Gift Guides down?

It looks like sometime yesterday that the gift guides button has disappeared from the Buy page. (after the Valentine's Day GG was "updated", and they added a GG for Febriary birthstone when Rokali said they were coming down and would not be used)

I'm sure they are still active... somewhere, can you find them?

What happened to the GG shutdown?

*sigh* Etsy Etsy Etsy...

This is what Rokali said:

...we'll be shutting down the gift guides in early January. (We'll shut them down in phases, at first leaving them on the site without linking to them anywhere, so any existing links still work.)

This is what Etsy's done: the GG button is no longer on the top menu of every page, but they are still linked from the Buy page and, guess what, there's a new Valentine's Day gift guide!

So, if they're being phased out, why the paid employee time to put up new ones?! Meanwhile it takes weeks of flagging to get resellers and blatant mistaggers taken down and corrected, threads asking for admin help go ignored, and the Paypal integration bug is still not fixed.

Come on Rob, you know we're watching, why not reign in the troops and do the few things you've stated outright as goals? I mean, if they can add a GG to the defunct GG page, they sure as hell can remove the link from the Buy page. If you're trying to find busy work, I suggest getting to work on the list of things sellers want in the OP of this thread in the forums (some of which we talked to you about!!). And if the current employees you have can't do these things, I suggest getting the customer support number up and running with them manning the phones, put them on forum duty, or just replace them with employees that have the necessary skill sets (It's called running a business).

Gift Guides Bullshit

Always late to the party (again) - we’re starting to wonder if those Admins are asleep at their keyboards with the flurry of wacky, detached-from-reality posts from both marymary and HeyMichele dated December 2nd about how sellers can "nominate" your picks for the GG’s.

That’s right, sellers, another round of WHAT SELLERS CAN DO FOR FREE FOR ETSY while they twitter their paid-hours away on faves and more faves!

Once we get past the fact that all of this should have been a hot topic in mid-September, too late is really too late, and lame "announcements" telling sellers to do the work that ETSY REFUSES TO DO ITSELF is finally going over the edge.

Not only that, but both marymary and HeyMichele list several links that take awhile to read because, surprise surprise...there are RULES for nominating your GG picks!
1)Etsy stylized pix so you can’t see the actual product
2)You can pick your own items, but Etsy prefers you to work your ass of promoting OTHERS so you’re even less likely to sell
3)Make sure the item is sold in multiples, you know, like big box stores (fuck OOAK)

After you do all that reading, follow all the Etsy formula branding rules, never promote yourself, and buy into more and more Etsy asshattery, here’s the final message from HeyMichele:

"We can't promise all items nominated in this thread will make it into the guides, but we will be looking through them frequently. Additionally, we may select nominated items and place them in a different guide than suggested, or we may even select something different within the shop of the nominated item."

Total, complete and utterly arrogant BULLSHIT.


More work for sellers with absolutely NOTHING in return!

EB Gift Guides 1

Row 1 (From Left to Right)

http://hideebug.etsy.com
http://RDGDesigns.etsy.com
http://NewEnergy.etsy.com
http://peggysu1464.etsy.com

Row 2 (Left to Right)

http://scrubyourbutt.etsy.com
http://scrumpdilyumptious.etsy.com
http://ivydee.etsy.com
http://kahlaw.etsy.com

Row 3 (Left to Right)

http://whatsbuzzin.etsy.com
http://handhelddezigns.etsy.com
http://AimeeArtz.etsy.com
http://brennabay.etsy.com

Row 4 (Left to Right)

http://fancyfootwrkspottery.etsy.com
http://clearmountaincraft.etsy.com
http://SteamBathFactory.etsy.com
http://mermaidsdream.etsy.com

Happy Holidays!

So, nows the time to help those who are never seen by those hipster assholes called Admin.

E-mail me your favorite sellers who are not recognized by Admin, and we're gonna create our own gift guides to be featured by the 20 every Saturday and Sunday until Christmas. Don't be overzealous though, and only send in a few for each week. :D Give people a shot at making it, so we have a good variety!

Send those e-mails to etsybiatch@gmail.com with the headline EB Gift Guides!

Ah those lazy admin

Etsy is trying to shake up the same old same old gift guides by asking their Twitter followers to do it for them. Post a link to your favorite Etsy item with the tag #myetsy and they'll consider it for inclusion in the Twitter Picks GG.



Oh, but wait...what's this I see. They didn't even check to make sure there's a picture of the item!



Lazy admin, even when they have other people do their job they can't get it right.

The Promotion Game

WE REALLY LIKE PUZZLES, BUT WHY DO YOU MAKE YOUR BUYERS WORK SO HARD TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU’RE PROMOTING, ETSY?

Oh yeah, we admit it - We like puzzles, word games, crosswords, sudoku, and even "Where's Waldo" – but we’re starting to wonder what’s up with all those weird titles all over the site, Etsy?

Do you like confusing visitors and potential buyers coming to the site to find something they want to buy?

By the time visitors FIGURE OUT what Etsy's promoting, their time is up, dinner’s on the table, the dryer just dinged, and there are bills to pay.

They get so confused trying to figure out what the heck "Digging In The Dirt" and "Equestrian Prep" really means that they forget to go shopping!

Is this kind of wacky creativity reaching customers? Or are you just poking fun at your sellers again, Etsy? Heaven knows you like to jerk your sellers around, but the wacky is getting wackier and the titles change so often, we think oh goody, you left BRANDING in the round filing cabinet and re-directed your energies to constantly confusing the shopping public!

'Digging In the Dirt', 'Meet Unique', 'All Natural Grooming', 'I Would, Wouldn’t You?', and so many others we can’t possibly list them all.

Tell us what YOUR FAVORITE idea for a wacky Etsy-ish title is!!

