very inappropriate suggested " goes well with these items from my shop " notice to buyers

[#1]

I've just noticed that Etsy has added a suggested " goes well with these items from my shop " to a number of items/listings in my jewellery shop. Problem is they don't pair/ well at all. I've also noticed this in a number of other shops as well. I thought it might be something that Etsy added to my listing that I could at least edit, but I can't find it anywhere. It looks very tacky and inappropriate. Any suggestions as to how I can edit or delete this? I've heard now from "Etsy Forums" that a lot a shops are having issues with this new Etsy "feature". The first time I noticed it was this week when I purchased an item on Etsy for myself. I purchased a piece of Indigenous art from a seller and one of the suggested paired items add ons was a set of vintage taxi key chains. I thought this very tacky of the seller to set something like this up at the time - that was until the next day, I discovered that my shop was automatically doing the same thing. Etsy has assumed that it can suggest any random piece of jewellery goes together. Not so at all. All of my jewellery is one of a kind. Where I think it is appropriate to suggest pieces complement each other, I do it in the descriptions and add links and photos in the descriptions in a professional manner. Please tell me, and the many other Etsy Shop owners who don't want this OPTION  how to get rid of this. I even got a negative/comment regarding this from one of my regular customers. 

[CraftyCraftsCorners]

I was looking in crafts section for craft kits Petit Point ones any kind, now I know should be lots of them right, nope, I get Royal Albert china and only a very limited search of like 300 amount with about 20 craft kits scattered through. Not playing around with search, not even as a seller, I went somewhere else and so will others, as Etsy boost millions and millions of items and can not find in first basic search. Buyers are here for something that should be here and that is what they search for period. I started at the last page and worked that way for a few pages maybe five and did find the kits and then china started and yes left. 

[BirdsongEmporium]

It is weird and makes no sense. We have supply items, handmade jewelry and some vintage jewelry right now in our shop. It makes no sense to suggest a supply item to someone who is looking at a vintage jewelry item. Why not suggest another one of the vintage jewelry items? It seems like it is totally random and not even taking things from the same shop category. I could understand if there was only one item in a category but that isn't the case with what they are showing as complementary in our shop. It is just bizarre combinations.

[BagmakerSupply]

Because the algorithm knows better than the buyer what the buyer actually wants.

[GoneDigital]

@BagmakerSupply If that is the case, then I can live with this feature but current and previous experience tells me that Etsy's algorithms don't actually know what's 'best'. Etsy has introduced too many opposing features for any of their features to actually have the desired impact. I have been keeping a keen eye on my Etsy statistics for the last 6 years of my shop and the trend that I noticed was that any gains that came from a new feature was then undermined by the addition of the following two new features. Etsy has a lot of great ideas and I'm in the minority that likes when Etsy introduces new features because there is so much potential. I just wish that they would focus their attentions on the features requested by their sellers and buyers like other companies do because there are a lot of people asking for basic features that have yet to be implemented - like more control over being able to change and customise our shops, editing listings, adding variations, etc. So, the problem is not that Etsy is ambitious and likes to try new things; it's that Etsy doesn't know which of it's features go well together to have the best impact. And the irony of that being played out on a smaller scale with this new feature not being able to pair the right listings together is too stark to ignore.

[BirdsongEmporium]

@BagmakerSupply  I hope that was sarcasm because the algorithm certainly has not been consistent in showing me what I'm looking for when I shop here as a buyer.

I'm amazed how I can go on Amazon not knowing the name of what I'm looking for and with a few keywords Amazon does show me what I wanted to find. On the flip side here, I can know an exact name and detailed description but entering a detailed keyword string gets me the most messed up set of results that aren't even close to what I wanted.

[BagmakerSupply]

@BirdsongEmporium  :  It definitely was sarcasm - the so called "personalized search" has made it virtually impossible for us to find what we are looking for. The old search may have had flaws but it did show what you were asking for. The new search shows so many listings that we consider unrelated that we often give up. And you know that our customers must be doing the same.

[BirdsongEmporium]

@BagmakerSupply  I remember looking for an item we had in our shop "yellow Czech glass baby bell flower beads" to see how it would fare in search. On the first page I got bell bottom pants, seeds to grow bell flowers, yellow pom poms, baby items, some flower items, some Czech glass beads and absolutely nothing that was even yellow flower beads. Search has become the most random mess and nothing I have done searching as I would as a buyer trying to better my results works. Maybe search works here if people have no idea what they want but it seems to me if a buyer does know what they want, they might not ever find it even if it is here.

[ZehOriginalArt]

I don't see this feature now in my own shop, but have noticed it recently when I visited a plant seller's shop. It was truly odd because I know plants at least a little and I have some idea what goes with what other plant when pairing them in a garden. The suggestions were so off, I knew it had to be Etsy bot-generated. Pretty sure the seller would never select anything like that.

If Etsy wants to do something like this (the way Amazon does), then it would work better for customers to do what Amazon does: "people who bought this, also bought these." Perhaps that would not work well on Etsy, though, because the suggestions could be from other shops.

