Search filter drop down menu for 'category' gone

[busterbeanknows]

In searching for similar items to what I want to list the search function no longer has a filter for the section, department or category... In other words if I am searching for a wire bird as a "supply" there is no longer a drop down of the category.. The first drop down would show all the different departments where a person could refine their search.. Home & Living, Craft and Supply, Art and Collectibles... etc..

This drop down menu selection is gone.  What's going on?? 

[hopeandjoystudios]

I noticed that earlier. I was trying to look up antique children's clothing  and the only category drop-down was toys and hobbies!

[FireImp]

Same here! Trying to search for supplies and the categories are all gone.🤯

[BoudoirPrive]

@FireImp

Same here.  This is not good!

[GlassLoversGallery]

THE WORSE PART IS THAT ETSY DOES THIS WHILE PEOPLE ARE HOLIDAY SHOPPING!!!  

It was bad enough that they moved the item description to a new location under the photos and then they do this.

Obviously, someone at etsy does not have enough work to do. Didn't anyone there ever hear the saying - LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE. 

[IndustrialBlonde]

Do you ever get the feeling that they don’t really like their sellers?  They DID refer to us as the “churn”, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. 

[TheLysineContingency]

Or buyers. I'm trying to shop for something specific and I have no way to sort through pages and pages of things NOT relevant to what I'm looking for. I just gave up.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Hey! Let's do a test where we hide all the search category filters!!!! I wonder what will happen???

[MinniesFlea]

??? I came here to voice the same.  What are they doing now?  I know this sounds conspiracy-ish...the thought occurred to me Etsy purposely undermines search so people resort to Google search (and the like) with the goal in creating more offsite ad revenue for whomever it benefits.  Etsy's platform search has to be one of the worst, most frustrating to use that I often turn to Google etc. to find what I am looking for on.... Etsy.

[busterbeanknows]

I do the same... I avoid Etsy's search almost all the time... It's only because I was trying to do a price comparison and determine the best category I chose to do an Etsy search... When I found the category drop down menu missing through "filter" I was flummoxed...
It took me a while to figure out where the "category" option was and now it SUCKS!!!

[busterbeanknows]

I don't think it's conspiracy, just very poor judgement and decisions being made... 
I did get an the automated Etsy message regarding Share & Save which gives sellers a discount on fees when they sell one of their items promoted off site from Etsy via an URL link. The more Etsy can get people to do their own marketing the less Etsy has to worry about solving specific issues that affect individual shops... Unfortunately this problem makes it very difficult for buyers to find some of the more unusual items Etsy has to offer.. The television ads show a model scrolling through images of items available on Etsy but the model doing the scrolling looks like she's casually window shopping not actually looking for a specific item. 

[JMOldeVintage]

Normally you would enter "wire bird" into the search bar. Once the results produced you would go into All Filters and then in addition to the choices of All Items, Handmade, Vintage; Physical Item, etc. you would open the options shown at the top for category & filter down thru the Home & Hobby etc. etc.

I just entered the term "wire bird" and do not see the Category filters.

So I typed in my often used generic search term "vintage garden tool" & have been presented with just over 100K results. 
I'm already in Vintage since I started off my search term with that word.
However, while I can filter by All, Physical, Digital; the shop location, etc. I do not see the Categories I'd normally use to finally to get to "Garden Tools" therefore weeding down the results to the usual average of 900 to 1K. 

I'm using a laptop/W10/Chrome. I'm signed in. What happened to the option to basically filter thru categories?? I have no idea.
It could be another glitch. Or it could be yet another test. Who knows. 

Yes, duplicating, doing a cut and paste of my response in the OP's other thread. 

[busterbeanknows]

Don't even try to find anything in "Visual Arts", the only filter that makes sense other than price and location is  "physical items". Visual art supplies have many categories, printmaking, calligraphy, paint and brushes... But the results are general visual art supplies without a way to narrow the search. If the term "brayer" is put in the search bar in the 'preprogrammed' visual art category page it takes the buyer back to the general search results...  And that search for a "brayer" results in over 8,000 general listings including completely unrelated listings that might have similar words such as bray, and there are no filter options other than "physical items" 

[AmoreTreasure]

Ran into this too when searching for a particular supply.  After scrolling through a lot of non-supplies and finally finding an item that might work, I couldn't find the shipping cost.  (Finally found it, after scrolling down past the listing photo, buried under "Shipping and Return Policies" that had to be expanded to read.)  Went to ebay, used their easily accessible filters to drill down to just what I was looking for and could even see the shipping cost right next to the photo in search results.  SO MANY brain dead decisions being made here.  It's like no one at Etsy has ever shopped online before. 

[AnchorRoadVintage]

Not sure if this is a bug or a feature. The categories were there yesterday. Hopefully Etsy admin can investigate.

[Chrysalism]

I noticed this too while supply shopping- it actually stopped me from finding what I needed, so I left and found it on eBay.

[AnchorRoadVintage]

I bet Temu has categories! 

[OrangeGroveBeads]

I have it too. What on earth, Etsy! As if the poor search function isn't bad enough! Why would you actually try to prevent people from finding what they want to buy? 

[CozyExpressions]

And while we are all complaining about this Etsy's IT department is sitting back and laughing.   All their competitive tests they run in our shops do nothing for us and give them the ability to win a trophy.   What is wrong with this company????

[BagmakerSupply]

@CozyExpressions: "Etsy's IT department is sitting back and laughing" I don't think that the IT department should blamed for things like the state of search or all the tests that are being run, but rather the people in the executive offices who give them their instructions.

[MeerkatsManor]

Looks like a playground for employees. It's so unprofessional.

[CozyExpressions]

@BagmakerSupply I stand corrected.   BUT they do celebrate the number of tests they run on the site and their trophies.    Etsy has always run tests, recently the amount and type have been counter productive to the site.   

[SJGriffinArts]

One of the issues with bad website/UX/UI/platform design is that the people who design it never use it. That's it in a nutshell.

[raechellouise]

Etsy needs to fix this - I use (used..) the site constantly to purchase for work but am now barely on there since the lack of filter options makes shopping now incredibly inefficient. Etsy desperately needs to fix this!

[BoudoirPrive]

Same thing has just happened to me.  Honestly, do these people have nothing better to do than to think up moronic ideas like this?  Such a complete timewaster for everyone.