to leave.
Only I can't do it right now because I have no fall back position and can't afford to lose any money. Also unlike many of you, I'm not a handmade seller but a vintage seller. Going to Artfire or Zibbet just doesn't seem like a good fit and to be honest, I'm concerned that they are in a place like Etsy was back in the day. New, a place of refuge for pissed off Ebay sellers, and will eventually just go the same route. Only now it's Etsy that people want to run from and not Ebay.
So I'm curious if anyone here has any experience with Ruby Plaza. Outside of that, the only other thing I can do is work on my own site but we all know how much time, money and effort that takes so I'm not quite at the point yet where I can reasonably do that.
I guess I just needed to vent and was hoping for any suggestions anyone here may have. I'm ready to rip my hair out at this point.
Sincerely,
Miss Bitchy Pants
OH, yay. It's live now. Only word that comes to mind for me is YUCK.
Seriously. Just shop pages have been widened, not listing pages yet. What a mess. Seems many people like it, though. Just wait until just before holiday shopping starts. Should be the MOST fun!
@The Stubborn One:
Oh yeah. That's what got me ripped a new a**hole today on the forums. God forbid I mention that I'm concerned about what these changes could do to our holiday season.
I'll lay it down here. I don't HATE the new look. There is much about it that isn't aesthetically good but some of those things I can live with...I'm not scared of change. What I am scared of though is Etsy change. So what I hate is being at the mercy of these people. I also hate the fact that I can't trust anything they do and have to monitor everything as if they are a bunch of effing first graders. I think there will be a lot of crap that's going to go wrong and affect all of us in our most important selling time. In fact, I can almost guarantee it.
Thank God you are here carrying the torch for all of us. You've saved my sanity on more than one occasion. This is another one of those times. Thank you so much.
Miss Bitchy Pants
Miss Bitchy, I'm not overly concerned with the widened pages and the holidays, because we all know that that's when the fouled Paypal stuff will be unleashed.
I'm also kind of "out to lunch" in my oppinions of Artfire. I did join recently as a pro level, but they really do appear to be a re-hashing of Etsy. The same issues are coming up and the only really measurable difference that I'm seeing is communicating styles.
I am experiancing roughly the same failure percentage rate in both Etsy and Artfire with regards to items getting uploaded to Google Base. eCrater and Bonanzle both seem able to get a 100% success rate, which proves that it's do-able.
Artfire has essentially the same catagory breakdowns as Etsy which does NOT get vintage items properly catagorised. Artfire did start a new Vintage catagory within their forums, but after an initial spurt of activity, interest seems to have been diverted to the "Handmade certification" and Collections. Shinies?
Resellers have been discussed, but according to Artfire it is too costly to remove them, plus vintage, resellers, et al, bring traffic to sites, so over threre the discussions have been along the lines of "where do we put them?"
I had looked into Ruby Lane eons ago. It is possible to research sales to an extent. I did this and it doesn't look like sellers are doing great.
Even with all the BS in Etsy, they still are producing traffic and I am one of the "official 700" who dropped off the Etsy map, this past April. Mt Etsy traffic still out performs all the rest by at least a 10 to 1 margin.
I am currently there, Bonanzle, Artfire and eCrater. I have noticed an improvement in traffic on Bonanzle. eCrater has produced nothing and I'll keep watching Artfire for awhile.
I've begun to think that the best policy for sellers is to lie low within any given site and just do what you need to do to get sales.
Bonanzle is getting my vote, for now. They are the only site that seems to have increased in traffic since all the shifts in Google.
And to Whose Gone:
I can't see Amazon wanting Etsy. Amazon believes in quality. Why would they want to try to fix Etsy?
Ebay on the other hand goes about things in a similar manner.
Once again, Etsy delivers changes that nobody wants, nobody needs, and nobody asked for. Meanwhile, the search function still sucks royally.
It's like, your kids are starving and need books for school, but you use your paycheck to paint the house.
Etsy looks = to 1000Markets now, which isn't saying much since that site hasn't added any seller features for over a year. Looks nice, who remembers it?
There aren't a lot of workable alternatives for several reasons (1) they all mimic Etsy 2) only a fraction of products promoted by most sites on their front pages actually sell, the majority of sellers do not and never will sell 3) Etsy has a distinct buyer-demographic that only buys Etsy-branded-under $14 items and have been trained to equate Etsy with "trinkets" not the handmade product and 4) it's a new ballgame in the world of retail ecommerce which the sites have ignored completely for over 2 years!
