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Here it is folks, smack dab in the middle of holiday retail frenzy, and Etsy decides it’s not about selling, it’s about Circles!
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6702550
While visions of anything but selling continues to put Etsy Admins in a lather, let’s just say it’s the epitome of arrogance to take it all “social” without a care in the world about Etsy sellers selling for the holidays!
As fewer sellers sell because they never turn up in a woefully broken Search and customers can’t find what they might want to buy because Search don’t work no matter what, Etsy just keeps Circling down the drain of doing a lot of anything but focusing on Etsy sellers actually selling!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
While visions of Circles dance in their heads.......sales, what sales?
Posted by The Funny One at 9:01 PM
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28 Comments:
Oh but they just released nunbers showing 'record' sales in November!
Right.
Anyone who thinks they don't screw their numbers for their backers is seriously delusional.
Take E's total lack of concern about sellers selling, add in gfodor's "taste-test", mix it in a week of forum posts about WTF are circles and who needs them, sprinkle in the gobs of pure profit E makes from sellers who still list willy-nilly without ever selling anything, and you have a half-baked, ass-backwards company that dropped the rules of e-commerce in the E-toilet.
Ahhemmm, E, to make it social, you need a fan base, and you just spent 24 months alienating both your not-selling sellers as well as anyone with money willing to buy. They either can't find it or they can get the very same mass produce junk at walmart, no shipping!
I have been running in circles trying to figure out WHY circles are necessary to my Etsy existence. And guess what I have learned again? There is no end to the stupidity of Etsy admin.
So, circles are the answer to a search that does not work?
Further randomizing your shopping experience is NOT the fucking answer.
If you complain about it in the forums, they either mute you or publicly threaten to mute you.
I'm not an employee, and I've had it with their fucking arrogance.
I do not want my name associated with anything Etsy at all.
I don't want customers pulling up my shop name in any search and coming up with Etsy, it's crappy resellers junk. They're just embarrassing.
I can honestly say that I see how circles could be useful - IF Etsy took the time to explain them and maybe add in a tutorial of how to make the most of them.
But seriously? Why not work on one of the who-knows-how-many things that sellers have been asking for? Why bring out something that no one even wanted when everything else is so broken?
Oh, that's right, because they're owned by the same company as Facebok - and Facebook makes more money.
I am a long time seller on Etsy and one who was very vocal against the Activity Feed and Circles. With only one sale for the month, I am totally disgusted.
What has really amazed me is the number of sellers putting me down again and again for being as they referred to as "negative" and a "whiner".
Etsy chose this feature over fixing search so that buyers can actually find what they are looking for. A very sad day.
I have decided to let my shop die a slow death. I have not renewed or listed any new items in over a week. I do not feel a part of the community. So much for "Social" commerce. Etsy doesn't feel too social these days.
I've been spending less and less time keeping up with Etsy as it gets less and less like a shopping venue.
It doesn't affect if the center of their "buy" page is wacky facebook app to get suggestions for your friends.
All I can figure out about is you can get a feed of what people listed and relisted but there is no real interaction anyway. God I could use the RSS feed if I want to keep up with who list what in their store.
Their idea of social is more like Big Brother terrorizing people into being good and always keeping an eye on everything. Good forbid people are allowed to actually exchange thoughts
Any hope I had of possibly making some decent sales for the holiday have been dashed. I'm not participating in this "circle jerk" (vulgar but appropriate) and have disabled my favs and deleted my treasuries.
My items are expiring and no more renewing. I no longer frequent the forums as I'm sick of getting cupcake smeared all over me every time I try to reason with anyone. I am so done.
If anyone has any brains at all, they will run, not walk, to ArtFire.
Etsy, this is my Christmas wish for you: Put your social shit back up your arse where it came from.
Just when you thought front page favoritism, more than one idiotic team and treasury mafias were the height of cliquishness, here come the circles. While some sellers buy things on Etsy, not all do. Why would we want to socialize with people we don't know, don't have anything in common with and wouldn't be in the market for the goods they sell? What a waste of time.
