Search results (tags) for: "techupdates"

Tech Update: Google Product Search Syndication

2009-11-25T15:05:00-05:00

Sellers,

We're excited to announce that Etsy is partnering with Google as a participant in the Google Product Search Marketplace Partner Program.

Etsy's Google Product Search Syndication feature will allow Etsy sellers to have their items automatically submitted frequently and with all relevant attributes to Google Product Search. You can find Google Product Search via the "Shopping" link at the top of most Google search pages.

As a Google Product Search Marketplace Partner, participating Etsy sellers' items will appear in Google Product Search with the associated Etsy shop name and shop feedback visible and searchable.

This feature is being rolled out gradually to the Etsy seller community. Beta testing has been underway and we are now gradually activating this feature for Etsy sellers who currently use their shop feed to submit items to Google Product Search. No action is required from sellers. A gradual rollout to the remainder of the Etsy seller community will follow.

Participating sellers will see a link called Syndication under the Promote section inside Your Etsy when signed in. This Syndication page lists the partner websites Etsy is working with to help you maximize your shop's exposure. More partner websites will be added in the future.

Google Product Search Syndication will be enabled by default for participating sellers. Sellers can opt out of this service at any time.

We'd like to thank all the beta testers for their ongoing valuable feedback. We will update this article as the initial rollout is completed, with a link to a dedicated discussion thread in the Forums.

Please visit Etsy's Help site to learn more details about using Google Product Search Syndication.

Other Tips for Your Etsy Shop in the Seller Handbook

Tech Update: Site Maintenance 2009 Schedule

2009-10-02T17:00:00-05:00

UPDATE: Our engineers will be working on the site on Monday, November 16, but the site will not be taken down for this maintenance window. That the site will be accessible during maintenance is actually part of the improvements that have been made.

We apologize for the back and forth. We are getting down to the final preparations before the holidays and we are working hard. One new factor appeared on the scene: the new baby of MCR, our chief Sys Admin, and his wife. No, this is not the sole reason for the shifting schedule, but it is the only one with a high enough cuteness factor to be worth mentioning.

As I wrote back in January, we have planned a number of behind-the-scenes changes and improvements for the rest of the year that will enhance the stability and scalability of the site, but require site downtime. To put those improvements in place, I announced monthly maintenance windows in which the site would be unavailable while we make these changes Since then, we have realized that we need more frequent maintenance windows to make these improvements more quickly, so we will now be doing these maintenance windows roughly every two weeks. To give everyone the most notice possible, we are publishing the new schedule below.

Our first maintenance window on the new schedule will be next Monday, June 8 from 2 a.m. - 6 a.m. ET. During this time period, all functions on the site will be unavailable, and all Etsy users will be directed to a page that notes that the site is undergoing scheduled maintenance. For updates during the maintenance window, please see http://fix.etsy.com. (Note: Any sellers who have purchased a Showcase that would run during this maintenance window will receive a pro-rated credit for the 4-hour maintenance period. You can expect your bill to be credited within two to three business days after the date of the maintenance.) The new schedule for maintenance windows is as follows (all are 2 a.m. - 6 a.m. ET):

Monday, October 5 postponed to October 12 (2 a.m. - 8 a.m.)
Monday, October 19 (cancelled)
Monday, November 2
Monday, November 16

We are still thinking about and discussing the maintenance schedule for after November 16, since we want to be as sensitive as possible to the holiday shopping season and minimize any disruptions during that time.

We will communicate these dates in advance each time as a reminder. While there may still be occasional emergency maintenance windows, our goal is to use these regular planned maintenance windows to proactively make changes that will minimize emergencies.

Thanks in advance for your patience during our site maintenance periods, and thanks for using Etsy!

*To translate these times into your local time zone, please click here.

[The previous schedule was published on January 21, 2009.]

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: Filter Search Results by Category

2009-09-28T18:00:00-05:00

Today we're excited to announce a useful new addition to the Etsy Search experience — you can now filter your search results by category.

When searching on Etsy, you often get a lot of results back. We think it's important to provide shoppers ways to narrow down their search results, while highlighting the wide variety of amazing items on Etsy, from Handmade, Vintage and Supplies.

Let's look at the search results in Handmade for "Halloween," for example. Under the Handmade heading on the left side of the page, you will now see links to the top seven categories ordered by the number of results for that search term in each. You can click the "see more categories" link to view all the categories with results. You can also jump to the results for your search term in Vintage, Supplies or All Items.

