New Etsy Search by Category Issues

[busterbeanknows]

After getting extremely frustrated with the new formula search method which forces a general search through a maze of predetermined options/categories.. I finally realized the buyer must use the category for the item they are looking for in the search bar in order to refine and reduce results.  Which means if you are looking for an item that can possibly fit into more than one category it's not going to be easy to track down using the "formula" method. 
Example... I wanted to do a price comparison on some wire birds I made to sell as supplies. Using the new method the category choice  is now on the main search page. 
First choice. Craft Tools and Supplies
Second choice is an option of Home &Hobby, Sewing & Fiber, Paper & Party, Sculpting & Forming etc..
I choose Home & Hobby
Third choice is an option of materials.. Wood, Plastic, Fabric, Metal
I choose Metal resulting in a new page with "metal home and hobby" automatically placed in the search bar
5,000+ results with the only additional filters limited to price, estimated time of delivery, shipping and sellers
If I try to add 'wire bird' into the search bar by erasing "metal home and hobby" I go back to the main page of search with 25K unfiltered results. 
If I add 'wire bird' to the existing 'metal home and hobby' it filters the search to a more manageable result (under 200) but includes wire birds sculptures.. There are actually only about 25 listings that could be considered supplies and my listing isn't included in the search results. 
Home and Hobby is the only category that has a "metal or wire" in Craft Tools and Supply other than jewelry (not the right category for 5 to 6 inch birds)

If I type in wire bird supply on the main page and use the filter for USA, handmade, and physical item... there are 172 results and my listing shows up on the first page.. 

How is the buyer to know to put the category in the search bar if they actually want to not waste time running through the Etsy formula search maze? 

[JMOldeVintage]

@busterbeanknows  - Normally you would enter "wire bird" into the search bar. Once the results produced you would go into All Filters and then in addition to the choices of All Items, Handmade, Vintage; Physical Item, etc. you would open the options shown at the top for category & filter down thru the Home & Hobby etc. etc.

I just entered the term "wire bird" and do not see the Category filters.

So I typed in my often used generic search term "vintage garden tool" & have been presented with just over 100K results. 
I'm already in Vintage since I started off my search term with that word.
However, while I can filter by All, Physical, Digital; the shop location, etc. I do not see the Categories I'd normally use to finally to get to "Garden Tools" therefore weeding down the results to the usual average of 900 to 1K. 

I'm using a laptop/W10/Chrome. I'm signed in. What happened to the option to basically filter thru categories?? I have no idea.
It could be another glitch. Or it could be yet another test. Who knows. 

[busterbeanknows]

Exactly... the "category" used to be a drop down option from the original search bar... 
Etsy has since moved the "category" option to the main search page... 4 horizontal lines to the left of the search bar.. Once you choose the category your results restrict you to continue to choose additional categories which may or may not fit what you are searching for and seems to omit items as well.. It's really bad!!!!

[JMOldeVintage]

@busterbeanknows  - I just did a cut and paste of my response into your other thread. Often Etsy will delete threads that are duplicates and this sudden change needs to be put out there in case it is a 'glitch' or accidental 'techie error' on Etsy's part. 

[MechanicallyPowered]

I opened up a chat with Etsy support and they said that it was recently removed from the website. They suggested entering more search terms to try to limit the item type you want.

[OrangeGroveBeads]

Seriously? Add more words to further confuse the already ridiculous AI search algorithm? That's rich. 

[hopeandjoystudios]

Hopefully that that person was just wrong.  I would say more about it but it would be removed.

[SJGriffinArts]

LOL!!! If search actually worked, that would be a reasonable answer.

[miscellanea]

I knew this had to be intentional, but it is so infuriating. I am much less likely to find what I want using even obvious search terms in the search bar without being able to restrict my search to specific categories.

[MichouBeads]

Same here, very confusing. I sell HOOP EARRINGS as Craft supplies in my beading supply shop and I also sell beaded hoop earrings in my other jewelry shop. When I enter "hoop earrings" in the Etsy SEARCH bar, I only see the jewelry, not craft supplies > ear wire > hoops. BEFORE, in the FILTER, the buyer couls simply narrow her search by selecting "Jewelry" OR "Craft supplies" - not any more, everything is mixed which forces the potential buyer to figure it out... if it is confusing for a seller, how confusing can it be for a potential buyer? WHY would Etsy REMOVE the choices of categories in the FILTER?? Isn't the FILTER intended to Filter & narrow the search? or am I missing something? Can someone help? Thanks!

