New and Existing Seller Questions & Advice

[Former_Member]

The holiday season is fast approaching and with that comes a slew of questions about running a successful business during this busy time.

We will be hosting a live Q&A session in the Online Labs on September 24th at 12:00pm (ET) with a special guest, Claire Comfort.

Claire, who works on the Seller Education team here at Etsy, spends most of her time working with veteran Etsy sellers. She will be with us live to answer some questions from those of you who have a little more experience with selling online.

Whether you're a new or established seller, this is the place to share your questions as we enter the holiday season on Etsy. Some of your questions and advice could be featured in this upcoming Online Labs Q&A session on the 24th! - www.etsy.com/community/online-labs

[FabricTwist]

Hi,
I have noticed that my views and sales completely tanked this month of September. I have been reading that this has happened even to well established shops here on Etsy.
I know my shop needs work but what could have cause my views to go from around 100-150 per day (without re-listing or promotions) to under 30 views per day?
So, the question is, has Etsy been doing some kind of experiment and that is why so many shops are having less views then before?
I know I was expecting much more for the Holiday season but things have gotten worse instead of better.
Is it possible that the new promotions system is causing this?
I want, need and hope to make sales these next few months.
Any reply would be greatly appreciated.

[maydaylabels]

All the experiments Etsy does are confined to smaller numbers of visitors at first before gradually being shown to wider numbers of visitors. They should not affect more than 10% of the traffic to your shop because they are rarely shown to more than 10% (if that many) of viewers.

The promotions system can only be causing it if you were using it before and getting good results but are not using it now; it doesn't affect the relevancy search. The only effect I can think of is that if the ads are more relevant than before, they may get more clicks in relation to the organic results than they used to; I have not seen this in my stats and seriously seriously doubt it could be responsible for a large decline in views.

Do you know where you have lost the views? Have you analysed your stats to see if you are getting less views through search, or less in Browse, or something else?

As this is your first full year, it is impossible to know whether last September would have seen a similar decline. Each shop has slower and more active times.

Without seeing your stats, no one can tell you why you have lost views. We can tell you how to improve your SEO to get more views and sales - your tags need a fair amount of work. But analysing the cause of your current situation can only be done by you or someone with access to all of your stats.

[ModernSwitch]

Will Etsy be doing any sort of promotion for Black Friday this year? I know in the past few years they did some related emails as well as promotion of specific tags. However I noticed last year they didn't seem to do that, is that the same stance again for this year as well? I did notice lots of traffic increases and sales with Etsy promoting the black friday/cyber monday keywords in past years, even though I was never directly featured...however last year I noticed that without Etsy participating and promoting the keywords, that there really wasn't any extra traffic at all. I do know it is up to all us sellers to drive our own traffic to our shops, but it was always fun for that weekend because you never knew what might magical thing might happen with extra traffic floating around with Etsy's promotion.

I do understand that a lot of the drama was that people felt that handcrafted items shouldn't be on sale because it some how cheapens the feel of handmade, but for those of us who run small successful businesses, part of the thrill is being able to have random sales just because we want to....and I miss that thrill of the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend that I used to get every year with Etsy. Sometimes as a business owner, the day in day out, make orders, ship orders...it gets a little boring...sometimes I wanna spice things up!

Also...merchandising reports...are these ever coming back? They were monthly...then quarterly...now they seem to just be randomly done by tastemakers with their own 'spin' on what they think is trendy (and often I've found is not). It would be nice to go back to the way the old merchandising reports that gave just a general list of what was trending, or what Etsy was 'looking for' as far as for items to put in the finds emails.

Thanks!

[ACreativeCountdown]

We are also experiencing a soft September across all three of our selling platforms. Experienced the same last September. Can't help but to be disappointed... But hope it's followed by a strong 4Q, as it did last year (our first year.
I'd love some advice/critique on our key words if anyone feels they have a good handle on it.

[FloralXchange]

I am also experiencing very low stats, especially the last several
months, just today I only had 3 views. (I think this is the lowest in
the 2 1/2 years I have had a shop... If anyone has any advice /critique I
I would greatly appreciate it.

[FabricTwist]

Thank you Matthew and Sara from ananemone.

I appreciate your thoughts.
I know I need to work on tags but it is hard to make time for everything at this time. I have read so much info on making tags and have thought I was doing pretty good but maybe I should go review things again..
Sorry to sound like I was whining. It was just a drastic change starting the first week of September and I have read so many threads here on Etsy of many people experiencing the same thing at the same time that is why I brought it up here.

[maydaylabels]

Pretty much any time you ask, there will be lots of people who say their stats have declined precipitously recently; it is part of business, esp. online business. The more revenue streams you have, and the better your SEO, the easier it is to weather declines caused by this or that.

