STOP new custom listing layout

[PrettyVagrant]

Please PLEase PLEASE stop this custom listing layout.  

I have had this layout for months now.

It is UNUSABLE!  It makes us look like we don’t know what we are doing.  It’s confusing customers.

Why is this even still a thing?  How does this make our job easier?  

I can’t add a photo when I make the listing!
I can’t add a shipping profile, which is IMPORTANT because I sometimes have no idea where the customer is located.  I just lost $15!!!! on shipping because the customer was located in Australia and purchased before I could go back and edit the listing.  This is your fault Etsy for giving us a faulty tool to use.

Then I have to go back and edit, in hopes the customer doesn’t purchase it first to add a shipping profile and photo.  When this is done the customer gets notified about the edit and then sometimes reaches out to ask if something is wrong.  This confuses them.  How is this a better customer experience????

I can no longer look back through the message to check any details while the pop up is there!

Is your reasoning because you want us to NOT use this feature any longer?  If so, you win, because I am DONE using it!!!

Vent over

[bradgoodell]

AGREE, AGREE, AGREE.

It's so much worse, it's virtually unusable.  

[nemeton]

I'm not a fan either. As well as the issues noted above, I'm in the UK and I have to scroll almost to the bottom of the mahooosively long list of countries to ship from!

[Bungalow1904]

I totally cosign this! Especially the race to edit the listing before the customer purchases in order to give them an accurate shipping cost. Honestly, I just wrote it off as another weird Etsy thing that I had to roll my eyes at and just live with but reading someone else put it into words makes me think that's ridiculous. I know they don't monitor the forums so I will try to find the proverbial "suggestion box" and give them my feedback. It's far, far from a guarantee that it will be fixed but at least it's something to make me feel better, lol. 

[CatsBeadKitsandMore]

Is this a test? my listing page is the same as always but then I haven't made a listing from scratch in years. I copy mine, then change the pictures and change the details.

[ThePurplePuppy]

I was/am wondering the same thing. And i DID use  the new listing form a couple of months back. I usually just do a "copy" but this was an entirely new "thang" so I went with a new listing. Saw nothing different from before.

A test?

[EDCCollective]

@CatsBeadKitsandMore  What is being described is the custom listing process when you make a listing for a private listing from a convo from a customer, not a regular listing for your shop.

[ZehOriginalArt]

Completely agree. I was done using it before I even used it. Total piece of carp.

[CostumeCoutureNaomi]

The first time I used this feature, the customer purchased as soon as I hit save, so there was no picture, no shipping profile and no chance to review the listing.

I use the custom order feature often, so not using it is not an option for me.

After the first experience,  I came up with a time consuming solution that has acted as a bandaid for this very flawed process.

1) I open 3 windows: the email message, the custom order button, and the listing page.

2) I draft the custom listing, stopping short before I hit save.

3) I switch to message page, then cut & paste a form message and send it to the customer.  The form message states something along the lines of "I am preparing to upload your private custom listing.  Etsy changed the way custom orders are formatted. The system sends the order to customers before shipping profiles are selected and photos attached to the order. Those items require an additional step. Please wait to purchase your order until the Etsy stock clipart is replaced by the personalized photos of your name and item you are purchasing, so you can review for accuracy prior to purchasing. The system does not let me make changes or add any photos once the item is purchased. I will send you a second email once the listing is ready to purchase."

4) After sending the email, I switch to the custom order window, and save the incomplete listing.

5) I very quickly switch to the listing page, open the listing, replace the clipart with real photos, select a shipping profile and save.

6) I open the fixed listing, copy the address, return to the email, and send the customer a link along with a personalized message letting them know their item is ready to review and purchase.

It really is a beta and unprofessional system, and feels like it was created by a person who has no idea how Etsy functions.  The extra steps take time, but since I started sending this letter prior to saving the custom order, I have not had issues with customers purchasing the incomplete listing.

It is not a perfect answer, but a temporary solution that might help you. 

