New Listing form, another technical glitch, possible solution for private listings

[CostumeCoutureNaomi]

I needed to revise the price and remove variations on a private listing that I created using the old listing format and sent before the new listing form was required.

• The private listing contained variations and a customization box.  Variations and customization are unavailable for private listings using the new listing form.
• I opened the private listing in the new listing form, updated the price and saved.  Etsy's system sent an alert to my customer that the listing had been updated.
• I opened the revised private listing, but the price changes did not save.  Text & photo changes did save.
• I tried to make the changes again, saved, Etsy sent another alert to the customer,  but the price did not take again.

At this point, I figured out that the issue with saving the price was the variations or customizations, which are not available for private listings in the new listing form.

I decided to copy the listing to see if I could make changes this way.

• I copied the listing, removed the variations, changed the price, and saved.
• I got the prompt about the 20 cent listing fee, and accepted, publishing the listing
• I went to my shop to move the private listing to the very end, so it was not the first thing visible.

The new listing was not visible in my shop, even though I saved it as a regular listing and paid the listing fee.

I checked different browsers, logged out, and incognito mode.  No listing.

When I saved the listing I did not receive the prompt to view the new listing like I usually do.  The listing seemed to have completely disappeared.

The listing still showed under listings, but that was the only place I could find it.  

The listing fee has been deducted from my payment account. 

Since the listing was only showing in my listing folder, I tried opening it with the Share and Save link.  

The Share and Save link opened the listing, just like a normal listing.

I am able to open it  in different browsers using Share and Save, just like a regular listing, but it is not viewable in my shop.  I can share this invisible listing with customers, but it is private like a private listing.  The copied private listing has the full functions of the listing form, including variations and customization.  I assume that since I copied the private listing, it unlinked it from my customer's email, allowing me to use the new listing form, but retaining the invisibility of the private listing.

If you are trying to find a way to make the private listing work with the new listing form, this might be the solution, since for now, it allows the functionality of the new listing form, with the privacy of a private listing.  It does not appear in your shop (for now).  It does not send updates to your customer's messages.  It is only available for viewing through the Share and Save link.

1) Open your listing tab

2) Select any private listing (active,  inactive or sold)

3) Copy the private listing

4) Make all changes to the private listing copy that you need, including customization and variations.

5)  Save and publish the listing, paying the 20 cent listing fee.

6) Copy the Share and Save listing into a browser to view the listing as a customer would see it.

7) Make any necessary changes.  The listing will not be publicly viewable, and the customer will not be emailed notices every time you make changes 

Once the listing is perfect, use the share and save link to send the listing to your customer.

[PillowDetails]

Wow - that sounds really convoluted - we shouldn't need to do this, but thank you for your efforts.

So copying a past Custom order - asks you to pay the 20 cents, but does not show in your shop?  That's interesting.

Custom listings show in your shop if someone leaves a review, or if you've enabled your sold listings to show - including the price.

So why do we even need these secret Custom listings?  I realize, sometimes you create them, and the customers never ends up buying it, so that would save the 20 cents.  I'm sure there are some popular shops that may have buyers lined up waiting to snipe new listings, so that would be another reason.

I've given up on trying the Custom set-up since it changed, and wow, it looks like the new listing format makes it even worse.  Sometimes I just create the listing with minimal details, a "Custom" banner for the photo, and a description that reads something along the lines of "Details as per private messages".  And pay the darned 20 cents.

[CostumeCoutureNaomi]

This glitch is actually a big improvement on the custom listings.

One of the main reasons for using the custom listing festure is that the listing is private and does not appear in your shop.  Some sellers might use the privacy of a custom listing because they want to offer a specific customer an item or discount price that they don't want to offer publicly in their shop.  In my case, customers like to keep their designs private until they unveil them at their first performance or competition.   The custom listing maintains their privacy.

The drawback has been that since Etsy updated the custom listings around a year ago, they created a listing form that was non functional, and sent notices to the customer every time you updated the listing.  Etsy sends customers a draft listing that sellers could not preview before sending.  The draft listing has an ugly, juvenile blue clip art for the photo, and lacks photos, shipping profiles,  variations and customization boxes.  Sellers have to take the extra steps of warning customers not to purchase the draft custom listing that Etsy just sent them, then rush to the listing page to try to add photos, etc, before the customer purchases the custom listing.  Every time a seller updated something on the new custom listing, Etsy sends the customer a notice.  It is a mess.

With the old listing form, you could use all the listing features to edit the draft custom listing.

With the new listing form, custom listings have very limited editing capabilities.  The new listing form allows photos and shipping profiles to be added to the custom listing, but does not allow you to add variations or customization text boxes to the listing.

Both the new and old listing forms send the unprofessional notices to customers when you save the draft and every time you update the listing.

I think the change I described above in my original post is a technical glitch, but it actually is a huge improvement for sellers who use the custom order feature.  It gives us a work around to the biggest issue with the custom listing.  We now have a way to fully edit the custom listing without the unprofessional notices sent to customers by Etsy every time we save; we can preview and review it, get it perfect, then send a completely private listing to the customer without the constant notifications.

I don't think this improvement is intentional by Etsy, but it definitely is an improvement.

[SurnamePro]

I tried to create a new custom digital download for one buyer and the system refused to permit it. Contacted support and learned at this time there is no fix for this issue. So after doing this easily on the old form for many buyers for years it looks like Etsy has decided to prevent buyers from purchasing new one of a kind custom made digital downloads. Since I attempted to create the order I was charged the listing fee. Support credited me back the .20 cent fee. That was a lot of unnecessary work to obtain a refund on a defective fee that Etsy knows about and refuses to fix.

[CostumeCoutureNaomi]

Is the listing showing in your listing page?

Can you open it using the share and save feature?