There will be no change in the negatives perpetrated by Etsy and their like-sites until sellers start bitching about the realities of trying to sell handmade online today.
Believe me, these sites have started jamming "social ecommerce" down our throats and the picture is not pretty.
If we wonder which site is going to hit the deadpool next, it's the sites themselves that are digging their own graves.
They're the ones who are going to put all sellers of handmade out of work, out of sales, and out of money.
So now the full shop announcement isn't displayed unless you click it, you still can't create non-Etsy hyperlinks in the announcement, and you still can't search by country AND item? Fantastic!
@thefunnyone, actually you've nailed it. The real etsy agenda IS social commerece. Jim Breyer has a chunk of facebook, Fred Wilson, 4Square, CaterinaFake Flickr, now Hunch. All etsy board members.
Do you think they care if you sell something? That's for your own website, unless of course you are a factory.
Do you ever go into the forums? 10 newbies per minute without an f'ing clue. AH, etsy.
Yes, your shop name is repeated over and over again on the shop page BUT its in a page gray in most areas and in tiny print. The only bold and large name on the page is Etsy's logo.
Now people in the forums are encouraging each other to ditch their banners. The shops who have ditched their banners looks like Etsy is the shop owner. The avatar and seller profile is below the fold if you have 6 or more shop sections listed.
It looks awful. So glad my site is up and running.
Have I lost my mind, or is it now impossible to delete a comment. I usually save them all, but a double one came over and I wanted to get rid of it...I can't.
There are things about this redesign that annoy me. Most of them are graphic design issues.
I see that the stupid heart button seems to have disappeared, & the title of the shop page no longer appears above the banner. but I'm not sure why the title of the page (literally etsyusername & then whatever you typed in for "shop title" in the appearance part of your etsy) — anyway why is the shop title over the shop sections? And more specifically, why does it have a giant space underneath it?
If your 'shop name' is in bold
And your subtitle is regular size
then the 2 lines of space aren't necessary since "Shop Sections" is bold (and not a live link to anything anyway).
The indentation of the Announcement still annoys me. I am SO GLAD announcements are truncated to 2 lines. SO GLAD. I make treasuries, & often end up in stranger's shops (because I am not part of some treasury mafia) — and my god, I'm there in your shop to look for shit that looks good with the other shit I picked out, not to read a god damned novel. I don't enjoy scrolling! Like shut the fuck up and fill out your profile and shop policies. An announcement is like "Hi, how ya doin'? Please have a look around!" Not a frigging novel.
I want the LOCATION to return. As someone who makes treasuries by what is essentially natural selection (because I don't always use the SAME group of 16 people) — when I am randomly picking crap that I know absolutely nothing about, like let's say purses or various clothing accessories or computer geek kitsch — when I can see up front that I have not stumbled into the shop of a reseller — I like to know that. I like using random people, but I don't want to be one of those assholes who makes treasuries with factory items from resellers... I want the LOCATION back. I don't want to have to click on a listing and SCROLL down to the bottom of the page to see where the hell it's from.
There seems to currently be a difference between seller & buyer accounts regarding what is in actuality the date on which the user registered their username.
On buyer-only accounts it still says "joined"
Where as my seller account says "Opened on Month day, year" — not so much in the truth department, that's just when the username was registered. My preference would be to revert to the phrasing "joined" as it is for buyer-only / non-seller accounts...
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I read one of those "ditch your banner" threads, and just shook my head. Why the fuck would I do that? That's retarded. My banner is what personalizes my shop. It reminds people that they're in "my shop" on every page of my shop because I'm a graphic designer and my shop name is right there in really big, bold, readable print. It's also done in bright, bold colors, so it totally out-competes with the etsy logo. I guess if your banner is light gray, blurry, and hard to read, then by all means ditch it. Otherwise, removing your banner seems downright idiotic.
Oh, and on a bitching front, what I would really like are a set of page number in the area with the "Sort by" / "gallery view" — it's annoying to have to scroll down to the bottom to get to the next page.
Yeah, I hate scrolling.
I think Etsybitch has had, and will have, many valid points about Etsy. However, I think EB is really reaching on this one.
While it IS a little disconcerting to seee the navigation on the left, I don't get the assertion that your items appear to be an Etsy product.
The shop name appears six times under the Etsy banner, and one instance is in your shop banner, which is about 75% larger than the Etsy banner, and in different colors and fonts(probably.) I just don't see how anyone could NOT realize that these are items made by "X," and are being hosted by Etsy.
Do people think that all the photos posted on flickr have been taken by someone at flickr?