[SilverSeasDesigns]

This is truly amazing that Etsy is trying to use such a random, flaky system across the board with its shops to suggest add ons for purchase within the shops as you just described and as is happening in my shop and others. If the shop owner was allowed to select these items to be paired off, then it might be different. A lot of Etsy shoppers/buyers shop on Etsy because they like that personal contact with the seller. I frequently get questions/messages from my buyers and in fact encourage them to contact me before they purchase items with questions in order to make sure they are happy with their selection of a jewellery piece. Then as they check out to have a last minute grab by Etsy saying, add this to your basket -this also might go well with your selection, is just plain in poor taste. I'm not selling on Amazon. I can't say enough that this should be optional for the shops that want to use it for where it suits their products, not every Etsy shop. It would be equally inappropriate to suggest in the add on to your cart to suggest as Amazon does that "people who bought this, also bought these." This does not work for small artisan type shops and if Etsy insists on trying to use such selling features, then the type of shops (like mine) don't really belong on Etsy anymore.

[FallsAveVintage]

Totally dumb, would be a good feature if it worked and items were better curated. Yesterday, it was Coke polar bear xmas ornaments paired with Garfield bday candles. They're not even in the same shop section or from the same decade.

[LovelyDigi]

The problem here, as always, is that Etsy has very poor writing skills and are seemingly not capable of writing text that is both enticing but generic at the same time. It’s not them showing your other products in that space that’s the problem, it’s how they word it. 

I’ve seen this in action myself, and yeah, it just comes off weird, like a computer is in charge but was only born yesterday so it doesn’t know anything at all. 

[TimeSpanTreasures]

I just saw this in my shop today!

The matches for items that "goes well with these items" don't make any sense.

I am laughing at the matches I am seeing in my shop.

What a silly test- I have a variety of vintage items. Some may go well, but the items they are pairing with other items are mostly ridiculous.

When I do have similar items, they are not recommending them as good matches.

I have two glass swan items, for example, but when looking at one, it doesn't recommend the other one as a potential match that goes well. Instead, they are paired with a totally unrelated Santa Claus item.

I have three Kitty Cucumber items, but they are not recommended as potential matches to each other, instead one is recommended with a Chinese Cloisonne item, one is paired with nothing, and the other is paired with an unrelated Santa Claus item.

[BagmakerSupply]

My suggestion to Etsy would be that the people who design and / or program the algorithms not be allowed to do so until they have at least one year's experience running a real mid-volume store (where they have to do everything like listing, fulfillment, shipping, etc.  themselves) so that they have some understanding of the consequences of their actions.

[Vintageables]

@BagmakerSupply -- Bravo!  Great idea!

[ZehOriginalArt]

My thoughts are that Etsy is really not that interested in whether something they are testing makes sense or how it affects individual shop owners. The only thing they want is data. Throw stuff out there - anything - and get the data. How many clicks, how many conversions, how many likes, carts, saves for later, etc.

If it falls flat, drop it. If it leads to more money for Etsy or looks better on shareholder reports, keep it. Keep the programmers busy with new things to test at all times whatever those things might be. If this latest test doesn't work well, perhaps they will fine tune it later with different messaging. That's my opinion at this moment.

[SilverSeasDesigns]

Hope you're right about the fine tuning part if this test doesn't work out. Does Etsy see or pay attention to any issues brought up in these Forums?

[ZehOriginalArt]

@SilverSeasDesigns 

Sometimes they do if there are enough posts and also complaints by chat, email or phone as well. Since it is a test, though, there is a good likelihood that it may not be implemented.

[TimeSpanTreasures]

@SilverSeasDesigns 

Your jewelry is gorgeous!

At least you only have other jewelry pieces to be suggested with each other, unlike a shop like mine that has a hodge podge that Etsy is making idiotic suggestions for.

I do agree that it is a "random, flaky system".

[Jewels2at]

I do not see anything to the side showing that on your items page.  I do see at the bottom the usual "more from this shop" and "you may also like"

[SilverSeasDesigns]

It's there, unfortunately, on most of my items/listings (Bracelets)

[SilverSeasDesigns]

Thank you so much for the complement on my jewelry. After hearing so many other complaints from other shops with very ridiculous suggestions as add ons, I realize it could be worse as, you mention. I know Etsy is suggesting in my case other pieces of jewelry. It's just that I know the designs suggested don't in fact complement each other as the designer. I'm seeing though it doesn't seem like we are going to have much choice. I don't suppose putting a "this is not my idea" disclaimer in my listing above the add on option would go over well. LOL That was a joke - that would be even tackier.

[TimeSpanTreasures]

I understand how you feel- with these Etsy tests and changes, we have less and less control over things in our shops.

[Cathyscomfortcorner]

I looked at one of my sunflower mug rug sets that are yellow and browns and it says it goes well with a light blue Easter basket. I just hope customers don’t think I picked those two to go together! Lol

[ThePlayfulNeedle]

I learned about this today when a potential customer asked if the listing was just for the one item or for BOTH items Etsy was suggesting to her - I see this going badly, and fast, especially with descriptions being hidden.

[SilverSeasDesigns]

I just found the worst match for suggested add ons on my site. I have a Mens  Bracelet with a suggested this may go well with as a charming heart shaped pendant with pearl.  Someone suggested earlier on in the discussion that at least with my site, all my items were jewellery. This is really an embarassment, as I participate in the Labor Day Sale.