In this example, we see there are 1,919 results for "Halloween" within the Handmade: Art Category. Clicking the link for the Art Category will take you to those results with the option to drill down further into the applicable subcategories.

Now we see there are 238 results for "Halloween" within Handmade: Art: Photography. Let's drill down further to the 60 surreal Halloween photographs.

At any time, you can jump back up to any of your previously chosen filters. In this version, starting a new search will clear your filter choices. You can also clear your search term and simply browse all the items available on Etsy by category.

We hope you enjoy this new way to make discoveries on Etsy! Tell us what you think in this Forum thread. (We'll close comments on this blog post so that we can consolidate your feedback on the thread.)

P.S. If you would like to receive breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox — then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: Beta Test of New Rearrange Your Shop Feature

2009-09-01T14:30:00-05:00

UPDATE: We have completed the final phase of beta testing for the Rearrange Your Shop feature. During this final phase, the shops included in beta testing will be available for everyone to view. If you come across one of these shops, you will see that the sort order for the shop's items will say "Custom" instead of the default, "Most Recently Listed."

The final step after this phase is to provide the feature to all Etsy sellers. Thanks so much for your patience while we test the new feature — we know sellers are eager to use it!

[The following was originally published on June 9, 2009.]

Today we began a closed beta test of our new Rearrange Your Shop feature with a handful of selected Etsy sellers. This feature allows sellers to arrange items in their shops by dragging and dropping items. To give you a sense of how this works, we recorded a quick product demo. (Watch the video above.)

Over the course of the next few weeks we will gather feedback on the user experience, expand the beta to include more sellers, and we will post an announcement on the blog when the feature is available to all Etsy sellers.

For additional questions, you can reference the brief FAQ below.

What is the new Rearrange Your Shop feature?
The new Rearrange Your Shop feature allows sellers to rearrange the item listings in their shops to any order they wish.

How will I know if I am part of the beta?
We will send an email to beta participants. Sorry, we cannot accept additional beta testers beyond the original group at this time.

How does the feature work?
To rearrange your items, you click and drag your items to change the order on any page of your shop. Remember, each shop page has a total of 21 items. If you want to move an item between pages, you can click on an item and select the page the item should be moved to. When moving an item to a new page, the item will always appear as the first item on the new page. Finally, when you've completed your new layout, you can save or cancel.

What happens when I add or relist items after I change my shop layout?
When you add a new item to your shop, that item will appear first, even if you rearranged your items previously in your shop. Once an item is added, you can rearrange that item in your shop as well.

What will buyers see when they view my shop after I rearranged my items?
The default view for buyers will be the new custom layout you created. Buyers can still sort items based on time listed and price.

Does rearranging items change the way I feature items in my shop?
No, the Featured Items section will remain the same and is managed separately.

Can I rearrange items for each of my sections?
At this time, you can only rearrange items for the main portion of your shop, not each section.

We are looking forward to sharing this new feature with everyone — we just want to make sure it's the best it can be!

P.S. We closed commenting on the Storque post because the record-breaking number of comments was slowing down the load time on the post! Please continue to give us your feedback in this forum thread.

P.P.S. If you would like to receive breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox — then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: New Shipping Tool Available

2009-08-28T10:46:00-05:00

Sellers,

We are happy to announce that we completed our beta test of the new shipping regions tool. Sellers will now have the option to use the existing Shipping Profile page or you can use the new Shipping Profile page, which includes the option to ship to a geographic region as well as to an individual country. Sellers can also find the link to the new Shipping Profile on the existing Shipping Profile pages.

For now, we have included just two new regions, but we may add more in the future:

Europe non-EU countries
European Union countries

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about this feature:

Using regions in your shipping profile is completely optional. You need not change your current shipping profiles, and you can still create "custom shipping profiles" just as you have done in the past. The regions are predefined and cannot be altered.

These regions are not necessarily tied to specific shipping profiles used by postal services or shipping companies such as UPS or DHL. This level of customization is something we'd like to offer in the future, but it is not possible at this time.

We cannot create regions at the province or state level at this time. This means, for example, that we can't offer regions within the U.S. or Canadian provinces or other such groupings.

A country shipping cost will override a regional shipping cost if that county also appears in the region. For example, if there is a country cost listed for France and a regional cost for the European Union (which includes France) the country cost will be the one used. The country cost can be set either higher or lower than the shipping cost for the rest of the region.

