Please Etsy! CRITICAL! Don't show other photos than the chosen 1st in search results!

[#1]

Please report to Etsy with screenshots!

The chosen (Best photo, the product itself in whole) isn't always displayed in search results! This is a CRUCIAL TECHNICAL ERROR! Photo number 2,3 4 etc are detail photos! -They obviously do not attract customers!!!!!!!! Us vintage sellers are loosing tons of revenue, meaning you are too Etsy!!!!!! 

PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

[JDTotesnDolls]

Sounds like a crafted snippet to assure sellers that we really do hear you.  Sorry don't buy it.  I'm just getting a little too jaded as of late.  

[SweetSophiaDesigns]

When I open a private tab and search incognito I’m seeing second pictures, search looks ridiculous at the moment.  

[HectanoogaPatterns]

Oh Good Lord!  That is awful!!!

[HauteVintageJewels]

They'll probably say, after testing this stupidity, that buyers purchase more when they see photos that make no sense.

[VibeEnvy]

Sometime in June, 2023

Etsy Product Development Team: Ok interns, who's got ideas to improve the etsy marketplace?

Intern #1: The upcoming varying photo test next week seems very flawed and not ready to go live and may discourage buyers. Maybe we could give sellers the option of selecting one or more photos they would like to use for this feature, or maybe selecting a primary photo for main search with up to 3 other photos to use for a carousel effect when hovering the listing on desktop or when the buyer is scrolling through search results on mobile and stops the listings on screen after a few seconds (not instantly) cycle through those photos highlighting what the sellers deem the most valuable shots or details of their product. We could enable a thumbnail feature on those chosen photos so the images can be cropped by the seller and presented in their best possible way and the best quality photos get put into rotation. We could also add a little tab to the bottom corner of the photos on hover to allow the buyer the option to click and cycle between playing the product video directly within search or clicking the button again to return to the image carousel effect, un-hovering would return the listing to normal. On mobile because 2 to 4 listings may be fully visible on screen at a time, the carousel could play in rotation one listing at a time potentially giving other listings a chance to be highlighted while the user waits for or after viewing the carousel of images of the listing they are interested in. This could also help sellers achieve higher conversion rates as buyers will be able to get more insight without having to leave sear....

Etsy: STOP! Just stop it! Who do you think you are? Go to your desk, pack your things, take your fancy ideas and get the h*** out! Now!!

...

Anyone else got any 'bright' ideas?

Intern #2: (nervously) ummm... we could um... postpone the image test and run it during the labor day sale promotion so that there will be higher traffic and sales during that time period that we could attribute as positive results of the test... (closes eyes and braces themselves)...

Etsy Product Development Team: Are you seriously suggesting we skew the results to make the test seem more effective?

Intern #2: (opens eyes slightly) Yes?....

Etsy Product Development Team: .....(dramatic pause).... (cork pops! Champagne starts spraying everywhere, everyone begins cheering, music starts playing, confetti explodes all over the place and balloons drop, the interns chair gets hoisted above the teams heads as they parade them around the office chanting "GARY! GARY! GARY!")

Intern #2: (shouting over all the chanting) IT'S ACTUALLY JERRY!

Team Leader: WHAT?

Intern #2: MY NAME! IT'S JERRY!

Team Leader: GARY!?

Intern #2: JERRY!!

Team Leader: THAT'S WHAT WE SAID!

Etsy Product Development Team: "GARY! GARY! GARY!"

[PWOriginals]

I'm not in this test, whether signed in or incognito, with pics in search results. I'm curious, tho - does anyone have a screenshot?

[SCANDINAVIAMODERN]

Please! Contact etsy with screenshots of it!!!!! We need to stand together if it is going to be done something about it!!!!!

[Jewels2at]

So this is strange...on an incognito window, I checked out some of my listings.  The 1st pic is staying the first pic, but if I hover over the pic, it goes through all my pics.  I would be mad if it was not my first pic showing.

