Forums these Days

[NancyQstudio]

The forums feel almost hostile these days and seems to have lost the personal touch.  Is anyone else feeling this way?  I used to love coming to the forums to interact with other small business owners or people who simply love their craft or finding unique treasures.  Now, I'm almost afraid to post anything. I'm just feeling a bit sad about it so I'm sharing here.  So many of the sellers I am connected with stopped coming to the forums.  This may be for the best.

[Artbesico]

I feel the same, it feels hostile and sometimes almost scary to post in the main forum. There is nothing much interesting to read now too. I think we probably have lost both sellers and buyers coming to the forum, majority of threads are about problems and negativity, I don't think buyers are interested to read them. The new forum has definitely killed a lot of traffic and this can't be good to the site?

[ngeorgiou]

@NancyQstudio @Artbesico  Hi you two!!!!  I so agree with your sentiments.....I used to really enjoy the forums, interacting with creative people, sharing ideas, ordeals and just whatever,but the negativity, hostility, the Etsy changes and just plain meanness not only helped in my decision to close my shop, but I very seldom come here to see how all of you are doing.

On that note, I hope you are both well and are happy.  Life is way tooooo short not to try our best to enjoy it.  Wishing you both a warm comfy, peaceful night and continued success to all..................miss you.

[NancyQstudio]

@Artbesico @ngeorgiou  Hi Nina!!!!! It's always so nice to hear from you!  And you are right, life is to short to give this sort of thing much thought.  It's a relief to know others feel this way too.  And it is so disappointing.  It seems to be getting worse too.  But I'll tell ya, I enjoy chatting with you both and other sellers here. :) 

[Artbesico]

@ngeorgiou @NancyQstudio Views have gone down from around 10 to under 5 now every day, it's hopeless.

[NancyQstudio]

@Artbesico I'm so sorry to hear this. Two things I can think of:

First, I've been in meetings about some of the programs I'm contracted to help with.  One of the major discussions was preparing for a possible recession in 2020 by insuring funds are saved and held in place to withstand it.  There is no way of predicting this for sure and we are all hoping for the best rather than the worst. But right now some experts are expecting it to be worse than the last one. That was scary to hear. Again, there is no way to know this for sure.  But it will have an impact on the retail business regardless.  

My Etsy views are lower today than they have been in years.  I am paying for ads and I have the $35+ free shipping connected to my shop.  It has not made a difference.  However, I spoke with two of my Etsy friends who do well on this site.  They are now setting their ads at $100 per day.  I can't compete with this amount.  And in all honesty, I would rather direct a large advertising budget towards direct sales than Etsy.

My point is some Etsy sellers are pouring money into the new ads system in hopes for sales during a slower time.  This will only help a small amount of sellers. Therefore, I feel things will change within a few months as invested Etsy ads results (either good or bad) are shown.  So hang in there.  Times of transitions are always difficult.  Etsy is changing but so is retail and the economy. I've found it's best not to invest during times of uncertainty. But rather support each other and learn while thinking of  alternative ways to work my trade.  I feel Etsy is worth the investment.  But right now I'm choosing to sit back and wait a bit with my shop to see what's going to happen.  You are not alone in what you are experiencing.  :) I hope things improve very soon.

[Artbesico]

@NancyQstudio Thank you for sharing, very informative and insightful, thank you. 

My expired listings have now reached 300, currently have 89 listings active. 

I've tried free shipping, didn't find that useful or see any impact. I had a sale during that period I had free shipping on and I had to pay £10 on postage, the order was just over £50. With postage and all the fees charged, there was not much left and a portion of whatever left has gone to pay for new listings. 

I had hope when I finally got myself on Amazon and eBay, it's dead quiet on there too. 

Summer is going now too so there is no hope on the T-shirts either. 

It just feels like hitting the wall every direction I go. 

Thank you for listening, it helps, thank you =]

[NancyQstudio]

@Artbesico I just sent you a private message with some suggestions for helping.  :)

[Artbesico]

Thank you @NancyQstudio, very much appreciated =]

[BreezeOnTheLake]

I agree, the forums feel like a cold place now that we're supposed to avoid going even slightly off-topic on a "business-y" thread or sub-forum. Very early on after the switch to Lithium forums, a moderator posted literally the words: "This thread is getting too chatty now" as the reason for closing the thread. And that wasn't even an argumentative turn of events, or hostility (which is so often is). Just people warmly saying a kind of "by the way, hi, how's that thing going you mentioned?" type of digression. They said it was getting too chatty. Wow. Yes sir, mien fuhrer. :(

Meanwhile the admin let hostile exchanges continue...

[Artbesico]

@BreezeOnTheLake They want to make it all business like and that has driven away a lot of people, both sellers and buyers.

[NancyQstudio]

@BreezeOnTheLake  I agree and I don't get it either.  :(