The order in which countries are displayed on the View Listing page has been updated. The item the country ships from will be listed first (except in rare cases where the seller does not ship to her own country), and all other countries and regions will be listed alphabetically thereafter. Finally, "Everywhere Else" (if offered) will be displayed last.

The shipping cost will be applied based on the mailing address the buyer enters at Checkout. (This part of the tool remains the same.)

Here's an example of how a hypothetical seller from France could set up her shipping costs:

Ship to France: $5 USD
Ship to Canada: $8 USD
Ship to Europe non-EU countries: $7 USD
Ship to European Union (EU) countries: $6 USD
Ship to United States $8 USD
Ship to Everywhere Else $10 USD

Note: It is OK to have the same price to more than one country or region as in this example.

In this example, buyers who check out and enter France in their shipping address would be charged $5, since the country shipping cost would override the regional European Union (EU) cost, even though France is in the EU. Similarly, buyers from Germany (in EU) would pay $6, buyers from Switzerland (non-EU) would pay $7; buyers from the United States and Canada would pay $8. Buyers from Australia would pay $10, as they would be from "Everywhere Else" in this example.

Using shipping regions is completely optional; as a seller you don't have to do anything differently if you prefer to continue to set shipping costs individually for each country. These changes to shipping are compatible with the shipping profiles you currently use on Etsy.

To start using this new shipping regions tool, you can find a link on both the create a shipping profile page and the edit a shipping profile page under Your Etsy. Remember: If you change your shipping profiles, you need to apply the revised profiles to your listings by going to Your Etsy > Batch Shipping.

We are closing comments on this post so that we can follow your discussion in this Forum thread.

Shipping How-To's | Tech Updates

Tech Updates: Related Searches

2009-07-10T15:00:00-05:00

Now when you perform a search on Etsy, you will often see links for recent popular related searches above your results. You can try it out now with a search for "handbag":

These related searches are actual searches recently performed by Etsy shoppers. They are specific to Handmade, Vintage and Supplies — you will receive different related searches in a search for "handbag" under Handmade than in a search for "handbag" under Vintage, for example. Related searches are also available for popular searches on category-specific search results.

The related search links for a given search query are selected at random from a pool of recent popular related searches, and they change upon refresh or as you page through search results. They are designed to help shoppers narrow their search results with more specific searches, and they also serve as a suggestion tool providing ideas for searches.

Tip: Sellers can get ideas for item tags from relevant related searches, as they represent actual recent searches from Etsy shoppers. It's amazing to see the things people search for on Etsy!

More improvements are in the works for Etsy's Search, with much of our focus now on improving Etsy's category structure and introducing category-specific search refinements for shoppers. Please keep the detailed feedback coming and stay tuned. We'll close comments here so we can follow discussion in this Forum thread.

Tech Updates: Share Your Favorites

2009-07-01T18:30:00-05:00

Today we rolled out a number of improvements to Etsy's popular Favorites feature. These enhancements are designed to make Etsy Favorites more usable, visible and sharable.

Use 'em

Sold items can now be added to your Favorites. Sometimes you just aren’t quick enough, and an item you want is sold out by the time you see it. You can still add it to your Favorites. Views and hearts now continue to accumulate on items even after they’ve been sold.
Tip: Convo the seller to see if they can make another item for you or if they're planning to list another.

No more grey boxes to delete. Many Etsy community members have complained in the past about the clutter of anonymous grey items in their Favorites with the text “Listing expired or removed.” This would occur when an item expired, was being edited, or belonged to a shop in Vacation Mode. These grey boxes are no more. Here’s what happens now:

When an item you’ve hearted expires, it will be removed from your Favorites.
When an item you’ve hearted is being edited by the seller, it will not appear in your Favorites while the editing is in progress. When the editing is complete, the item will return to the spot you had it in your Favorites.
When an item you’ve hearted goes into Vacation Mode, it will remain in your Favorites — you will just be unable to purchase the item until the seller returns from vacation.

See 'em

A “heart counter” has been added to item pages. You can now see the number of hearts for any item, active or sold, along with views in the new “stats” section on the lower right of item pages.
Tip: If an item gets blogged about and then sells, it can still show off its street cred with more and more hearts and views.

Show off your Favorites on your Etsy Profile. You now have the option to display the last six items you added to your Favorites on your Etsy Profile page! These items will be displayed below the "Favorite Materials" section of your Profile. To turn this feature on, sign in to Etsy and proceed to Your Etsy > Public Profile. Check the checkbox at the bottom of the page next to “Favorite Items” and click "Save Changes" to start showing the world the cool stuff you find!

