Request a video goes nowhere = customer service problem

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

If a potential customer requests a video from the 2nd slide that has been added to listings without a video, they receive a confirmation message but the seller does not receive the request, so the customer is left high and dry.

The longer this goes on the higher the hit to perceptions of customer service for that shop. It should not have been implemented this way.

Etsy, please
- remove the request a video until it is working.
- advise us how it will work in advance of re-introducing it eg etsy message? 24 hours to respond? penalties if we say no?

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

Another half baked feature!  It's a blessing we are not being flooded with requests though! 

[SilverandEarth]

We could be getting flooded with requests --- but we'd have no way of knowing because the notification goes nowhere!

[LorettasCottage]

@JJewellerySuppliesUK 

'It's a blessing we are not being flooded with requests though!' 

How would we know? We don't get any notification.

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

We know because we are not getting any.  If it was working, we would. 

[JMOldeVintage]

@DaysofYoreTreasures  - I don't see the option to request a video on your listings. Now, this could be because you don't ship to the USA?

However I don't see this on any of @JJewellerySuppliesUK  listings I looked at.

So possibly the video request is still in test mode and only included accounts can see that option?

Yes, I'd wonder how these messages will be categorized, or sorted. Will it start off with a default title like "video request"?
Etsy doesn't require make-an-offer messages be replied to within 24 hours, so one would hope that the request for a video would be afforded the same leeway.
Can a shop say "No"? - very good question. 

Flagging any or all listings that don't have a video attached would imo be a mistake. Not all shop owners want to take videos; some could be technically challenged; if the videos limited in size/length well, nothing could go wrong there? lol.  

But in the end, even if this is still in test mode, if shops aren't receiving the requests, whether or not they would consider doing a video is irrelevant. 

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

I can see it on @DaysofYoreTreasures listings but she does ship to UK so maybe that's why.  I do ship to the US so I wonder why @JMOldeVintage can't see mine.  You need to click on the forward arrow in the photo slot and then the message to request a video appears. 

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

.

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@JMOldeVintage 

But in the end, even if this is still in test mode, if shops aren't receiving the requests, whether or not they would consider doing a video is irrelevant. 

I think the problem is that our potential customers are receiving an acknowledgement when they request a video with no chance of ever receiving a response.

[JMOldeVintage]

@JJewellerySuppliesUK  - The option to request a video never appears on any of your listings even after clicking thru the photos. (The ones I looked at have 2 photos on the listings)

[MirageRiverCreations]

@JMOldeVintage It’s account specific. I’m in the US and see it on every shop I look in. Not everyone has it yet, but I’m thinking it will become a permanent feature because of changes made to the listings page in shop manager.

[JMOldeVintage]

@MirageRiverCreations  - That it's a test, or has only had limited release, makes sense.

I'd noticed the "sorting" feature or at least the notice that indicates listings with and without videos. 

IMO some things do not benefit from a video. Dare I say some videos I've seen (in various places) do not enhance the product, they detract from it.

But apparently videos are another tool that "should" be used?

[MirageRiverCreations]

@JMOldeVintage I agree 1000%. So many things don’t need a video. Like all my products, LOL. I don’t tend to watch very many product videos because most products just don’t need a video.

[LittleGemsJewells]

It's still a test, unless I've missed (from Etsy themselves) the email or shop dashboard message or announcement in the forums that says it is otherwise.

Until there is an official announcement from Etsy I won't be touching anything on my listings.

I will wait until there is an official announcement and take it from there.

[GroundZeroCreations]

@DaysofYoreTreasures I am in the US and I am not seeing that when I visit your listings. I haven't seen it any place.

But that to me is a crazy Etsy waste of time idea! First, for many, they don't even have the ability to make a video. For others, they don't know how. Still others, it just isn't something that a video has any more to offer than a still photo.

Once again, I have to shake my head and wonder what in the world does Etsy think this hairbrained idea is going to accomplish?

[leinweberstudio]

Once again, I have to shake my head and wonder what in the world does Etsy think this hairbrained idea is going to accomplish?

They're hoping it'll increase sales which are apparently in the toilet, based on some analysts' current site assessments. Here is just one person's take on the situation:

Etsy’s Downgrade to Sell Amid Declining Sales and Mounting Competition | Markets Insider (businessin...

[LostCoastPebbles]

@DaysofYoreTreasures This just came up in the new listing form tonight. We are in the US and the "request video icon" came up in second place in our ten very detailed, perfect, closeup pictures. If this video thing becomes mandatory or a penalty of some sort, we will close shop. We have had it and are tired of being mistreated and threatened by Etsy. These used to be OUR stores and we should not have live in fear that Etsy will do something bad to us all the time, and that list is long. We sell gemstones (cut by us) and we provide detailed descriptions and images with scales and coins along side your stones. We don't need video nor so we have the technical skills to take and edit video, not to mention the time. We do not need videos. The new listing form for already takes 3 times longer to use, the photo editor is a nightmare  and yet the form is missing all kinds of categories and information we used to have and need. More time wasted. But video works great for some and they are welcome to it, but we don't need to be emailing disappointing notes back to customers about something we cannot and will not provide. Etsy is setting us all up for bad customer relations with this nonsense. As usual.

[EccentricHandbags]

This is something that could be abused.  If you really want to be a pain just go into any shop and request a video on all the listings that don't have one.  To attach a penalty to this for a seller would just be mean.  I actually like this feature.  About half of my listings have the short video.  However, a request for one would be politely declined.   

[SilverandEarth]

Exactly! It is a customer service problem. I tested it yesterday and sent one to @MirageRiverCreations (she said it would be OK to send her one). I got a pop-up with this message - "Got it—thanks for your request!"

But she never received a message or notification. This is the 2nd time we tried this and it hasn't worked either time. So what good is this new feature (that most of us don't want to begin with) if the notification goes nowhere ????

[JMOldeVintage]

@SilverandEarth  - Does just clicking on the video request link automatically send the message?
Or must you - or - did you have the option to add text to the request?

[SilverandEarth]

@JMOldeVintage  No, there is no option to add text to the request. You just click on "request a video" and you get that pop-up I mentioned above.

[JMOldeVintage]

@SilverandEarth  - Well putting aside that the ability to click away could be abused, at least it is "just" a request.
My mind jumped to me adding text that the shop take a video of their 1940's lawn sprinkler hooked up to a hose & working. 
But as we say, if you can think it up, it's probably happened, lol. 

[SilverandEarth]

@JMOldeVintage  LOL! I guess they could always send a video request AND write a convo too asking for more specific details as to what they'd like to see. Ugh! Can you imagine how that could be abused? Sellers will never get any real work done. We'll be too busy creating videos and answering messages.

[TwoDogFarm]

It comes and goes, I was seeing it yesterday in some shops (including mine) but not today.  The frequent live testing has been a problem for quite some time, the inconsistencies are confusing and I find them annoying as a buyer and a shop owner.

[LastCentury]

@DaysofYoreTreasures I see the request button on your listings.

I'm happy to click it to see what happens. What type of automatic request you get OE if it opens a window for me to request details... who knows?

Let me know and we can do this experiment.

ps, only here for another hour.