Titles cut short after first punctuation in desktop search

[FlyingAppleVintage]

Good morning everyone! I found that my listing titles are cut short after the first punctuation mark in Etsy desktop search. Do we know if this is permanent or a temporary thing?

My original title of:

"M| 90s Y2K Black Punk Mini Skirt - Medium | Vintage Chain Striped Low Rise" now appears as just "M". Other's titles are suffering in the same way.

If anyone at Etsy is reading this, how long will this be going on for? If its a while I'll need to retype my 4000 listing titles to be compliant with this new change. I don't think many people will click on my new listing title of "M". 

Etsy sellers, if you are having this same problem please reply below. I'm curious how widespread this problem is. Etsy reinforced how important our titles were in the latest Etsy direct, but now they're taking out titles away from us. 

[Chrysalism]

Just curious, what is M| ?

[FlyingAppleVintage]

It's the size of the garment. I wanted to make it easy for a customer to tell the size of a garment in the least amount of characters for mobile shoppers. 

[NanaLetha]

Those letters "m|" at the beginning of your titles make no sense to me. I would never search on that.

[FlyingAppleVintage]

The M is to help denote the size of the garment for the buyer. We have plenty of other keywords in there, but on mobile its hard for people to see the sizing due to the limited characters. 

[ChillwolfArt]

I just discovered the same thing.  I know with all user based tests, it may come and go (and not everyone sees the same thing).  But I just saw it (and with my own items). I posted at the end of this Thread.  It's a ridiculous test, and makes it look like the Seller Titled the listing incorrectly.  I also saw a Title which had 4 characters only (the size of their item). 
*Please see my post at the end of this Thread. I remembered this Thread and posted to it. 

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/Listing-Titles-Being-Shortened-in-Search/m-p/143129...

[ChillwolfArt]

ETA:  The ridiculous thing is Etsy tells us to use commas for punctuation.  But all Titles are cut off after the first punctuation (comma).  Even when you mouse over the Title.  However, you see the entire Title when mousing over if the Seller used zero punctuation.

[EightMileVintage]

It seems to be a test. I've seen it on and off. A test to see how many cases will be opened and how low sales can go, I think.

[EtchedinTimeLLC]

I don't see it on the ad listings, but I do see that on all the other listings.  So frustrating.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

I mean, really.

And answer me honestly.

Does that make YOU want to buy?

WTF are they thinking?

[ChillwolfArt]

In search results, I just saw a Title which read: 8".  That's it folks.  Because it got chopped off after the first punctuation (I can't even see the entire Title when mousing over it). I bet the Seller doesn't even know it.  *I do see entire Titles when I mouse over, when the Title has zero punctuation.  Test or not, this is wrong, and looks like the Seller forgot to complete the Title 

When Sellers ask for help, we often tell them not to Title the beginning of their listings in the same way (so listings don't compete with each other).  And to use a comma to separate phrases, per Etsy's suggestion.  So a Seller may flip some of their phrases in the Titles, so they don't compete with other Titles.  And users who are in this test will see Titles chopped off after the first punctuation.

I removed all of my commas, which I'm not fond of.  But now my Titles show in their entirety when mousing over in search results.

[VelouriaVintage]

@ChillwolfArt I was wondering why some were short. That makes sense now.

I'm not looking forward to changing all my titles though. Guess I'll wait and see if this is just a glitch or test.

[VelouriaVintage]

I noticed this over the weekend as well. Was trying to figure out why some listings have full titles and others have shortened titles. 

I also just saw in search that they aren't posting the main photo that is supposed to be shown with an item. I was searching for vintage shirts and saw one of my listings, it was just the tag of the item. One seller's item was the back of a shirt. Now Etsy is just randomly picking whatever photo it wants???? Enough with the changes and tests!

[ChillwolfArt]

@VelouriaVintage  Yes, you are right.  When I saw others post about this (they were in the test), I was thinking of another test I saw in the past, where Titles were truncated (and there were 3 dots at the end). But this is entirely different, and I see that now.
I changed my Titles a short while ago (stripping out the commas).  Now when I search, my entire Title shows when mousing over it.

I never bother changing things when I am in a test and see odd stuff.  But this is so wrong; and it really looks like the Seller messed up with the Title, making it incomplete. 

You are also right about the photos.  When I mouse over the thumbnail one in search results, it will also flash my second photo. I don't really mind that.  I'm not seeing the test however, where it shows photo No. 10 in the No. 1 slot, for example.  That's not good; some Sellers said it showed a photo of the back of their item in the No. 1 slot (thumbnail photo).

[VelouriaVintage]

@ChillwolfArt Shortened titles and odd photos will not help sell an item, that's for sure. Especially when search is so messed up to begin with. I just did another search and one thumbnail showed just the bottom cuff of a sleeve. I'm sure that seller will really appreciate Etsy randomly picking that photo.

[EightMileVintage]

I saw a title the other day that just said "Set of (3)". The seller had much more but Etsy has chosen to suppress the remainder.

[VelouriaVintage]

@EightMileVintage That's as good as the one that I saw that just said, "vintage". HA!

[VooVooDesign]

I saw an item this morning and its title was "Small".

[CanningCrafts]

I found this to be frustrating while I was shopping this weekend. At first I was irritated at the sellers for not having shopper-friendly titles! But then I realized Etsy had decided to truncate titles! I was looking for a specific size for something & just gave up shopping here. 

[EightMileVintage]

That would definitely be a problem for sellers of vintage sewing patterns. They usually put the size in the title toward the end. I'm glad I'm not selling those now.

[PlatypusDream]

Etsy has said that you should write your titles in short, searchable phrases that literally describe the item for sale, and that the most important descriptive phrase should be first. If you write your titles this way... it won't effect you much.

I did see a listing when I was searching for a pattern and all it said was "Vogue". The seller had a title like "Vogue, dress, mod, small, short" which is almost useless anyway.

[FlyingAppleVintage]

"M| 90s Y2K Black Punk Mini Skirt" is the front part of my title.  That's a descriptive concise title. If punctuation isn't allowed I just need to know so I can change the way I quickly let customers know the size of the garments. 

[FallsAveVintage]

@PlatypusDream  Exactly! A few years back, I was reading about titles in the Etsy handbook. In the examples they gave for good titles, none contained punctuation or were over 60 characters. LOL

I will never understand why they allow 140 characters.

[MaggieandRose]

I give up, I’ve found for the last while that expired listings have lost all their punctuation, so I’ve been adding it back in when I’ve renewed, clearly no point. 

[FlyingAppleVintage]

Omg thats wild, I'm so sorry that's happening to expired listings!