Can we not narrow our search by category anymore?

[HbarNCraftworks]

Yesterday was one of the rare occasions I decided to try to do some shopping on Etsy. I entered my query in the search bar and went into the filters to narrow (United States, Vintage, Jewelry>earrings) only to discover that the categories had vanished?

My results with my keywords in the search bar filtered to vintage (orange milk glass earrings) produced pages of white milk glass housewares, generally orange items, colored milk glass jewelry of every type, and random glass of all types. 
My results searching by category (jewelry>earrings>orange>United States>vintage) gave me pages of mostly orange earrings, but made of fabric, wire, gemstones, etc.
WHY did they do away with category within search that relates to the search bar? 
WHY make it even harder to find what one is actually looking for?

How are our buyers able to find anything?
Is there any way to get around this or do I just give up and shop elsewhere?

[OneEyeCatStudio]

WHY did they do away with category within search that relates to the search bar?
WHY make it even harder to find what one is actually looking for?

How are our buyers able to find anything?
Is there any way to get around this or do I just give up and shop elsewhere?

Well, Etsy obviously has a death wish, don't they?
That is the only answer that I can come up with.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Remember back when Etsy used to have separate categories for vintage handmade and supplies? Like  there were a tons of vintage categories..then Etsy decided Oh a mug is a mug is a mug and threw them all together and mixed up handmade pottery mugs, Personalized  commercial mugs, POD commercial mug and vintage mugs in one godawful pile and got rid of a ton of applicable vintage categories? And then tossed in a bunch of reseller and irrelevant stuff..then added "stuff you might like" so even if you were looking for a vintage red beret here is a blue handmade one and a cowboy hat..and a rug. Then just removed a bunch of supply categories..then suggested handmade categories when people were listing supply items to insure search is more of a mess (actually they have been doing that forever).. then added AI to decide what photos and styles get to be on page 1 ..then decided to just remove categories..THEN Oh..for some reason search isn't working.. Gift Guides!!!!

[HbarNCraftworks]

I hated it when they got rid of the supply category. Vintage sewing supplies were something I bought a lot of, now they're simply too difficult to find.

I wonder how long we have until this whole thing just fizzles out. 

[OnePatternAtATime]

Thank you for pointing this out HbarNCraftworks! I recently had to change what I charge for shipping (sigh) to the US (my main customers) and my sales are down 30% yoy. So I went and tried to find patterns by using  Category and the only section I can find called "patterns" is stuffed under "kits and how to" and looks to have nothing but small maker patterns. Maybe its not 100% my new shipping costs after all.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Orange milk glass earrings - Etsy

You need to go over to attributes in the filters and filter to orange then handmade. You can also filter to type and metal etc.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Orange milk glass earrings - Etsy

vintage. Still have to see orange carnival glass, and orange coffee cups and a marble and supplies but ...

Vintage orange milk glass earrings - Etsy

adding earlobe and glass filters

LOL..apparently the only appropriate occasion for orange milk glass earrings is divorce.

[HbarNCraftworks]

I filtered to vintage, united states, glass, orange, earrings. 
It's better, but I'm still getting beaded plastics, enamels, and tons of other irrelevant stuff. Still too much to wade through when I get thousands of results. 

[hopeandjoystudios]

add earlobe..you can't wear a creamer on your ear..easily..

[JMOldeVintage]

Do be careful when selecting occasions. Truly relevant listings will disappear from the results. I was able to get to a paltry 11 results looking for a sterling cat pin simply by checking off Valentines Day. 

[JMOldeVintage]

@HbarNCraftworks  - Etsy's search has been in need of an overhaul for ages. The recent changes they have made imo have only made it worse.

Depending on where you start your search - Category or typing your search term into the search bar - this can drastically change what filters are available to you. 

But opting to use one over the other guarantees nothing, since it literally can depend on your search term. For fun enter "poodle pin" in the search bar. Then enter "poodle brooch".  Next go to the category jewelry though you might get stumped at first trying to figure out how to get to pins/brooches. In the end compare the filters available. 

