Is anyone else discouraged by low views and low sales this season

[beatknits]

Since Etsy made changes to relevance search, my views and sales went way down. Usually, at this time of the year, I get enough views from search that I am overwhelmed with orders. Now, many of my items are hard to find inspite of my best efforts at good SEO. Even the items that come up well in relevance search, are getting really low views and low sales. I keep reworking my SEO and doing other promotion, but, it doesn't seem to help.

[Former_Member]

Compared to last year I am down by 3000 views and very low on sales. This is usually my best time of year, but with all the changes etsy has made it really is a struggle just to keep my shop opened.

[beatknits]

I am frustrated. I put a lot of work into my shop and spent a lot on supplies in order to make this a successful holiday season. I don't know if I will clear expenses. I do have some items that are coming up on the first page of relevancy search, which usually gets me a enormous number of views, hearts, and sales. Now, I hardly get any views.

[heartsabustin]

You're not the only one - a lot of good sellers who have been here a long time are seeing HUGE drops in sales and views this holiday season. I know I'm down to a quarter of my normal sales in my soap shop just this month, and my revenue for this year is HALF what it was last year. Half.

Thanks, Etsy. You've managed to ruin the site completely.

[Plektra]

Yeap, I agree. Things do not look good this holiday season for many. Last month they were ok for me, but this month quiet again. But that's the trend with my shop all year. Things are good, views and sales come in, I enjoy some stability and then they go flat. I mean FLAT. Low views, 0 views for several hours, then things pick up slowly, here we go, we are on the up now, sales come in and then flat again. Such a roller coaster. I don't believe this is a coincidence. This is happening all year on Etsy for me.

I do a search to see if certain items of mine even come up in searches and they do. Yet no views and sales on those for quite some time. I do wonder if I can see my items but others cannot.

Then I notice that somebody else's items come up twice in the same search. These are not paid ads. Exact same item appearing twice...I wonder if that shop paid twice for the listing to get double exposure in the search.

Yes, this site is messed up now. And please stop lecturing about SEO, how much we promote and where and send us back to our shops to relentlessly do more work and more work and more work and more work.....this kind of advice is becoming insulting to our intelligence at this point. At least for shops that have been here for years.

[heartsabustin]

Very well written article by a friend here on Etsy about the changes:

http://www.merriweathercouncilblog.com/

[LeedsRadio]

I agree with Minerva.
It's no longer about SEO. The rules have changed. Over the past three weeks I've entered a set of common search terms. One of them is "pink dress" - Plug that in the search box and see what you get. It's likely the exact same yellow/pink dress from CHINA that I've seen the past 3 weeks.

Type in "New York Map" - another of my tests - see what you find (below the items that are ads. Take a look at the title, description and tags.

Invent your own terms and search on the for several days. The results you get will be informative and you'll realize those who shout "SEO" either don't know or DO know and are sending you on a snipe hunt.

My best selling item has crappy tags, crappy pics and the google ad word generator suggests the item's name is not a good tag because it has only 40 (yes 40) searches. I have sold that item at least 40 times and almost always multiple pieces.

BTW - I come up on the first page and generally #1 if you search that item.
So much for SEO.

Tell me I am wrong. Call me a heretic or a nut but my sale are up from last year.

[MaryKempStudio]

I think it's all very random. But that leaves us with the problem of what to do about it.

[Plektra]

I don't think it's random. My shop was also very quiet here for three months: August, September, October. Last year, these were good months. And the year before, especially August & September. So this has nothing to do with the usual excuse that people are on holidays, came back from holidays, saving for winter and Xmas etc.

[Former_Member]

Oh my goodness I thought it was just me! I've got over 30 items in one section alone and when I perform a search it feels like I'm scrolling forever with nothing I've done SEO revisions... Everything! And your right sometimes it's the same items over and over again none ads, I'm just stuck like I've read the blogs I've researched tips made revisions and still barely anything. It just feels really unbalanced I'm considering closing shop and just promoting and selling from my website.

[GirlpowerKnits]

I too have had very poor success with etsy this year compared to last year.

I expected this to be a growing year, I have worked on and improved tags, titles, pictures, SEO, shipping, descriptions, everything! As well as having double stock and more items to choose from.

With as much work/improvements as myself and many sellers are doing, I have to suspect it's some of the changes etsy has made in the past year. I'm left wondering what to do next....

I think we have a right to demand some reversal changes, after all, who makes etsy?

[ShillyShallyjewelry]

It is all very odd. There is little you can depend on with Etsy. If you start doing better, it seems to always change. It is difficult to improve when you can't see patterns or results in a different tag or title. I have not found that most of the etsy advice has produced any real results.It is very random..And so very frustrating!

[AmysLeatherLane]

I keep plugging away. It feels like an uphill battle but then Ill have some sales and I think: ok finally my tags and listings and titles are finally paying off. Then I'll have nothing for a few days/weeks.... I can afford about $1.00 /day for Etsy advertising but I rarely have more than 100 views. A friend of mine gets 500 views a day but she's been at this since 2007.
I think SEO is important but i still don't get it. I think changing up your tags frequently, renewing items (even though you don't need to) and automated social media posts help.

[Former_Member]

So I'm not alone on all of this! Last month I worked hard and got my biggest number of sales ever. This month I am working twice as hard and not a one so far. I have had several other periods in the year when I thought things were finally getting better and then everything went completely flat again for no apparent reason. I have had plenty of moments this year when I almost just decided to forget Etsy and go in for something more stable (but more boring). If things continue to be so unpredictable I probably will have to do that.