Share 'em

Don’t keep your Favorites to yourself! (Unless you want to.) Now when you sign in to Etsy and proceed to Your Etsy > Favorites, you will see a link for a new Share widget on the upper right. Pop this open for options to share your list of Favorites with your friends or with the world. With this widget you can easily share your collection of Favorites on Twitter or Facebook, embed them on your blog, or copy and paste the web address for your public Favorites page.
Happy hearting!

Tech Updates: Facebook Connect

2009-07-01T17:42:00-05:00

Today we made it easier to share your Etsy activity with your friends on Facebook, a social networking site many Etsians use.

When you sign in to Etsy, you will see a link at the top of the page (next to "Conversations") for "Facebook Connect." Click that link to activate an overlay that you can use to establish a connection with Facebook.

Once you're connected with Facebook, you will see your Facebook Profile Picture at the top of every page on Etsy.

What can I do while I'm connected with Facebook on Etsy?

You can share your Etsy activity with your friends! When you list an item or heart an item (add an item to your Etsy Favorites) while connected with Facebook, you will see an option to share that action on Facebook in the form of a story published to your Facebook News Feed. Click the "Post this item to Facebook" link to activate a pop-up from Facebook with a preview of your story before you publish:

These links to share your activity on Facebook will only be visible while you're connected with Facebook, and all posts from Etsy to Facebook are made explicitly by you. You can disconnect with Facebook at any time via the "Facebook" link at the top of the page. If you're not interested in connecting with Facebook from Etsy, you can remove the Facebook option by clicking the "don't show again" link on the Facebook Connect overlay.

We hope you enjoy this additional option to share the Etsy experience with your friends!

FAQs

What is Facebook Connect?
Facebook Connect allows you to bring your Facebook account into Etsy, so you can share what you're doing on Etsy with your friends on Facebook. You have complete control over what is shared.

How do I connect with Facebook on Etsy?
After signing in to Etsy, you will see a link for Facebook Connect at the top of the page, next to "Conversations." Click this link and then click "Connect with Facebook" to establish a connection to Facebook.

What can I do while I'm connected to Facebook on Etsy?
You can share select actions you take on Etsy with your friends on Facebook. These actions currently include adding an item to your Etsy Favorites ("hearting" an item) and listing an item on Etsy.

After hearting an item or listing an item, you will see an option to post the item to Facebook. Clicking that link activates a pop-up from Facebook where you can preview and annotate your post before publishing the item to your Facebook profile and Facebook friends' home pages.

Can I post items I've renewed or relisted on Facebook?
At this time Facebook Connect on Etsy allows you to post newly listed items on Facebook but not renewed or relisted items.

Does Etsy automatically post to my Facebook profile?
No. All posts to your Facebook Profile and News Feed from Etsy are made explicitly by you.

How do I disconnect from Facebook?
You will know when you are connected to Facebook on Etsy because your Facebook Profile Picture will appear at the top of all Etsy pages next to a "Facebook" link. Click this link and then click "Log out of Facebook" to terminate your connection with Facebook. This will log you out of Facebook completely.

I have no interest in connecting with Facebook. Can I remove the Facebook Connect link so I don't have to see it when I sign in to Etsy?
Yes. To remove the Facebook Connect link, click it to activate the overlay and then click "don't show again." The Facebook Connect option will no longer appear when you sign in to Etsy.

If you change your mind, you can re-enable the Facebook Connect option by going to Your Etsy > Account Info. On the Account Info page, you will find a "Settings" section where you can enable or disable Facebook Connect.

I signed in to Etsy and I was already connected with Facebook. Why?
This occurs when you sign in to Etsy while being logged into Facebook, if you've connected with Facebook through Etsy before.

I use the Etsy Shop application on Facebook. Is Facebook Connect the same thing?
Facebook Connect is separate from the Etsy Shop application. You can still use the Etsy Shop Facebook application and other Etsy Facebook applications. Facebook Connect allows you to share actions you take on Etsy, such as the items you list or add to your Favorites, with your friends on Facebook.

I have a Business/Fan Page for my Etsy shop on Facebook. Can I use Facebook Connect to publish my Etsy activity on my Page?
Not at this time. Facebook Connect on Etsy allows you to publish Etsy activity on your Facebook Profile, but not your Pages (sometimes called Fan Pages or Business Pages). We plan to enable this functionality in the future.