Wolf Said...
Oh but they just released nunbers showing 'record' sales in November!
Right.
Anyone who thinks they don't screw their numbers for their backers is seriously delusional.
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Just figuring that out? They have done it for years. With all the new sellers in the forums, none of them have asked "where is the weather report?".
I guarantee if you ask that question, the thread will die a quick death. They have no clue.
So Etsy has what they want. Sellers who are in goo goo gah gah land. They list, they hope. But alas they have circles that are guaranteed to make them successes.
What Etsy is doing is a joke to those who have been around. To the cupcakes and newbies, they are loving it. Lapping it up...
Enjoy cupcakes and newbies, because your days are coming.
You have been forewarned.
I can't believe it took this long for Etsy to make it so you can see if your shiz is in a treasury. Unreal.
*throws up hands*
I had an unusually large amount of sales, and then watched tumbleweeds pass through my shop.
The only thing that "circles" accomplishes is my new-found ability to feel like I'm stalking people. Thank goodness for that timestamp next to when someone makes a treasury or favorites something. Seriously, if I really wanted to stalk someone - this new feature would really really help!
I'm not a facebook person. I'm not a social darling. I'm a busy & talented person. Too bad there isn't shit on that site that just directs people to my fabulous products.
*sighs*
I think the timing could have been better, but I've made a LOT of sales in the last week or so from circles. I don't think anyone should hate on them just because the timing was bad. Also, the circles are nothing like Facebook, Facebook is about people and the circles are purely about showing stuff for sale. There are no status updates or personal notes on the circles. I think people are really, really overreacting to this.
Circles may be marginally beneficial to some sellers 12 months from now, but it also assumes a lot of "ifs" that either reinforce the current free-promo model of <1% of faved sellers who sell well & props up the rest of the Etsy myth---or it will blow a hole in their profit base of mega-listing without sales as "sellers" leave en masse come January.
Circles also assumes what Etsy knows - that their mega-profits used to be sellers buying from other sellers, a model that petered out 12-18 months ago. If sellers not making money can no longer afford to buy from other sellers not making money, and no "new buyers" are sucked into the Circle/social frenzy, then listings profits alone will not sustain Etsy's profit margin.
Sellers aren't sellers if they aren't selling. Social selling may sustain a few thousand sellers for 3 months a year (propped up by Etsy's elaborate favoritism system), but paying for listings that never sell won't last much longer.
I was not surprised by this social experiment. I think it was evil for Etsy to do this during the holidays. I coped with it by spending time fixing my profile page to eliminate distractions from my shop. I left my team and I posted my shop link on my profile page because it is hard to figure out how to get to my shop from my profile! I am just doing what I always do to promote my work there and on Artfire. My Artfire items still show up well on google searches...my Etsy items are no where to be seen which is unusual....I am curious to see what will happen to sales when the holiday shopping season is over. Just so happy that I have my Arfire shop to get busy with in the new year. I don't see a future for my work selling on Etsy after the holidays.
goodbyeetsy said...
Just figuring that out? They have done it for years. With all the new sellers in the forums, none of them have asked "where is the weather report?".
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Nope, I've known they scew the numbers for a long time. It's obvious to those of us who aren't kissing Etsy's ass over there and always has been.
Oh but mention that they scew the numbers and you get jumped all over by the resident Etsy 'favorites' who can do no wrong.
Etsy is not about sales anymore, but about clicks.
Hence the links to other people's shops in your profile, revealing the Teams you're in even if that means you have to come out to your family and friends...
Oh, circles are useful all right.
Add your biggest competitors, then add everyone in their circles. Add all of the customers they add to your own circle, so you pop up in their customers' faces.
Yep. Good one, Etsy.
This program doesn't even have half the functionality of a real social networking feed. It's like faux-Facebook or faux-Flickr.
Oh, and I completely agree with what Wolf said in the first comment.
Stats, numbers, clicks, and sales ARE ALWAYS beefed up for investor reviews. ALWAYS.
Been involved in the industry for years.
