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Oh sean11, we just don’t know how you come up with these cute little Front Page tweaks!
PERSONALIZING the Front Page Experience!
oooooohhhhhhaaaaaaaaaahhhh, what????? For what? For who? Uh, we don’t get it?!?
sean11, oh hello wake up sean11, you address your Announcement to Sellers but do you know how many Sellers LOOK at the Front Page? 5%? 3%?
sean11, here’s a tip for you. Sellers are busy:
making things
making things the Etsy way
taking lots of really really good stylized clever pix
loading them with DXO-embellished novella-descrips and
spending 18 hours a day marketing themselves off Etsy!!!
They don’t look at the Front Page! They don’t have time!
We think the only reason behind this cute little useless trick is that Etsy wants to look like it’s hip to the “nothing is private while you shop online” bandwagon that shoppers spend more time opting out of then opting in. And then they stop visiting the ecommerce site altogether because it’s too much hassle to opt out.
In fact, I thought about it for 5 seconds and figured out that ALL of the weird, useless, bizarre and non-seller “tools” added to Etsy in the last 2 months have NOTHING MUCH TO DO WITH SELLERS AT ALL.
Are your SHOPPERS as confused and fed up as your SELLERS are yet?
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Etsy, the Never Ending Elementary School Science Project
Posted by The Funny One at 4:13 PM
Tagged: front page, wtf
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20 Comments:
So sad, but true. Once the seller gets to etsy she/he is the last thing on etsy's mind.
Why else would seller tools be completely ignored for 6 years? Does Sean11 have any idea what it is like to sort through 100 convos or sold pages to look for a customer request? How long would it take to write a program to organize them?
Or how about a coupon code?
No, he's busy making shiny toys to attract new sellers. It's really the only way etsy makes money.
My suggested shops, now my "personal front page gift guide" is filled with wire wrapped jewelry (I don't have pierced ears) and other etsy favs. Surprise, surprise. Not.
I detest marketting mining of my personal information. It's the new way to destroy your privacy and completely annoying.
This is a feature for buyers; if not, what the fuck is it for??
Yes, this is a buyer-focused change. 90% of users are buyers, says Etsy...
I think they want to do full personalization of the FP. I like it the way it is, honestly.
Increasing front page traffic has got to be at the bottom of all this. I'll bet traffic is down through favorites because so many people make them private they lose that viral trail of looking at who favorites you and who favorites those who favorite you. Same with purchases now having the option of being private, people can't look through your purchases and find new stores that way.
This feature isn't made for sellers. Sellers are pretty intimately familiar with their own favorites and their purchases and obviously like them, so using those in the feature is really silly and useless. And I bet that approximately 1-2 weeks after the suggested shops appeared, traffic to those drastically dropped off.
I know a lot of sites use this 'you might also like' feature, but I always ignore it. I have a feeling it's just going to be one more thing cluttering up the front page that will eventually not be used once the novelty wears off.
What I'd love to see is a place where we could list the shops we see in our front page feature and see if it's simply more of the front page favorites and if any of us lowly sellers manage to make the cut. I'd start, but I don't have the feature yet.
Remember the "Suggested Shops" fiasco and fallout?
Yep. You all knew they added Suggested Shops for a behind the scenes reason.
Here it is.
I read the article that one of those goofy twits wrote about having come back from "burning man" — and my reaction to that — face palm + lots of eye rolling pretty much sums up my etsy experience presently.
I don't hate Sean, because I don't know Sean. I want to like this employee, because actually, he answered one of my questions once, reasonably. The answer was vague, but it wasn't patronizing. So, I prefer to think that he is not a douchebag who would go to burning man.
I'm a crotchety mo-fo, I'm an asshole, and yes, burning man is completely fucktard-tacular. No one but hipster douches attends burning man...
Sorry, I'm more annoyed with the concept of a hipster fucktard attending BM than this latest quasi-useless unrequested doohickey.
I'm an artist; actually, I'm an illustrator. So, it isn't going to suggest the kind of crap that the fucktards on the merch staff think of as art, is it? You know, the drizzling shits that looks like it was drawn by a four year old. I don't decorate with that shit. I drew stuff when I was 4 that looks better...
Is it going to tell me that I should LUV these wire wrapped earrings that are the latest cowl wearing mustacheoed owl riding a bicycle in gray?
Because if I was so inclined, I could go to a craft store and actually buy all the parts required to make them myself. For the price of the crap from the front page favs I could make myself 10 pairs of earrings paying retail + tax at a craft store... Yes, I own pliers.
If it's going to suggest shit to me, then it better be good shit. Not that crap that the etsy staff likes. I don't buy that shit.
Now, if sales are down, there's a corollary: the etsy merch staff's taste sucks shit and it's turning people off in droves.
I hope we don't have to learn that lesson through another new doohickey.
Because, seriously, the merch staff's taste sucks shit, and I'm not buying that crap, literally.
I really hope this new toy isn't some half-assed excuse for why it's okay for them to show me the same shit from the same 10 people in the same boring ass treasury team incestuously 24 hours a day. Because I'm not buying that shit, literally.
I'm apathetic at this point, except for my total contempt for Burning Man, I desire to not be made more annoyed.
(I'm also totally on pain medication while typing this — and I still despise Burning Man)
The line in the article about 'readjusting' to "currency-based exchanges" is something that an employee should be kicked in the head for, particularly one that works at an eCommerce site.