Also, do you think there is an Etsy employee in the IT department that is trying to sabotage Etsy?  I mean...that is the only thing that makes any sense. Why would they be spending to much money on the terrible experiments...Something here does not make any sense...then again...this is Etsy...

[PersonalizeStation]

@Jewels2at 

I think other sellers have reported their pictures changing slot positions lately within their listings. Even when editing, it doesn't stick. It seems to be a separate issue. 

There's been so much going on with pictures. It's insanity! 

With the recent tests, I would almost buy into your theory!

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@Jewels2at @PersonalizeStation @JDTotesnDolls 
Yes, I see the slideshow too in a Chrome incognito window and logged in or logged out in Firefox.

The first image is correctly shown in the results page but when I hover over the thumbnail it runs a slideshow through all the images. It immediately changes back to the 1st image when I move the cursor away.

I see it for all listings except those with a video. Those ones have a black right arrow on the bottom right and still run the video when you hover.

Other differences that I see at the same time.
1. The search thumbnails are square at 300x300 instead of landscape at 340x270.
2. Listing titles are being cut-off at the first punctuation mark eg a comma.
3. The first row, called "Most Loved" (if there is one) doesn't show any of the tests. The thumbnails are still landscape, the titles are not truncated and there are no slideshows.

[PersonalizeStation]

@DaysofYoreTreasures 

Weird! I'm not seeing a slide show or anything when I hover.

I have only seen the search result thumbnail pictures showing photos that sellers didn't choose to be their main photo.

After clicking on an image in search and being brought to a listing, the main photo chosen originally by sellers is being shown. 

My friend noticed this several days ago. She sells furniture. In search, her thumbnails showed different photos (e.g.  chart of different stain colors or her husband building the furniture). With other shops, flaws on vi tage items are being shown as the search result/thumbnail photo. For others, it's just any image except for the main one as intended. So, it could zoom and focus on a piece of an item or part or the background. 

It looks like someone gobbled down every photo on Etsy and then threw them up all over the screen. 

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@PersonalizeStation haha, that's a horrible picture.

I have tried every mode in Chrome, Firefox & MS Edge but I do not see it. What a mess it must be. It's hard to imagine anyone, even Etsy, thinking it a good idea.

[PersonalizeStation]

@DaysofYoreTreasures 

They must know we choose a main photo for a reason. 

They are doing some serious tweaking and a lot of it involves our photos.

Buyers might look and say well dang, this website is haunted LOL

[JDTotesnDolls]

Possibly a test.  I have not seen it in any of the devices I use.  I use other devices to check Etsy and I am not logged in.   

However are you sure you are not hovering over and getting the video aw well.

We have less autonomy now than in years past.  Each time something major happens I think about MY next move.

Just a thought.  I read a recent little note for a financial advisor group and they said that Etsy was entrenched firmly in doing services.  What if we are the guinea pigs for the services they want to sell?   Oh and this group said to sell any stock in Etsy.   

[TwiLdCapitHog]

"What if we are the guinea pigs for the services they want to sell?" 

I have believed this to be the case for the past year.

[C20Ceramics]

I think it is either incompetence at Etsy in the tech department or sabotage by someone at Etsy - why else would the listing photos be such a mess...often showing someone else's photo, or a photo from a different listing within a store, or multiple snippets of photos in the same frame, or just a complete mess of glitch lines like a TV screen that is not tuned in. Seriously poor quality service which we all pay for. 

[Girlfriendnecklace]

I'm exhausted about these meaningless changes. Please promote us again on Google like in the past!!!!

[OrWaDesigns]

It still doing it!!! Im so annoyed! Who is gonna click on a lamp for sale when the image is of a close up of the plug!! Its so ugly!! Etsy is ugly right now!

[BlaqKat]

@OrWaDesigns  Yes, it is ugly right now. It's so dumb. This honestly could be driving customers away from Etsy.