Hey =) I have been making great sales on Ebay and I just sold an item for $125 on zibbet which was awesome because there were no fees. Why is anyone still on Etsy. I am so happy to have time to work again. That site sucks all your time into a dark hole and the community there makes me want to puke!
The circles crap is overblown by the proponents and the naysayers. It's basically what every other modern site does, just 3-4 years late and half baked.
That Etsy calls this 'connecting woth' or getting to know. people is such a joke. I get to know people from setting items they put a shopping list? Or reading their bio? Maybe nightline is stupid enough to believe that. not me.
Etsy admin has been so busy running in circles this year, I guess they had to do it for real and came up with the circle idea.
I just made a multiple sale on AF that would have cost me $7.50 to list and FVF on etsy, including paypal's cut. It has paid for my AF fee for the year. So, even if I wasn't forever banned from etsy, why would I want to try and sell there? Financially, as well as other reasons, it makes no sense to sell on etsy anymore. They have lost it and as y'all said, they are circling the drain. Wonder if the employee bathrooms are as plush as the phone booths are?
Are Etsy Sale numbers broken down by seller - so we can see the sales...or do they really mean sales of space (or renews) to the seller base..since most sellers are also buyers what does this equate to in profit (not revenue)to sellers.....your never gonna see those numbers
How do circles and social networking work when you remove more of the sellers individual bio/profile info...is not that your differentiation..your process, your design - ther personality behind it all ...I don't mind being social with buyers...but ...if everyone in my circle is another seller, competitor and these links lead off my pages....how do I differentiate without my profile stuff. And what do I socialize about ...Etsy...Its all about etsy..and that is why I sell on AF.
Etsy has made one mistake after another. Circles--WTF!!! I wish etsy would fire all their employees who came up with or supported all these crappy ideas of the last year and hire people with degrees in business.
Circle jerk! Great description!
I've been watching my "circle" activity close, and I see seller after seller adding items to their favorites, adding sellers to their favorites all day long and yet their favorite items and favorite seller numbers are not going up. They are simply adding and deleting just to get into the "activities" of other peoples circles. I check sellers circles, and I don't seem to see anyy buyer only accounts. I suspect it's only sellers using this "tool".
And from what I see, it doesn't seem to be doing many sellers much good. The ones who were selling lots before this was implemented still are, the ones who weren't selling still arent, despite their manic adding items, creating treasuries and adding sellers to thier favorites.
Antoher useless, time wasting bunch of crap brought to you by the children who can't quite figure out how to run a real marketplace. I should add, the obviously very lonely people who are so desperate for friendship that they've turned etsy into a "social" site instead of the fabulous marketplace it was actually growing into.
Wolf said...
Oh but they just released nunbers showing 'record' sales in November!
Right.
Anyone who thinks they don't screw their numbers for their backers is seriously delusional.
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their sales, not ours. at twenty cents a pop, they are making great sales.
Wonder if the employee bathrooms are as plush as the phone booths are?
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No doubt they are. Probably stocked with cocaine judging from how irrational these twerps act.
Look at that little shit in his recent interview on Nightline. He talks more about fixing up the office than he does about the website... just like when they had their retarded labs shit distracting from their actual business on the web.
They'd be sunk without all of Jim Breyer's CIA money, you know it. They tried to sell this heap of shit in 2008 and couldn't do it, so they took money from Accel. Still can't sell it. This what they're leading up to, though. The remaining founders would obviously like to spend their time screwing around, not building a real business and certainly not 'changing the world'.
Can't wait until they do sell. Things could only get better.
It's even more alarming that Etsy finally sent notices re the Gawker breach --- several days after the event.
How much more negligent can Etsy be before not-selling sellers leave for good?
I would be really worried IF I still had an acct there; no excuses.
Bad bad bad business all around.
Whew! I got out just in time, it seems.
The more they add these idiotic "social features" the less professional the site becomes. They love to have these cutesy-wootsy little gimmicks for everything, but they never bother to cover the basics. Etsy is now even more obviously a circle jerk. Oh brother...
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