Perhaps every Brooklyn hipster swayed by the marketing/ merchandizing staff now has wire wrapped earrings to wear with a cowl and an owl (moustache optional)
Now what? How about getting a marketing professional on staff who might realise there is actually talented work for sale on etsy.
And, if you are new to the site, what do you see in those boxes?
It's true that Etsy needs a lot of "make work" for 60 so-called engineers, but Etsy not only has no plan for all these weird changes, they do them on impulse. (And they look it.)
What shoppers want may be known at Etsy, but I doubt they spent any time or money to date polling their visitors/buyers.
I bet Etsy thinks site visitors will like a "personalized front page" but did people ask for it? And once it's activated, will enough people be so weirded out, they'll go elsewhere?
I hope so! One more nail in the coffin!
I was shocked when Sean announced this, although, with Etsy's track record I should not have been.
At any rate, all the usual gushing cupcake responses immediately filled the thread and I was simply shaking my head in amazement.
I dared to post my concerns and, of course, was cupcaked.
What this "feature" offers me is absolutely ludicrous. Misses the mark completely. Another useless inconvenience.
SEO is the most important issue, IMO. I cannot figure out why it is so ignored and why stupid crap like this takes priority.
I'm so tired of Etsy. Not sure how much longer I can deal with this crap. Trying to hold on through the holidays and seriously considering closing shop in January or at least moving most of my items elswhere.
Doesn't Artfire or one of the other Etsy alternatives already have personalized front pages? I remember reading about it -- here, I think -- quite a while ago, and didn't like the idea then any better than I do now. Perhaps they didn't implement it -- and Etsy shouldn't, either.
I'm with Cosmic Yuk on not liking the "you might also like" features on other sites, such as Amazon. I want to discover new things. I don't want to see more of what I already own.
Everyone and their Grandma is learning what Etsy is really about these days. It's a complete sham now.
If you know, if you've been shutdown without notice or warning, if you've seen all of the signs and red flags and read EB, yet you still "have hope" and still sell there, still renew daily, then you don't have my sympathy. Or respect. Sorry.
I know artfire's front page isn't personalized but it will soon be redone- total overhaul as well instead of recently listed, it will be using collections from the front page (like a treasury) but they already has rules up about not repeating artists in a given etc and it will all be member curated.
I think they don't care at all about seller tools.
I think their entire engineering plan is geared to make the site look cool on the facade to investors for VC money and when they go public.
Make it look neato to the investor. None of them know or care about seller tools or real functionality.
You may not want to post this, but Artfire is unveiling a $5.95 a month deal to all who sign up, if the total reaches 20,000 new sellers.
Set up a basic shop, and if/when the number hits the 20 thou. mark, all shops, new and old, will go to the new price if you signed up.
The actual announcement will be made later today in their forums. So take a look. Can't hurt, and the price is definitely right, even for those of us that got in on the $7 a month deal.
Okay, so they mess with feedback, mess with sellers page layouts and now mess with the front page . , , . Is it possible that all this messing is why they have been down so many times in the last three days?
I keep getting the "hiccup" page and then a load of pablum spewed at me on the
Rest Assured We Know About This page.
All I can say is Garbanzo Beans, and perhaps Broccoli.
Well, maybe he was telling the sellers so that we are aware of this change.
It's not important, though.
How come we can't delete things directly from expired or inactive - SERIOUSLY?? There is no difference on Etsy's end other than a database setting that says 'inactive' or has a exp date that passed.
I think the reason for most of Etsy's life was that the idiot in charge couldn't be bothered to tell them where to put the checkbox and buttons. He was too busy taking pictures of himself in the mirror and trying to sound really hip and wise on Twitter, I guess.
Seriously, it's past a joke now. The basics. We want them. Not the rest of the site. make it easier to shop and sell on Etsy for Christ's sake.
The shopping cart system still has all sorts of glaring bugs that are obvious to anyone who tries to use it for more than a few orders. When, WHEN??
Thank God I don't have the feature yet. But I did go to my suggestions feature and nearly puked; it was awful!! Basically I am a vintage bead and handpainted yarn buyer. I do buy some top notch hand-made beads, antique buttons, real Bakelite, some other vintage, and some knitting (not chunky cowls!!!&*^%!!).
I NEVER buy toys, plushies, cute (or not) tsotschkies, ironic kitsch, faux vintage, wire wrapped jewelry, geekery, bizarre T shirts, Chinese imported fake shit, fake 1960s vintage clothing, crochet, questionable gem stones, plastic stick-em up adhesive wall decor, and I could go on. So why are my suggestions full of things I never buy and also full of things I wouldn't buy in my worst nightmares?
I don't see how this new feature is going to benefit either the sellers or the buyers...except the sellers of the ETSY approved look. The feature is bound to turn off the buyer, like me, who has strong preferences....and certainly the older buyer who is looking for top quality items.
I was selling on Etsy until right after the tax debacle. I keep checking in, only to find that nothing Etsy does makes me want to come back.
Have you guys heard aboud Artfire's New $5.95 mo. deal? Come to the AF forum and read the staff announcement, please! This is fantastic for all of us
I finally got the front page update to show up on my computer.
To me, this one doesn't seem bad. It showed past sellers that I have bought from and a few more pertinant choices.
I'm guessing that sellers will show up within "their buyers' lists", too.
Why do I have to win the lottery to see the new feature?
This is totally stupid
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