There have been enough issues recently that people are getting a little wary of Etsy and Google Play there are reviews from customers who don't like some of the random changes/tests and won't be back.

But customers won't understand these "tests" they'll just think sellers are advertising bad photos of their products.

[CookieandMarcie]

I think I am experiencing the same issue, just found out about it this morning (accidently). Because I borrowed my hubby's mobile, to check on my shop public view/ storefront. He never visited Etsy site ever. Funny that I cannot see this screwed up, if I view it with my mobile phones (yes I am using 2) and my desktop. Maybe because I visited Etsy site often, either to work on my shop or for shopping. Everything looks fine on my devices, so if this morning I did not borrowed his mobile then I will never find out about this issue.

What I saw on his mobile, was some of my listings (the primary) photo of that listing has been replaced by another photo from page 2 or 3 and so on. So example if I put a measurement chart on page 2 or 3, it is now moved to the first page, as the primary photo of the listing. Who is going to click on my listing, if the cover photo looks weird and not inviting.

Too many issues with Etsy lately, been dealing with messages from scammers almost daily and now this.

[SCANDINAVIAMODERN]

Thank you for your posts, everyone. I hope that you also take action and report it. PHOTO IS EVERYTHING on etsy. Showing users your photo 3, 4,5 as main photo.. it can't get more unlogical!!! It's plain stupidity.

LETS TRY TO GET IT FIXED. COME ON!! CANT YOU SEE THE SERIOUSNESS! 

[SCANDINAVIAMODERN]

A seller questioned why I posted. It's so dumb I'm not even going to comment on it. 

Hey, everyone wants a lower CVR, right. (I bet you can't get that one)

[GalleryAntiques]

Unbelievable Etsy, seriously! What is the point in me and other sellers choosing the photo we want as our first photo for the listing, to show off the item and attract possible buyers when they search? If what they see is something completely different than the whole item, they will choose not even to bother looking.

This also (in my opinion) makes sellers/shops look unprofessional by showing a completely different first photo in the search. Let's hope this is one feature that Etsy will not keep once they have finished testing it.

[PersonalizeStation]

What usually happens with tests is that once completed in a certain group, it bumps to the next. How they even analyze their "data" for things like this, I have no idea.

I'm still wondering how they came to the conclusion that "buyers prefer square photos." I can only imagine people saying we don't prefer circles or triangles....that would make sense....visually, it's awful. 

Many say that no one from Etsy reads the forums. I disagree. This is one of their ways of obtaining information/feedback without specifically asking for it. 

Contacting Etsy will honestly just back them up even more and too many sellers are having crucial issues (wrongful suspensions, wrongful deactivated listings, so on and so forth).

All we can really tell Etsy is "stop it with the da*m tests already and back off!" If it were a glitch or technical error, I'm almost positive everyone would see the photos just barfed into search results. 

[SCANDINAVIAMODERN]

I can't tag.

But in regards to :

Contacting Etsy will honestly just back them up even more and too many sellers are having crucial issues (wrongful suspensions, wrongful deactivated listings, so on and so forth).

"All we can really tell Etsy is "stop it with the da*m tests already and back off!" If it were a glitch or technical error, I'm almost positive everyone would see the photos just barfed into search results."

Answer:

Square or not, how is that important when this "test" or bug or whatever it is, still runs. Its insanity!! 

Have you searched? It IS a mess of detail shots, shots of flaws etc on aprox a third of the result page on all searches i just tried!!

Of course we should report it!!! Send screenshots! God dam... it!

Give me (us sellers) one valid reason why we shouldn't try to stop it!

Please, come on, take action!

I just got a reply from a person in the technical support team. They do listen.

Personally i find it very scary and it makes me very concerned for the future..That such a no brainer, idiotic thing can happen on one of the largest marketplaces. And the one with the most visual  focus, on top of that. 

Why spend energy and time on speculating or being sarcastic. It's a fact. So DO something to try to get it Stopped instead.

I can't believe how light some sellers take this.