Go ahead, make them up. We know you’re much better than Etsy is at this! (Don't worry, they'd never actually use them - this might actually deter them from using the ones we post here! So let it all hang out!)

Give it a go, because they need all the help they can get.

Gift certificates and inclusion

The gift certificate "how-to" in the Dorque is absolute bitchfodder. It is a lame ass attempt (err fail) by Etsy to be a "normal" shopping site.

For starters, they're confusing people who don't understand that they're NOT Etsy gift certificates, they're gift certificates to the Etsy shop that issued it ONLY.

Also - Etsy is double dipping!! They encourage gift certificates because they collect fees twice for them!...once for the sale of the certificate and another time for the sale of the item the certificate is used on.

And they have a new Gift Guide for those that offer gift certificates, a little late for a new GG isn't it?! And how much notice is this for sellers to be included? Etsy-site promotion my ass. By the way, did you know there was an expedited shipping GG recently?

Other sales sites are capable of site-wide gift certificate! Dawanda (see our review) recently instituted them, a bit late for this year's holidays, but they are able to do what Etsy obviously can't.

Another has this to say:

compared to the Dawanda gift certs/vouchers (administered by the site itself), etsy is being positively dishonest in pushing sellers into believeing that gift certs are the way to go. they may have guidelines in place to remind people that a tangible article must be forthcoming from each listing but i still see no information about having to pay the fees twice

From the Bitches Auxiliary - GG fail

We received this from a very organized and observant Etsian:

I just sent HeyMichelle an email, as she requested in the umpteenth thread in Ideas today, with a list of TEN repeats that I found (sellers in multiple GG or the same item repeated). And one of kfarrell's (admin) items in one GG. Seriously, kids, how hard can this be? Don't give me the crap that you don't feature your friends. And, BTW, I like a few of these sellers a lot, and have no issues with them. It's just silly that there are so many complaints about this and it continues to happen. How hard is it to keep track of this stuff?

Gift Guide repeats:

Item appearing multiple times:
Together Charm by elisasherejewelry appears in Her (page 3), $20-50 (page 3)

Sellers appearing multiple times:
PEAPOD by muyinmolly $20-50 (page 1); Large and skinny earrings by muyinmolly Her (page 1)

Petal Earrings by esdesigns $20-50 (page 1); Simple Hammered Rings by esdesigns Seasonal Fashion (page 2)

Set of 3 Roly Dot Bowls by papaververt Mom (page 2); Plant Cozy for 3 inch pot by papaververt $20-50 (page 5)

HelloSweetness by soap Mom (page 4); Sheer Tint lip balm by soap Stocking Stuffers (page 3)

Notorious Luxury Cowl by fringe Mom (page 5); Out of Print Cowl by fringe Her (page 5)

Winter 2008 scarf by desirapesta Winter Accessories (page 2) ; Winter 2008 dress by desirapesta Seasonal Fashion (page 2)

Eyeglass case – penguins by Oktak Seasonal Fashion (page 3); XL frame pouch by Oktak Her (page 3)

Admin item in GG:
Build your own tinysaur by kfarrell (Etsy Admin) Stocking Stuffers (page 1)

Edit: As of the time of posting, kfarrell's profile states that she works for Etsy, but HeyMichelle responded to the Aux's email stating that she does not work for Etsy. It was also pointed out that they only worry about duplicates in the same GG, not in the total. Which is bullshit.

The New Etsy Front Page

Hello EB Faithful!

Have you seen the new front page??

The Gift Guides are prominently displayed along the left hand column!

How's them apples? Those sellers who are not fortunate to be featured in said gift guides get the short end of the stick!

Sometimes it takes up the entire left hand column, and others, its just the corner, but LOOK! The GG selections are where the treasury curated page is supposed to be!

Assholes, the whole lot of them.

Have an interesting photo?

Like, say a screencap of yet another front page treasury or gift guide with an item from an Etsy Admin shop or a reseller? Join our group on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/etsybitch/ and upload it.

Busted

Dear Marymary, this was not the first or even the second occurence. This time it was Anda's turn to get her shop prominently featured.

Admin chimed in on this thread 5 times before shutting down the thread. Etsy, did your customers catch you with your panties down? Below are some of the defensive responses from Etsy Admin:

Thanks so much for expressing your concerns with admins that have shops and the possibility of them being featured on the site. To be perfectly honest, we have an internal rule that items from admin shops are not to be featured on the homepage or in the gift guides.

This rule has been in effect for close to a year now and if for any reason you see an item featured on Etsy that might be from an admin shop, you are welcome to send us an email to community [!at] etsy.com and we will have it removed.

A treasury with an item from an admin shop would not be denied a highlight on the front page. The item from the admin shop would simply be excluded from the list of item ID's that are loaded on the front page.

Admins must disclose all of their shops on Etsy in their profiles, yes.

If a treasury is selected and loaded on the front page, the admin item would simply be excluded and in it's place the first alternate would appear.

You can find a list of all admins right here: www.etsy.com/about.php

If the admin has a shop/s, it will be listed in their profile. While I can see how a public list of admin shops might be helpful to some, it also might be viewed as further promotions to admins or unfair in some way...so I don't see this becoming a feature any time soon, I apologize.

The items featured in that article were chosen by a guest writer from Domino magazine. We have since removed the item in question; it should not have been included, and we apologize for the error.

Etsy, Etsy...... tsk. You make it sound like this was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. How stupid do you think your customers are? Tens of thousands of shops on Etsy. Yet the same people are highlighted in the Gift Guides, Etsy Finds, on the front page Etsy Admin curated treasuries. That, Etsy, is pathetic.

Screenshot credit goes to Eclipse, sorry I forgot to post that last night.