"read full description"

[SweetSomeday]

I just noticed that some longer item descriptions are cut short and then have a link that says "read full description" to expand to the complete description. I'm assuming this is fairly new since I've never noticed it before. I wonder what the purpose is of this. It makes me want to revise all of my listings so my customers don't have to click "read full description" (because I suspect a lot of people won't). What do others think about this?

[Former_Member]

Yeah, apparently its a new change that they are trying out, its seriously stupid, we can't get them to read our policies, they aren't going to click open a description.

[SweetSomeday]

Yeah, I don't really understand the point of it. I can see it being necessary if a description is exceedingly long, but most of my descriptions that were cut off weren't even that long.

[Former_Member]

Same here, I've got a pretty firm first three sentences need to tell it all on my listings, so this is pointless.

[Former_Member]

I'm not sure if this is for a lot of people but for me I have a data allowance for my internet. Which means if I download too much information I have to pay more money. I actually appreciate the effort the techies have put in to this so I don't go over my usage. The option to download more if I want to see more is great. If you feel that your first couple of sentences needs a bit of rewriting go for it. Those are the first words you viewers read, it should grab at them to read more while giving them the best features of you piece. I have often changed wording and even photos of some of my items just because. I hope this helps good luck.

[SweetSomeday]

Hmm, I guess that makes sense Katy and I'm glad it is helpful to you! At least it explains it a little more. I am just overwhelmed at the idea of rewriting all of my listings!

[Former_Member]

Strange. I've never seen this before, but you're right - it makes me want to revise my listings so they don't go over that amount. Could you tell how many lines they allowed?

[EleanorsVintage]

I haven't seen this - seriously?
My antique print descriptions are all long, and I hate the thought of revising 100+ of them...
Where would we get reliable information on this (and where do we complain!)?

[WithLoveFromLucille]

:-/
From my perspective, not all buyers read everything, they just buy and feel they should be assured it's a good buy. I'd like to think it usually is, especially from my shop.
It's hard enough to hope the customers will read descriptions and policies. I would imagine that if people were negligent to not read through, it would cause problems.
Would it be the buyers at fault?
Oh Etsy

[Former_Member]

Mine are still at normal length and most are quite long. How many lines are they giving us?

[Former_Member]

I agree it is counter productive to encouraging buyers to read the full description well, but if you do decide to keep the long text, be sure it is getting 'cut off' in such a way that it's intuitive for the user to click for more. This may take some creative formatting, but it's better than someone thinking you wandered off mid-thought!

(I apply this to my profile page as well)

[Former_Member]

It's a new test. They're making room at the bottom of the listing for "see similar items" from other shops.

ETA: see here:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7714/ideas/discuss/10824079/page/1

[Former_Member]

So, they're cutting off our words so that the buyer can leave our item and our shop, and click into someone else's shop? Well, if that doesn't win for seriously f'in stupid idea of the week.

[Former_Member]

If you go to regretsy dot com and look at the post from 8/28 entitled "BUY HANDMADE" you'll have an idea of what Etsy is striving for it seems.

[Former_Member]

Customers who normally read the descriptions still will. Those who didn't before, certainly won't now. So nothing will probably change there.

HOWEVER:
Jaie- BAHAHAHAHHA! Agreed :) So just as soon as I finally get found, some other shop will whisk the customer away. Nice. Thank you, Etsy. So I guess I can stop working on SEO so much. Maybe I'll just show up in someone else's shop!

[EleanorsVintage]

I couldn't agree more with Jale and Nicole. Even ebay didn't come up with anything as potentially damaging. If you didn't win an auction, THEN they would show you similar items from other sellers, not while you are still possibly buying from this one.
I can't believe etsy would do this!

[Former_Member]

OMG - at LEAST cut off my descriotion to showcase items from MY shop! My descriptions are long with the goal of inorming the customer that they are buying a PDF file, not a printed file; considering I've had sales from people who really thought that they were buying a real pattern and not a digital file, I make sure to spell it out in every listing. Now, they won't even read it because they're goig off into another persons shop and buy THEIR stuff! grrrrrrr. As a different group's team member once said, Etsy's motto should be: "if it's not broken, f**k around with it till broken" >:-(

[ForgedMettleJewelry]

Oh jeez, for the most part people don't read descriptions to begin with, this is just one more thing so they still won't...

[Former_Member]

I havent seen this yet either. Mine and some other shops I have looked at are still the same. 3 of mine are the same actually. Hmmm. I guess the most important info should be right at the top :).

I know just like the shop announcement. The best announcement should be 160 characters or lss because that all that will show in google under your shop. My announcement is exactly that and fits perfectly into the google size. I took the extra out and put in my policies.

Ill keep mine short and sweet then.

Maybe its about the same thing.

[Plektra]

I don't like that either.

We are told to find ways to make the buyer read and find the info about the items easier. To space things out and make it easier for the buyers to read our descriptions. To use paragraphes, bullet points....which take space.

Now we need to cut the descriptions or Etsy will cut them for us?

I really hope they don't do that! I have spent several months working on my shop according to Etsy advice, I cannot change things again.

[Plektra]

Bumping this up for those who haven't seen it...

You can follow a similar thread here too...

http://www.etsy.com/teams/7714/ideas/discuss/10824079/page/27#

[TheNakedManVintage]

PLEASE Get Rid of "Read Full Description"! No one is clicking on the link and my convos have doubled with people asking sizes of merchandise because it is now hidden and they don't realize that all the information is there in the description. This is really crummy!

[Former_Member]

Oh no, that's bad! Too many people seem already lazy with reading the descriptions! Especially as a vintage seller I think that's really bad, because even if pictures can tell a lot, the item descriptions are still so incredibly important.

[Former_Member]

Oh not happy about that, like you said no one will click to read on... a poor idea.

[Former_Member]

Hi Team-
Take a look at the post: http://www.etsy.com/teams/7718/site-help/discuss/10824259/page/1 from Jacob, an admin at Etsy, explaining some of the details regarding this experiment.

I hope this explains a bit more.

Thanks,
Sara