Every now and again (once every few months or so) there is an outcry of people with a sudden decline in sales; Etsy's stats as a website never reflect it, so I doubt that this time is any different. What this means is that the problem is not likely caused by something completely out of your control - if you do a careful look at your stats before this month (and preferably at this time last year, though I know that isn't always possible) compared to now, you should be able to see where the views were coming in before and have stopped now.

Do you have fewer views from search? Fewer views from Browse? Fewer from google organic, or google product listing ads, or somewhere else? That is the place to start.

[maydaylabels]

Nancy, you are not even using all of your tags.

[Former_Member]

im getting plenty of traffic to my shop but people are just not buying what am i doing wrong

[UnderPricedJewelry]

I have also noticed a significant decrease in both views and sales over the last month or so. One thing I have noticed that may be a cause is when you RELIST items, they don't show up when you BROWSE Etsy like they used to. Before you could see your relisted items after a short delay, but now, I don't see them at all. If that is the case, RELISTING items is making Etsy rich but not doing us any good at getting more views and sales.

Does anyone know how items are selected when you BROWSE etsy? Are these recently listed items or items being promoted or items being selected by Etsy?

[TheRusticHome]

My traffic has increased a lot with the new changes, but the shipping changes are creating a lot of confusion for buyers. They need to see what additional items will cost them. Many are simply sending convos asking for shipping info.
PLEASE put the shipping costs back the way they used to be so they can see the discount for additional items without having to put them in their cart.

[maydaylabels]

Browse is not determined by recency, and never has been. It's a strange combination of SEO and search terms selected by Etsy and some shopper behavior factors.

[maydaylabels]

The Rustic Home, we have the same experience. Lots of convos about how to combine shipping, where we used to get none.

[BohemianGilda]

I read about some of having low stats , reduced views but I am getting "no views". Am I supposed to enroll in some $$$$ per month to promote my shop?
I have sold a few items but these followers are from Facebook and while I have good search descriptions, I am hoping for someone that can advise what I should do. Is it worth spending the 7.00 or more p/ month?
Please advise.
Thanks

[maydaylabels]

bohemian gilda, to get views you have to come up in searches that people use to find things like yours, then have good photos so people will click on your items.

you need to redo your SEO (titles and tags) at the very least. it does not cost $, just time.

[Former_Member]

I need help im getting views to my shop but no one is buying please help

[Former_Member]

Hello! My husband and I have a shop and I am just getting ready to post a bunch of items for sale. This is our first time and we are nervous. I understand about having good tags and titles for the guests to find my shop and buy my products. My question is if my item cycles out and comes up for relisting, is it worth relisting that item or should I just replace it? You know, give the inventory a chance to rest and keep bringing in fresh stock?
Thank you!

[JGarloffDesign]

Hi Matthew,

I'm seriously considering changing my shop name and was wondering how much would stay the same, followers, admirers, etc? I have read the blurb on my shop info pertaining to this subject but it doesn't touch on these other areas.

Thanks,
John

[SunValleyFabric]

We are a brand new shop and have just received our first review. We only received 4 stars because the price of the fabric we sold is " expensive" (These are buyer's words .) She did not state this in the review, she just stated it privately when I emailed her and asked why the review is only 4 stars.

I am devastated! I am an experienced etsy buyer and a 4 star review kills you. The reason the fabric is expensive is because it is a specialty product made and shipped from Japan and it costs a lot from the wholesaler . All the prices on etsy for this fabric are the same price as ours and we are as competitive as anybody with this fabric.

I have put hours into getting our store online and this review is terrible What can I do. This could ruin us

Sincerely, Laura

[maydaylabels]

Hi John,
If you mean me, it's always Sara :) Matthew doesn't chat in the forums. Everything stays with your shop if you change your name.

Laura, I would not worry about the 4 star review; the comment is positive, so anyone that reads it will likely be fine.

[JGarloffDesign]

Thanks Sara!

[khuskuy]

Hi,
I am a new seller trying to do things correctly from the beginning.
My store is about a month old and I don' t have any sales yet although I have about 38 favorites. Stats are still confusing to me I have almost 200 views. I wonder if this is a good amount of traffic and if my tags are correctly done.
Also I would like to know if not having reviews makes it harder to sale items.
I know is a lot to ask but if any one with a bit of experience could let me know if Im heading in the right direction I would really appreciate it! Thanks!

[maydaylabels]

Your descriptions don't make it very clear who made the items you're selling. on Etsy, your items have to be either made by you or designed by you and made by an approved manufacturer (you submit your info to Etsy to get this approval). If it's kind of unclear who made the things, people shopping on Etsy (who are ostensibly looking for items handmade or designed by the seller) may click on your photos, but will be less likely to buy.

[CrazyCute2]

I'm getting a lot of view but I'm not getting sales. Help!!