[TrixiesDogFashions]

Also very disappointed in sales my views are up from last year but sales are a quarter of what they were last year. So frustrating not to see growth and not able to do anything about because of the changes etsy has made.

[ArteOfTheBooke]

I dunno, guys---my sales and views have been better than last year. My only advice is not to put all your eggs in one basket: Sell on multiple platforms, do shows as well as online, have other streams of income coming in. No matter if it is Etsy or something else, there will always be things beyond your control. You have to strategize and ride the waves.

[MiniZenGarden]

I am very confused about what's been going on with Etsy. I feel like Etsy flips a switch sometimes (for reference, I am talking about my other shop, this one is new). I did fairly well in Sept, but then in Oct I did my worst month EVER. Even worse than my first few months of selling, when I only had 20 or so items! (I have >150 now). Then in Nov it was very spotty, a few days I'd get 3-4 sales per day, then 5 days with nothing. This month has been going really well-- not as well as last year, but it's still early in the month. I don't get it- what is changing? It's not me, my SEO, my photos, etc. Very strange.

[kzannoart]

I agree with a lot said here. I am very disappointed in my sales and views this year. My only positive was that someone found me to paint a mural in SLC through my etsy shop this fall. Otherwise I have tried it all with no luck. Bummer. What are we to do?

[BobblesByCarol]

Well I guess it's not just me either... I've had my shop since Mar 2010.. Just when I really started getting the hang of things and seeing results, last year Etsy started making all their changes, and all my work now gets me nothing... In the last 30 days I've only had one sale, at the busiest time of the year... I agree with everyone else, it's soooo very frustrating... It's hard to spend money to keep a shop open when you're not making any... I was so excited when I found Etsy as a way to sell my jewelry, which is therapy for me, I am handicapped with physical challenges and can't do shows or anything like that... It's just sooo sad what Etsy has done to the site... We made it what it is....

[UniqueSewingBoutique]

Guess I'm not the only one wondering what is happening, the up's and downs are frustrating, slow Dec. disapointing.

[beatknits]

So glad to hear that I am not alone. But, so disappointed to hear that there are so many other seasoned sellers who are hurting this year. I have been on Etsy since 2010 and have put a lot of work into figuring out what sells and how to make my stuff sell. I am used to having my stuff come up on the first page of relevancy search and having trending items. After the changes to search, my fingerless gloves, that were all coming up on the first 10 pages, dropped down to past page 200. Seriously, my top seller was on page 203. No one looks at page 203. Some of my other top sellers did not appear at all in search. (I looked at all 250 pages under multiple search terms).

Since I sell knitwear, my stuff only really sells from Sept. to Feb. with Dec. being my biggest month. I knit all spring, summer, and fall to get ready. If I can't make it in the next few weeks, my whole year is shot.

[Plektra]

Another thing I have noticed is....on those very quiet months when my finished goods don't sell well, I manage to sell patterns. So looking at my spreadsheet where I record my sales: customers can find my patterns during the months other things don't sell, but I do not sell that many patterns the busier times. So I have a number of sales but the trend that is formed throughout 2014 is disturbing. I really feel someone decides what will be seen in my shop and how often I will sell. While I pay listing fees.

And for two days in a row my shop has been flatlined for several hours each day. Since this past weekend my shop has been quiet, but see, I did have a few sales lately, so it's time to turn the switch off now. I should expect that! We are now 2 weeks to Xmas and there is still enough time for me to ship abroad, but nope!

The only changes I'm making in my shop going forward is downsizing.

[LeedsRadio]

You are all correct. And you're upset only because you drank "the koolaid"

If you are going to be in business, read about what's going on in business.
Etsy, like any company that is successful, is concerned first with their profit - not yours or mine.

When I told them that their experiments with the seller interface was costing me money, their response was basically "too bad." and at that point I knew how I was dealing with.

That warm community feeling they like their sellers to have? That's THEIR branding in action.

Read this, an interview with Etsy's CEO (May 2014)
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-etsy-20140528-story.html

"An IPO is a possible outcome for Etsy. We don't have any plans in the next year... but it's definitely a possible outcome."

Possible outcome AFTER the next year, which would mean possibly in summer or fall 2015. The better they look on paper the bigger the results of the IPO. They're talking money here folks, and not "optimize your SEO to sell another 15 dollar trinket" money but big money.

But do not get discouraged. Do all the things you need to do to make your business, not just your Etsy shop as profitable as possible.

[Former_Member]

Hm. I don't know about Koolaid, but now that I understand SEO better from my day job than I did before I took a hiatus (because of that day job), my shop is doing better than it ever did.

I am absolutely meticulous about my SEO and I'm doing great. If that's preaching ... well, I think that's your issue.

My views have tanked in the last three days, but before that I was doing fine, and I certainly can't blame Etsy for three bad days. I had a small sale in there anyway. I suspect that many buyers are afraid at this late date to buy online and have switched their focus to local shopping. Also we sold out of our best seller -- we just didn't have time this year to prepare properly -- and don't have time to make more before holiday shipping deadlines.

I certainly can't argue that Etsy's in this to make money. Everyone is, right? I used to make a living selling vintage on eBay, until they decided to become Amazon and also to allow cheap fakes of valuable pieces to be sold. I gave up that business, not without regrets, but not blaming a corporation for doing what corporations do best.

In fact, after that experience, I decided my ultimate goal will be to have my own website. I already own the domain names I need, I just need time and enough fallback cash to quit my day job. I don't want to depend on a large corporation for my livelihood. Keep moving forward, anyway.

[CoffeeNook]

Yes, I'm discourage with how low my views are now. I've been trying to redo my SEO etc..but still low views. I don't know if I'll keep going on Etsy. It's so much work for so little return. :(