Help! My Best Seller was removed from search??

[#1]

I’ve had this best seller for about 10 months and it was a great source of income. About a week ago sales and views and hearts dropped suddenly one day and barely have a trickle now. 

Today I searched for it using a friends phone and computer and I can’t find it. Even searched the title verbatim. My other items do show up when I look for them. Just not my best seller! What do I do? What happened? It seems like I was deindexed??? But why? 

The only thing I can think of is around the same day my views dropped I adjusted my inventory for that listing. I also added a picture. Please Help! I need advice.

*It’s still has a best seller label when you’re in my shop, but that can’t be for long right? Since it’s not in search. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@RavenHils   Keep in mind that if everyone on this forum searched for the exact same phrase they would all get different results. Because of personalized searches you can NOT rely on anyone's search results, not even your own, to define how your listing is indexed and / or ranked. This seems to be true even when searching for an exact title.

[CoquetteBath]

OP.  I pointed out one candle.

you have multitudes of candles using swear words (the C word., more F words, etc). On the first page (as I see it), I see 7 issues.

The idea is 'family friendly' for the first image. So a line through a word, that someone can still read, is missing the point.

Not trying to rain on your parade...I don't do theme candles, clearly. But, while some people use that word like a regular adjective...others of us, choose not to do so.

Also, unless you have permission...Yoda is protected IP.

[RavenHils]

Yes getting to those as well. Did the one you were referring to. Just got off the phone with Etsy. 

[FallenAngelBrass]

@RavenHils said:

"I assume perhaps it’s out there in search..."

Your Bougie Weed Cover candle has been de-indexed which means that it is NOT in the search.  Nobody will see it in their search results. If it's not showing up in your shop search, it's not showing up in the main search, either.   You can always check if items have been de-indexed by searching your own shop instead of having to wade through and wonder about the main search. 

[RavenHils]

Update: Just spoke to Etsy, they say it's searchable and indexed, they just couldn't tell me why I am having these issues. So it's been escalated to tech to see what happened and what can be done. After I got off the phone I searched my shop again for the listing. I searched every word in the title and tag. It finally showed up when I searched for "Mature." But not weed, or cover, or even up. Hopefully tech will have some answers. 

[OneEyeCatStudio]

Never mind. I forgot to quote.

[cindylouwho2]

@RavenHils it's definitely not searchable: https://www.etsy.com/search?q=Weed+Candle&explicit=1&locationQuery=5355933&ship_to=US 

[Adorabilities · Accepted solution]

If it was a bestseller (Etsy's designation), it's probably being frequency capped for whatever search term you're searching with. That's just what frequency capping is for -- items that are getting too many sales and are dominating the search page for too long. That item will be deindexed for those phrases for a while.

Adding: The fact that you didn't find it in your shop through any of the main search words (but did find it with a search word you wouldn't expect to use to search for it) fits this theory. If it was totally deindexed, you would not have found it at all in your shop.

From Etsy's Our House Rules:
"Frequency Capping: to limit the number of times the same listing or shop appears at the top of results for a specific user or keyword."

[RavenHils]

Ugh! Is there a remedy? It seems counterintuitive for Etsy to cap popular listings. 

[Adorabilities]

I don't think so, sorry. I think the point of it is to give other shops a chance to make sales. 

I have a bestseller that was doing really well and then stopped suddenly. It still has the bestseller badge on it, though, so there's hope for yours as well.
: )

[FallenAngelBrass]

I believe that Etsy is also concerned about sellers getting in over their heads and not being able to fulfill orders.  As I recall, Etsy really stepped up this practice of frequency capping in 2020 when the mask sellers were overrun with sales.  A shop that has a sudden, out of the ordinary burst of sales will catch the attention of the bots. 

[Adorabilities]

For me, at least, it wasn't a burst. It was selling several times a day for quite a while. I don't despair though -- this is just how it goes here. There are temporary highs and lows, for a multitude of reasons.

[cindylouwho2]

@Adorabilities @RavenHils Frequency capping generally only removes the listing for a few terms. I tested most of the listing keywords, and it would only come up for "mature". 

[RavenHils]

Thanks everyone for their feedback.I changed the listing to the other candle that this happened with (update 2) and it’s now starting to get ad views whereas before it had zero views or impressions. So I think I need to do that with the weed candle. But I’m afraid to change it before tech support can help. And the old adage, don’t change anything to a best seller. I still have the badge but I guess it’s worthlessnow. 

[RavenHils]

Update 2: So it seems there is another one of my candles that this happened to. I had another best seller late last year that suddenly did the same thing in February. Just stopped being a best seller one day (assumed it ran its course) and I didn't think to search for it back then. Can't find it now when I search my shop. Also when I do a regular search of the title verbatim. 

[cindylouwho2]

@RavenHils definitely add all of this to the ticket. Unfortunately, you can't expect much, as Etsy rarely takes this seriously. 

Don't depend on ranking well for big terms in Etsy search. That is never guaranteed. 

[AAANativeArts]

While your product doesn't contain drugs, it uses words associated with them like weed, Mary Jane and Stoner. It may have been caught and removed by a bot.

I would contact Etsy and see if they will reinstate it. Send only one email from the Contact Us form, then only reply via the I Still Need Help link if your problem doesn't get solved. If you keep opening new requests, they will close the first one because you didn't use the I Still Need Help link so they will  think it was solved and then they will treat the new inquiry as a new issue and kick you to the end of the queue waiting for an answer again.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

I did a search within your shop for 'weed cover up candle' and 3 listings came up, but not your best seller. It looks like it's been de-indexed for some reason. 

Edited: I didn't read through the thread to see that CindyLou responded to this thread with her theory. 

[RustyCrustyRepurpose]

What's the secret?  How did you get ahold of someone by phone?  You're shining us on aren't you?

[RavenHils]

I was trying to find the support email but clicked through their questionsand I came to a page that asked if I wanted to email or have them call me back. It was Under a 2 min wait. 

[moonbeamgifts]

@RustyCrustyRepurpose

You just have to have the right ingredients:  eye of newt, sacrificial frog egg, some Chupacabra fur.....

[moonbeamgifts]

I remember your shop from a post a week or two ago (but not the issue, it's been a long week, LOL) - did you have a different problem then that might have affected it?    

I've personally given up searching for my own listings now that Etsy has shifted to the different results for everyone method.   I only check if I've really tweaked a listing and just want to make sure it's still out there.    Of course, somehow Etsy still manages to advertise my own products to me....

Also, I know this is not your current problem but just to save you some headaches down the road, there are some trademarks on your "boss" candle that you might want to research.   I truly don't know if your products are covered in the documentation but I do know that others are getting violations left and right so before someone knocks on the door, you might want to modify it a bit if the registered mark does affect you.

[RavenHils]

"boss lady" is trademarked? I looked it up and can see a few trademarks but none apply since they're candles and not clothing and its not a copy of their trademarked typeset or style.