[JDTotesnDolls]

But if I were looking for hoop earring wire I would not use hoop earrings I would use hoop earring wire .  Hoop earring wire gave me the compnents for the hoop earrings.  All the wire as a supply.

In the text box you would use there terms specific to what is wanted.  I would never use category in the filter until after the initial return in search. 

[hopeandjoystudios]

And there is no supply filter..just all, handmade, vintage.

[AbstractArtHome]

This is probably a test, since I still see the usual "filter" options and can choose category etc.

[JMOldeVintage]

I tried again this morning & still no category options. Noticed that there is now a "filter reset" button. Which I don't understand since if I accidentally clicked on "digital" instead of "physical" I can just unclick it before hitting "show results". (This used to be an "Apply" button.)
If I didn't catch my mistake before doing this all I need to do is click on the "All Filters" button again, which brings me back to the same menu. It shows me what I had chosen, I correct my mistake & hit "show results".

My test today was "vintage garden shears", "vintage hedge shears". No, I don't want scissors, pinking shears, hair trimming tools. I don't want jewelry with a garden tool theme. I want the actual tools. But now I can't try & filter all that irrelevant stuff out. In all honesty, until this changes my desire to browse here on Etsy is gone. 

[OrangeGroveBeads]

This is going to sound absolutely WILD but I went on eBay and entered vintage garden shears and then was able to select the antiques category on the right side of my screen without a drop down menu or anything. Once I did this...pretty much ALL vintage garden shears with maybe a couple of other garden tools. 

[JMOldeVintage]

@OrangeGroveBeads  - Yes eBay's search stands way above Etsy's Search.
There is a reason I've only purchased one item here on Etsy all year.

[DangleFindings]

I hope that this really is just a test or a glitch. I am having a really difficult time finding things on Etsy now. I am not only a seller, but I buyer as well. And while I use the app frequently, I spend a lot of time on the desktop version as well. I'm not sure why this would be done on purpose. It doesn't make any sense.

[JDTotesnDolls]

I would say most people don't use the filters as much as we think they might.

Most type in the words that convey the search needed in the textbox.

I seldom use categories when filtering.

I tend to use place and price more and I think that is what Etsy is feeling this should be with this change,

I looked at jewelry which has the most attributes and those show up as part of the filter,  Not every topic has attributes.

I tried wired bird supply and on the page is wire and wire birds.  The algorithm has been doing this for some time since relevancy is no longer as important.

I only filter after the initial search and never before and I seldom if ever use the browser bar.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Who are these "most people "? Even if you add a specific search term you get garbage results. If you are wanting a craft supply the only way to filter out the other junk was the category filter.

[JMOldeVintage]

@JDTotesnDolls  - Then the folks who don't use the filters must be really, really frustrated, lol.

If I type in my generic search term "garden tool", omitting the first word "vintage" Search presents me with over 985K results!!

Filtering to "vintage" a must-do, but then that only reduces the results to 99,612.

Normally I could go thru the categories & finally get down to the final option of "Garden Tool". This normally pares the results down to the previously cited 900 to 1,000 listing results. 

While price or location of a shop may be important to some buyers, imo collectors of vintage items probably don't use those too often. After all we're the Mel Fishers on land, looking for a treasure we must have and where it's coming from may be irrelevant. And budgets can be adjusted if the price is acceptable.

So "No" I'm not going to browse the over 99K results, thru vintage books on gardening, seed packets, fabric or jewelry with a gardening theme, etc. I truly do want the actual tools, rust and all. Until this possible test ends my browsing here will come to a standstill. 

[OrangeGroveBeads]

Exactly! Who has time for that? And as soon as I saw the random Mel Fisher ref, I was like, this has GOT to be another Florida person. I dream of Mel Fisher treasures! I'd love one of the jewelry pieces they make but they are not for the faint of wallet. 

ETA: My art in my work room is a huge framed map of Florida with all of the known shipwrecks and year. I'm a little obsessed.

[Ilumdecor]

What a mess....Etsy should also offer a course to teach shoppers who simply want to search for stuff.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Removing the category filters makes zero sense. If  there is a large non specific return and I  can't filter I am not wasting time scrolling through non relevant listings, I  am buying elsewhere.  Just when you think it can't get any worse.

[hopeandjoystudios]

It seems to be back this morning so hopefully "only" a glitch. WTAF

[JMOldeVintage]

It still hasn't returned for me. But I'll check later today to see if anything has changed.