ETSY has somehow torpedoed my store

[WoodWorkingWithRick]

I had a credit card stolen and had not reached ETSY yet to correct the problem. They claim they notified me, but I can not find any correspondence.  I also could not find any link to tell me what the problem was.  When orders and communiction stopped I was finally able to find the problem and paid the bill and changed the credit card.  ETSY says they reinstated my account and it should be functioning properly again.

But it has now been almost 5 weeks and I have not received any orders, communications, or questions -- I normally get around a dozen or more each week.  I have been in contact with Customer Service every couple of days.  They say my account looks fine and started suggesting things like "take new pictures", "highlight some of my ads", "find a different audience", and other irrelivant suggestions.

There must be something wrong with how my account is (now) set up and why I am not getting any input from customers or prospects.  I am hoping I do not have to reconstruct my store and lose over several years of data.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Your shop is indexed so that is not it. In 5 weeks your listings surely dropped in search.  Have you renewed anything or added any new listings?

[JMOldeVintage]

@WoodWorkingWithRick  - Possibly after reading Etsy's articles on search, seo, you might consider asking for a shop critique?

I took a look at one of your listings & the description said you would email it to me. But, you also offer to mail it buyers. 

Listing your plans (that you apparently already have set up to email to buyers) as Digital items, ready to download, might encourage sales? 
But you could offer them as physical listings too, especially if your requests are relatively split when it comes to the buyer saying which format they'd prefer to receive them. That would cost the extra .20 for "double listing" & you'd need to be a bit more creative so you don't compete with yourself when it comes to tags. But it could give you twice the chance to be found. 

[JDTotesnDolls]

A 5 week breakd from being in search would definitely hurt.

However what is going to compound is tags and titles are not optimized for being found in search.  Since this is not the shop crituque forum cannot offer suggestions.  I suggest you post there.

Your descriptions don't help either.  A bit confusing.  

I doubt Etsy would contact about the card being stolen.  They do at times report when a card is set to expire but I have never heard of Etsy notifying about theft of card.

[ByzantineArt]

Is the store no longer shown? I'm into my second year of this happening. I think there are some exposure algorithms and there are a lot of stores. It is part of the new digital organization of the platform, there are causes unknown to the sellers, only certain details are observed. The problem is that they are not transparent.

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

Your shop fell out of search and now you will have to wait for it to get back in the game. 

In addition, Etsy has just introduced Gift Mode which has shaken search up.

Updated 2/1 - Get a sneak peek at our BIG plans fo... - Welcome to the Etsy Community

[FancyTogs]

Observations indicate that the main ranking factors are sales and search performance over the preceding 1-2 months.

If you stop having any sales or search activity for more than a couple of days then your ranking is going to drop massively.

If your SEO strategy is based on general searches or a small number of specific searches, then you will be dependant on good ranking for your sales. Without sales you will have no visibility in search results and no way of improving your ranking, unless you change your SEO strategy or find other ways to boost your sales.

@WoodWorkingWithRick  and  @ByzantineArt  you both need to ask for a shop critique by starting your own discussion threads in the shop critique section of the forum. Etsy rules prevent us from mentioning what is wrong in your shops when you post in other parts of the forum. Please let us help you.

Lawrence (Clare's other half)

[ByzantineArt]

Thank you!

[DragonflyDreams1]

And possibly an even shorter time. It could depend on the number of listings that are in competition, etc. I have noticed closer to a 10-14 day performance. If a listing of mine doesn't get a sale in a week it quickly drops in search and either I work to revive it or wait for a return customer to purchase and give it a boost. Sales beget sales, period. 5 weeks and I would assume the whole store is in some trouble. 

@WoodWorkingWithRick You have to find a way to get some sales, Marketing, Ads, Social media, something to get the ball rolling. I have not looked at your store but it seems you can sell multiple of items. If so then create some new listings, it doesn't matter if you already have it listed if you sell multiple. I do it all the time and it is the way I revive a stale listing and get more eyes on it. I duplicate, maybe change some pictures, and refresh the title, tags, and description.

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

I would guess that anyone looking at reviews would quickly turn away.

[PriddeyThings]

And the responses to poor reviews. Ouch.

[WoodWorkingWithRick]

There is nothing that should have changed in my account.  Historically I had some bad reviews as I tried to learn to run my store, but it had been improving (perhaps not now -- I am not sure what kind of feedback has come in since Etsy shut me down.

[SeasideRoseCreations]

Your shop isn't "shut down".

Your reviews are hurting you.

Potential buyers see items not being received, so they probably click away.

@WoodWorkingWithRick 

[CuriousApothecary]

Etsy has had a number of technical glitches. You can read through the forums and see that many sellers items were deindexed and not even visible.

[Natalya1905]

From the customer's point of view.

I see a bunch of recent 1-star reviews, all saying buyers never received their orders. None of these reviews was replied by you, no public explanations given. These review replies are not for the buyer. They're mainly for the future customers who can check your reviews, replies to them and decide if they trust you enough to place their order. As of now, buyers only see multiple "not received" complaints with no reaction from the shop owner. This could be the reason why you are "not getting any input from customers or prospects".

[FancyTogs]

@WoodWorkingWithRick 

We can get into big trouble for pointing out problems in a shop, even when requested, unless the discussion is in the Shop Critique section of the forum.

"There must be something wrong with how my account is (now) set up and why I am not getting any input from customers or prospects. "

I can see fundamental problems in your shop and listings that will prevent your listings from appearing in many buyer searches, or ranking well when they are included in search results . . . but the problems can't be mentioned here.

Start a discussion thread in the Shop Critique section of the forum.

In the meantime read these:

https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/search-advertisement-recommendation/899478564529

https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/366469415790

https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/how-etsy-search-works/375461474487

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115015745428-How-Etsy-Search-Works?segment=selling

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360035903054-How-to-Optimise-Your-Listings-for-Etsy-Search?s...

Lawrence