[VibeEnvy]

I had to go through this recently only one time so far, I hated it.

I'd rather get rid of star seller or cut the message requirement, go back to multiple messages and letting us turn a new message into a working private listing. We wouldn't need all this if it wasn't for star seller.

[MouseGarden]

I can't use this feature anymore.  

[artbyjocelyn]

Omg I know! What the Heck! I created a Custom Listing for my other shop the other day and it's the 2nd time I've seen this. I had to Edit it after it was live and sent to my buyer, to try to add the photos and she bought it before I had the chance. It was not like this in the past, we could create an accurate complete Custom Listing before it had to be private published. No Likee! 

[PillowDetails]

And then when the Buyer leaves feedback, that lame place-holder graphic shows forever.

* @artbyjocelyn I never knew you had a second shop - it's just wonderful!

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

Oh wow! I agree! What a wonderful shop! 

[artbyjocelyn]

@PillowDetails and @PiecesOfMePaperCraft thank you! It's my neglected "baby" lol! But I love it more and have Way more time for it now! Lol

Omg, I wondered. I'm shocked it was changed, it's so Not good. 

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

I haven't used the custom listing feature in awhile because apparently at some point I disabled it in my shop. I guess I'm glad I did. I just had a custom order this week and I created a regular listing for her to purchase. I always use a generic first main image, don't use any tags and use a basic category. Then I stick the listing on the last page of my shop and send the buyer the link.

[thePaperFramer]

Forget the new custom listing. Make a reserved listing using the normal listing page.

[PillowDetails]

Yes - and since sold items are now viewable (through reviews), I'll just keep a "Reserved" listing bare bones, and write the description "Details as discussed in messages"

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

@PillowDetails

I do something similar (as mentioned in a nested comment above). I put a generic main image, keep the title brief, remove all tags and put it in the main category for the item (because it has to have a category of some sort). I also leave the text that's in all my listings that points to other sections of my shop and my social media (which is inactive at the moment but that's another story). I figure if anyone clicks on the listing through a review, it might prompt them to check out other things in my shop and having a link might help. I also sometimes put the item they ordered as the second image so other buyers can see what they purchased.

[PillowDetails]

You know what you CAN do with it?  Create more than one Custom order per convo thread.  No more asking the Buyer to send a new message.  Something we've been asking for, for years.  And they give us THIS.  Gee, thanks.  Be careful what you ask for.

Barely functional.  I refuse to use it.  

[Chrysalism]

It's driving me batty. I've been lucky so far- no customers have purchased before I'm able to add photos and shipping profile, but it's always a frantic race to get it done. It's a terribly designed tool.

[MyOldWhiskeyWorkshop]

Absolutely ridiculous.  Why fix something that wasn't broke?

[KultRemade]

Totally agree! I've set up two custom listings for clients since this was changed, and it is awful! You can basically only draft half the necessary info, can't save it to edit it later (or while you find the photos to add), no way to add pics, etc, etc. My most recent customer purchased as soon as it went live, so now I have a custom order with no pics!

Also, the fact that the old system could basically copy the listing your client wanted a custom version of, saved so much time and hassle.

[PillowDetails]

Chances are slim, but not impossible, that someone will buy a reserved listing meant for someone else.  Sometimes Buyers ask for a "custom" and never end up purchasing (which is why most of us don't start work or procure materials until it's paid).  So now we may be out the 20 cent listing fee.  One time - just once - a "reserved" listing that sat around for several weeks got purchased by someone else.  I just sent it out, didn't even mention it.  The original requester never contacted me again.  LOL!

[thePaperFramer]

"Chances are slim, but not impossible, that someone will buy a reserved listing meant for someone else"

That's possible. but if you create it right, the odds are low. And if they do buy it, create another. My title for a reserved listing for customer notKaren is "Reserved Listing for notKaren". After I create the listing and send the link to the buyer, I move the listing to the very last page of my shop.