What is going on with my views? -Bot attack?

[SimplyCharmed21]

I'm utterly confused.  My shop has been dying a rapid death the last month and a half or so.  It was steadily declining in views and sales, but it's like it fell off of a cliff.  I can't even get my items to show up appropriately in Etsy ads.  When they do show up, the ad budget is eaten rapidly with no results.  What in the world is going on?  I've been a high seller for years.  This year, it is like everything is crashing for no discernable reason.

The last few days, I've had a huge influx of views all in one hour but Stats show no results on where it is from or what is being looked at.  For example, yesterday, I had only about 10 people an hour come into my shop, except at 7 am when I suddenly had 342 visits.  The daily view is way low, and the 342 is out of control off.  Today, I had 160 views all at once at 3am then less than 10 views an hour until 4pm when I had 276.  I'm getting around 40 views to some of my first page items in my shop (when viewed in custom form.)  None of this makes any sense at all.  There is no information at all where it is coming from and it isn't resulting in favorites or sales.

Does anyone have any idea what is happening?  Thank you!

[sharonjenkins1]

Yes, it does sound like a bot attack….I have never understood why that happens.

i would love to have “only” 10 views an hour.  Your sales are excellent.

[SimplyCharmed21]

Thank you for your reply.  My sales were going well for a long time.  But I'm down 46% every  month for the past few months and I can't figure out what suddenly changed.  I have no idea what is happening!  Also, my dashboard is not updating.  It is consistently 3 to 5 hours behind.  Is that happening for others as well?

[VintageLisboa506070]

Hello I have found this in my shop :

Show detailed statistics : Last 30 days
It changes a lot .
Etsy app &other Etsy pages  Minus 48%
Etsy search minus 51%
Etsy marketing plus 6%
---------------------------------------------------
Direct & other Traffic  Plus 13%
Social Media  Plus 88%
Etsy Ads 0

What is happening here ? Has Etsy changed anything ?
Are these also the effects of the badly cropped images etc. ?

does anyone know anything about this ?

Kind regards VintageLisboa506070 

Peter

[sharonjenkins1]

So many of us have similar stories-I think everyone’s dashboard is intentionally behind.  I can sometimes see 12-15 hours with nothing happening.  There might be a lot of reasons that sales are tanking for so many; dealing with inflation and out of control costs 

[sharonjenkins1]

Sorry, my iPad doesn’t let me edit.  So much money spent on  necessities means little for extras.

[SimplyCharmed21]

I'm sure inflation does account for some of the issue...but this was like someone turned off the faucet suddenly.  I have always heard other people say they are afraid that they are in some kind of algorithm test and I feel like that may be happening.  I go around 7 to 10 days with abysmal sales, then suddenly, I get a normal day.  Then boom!  It stops again after that one day.  I feel like I'm roller-coastering along with all of this!  Etsy is my main income.  I'm in trouble here, unfortunately...

[sharonjenkins1]

But it sounds like you are getting sales every day, multiple sales many days.  I understand that it is frustrating, but probably to be expected with so many new sellers and so many things in turmoil at Etsy.  I never was concerned about item take downs or reserves or any of those things, but it sounds like any of us could be liable to crazy changes here.  I am just very happy when I get a sale, it arrives ok, and the customer loves it!  Best to you-

[SimplyCharmed21]

Thanks for your encouragement!  Just still wondering why the crazy influx of views at odd times and what it means?

[sharonjenkins1]

Lots of things I wonder about here!

[rtistmary]

My sales over the last few month have declined.  I will have a really good day then nothing for a few days and the visits are very sporadic.  There was one day I had no visits at all.  I thought that was kinda strange but I have had sales pretty much everyday.  Just not what I have had in the past.  I have been on Etsy for 12 years and this is the worst sales I have had in a while.

[badkittyvintagefinds]

Im sorry to hear this happened to you as well. At midnight i got 988 views that cant be traced either. I think it must be bots. Other than that eerily quiet today

[SimplyCharmed21]

Thanks for the replies.  I feel like there is an algorithm change as things have changed so dramatically.  I'm in the process of updating tags in hopes that will help although I hear that doesn't show up for 3 to 4 weeks.  I also heard that etsy has bots looking for non-handmade items etc so maybe my shop is getting scanned...but why only the front page and only in custom view?    Also, my recent activity on the computer is not updating at all.  It seems like there are issues between the app and the computer? 

[addictedtomermaids]

what a nice shop and beautiful photos. 

[Elligan1]

It does sound like Bots (most likely).

When my shop was suspended temporarily earlier this year, I noticed that the stats (other than Etsy Search) continued to increase each day.

My highest count of stats is from "Etsy marketing & SEO" (mostly bots).

Unless I see evidence in the form of search terms, a favorite(s), a sale(s), or a message(s) from someone then I dismiss the majority of my stats as they are obviously bot activity.