When People Don't Promote Their Treasuries...

[Former_Member]

Today was the last straw...I was so annoyed. I went to my email and saw that I had received a message from another Etsy seller. So I clicked to my account and went to my inbox and opened the message. Another treasury notification. I was excited but skeptical. I clicked the treasury link and before my eyes was one of the most beautiful treasuries I had ever seen! I was so excited to see that my item had been added to such a beautiful treasury! But then...I looked to the right and saw the stats for the treasury. It read this:

3 Views
0 Clicks
0 Favorites

At the bottom it read that it had been posted 2 HOURS AGO

So, I kind of have a problem with this. I've been getting into a lot of treasuries lately but I've been extremely annoyed with the people who treasure my items because they don't promote the treasuries they create, and then they don't tag them with certain team tags (which tells me they either don't care or they just don't participate in treasury teams), which would be helpful because at least I could repost them in the teams I'm a part of. I just think it's kind of inconsiderate to add my item to one of your treasuries if you're not going to actually go through the work of promoting the treasury (unless it's one of those treasuries that's just a personal list for your future self). What's the point? I thought one of the main points of creating treasuries was to promote them so that the items of the sellers included in them could get more exposure (as well as your own shop). I know that's what I do when I create a treasury! I break my back over trying to choose items that complement each other perfectly, and some of my treasuries have even reached the front page!

In my opinion it's worth it to create a really good treasury that might get to the front page, promote that treasury in teams and social media, and be proud of what you've created. Make sure the treasury isn't just seen by those you include in it. There's no point it that. Yes, maybe one of those sellers might like another seller's item enough to buy it or search through their shop, but what are the chances? As a seller who gets included in a treasury that has 0 tags and isn't being shared, it's very disheartening. All I can really do is share it on Twitter and FB, and maybe pin it if it's pretty, but that's only going to go so far. If you make a treasury, take responsibility for it.

[Former_Member]

I feel your frustration. I almost exploded earlier to see that one of my products was included in a treasury that not only was not promoted, but there were only 5 items in the treasury!!! What is the point of doing it if you are just going to be half-hazard about not only creating it, but promoting it as well?

[Former_Member]

I feel like if part of the point of creating the treasury is also to get people in your shop or at least to follow you, you're not doing yourself a favor by doing half a job, either.

[KiltedWoman]

I have never thought to be angry about this issue. Many etsy sellers don't even know how to title and tag their items let alone promote treasuries and I would guess most people don't participate in treasury teams. I say thank you for honoring my work and feel grateful no matter what happens with the views.

It takes too much time for me to create treasuries and they don't seem to make much difference in my sales, even if I am in one, so I have pretty much given them up. I make one occasionally for fun but I am not hard core into it. Would rather spend my time finding ways to reach my target audience and working on my photos, tags and titles.

[DestaiDesigns]

I agree with Lori. It seems weird to me to be angry about this when they've essentially just paid you a compliment. It's not like your item being included in one treasury means you lose out on another, more promoted one, after all.

[Former_Member]

Breathe...look at it this way....you arnt harmed by getting put into a treasury that isnt seen. Havnt lost a thing from it.

[StuckOnSilver]

Kiana and Terri, you can promote the treasury your item in in... Go for it!

[Former_Member]

I agree on what bev said. If they don't do it, do it yourself. I also don't really understand your anger because the creator of the treasury took the effort to include you in his/her collection but it won't get him/her any sales (most of the time) to promote your items.

[RobertaValle]

Treasury lists aren't made only for promotion.
Lots of people do treasuries just because they like the items, not because they want to make it to the FP.

I don't get your anger, you are not hurted from that.

[happywrap]

I'm a little confused too as to why anyone would feel angry about this. Nobody is required to give you free promotion. If they enjoy making treasuries for whatever reason, it is entirely up to them whether they are interested in promoting it or not. They could be just creating lists of things that they may be interested in buying at some point, e.g. someone planning their wedding, or looking for Christmas gifts. So they curate collections and may become a customer of the interesting shops they discover along the way.

There is nothing negative at all in being included in someone's treasury, and so many positives.

[LeedsRadio]

I am not quite sure what you're expecting. Take a look and this treasury I am in and then look at who made it.

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/NDQ3NTIxMzl8MjcyMzQ2MzYxNQ/my--vacuum-tube-respect

24 views in 4 days. I assume, based on her profile that she know what she's doing.
At the rate the treasury you're in is going it's way ahead of her's.

And I agree with Wendy - nothing to be angry about. Even if it's not doing you as much good as it might, it's certainly not doing harm.

[LeedsRadio]

I just took a second look at the treasury I am in and have come to the conclusion that it is a form of spam. The person who made it has generated nearly 2000 treasuries. Many in a short period of time.

[Former_Member]

I was also confused. I for instance just like to create treasuries with different types of items just because I want to see what else is being created. I do take my time trying to figure out the right product, the right color and feel for all of my treasuries.

