It's Impossible to Find What I'm LOOKING for on Etsy anymore

[OneTribeJewelry]

I buy a lot of jewelry supplies on Etsy but it seems I'm no longer able to search for things under the 'jewelry supply' category anymore. I am searching for supplies, not actual jewelry but my searches are inundated with 90% ready to wear jewelry. Why is Etsy making it so hard to buy from them?? I find myself going to other sites as I'm just not able to find what I'm looking for on Etsy anymore.  Its super sad and infuriating and I can only imagine my clients are finding the same frustrations.  

[michellepatterns]

I just had this same issue looking for a supply.  The results were almost exclusively finished goods.

Etsy is pushing "gift mode" so that might be why it's close to impossible to find supplies now.  They might want to rethink this strategy because I'm pretty sure supplies are a good chunk of etsy's revenue.

[ElysianArtisanCA]

Prices on supply in Etsy are at least twice wholesale. Theres no reason to be getting supplies here unless they are something handcrafted which isnt the case usually.

[NancyQstudio]

I agree that supplies tend to be more expensive on Etsy. I buy mine in bulk elsewhere.  However, there are some very unique handmade supplies I've found here which I just don't see on other sites.  This is where Etsy shines with supplies.  I've also found shops who sells jewelry supplies with higher quality, unique kind of items.  They'll often  bundle larger quantities making the sale comparable (and better) than many other sites.  There are supply shops here which are unique and needed.  It's like any other category on Etsy......Swamped with stuff we see everywhere....Yet the good stuff is exceptional! Sadly finding these is a job.  I save these sellers so I know where to find them. 

[ChantillyAvenue]

@ElysianArtisanCA 

This is wrong on so many levels. First of all,  not everyone can buy a gross of every single supply they use.  I guess if I used a metric ton of wire every year, I'd find a wholesaler.  Vintage new old stock beads and findings however, are another matter.

@NancyQstudio 

Exactly.  My Etsy suppliers, and I have a short list of them, are people I have been dealing with for years.  At least a decade for several of them, and the things they sell don't grow on trees.

[AutumnHollowStudio]

I, too, have a few trusted sellers here on etsy that I get unique supplies from for jewelry, and I been buying from them for years. I also like to search for vintage parts to create jewelry with, like vintage keyhole plates for example.

I have wholesale accounts with a few US suppliers outside etsy that I use for bulk supplies like findings and gemstone / czech glass beads.

[ChantillyAvenue]

@AutumnHollowStudio 

It's basically the same for me too.  A couple of wholesalers, a few unique vintage supply sellers with their own websites, some former Etsy suppliers who closed their Etsy shops and sell on ebay... that sort of thing.  I doubt anyone buys supplies exclusively on Etsy, but those of us who have reliable suppliers here are very appreciative, and protective, of them.

[AnchorRoadVintage]

Search is horrible and I don’t know why they took away the the category filters. You can start with them but it is not the same. There is no good reason to prevent people from searching for what they want. 

[BeaconwoodDettman]

@AnchorRoadVintage Is there a shopping site that you are comparing Etsy's search to? In other words, which site has a good search function?

Yesterday on Etsy, I was searching for "Porcelier teapot" - on the first page, the results showed lots of Porcelier teapots, including a couple of mine. I did also see one that did not have the word "Porcelier" in the title, and it was a teapot, but not a Porcelier teapot, so not sure why that showed up before ones after it. The same happened on the second page. 

On the flip side, I am on Amazon this morning because it's time to order some more boxes. I searched "101010 box". First result - 18x14x10 box - nope. Second - 10x8x6 - nope. Third - 4x4x48 - nope. Fourth - nope. The 5th and 6th result are finally what I'm looking for, but after that, it's right back to totally different box sizes. If I scroll, scroll, scroll, there are a couple more 101010 boxes but the vast majority are totally unrelated. 

[AnchorRoadVintage]

@BeaconwoodDettman  No. I am comparing Etsy search now  to Etsy search of sometime before Christmas. It used to be that you could narrow down search by categories and now you can't. 

[OrangeGroveBeads]

I'm on the other end of this as a supply seller. It is not good for us either. I have pretty much quit attempting to shop on Etsy because of the search being pants, so I don't blame others for doing the same. 

[Adorabilities]

I'm with you as well @OrangeGroveBeads 

Things have really gone downhill. 