Many will agree you should never have all your eggs in one basket since you never know what can happen on any site. Etsy should be just one tool in the kit. 

[HbarNCraftworks]

Maybe I wasn't clear...
I can't filter down enough using keywords in the search bar because it won't let me choose the category. I want jewelry, not housewares.
I can't filter down enough using the category because the search terms I'm using aren't available in any of the drop downs. Selecting glass as a material gives me beads and  mosaics because I can't use the word rhinestone. 

Does that make sense?
It shouldn't be a puzzle. If I type Eisenberg I should be able to search jewelry, not have to look at the actor Jessie Eisenberg or Eisenberg pottery or books about child rearing by someone named Eisenberg. 
Maybe I'm expecting too much, but I thought the point of an online marketplace was being able to find what you're looking for without a process worthy of Rube Goldberg.

[JMOldeVintage]

@HbarNCraftworks - Here's an example of what I've noticed. I collect vintage garden tools. 

From Etsy's home page, I go directly to Categories (just to the left of the search bar). Select Crafts & Tool supplies. I'm now on a new page titled just that.

Next go to All Filters to the left, just above the start of the 'results'. (Do Not touch that search bar!!) I choose Physical Items, Vintage. Next I scroll back up & open the menu 'Filter by Category' & then select Home & Hobby, Floral & Garden, Gardening & Plants, Gardening Tools. 

Hit "apply" and I see the usual 1K or so results for "vintage garden tools".

Now of course I found out by trial & error, a way to see these mostly relevant results for what has always been my most generic search term. 

But, if I enter that same search term "vintage garden tool" into the search bar, on the plus side I'm in vintage. But I have over 98K results. Going to All Filters only shows me relatively basic one - Offers, Shop Location, Format, Arrival Date, Price. I can no longer drill down to "garden tools". No, I am not going to weed thru 98K plus results.

However, while choosing to immediately use Categories might always seem like a good idea, I have found using Categories a waste of time if I'm looking for or want to see more specific items. 

If I decide to type "vintage seed sower" into the search bar there are no filters available to get to garden tools. So I'd need to go thru pages of seed packets, seed beads, precious moments figurines. 
"Vintage Garden Shears" gives me scissors, pinking shears, hair trimming tools. Again, I can't filter down to garden tools.

It's bad enough that due it's age old need for a tune up, the increased reliance on AI, the intro of the X-Walk thing the search results are getting worse. Why Etsy decided to remove the 'comprehensive' All Filters options in any search result is not only puzzling but annoying. 

That the filters available can be dependent on one simple word - "poodle pin" gives basic filters, "poodle brooch" give materials, style, color, the whole array - is a mystery to me. 

I can only imagine what it's like for buyers looking for items that are far more popular, when there are 100's of thousands of listings here.

[HbarNCraftworks]

I will have to try that. I appreciate you taking the time. My frustration just finally hit the ceiling and it wasn't making any sense to me. 
Not that much does around here anymore!

[PixieRiver]

It's just pathetic, really. Why make search even worse than it already was? I simply can't figure out what their rationalization is for this.

[AnchorRoadVintage]

No you can’t and it’s just sad and disappointing.  No good reason for it. 

[BagmakerSupply]

Have you read https://community.etsy.com/t5/Marketing-Your-Business/Etsy-search-is-moving-away-from-relevancy/td-p...

[OrangeGroveBeads]

Etsy over here thinking they're Chuck Norris or something....you don't tell Etsy what you want to buy...Etsy tells YOU what you want to buy. 

[OrangeGroveBeads]

Yet you can go to eBay and type in vintage orange milk glass earrings and you are shown exactly that. Wild! I actually had to open up the search and removed the word "milk" because there were only like 7 that matched all the words. There are some other ones that are opaque orange glass but not labeled as milk glass. 

[FallenAngelBrass]

My sales have remained much the same over the years (toss out the bonanza that was pandemic shopping) so buyers are somehow able to find supplies here - although I still cannot figure out how they do it.  When I search supplies for my own projects, I stumble through in great frustration.