Offsite Ad Fee Taken from Repeat Customer Sale

[luola]

Hi There, any experts on Etsy's offsite ads out there? I was charged an offsite ad fee from a repeat customer. The previous sale was some time ago, but it was the recent sale they took the fee from and I'm wondering if that violates the ad policy. Does anyone know? Thanks!

[NanaLetha]

The buyer may have clicked on another off-site ad. 

[BootifulLabels]

I have several regular buyers who always Google my shop name when they are ready to reorder, it is quicker than logging into Etsy and trawling through past orders to find me.  Quite often, the first few results in the search list are ads, but the buyer may not notice that.  Search engines are getting better and  better at disguising ad as regular search results.  When this happens the order is always charged as an Ad sale.  I am not going to presume to educate my buyers on how they should find me to reorder. I have the cost of ads built into my pricing formula so that it doesn't matter.  I make a little more on each sale, which collectively covers the ad charge on the smaller % of sales that get hit.

[GieseDeseiGns]

Yes a friend, and repeat customer  couldn't find me because she was spelling my shop name right, not wrong as I have it. So she went to an ad and found me that way.

[bradgoodell]

Most logical reason:  All ad algorithms show shoppers items from shops they've visited before.  She may have seen an ad for your shop on social media, or while searching online.  The algorithm is more inclined to show her your shop, knowing she already likes your products.  

[PillowDetails]

@luola  If this was a repeat customer - it makes me ask what kind of branding you have in your packaging?  Do you include anything with your shop web address to increase the likelihood that Buyers don't have to Google your shop?

The past several months, I've been unable to use the Etsy search bar to find shops.  I just now entered "luola" in the Etsy search bar, and I get the "find shop names containing 'luola' - but nothing happens.  And if I've been experiencing this, chances are that others are as well.

[BagmakerSupply]

@luola: If you go to your offsite ads page you will see exactly when the customer clicked on an ad for one of your listings. Plus you will be charged for any and all sales that buyer makes from your shop for 30 days after their latest click.  There is more information at https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000338367?segment=selling

[BittenbenderAndMoll]

The entire program allows Etsy to syphon money from its top sellers to its shareholders.  They are forced to participate, then google ads shows their regular customers items from their shop on a consistent basis which they click at some point and bingo...Etsy gets another 12% of the regular customers purchases for 30 days.  Happens to me all the time.

[luola]

Thanks to all who replied. I gather that it makes no difference if someone is a repeat customer, or how many items they've purchased and when, as long as they purchased something within that 30 day window after clicking on an ad for an item in you shop.

I SO wish I could opt out of offsite ads. I really don't need them!

[SnappyBaby]

There are so many of us in the same boat.  It costs Etsy very, very little to put marketing in front of your repeat customers, so that's what they are going to do!  Of course, they get to charge us an outrageous price for that marketing that was super cheap.  It's too bad any kind of guidelines on being ethical in business have gone by the wayside with Etsy and there is nobody that has enough power to start making these large companies follow laws and ethical guidelines.  Why FORCE us into marketing that we don't want? It's just to make money for themselves, not to help us! Having the option for people who want it would be great but forcing us into it because we've built a good customer base should not be allowed.  Etsy makes their own rules and gets away with it, though!

[Handywoman]

Yes, I think this forced use of offsite ads is outrageous.  I have a very niche market I don't need their help at all selling my products.  All the offsite coupons used for my shop is repeat customers.  I'm going to start putting a note in the order when I ship it to please stop clicking ad and why.  

[BootifulLabels]

@Handywoman 

Asking buyers not to click ads is counterproductive.  Many buyers don't even realise what they click when browsing the web is an ad, the search and social sites are adept at placing the AD label carefully so that it isn't easily seen.  Add to that the practice of making it harder for buyers to shop by asking them to avoid ads instead of letting them shop their own way will simply drive them away altogether.  Buyers do not want sellers telling them how to shop.

These ads have been operating this way for several years now, and the change came about largely because of the massive increase in new shops opened during the pandemic.  Until that occurrence, Etsy had been footing the bill for these ads from their own coffers.  When seller numbers went for 1.5 million to 7 or 8 million in a few months, this was no longer a viable option.  They had to start passing the costs on, and to be fair, they chose a reasonable way to do so, with a minimum threshold for sellers having to pay, and even then only paying when the ads actually bring them a sale.  

Whether a buyer is a regular or not, many will still do a web search to get back to your store quickly, and when they do, its a good bet they will trigger an ad.  I am not about to tell my regulars that they can't order from me through a search or social site.  Instead I cost the ads into ALL my pricing, so that every sale brings in a little more, which collectively covers the ad charges on the smaller number that get hit with it.  I used to pay $60 a month on Etsy ads, and while they worked well for me for a few years, over time they became less and less effective. When Offsite Ads came in, I switched to those (even though I am, and probably always will be, under the mandatory threshold).  I raised all my item prices and shipping charges by 3% and it more than covers the ad costs across my shop.  The $60 a month I save by dropping the Etsy ads is a welcome bonus.

[Handywoman]

@BootifulLabels  we will have to agree to disagree, the change came because of greed.  When I sell something and they get half what I make because a customer was looking for me specifically and clicked an ad... that is wrong.  They would have found me without the ad and would have made the purchase without the ad.