[BagmakerSupply]

Etsy seems to be proud of the fact that they provide search results which they think you will actually purchase regardless of what you actually searched for. The algorithm KNOWS what you want while you only think you know what you are actually searching for.

[nineteen27]

etsy has the worst internal search engine.

of any website.

ever.

[NancyQstudio]

They really do.  I'm always confused when I hear the CEO bragging about it. 

[BeaconwoodDettman]

@nineteen27 Is there a site that you are comparing Etsy's search to?

[ColorfulCastAndCrew]

I make some of my own jewelry, Etsy's search for supplies now is the absolute worst!!!  I can't even imagine the amount of lost sales for jewelry suppliers. Who has time to weed through finished jewelry when your searching for jewelry findings? 

[LastCentury]

Yesterday

search was such an easier game to play

now I need a place to find a way

Oh I believe in yesterday

Suddenly

I'm not half the shop I used to be

There's a shadow ban hanging over me

Oh etsy gift mode slayed suddenly

beatles karaoke out!

good luck to us all.

[SmudgePlant]

Ha ha, I was thinking U2:

I have scrolled countless pages

I have scanned through the yields

Only to see Temu

Only to see Temu

I have clicked

I have crawled

I have scaled these Etsy walls

These Etsy walls

Only to see Temu

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

[BriarMoonBeads]

Search sucks for supplies now because the AI doesn't understand niche terms. If I search '20mm copper jump rings' I expect at least the first row of results to be exactly that. I just did it now, the first results are.... 5mm. That's on the laptop where I can hover to read the whole title; if I'm on the app or mobile browser there's a lot of clicking back n forth. The AI understands 'copper jump rings' and expects me to wade through and find the '20mm' specific, bless it's heart. 

Supply sellers - put your measurements in the first 20 characters or as a text overlay. If you sell something where mm makes a different, consider having more than one option in that listing. For example a listing for copper jump rings that gives me the option to buy any size from 3mm-25mm. 

If you're buying supplies, I recommend eBay LOL I stopped buying supplies here if I need something specific; when I want to browse around I come here, but usually what I want needs to be vintage so at least I have that filter. I'm also in Australia so I can filter by country. Other than that, it's a bit rubbish. 

It's not a technical issue though, it's all supposed to work like this. I'm pretty convinced that Etsy actually wants supply sellers to go away. They won't dump it completely ($$$), but you'll only survive here if you're one of the ones who can make 'the machine' work. It might help sellers to niche down and specialise; for example, if I make a lot of bohemian jewelry and I look for supplies using that seller account, the AI is probably going to show me supply sellers who convert well for bohemian keywords. 

Let's test that with my fairy jewelry shop.....yep. Over there I make jewelry with vintage Czech or India 80s/90s, I also buy new Czech. Just searched 'green glass beads'. Top 3 rows were all vintage India and Czech glass. I would expect it to just show me the hyper-huge bead stores from China who make 'czech vibe' beads, and just ordinary basic beads... but no. It was very tailored. Not a single piece of finished jewelry. 

Then I added '5mm' to my search and it all went wrong...

Not helpful to the average shopper but sellers can at least find this useful info, I hope. 

[OrangeGroveBeads]

Heaven forbid you actually include the measurements of what you are shopping for. This KILLS me...I know what I want down to the size in mm and I get a million search results that are nowhere near the original thing I searched for or the size. 

[BriarMoonBeads]

@OrangeGroveBeads  that's why I love buying beads etc on eBay, they have the little filter that you can click boxes on, so you can be shown only those sizes, shapes, colours etc. Such a huge time saver.

[Littlejemsuk]

I'm a supply shop and still doing really well. I'm seeing an influx of new customers to my shop and still have all my regular customers to. I do have to make adjustments to descriptions and tags to stay relevant.

[AutumnHollowStudio]

@OneTribeJewelry I share in your frustrations! I mostly buy jewelry supplies here, and I like finding vintage finds / parts  and I use certain search phrases for a style I am looking for - for example, "art nouveau" is a keyword search I like to use, and before I would type that in the regular search bar and filter the results by category, because not all sellers categorize and / or describe the items in the same way. Etsy taking the filter by category option out of the search function was a huge mistake.

At least the orange buying app (for now anyway) still has that capability, and I use that whenever I need to filter.  

[OneTribeJewelry]

OOO, thank you so much for telling me about the app!  I don't use my phone for buying supplies but will definitely start doing that if the capability still exists to filter.  You're a lifesaver.