However, I never spend a lot of time thinking about the tags or how to promote it because I usually just do them for myself. I do it to support other sellers and get to look at beautiful items. I'd rather spend my time figuring out how to get views into my own shop since there's still more to be discovered.

Regardless on the individual who curated the item is, it's always a complement to you to have been chosen to be part of their treasury, regardless of whether you consider it to be "good enough" for you. Not everyone has a natural talent for creating them and needs some practice before figuring out the "right way" to create one. :)

[Former_Member]

I understand that it's a complement to have your item in a treasury, and I do always feel a little flattered, but after 2 years on Etsy and almost every treasury I get into only gets up to 20 views it just seems like the majority of people stop with the promotion the second they publish the treasury (how are people going to be exposed to the treasury?) And I understand that some people make treasuries for different reasons, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But if you're making a treasury specifically to promote the sellers and your own shop, why not put some time and effort into promoting it so everyone can gain a little more exposure than just 20 views for all of time from a beautiful treasury that so many more people would love. And even if you're still getting the hang of it, if you promote it people will always click and support the sellers. All I'm saying is take some pride in the work that you took to do it by promoting it and the return will be great. It's like doing a bake sale and then not putting any signs around the neighborhood saying where to go to check out the baked goods. You're just going to get the people who drive by and they might not even stop to look at everything.

[Former_Member]

It may also be that these people promote it but that does not bring view whatever effort they put on it.
As an example, I had usually around 40 to 70 views on treasury I create but the 3 last ones that I promoted exactly the same (4 teams, pinterest,facebook) add only 10 views... even if the quality was exactly the same.
So it my not be a question of effort putting on it.
By the way, does anyone felt decrease of the view of their treasuries ?

[JudyStalus]

I don't see the point of promoting of treasures. You can send them through treasury teams and get a bunch of meaningless views and comments - those people don't even look at the treasuries. You can get a lot of bot views from twitter. Getting a hundred views from people who don't look at the treasury but just paste in mindless comments to get back in line on a team thread - what good does that do anyone?
I'd rather just get a few genuine views.
Unless you are working with a team thats going to do the crazy promoting that will get the treasury to the first page of treasuries, the mindless promoting seems a waste of time.

[Inugurumi]

Agree. I don't see the point of promoting Treasury nor even making one. There are much better way to promote your item and get sales. I personally think unless you make it to the front page, only people who look at your item in Treasury are those who trying to promote Treasury.

[undun]

its important to remember that there are different ways to achieve your goal on Etsy, as well as everyone has different goals. In addition some people have the freedom to work from home or not work at all and spend a lot of time on discussions and promotions. Others have a few hours left in the day after a hard day to push their Etsy business.
I am sorry but I also believe your anger is misplaced and unfair. Someone liked your item and included it….move on : )

[Former_Member]

Some of us aren't on treasury teams. . .

[LeedsRadio]

Miyuki-
I think you might be right. I just made a new treasury and watched the time needed. Unless it could bring in a decent sale it was probably a total waste of time. I have never had a sale on Etsy that I can attribute to being in someone's treasury or generating one.
And that brings up the cost of promoting on social media. I have nearly 2000 tweets on twitter and have had only 2 sales that came from them. If each tweet took 20 seconds it means I spent more than 11 hours. I would have been better of financially if I used the time to get a part time job as a janitor. And that's just twitter.

[LeedsRadio]

Here's a shop with 250,693 sales. They have no (zero) treasuries (generated by them listed)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/yadanabeads

[RomaMiaTradingCo]

Yeah, I really don't see the point in doing treasuries. Its been forever since I created one, and if I do do one, it's to help support a team I am part of and than I'll promote it as best as I can. I know they were probably meant to be great promotional tools, but for all the treasuries I've been in, I received very little views and no sales.

I would rather spend time promoting my items myself than expect people to promote for me and than get angry that they're not doing a good job at it. They're not tied to my products like I am, so I'd rather perfect my marketing/SEO.

[heartsabustin]

Supply shops aren't a good yardstick to measure by - they're going to get sales.

If I'm put in a Treasury, I say thank you, regardless of how pretty or not it is, because someone took the time to add me in. Some of them are really gorgeous and well-promoted, and that's great. Some of them aren't - and that's all right, too. I enjoy making Treasuries for the sheer joy of curating a collection and finding beautiful new items. I'm on teams, but that just makes it easier to find items for my Treasuries.

Life's too short to get mad over this. Truly.

[LeedsRadio]

@erin

https://www.etsy.com/shop/inkpainter (vintage)
27,636 sales
No treasuries

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ohmymilky (vintage)
22,403 sales
No treasuries, no teams

Seems like shops that get things going, whether vintage or supplies don't used them.

[Former_Member]

Richard....the shop that made that vacuum treasury is using the betsy etsy bot app. Bet ya a million bucks. ;)

and ya its really just spam...i tried it for a bit but it would make really stupid treasuries(like ALL bean bags all Hand lotion)
I felt it was insulting creators and artist so I stopped it all.