Back to this rubbish again

[PracticalPrintsByLee]

So it seems we've gone backwards on etsy again,  our most popular listing is now showing a 3 star review and 1 star review which we contested as it was due to etsys case system and not us and got denied, and 2 5 star reviews, now our reviews have taken a hit the past few months this we have worked out is due to a comeptitor mainly leaving low reviews, we've actually proved this to etsy using grabify sending a link to these so called customers after going back and forward regarding issues, all were bogus and all came from the same IP, thats where grabify comes in handy including our most recent review.

But the main issue is out of our reviews which which over the past star seller section is 617, the current reviews on 1 star and 3 star total add up too 6.98% so why are they displaying 50% of our reviews as bad yet it proclaims to be less than 10%, i could understand one but this is obviously affecting new buyer looking at our store, out of the last week we made around 80 sales instead of the usual 200 and of those 90% are repeat customers, they have zero support

[JDTotesnDolls]

Reviews are under protection from the Act which Etsy must follow.  Consumer Review Fairness Act: What Businesses Need to Know | Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov)

And frankly I find it bothersome that you do research on buyers.  Knowing that to me is unsettling.  That's me.  

The buyers have a right to their opinion on the product.

The stars only show the last 12 months.  Thses lower star will drop off as the months pass.

What is important are the reviews of today and the reviews of years past.

I noticed several said the scent did not last.  Perhaps there is a change in chemicals or items used unbeknowst to you that is causing the scent to fade fast.  Maybe that needs investigation.

As to whether or not this is affecting sales?  Maybe but maybe it is also the economic climate and the current weather situation.  

[PracticalPrintsByLee]

Yes i fully agree its weird on reviews but when all of a sudden a large influx of new buyers giving really different issues, and its not just you that recieves them either some of your compeititors do as well word for word it isn't rocket sience, i would check out what grabify does as it turns out most of these reviews are from the same IP which we have flagged to etsy. But that wasnt the main issue, the main issue was in the way they are dispaying the results 

[PristinityJewelry]

"...And frankly I find it bothersome that you do research on buyers.  Knowing that to me is unsettling.  That's me..."

Always a few shoppers that fly red flags or trip radars, and warrant a bit of research.

[dayspringcollectible]

@JDTotesnDolls 

In the current business climate, it is normal to research buyers, given all the scammers that are out there.

And given that these low reviews have been traced back to competitors, it is more unsettling that you take such a cavalier attitude toward this.  Shop interference is not allowed on Etsy, and competitors ordering items so they can leave low reviews is shop interference.

[PillowDetails]

With your sales volume - wow! - you'd think it wouldn't make that much of a difference in your overall score?  Not sure what's happening - I hope you get to the bottom of it!

[LAKEandFELLart]

Hi I did notice a recurring couple of issues in some of your reviews . Poor printing was mentioned more than once as was scent disappearing. I mention these not as a criticism but as something , which if you're not already you may want to look at.

Im assuming better print quality and scent longevity may be a cost issue , might be wort exploring an optional higher graded product 

[dayspringcollectible]

The question becomes, are those reviews from legitimate customers or competitors.?  If from competitors, those would be issues they would naturally and deliberately choose to complain about, knowing those are of concern to real customers and would be the easiest way to sabotage the shop.

[CanningCrafts]

If negative reviews were left by competitors, I would think the OP could contact Etsy about Shop interference, especially if there is evidence of the same IP address being used. It's not clear to me if the seller showed the IP evidence to Etsy to try & just get the reviews removed or not. 

[dayspringcollectible]

We would hope that Etsy would stand behind their TOU's, but we've seen them ignore them in other issues.

Etsy doesn't seem to like to do anything that takes time, and keeping on top of shop interference is not easy.  Both Amazon and Ebay have had big issues with it in the past where it got out of control.  Given how much Etsy has opened the site to scammer influence, we can expect them to be the newest and easiest target to sabotage competitors they don't want around.

It is much easier for Etsy to hide behind "buyers are entitled to their opinions" than to determine if the review is legitimate.

[PracticalPrintsByLee]

We've had them ignoring there TOU mutiple times, our no 1 seller has a 1 star review which we were called rude because they opened a case and got a refund instead of a replacement like they requested, this buyer has bought from us 12 times but has now gone to our ebay store instead of etsy because they just refunded them, even though asking for a replacement the review they based on was because of etsy and not us which they wont remove, we have a lot of sales here have a lot of repeat customers, and although fees are lower here, and since 2019 we moved customers here were now movning them back because we cannot sustain there atitude to issues arrising, there lack of customer support whether its us requring help or whiether its a custtomer having an issue with a lost item and etsy refunding them, instead of giving us time to resolve the issues, people are getting annoyed not only us as sellers but customers, not only with the case system but with the search as a whole, we have 2 people recemtly repeat customers who were unable to find us on the search before and showed irreleant things and had to go into there listing to re buy from us, search is screwed, reviews are screwed, but we now have AI. WE've also got the offsite adverts where once you seem to get to 75% of the 10k mark they seem to promote you more to get you above the threshold, this is something we have been watching for the past 3 years and actually speak to competitors about, were all for fair game, but a couple more and the sun and the BBC are interested in the findings as there already flagged in the news