It's a little annoying they got rid of the html already there in the shop announcement.
I haven't renewed anything, so now I only have two items left in my shop! Eep. (All my other stuff is over on efreeme)
Just wanted to recommend checking out AtomicMall if you're looking for a new venue. It started around the same time as Bonanzle and has been refreshingly glitch-free and does a great Google feed. It will also soon be offering auctions and is one of the only venues that has integrated credit card merchant accounts, which is great if you use one in your business.
I use AM, Bonanzle, eCrater, and eBay for my vintage stuff. eBay still has the most traffic, but the others have been increasing steadily. AM is probably my favorite venue to use as a seller and I'm looking forward to what this holiday season will bring now that it and Bonanzle are more mature. Both of those venues have a nice file-based uploader feature, which makes listing items a breeze. eBay has one too, though I haven't used it yet.
I haven't listed on Etsy in a while, but I'll probably put a few things up around the holidays, just to see what happens. Artfire looks interesting, but I'll probably hold off on it for awhile and focus on the places where I'm actually making money first.
I saw a mention about Storenvy in one of the comment threads here and I have to say, I truly hope it takes off.
Stores include viewer/URL referrer stat's, ability to create discounts, and many of the bells and whistles Etsy is whining that they can't make happen because of god know's what. There's a seamless Facebook app. (my Etsy one is all wonked and stupid looking) and the creators of the site seem humble and helpful.
My shop really isn't getting traffic except through my Facebook fan page but that will take time. They don't take any fee's (yet) and google key word searches are yielding results for my items already (just opened the shop a few days ago) and in the same search nothing even came up for my Etsy shop. FYI I am in no way affiliated with the site. Just seriously frustrated with Etsy. If my livelihood wasn't attached to Etsy I would be seriously wishing for it to shrivel up and die.
oh, another interesting note; the creator of the site is working on getting on the SXSW (South By Southwest) speakers Panel which could really help fuel the site.
SO glad I found your blog! I'm a very new Etsy seller (I've been a buyer for a few years) and I took to heart what you said in this post. I changed my banner and put my email and blog in all of my descriptions! Glad to know I should be a bit wary. Thanks! :)
<3MaryAnne
(Oh and my Etsy is http://maryanneolson.etsy.com if you'd like to see my changes! :))
Just a note regarding the wide pages: *anyone who has their Etsy shop link on their Facebook page should go over and take it off. After the wider page change it doesn't work anymore.* (all distorted)
Well, I like some aspects of the change, and I think other aspects are significant hindrances to our efforts in SEO and customer capture.
I had several questions, actually.
But Sean said on Page 1 of the Official New Wider Shop Page Thread:
"Questions, comments and feedback are welcome in this thread."
Well, what the fuck good are questions, comments and feeback if you (or any admin) won't come back to the thread to answer those questions?
That thread is now 388 pages long, and the only Admin posting is Sean's invitation for questions on page 1.
That's 3,880 posts loaded with questions, comments, and feedback, with no acknowledgment by admin and no answer to the MANY questions that go unanswered.
Fuck off, Sean, you disingenuous prick.
For the hell of it and Tula:
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to me. I would have responded sooner but was completely ensconced with getting my daughter off to her first year at college. It's only been 2 days that she's been gone and I'm not adjusting very well. The house is so empty. :-(
Thanks for all of your thoughts on all of the other sites. And I will take a look at Atomic Mall as well. For the hell of it: I agree with you. Even though Etsy regularly turns my stomach, for the time being it's at least getting me some sales. Although a bunch of my customers lately are brand new and signed up to Etsy to specifiaclly purhcase from me. So I guess all of the work I put into bringing traffic to my items is working. Lord knows, I don't get hardly any sales from internal searches.
I did go ahead and sign up with Ruby Plaza and got my store opened. But only beacuse they are currently offering a fixed $9 per month until the end of the year and waiving the exhorbitant shop set up fee. I thought I'd take advantage of this offer and see how it goes through December. I can afford $9 per month.
*heavy sigh*
I so badly want to enjoy my experience selling on Etsy but they make it so hard. And this latest bunch of bullshit with that poor seller who had her store bought out...WTF? This is exactly the kind of stuff that makes me want to drive to Brooklyn and vomit all over their hipster office. I feel so bad for her. I truly hope she finds amazing success selling elsewhere and that Etsy gets the karma they deserve for not helping her.
Thanks again, my friends. I truly appreciate the time you took to respond and help me out.
Best,
Miss Bitchy Pants
and would somebody please get rid of the word "announcement"? It's ASININE
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