We're closing comments here since we want to follow your discussion in this Forum thread.

Tech Update: New Shipping Tool Now Beta Testing

2009-06-03T15:15:00-05:00

Sellers,

As many of you have expressed through the Forums, in surveys and at meet-ups, there’s a big demand for regional shipping options. We are happy to announce that we are currently conducting a closed beta test of new shipping regions. This tool will give sellers the ability to set shipping costs for a predefined region, thus alleviating the problem of setting the same shipping costs across many countries.

Below is a list of the regions we are testing. (We may add additional regions at a later date.)

Africa
Central America
European Union (EU) countries
Europe non-EU countries
South America

When using the tool, beta testers can see which countries are included within these regions.

Below is a preview screenshot of the new Your Etsy > Shipping Options page with Shipping Regions:

As you browse items on Etsy, you might notice that our beta testers' listings may display shipping costs using the new regions. Below is an example of shipping information on a listing that uses Shipping Regions:

If you see listings that look like this: don't be alarmed! This is a sign of good things to come. We do not anticipate problems with transactions involving Shipping Regions, but please communicate with the seller (who is likely a beta tester) and contact Etsy's Support Team if you experience any transaction issues related to Shipping Regions. Thanks for being patient while we work out the kinks during this testing period.

Shipping How-To's | Tech Updates

Tech Updates: Sort Search Results by Most Relevant

2009-05-20T12:35:00-05:00

Today, after lots of user testing, public previews in the Virtual Labs and detailed feedback from the Etsy community, we’ve rolled out an exciting enhancement to the Etsy Search experience.

You can now sort your Etsy search results by Most Relevant, in addition to Most Recently Listed and by Price. While the default sort option for search results is still Most Recently Listed, users can now choose to view results for Handmade, Vintage, Supplies, All Items and category-specific searches sorted by Most Relevant.

How does the Most Relevant option work?

Etsy looks at a combination of item tags, titles, descriptions and materials to determine which items are most relevant for a given search query. Item listing date is also an important factor in determining Most Relevant, as we’ve found users value fresh results for their favorite searches. (The ability to save your favorite searches is something we’re actively exploring based on this feedback.)

Relevancy also works for Advanced Search queries — you can choose to limit your search to item descriptions via our Advanced Search page, for example, and sort your results by Most Relevant.

As on other sites, establishing relevancy on Etsy will be an evolving process and is in active development. We expect that Etsy’s ability to sort results by Most Relevant will progress as we roll out improvements to the item listing process. We will always communicate changes to the item listing process in advance — there are no changes to the item listing process at this time and sellers do not need to do anything differently to ensure their items appear in search results sorted by Most Relevant. Describing and tagging your items accurately is the best way to ensure your items are found for the appropriate searches. Our current guidelines and tips for tagging items still apply, and items tagged well according to these guidelines should perform well under Most Relevant.

What’s next?

We have a number of enhancements in the works, including links to related searches on search results, location-related search improvements and improvements to the item listing process. Stay tuned, and keep the detailed feedback coming. We will continue to communicate our progress in this area here on the Etsy Blog, in the Etsy Forums and to the Etsy News email list.

We've closed commenting on this article; please join in this Forum thread to discuss your questions or comments about these improvements to Etsy Search.

Please join Etsy Admin Daniellexo and Sean11 for a workshop about creating thorough listings with tags, titles, materials and descriptions in the Virtual Labs on Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 3 p.m. ET.

Tech Updates: Filter Search Results by Ship to Country

2009-05-20T12:30:00-05:00

Based on your feedback, we're happy to announce that buyers can now filter search results to only show items from sellers who ship to their country. This feature helps buyers quickly narrow search results to items they can buy and should be especially handy for our members who are not based in the United States.

What's changed?

The Search Tools box on search results pages now includes a dropdown to filter results by "ship to country." Buyers select their country from the dropdown and the search results update to only show items from sellers who ship to the selected country or everywhere else. The "ship to" filter persists until the buyer clicks a link to clear it, selects a different country, or leaves Etsy.

What's next?

We are actively working on another location-related search feature: the ability for buyers to filter search results by the seller's location. This will help shoppers find local sellers or sellers in specific areas of interest.

We've closed commenting on this article; please join in this Forum thread to discuss your questions or comments about these improvements.

P.S. If you would like to receive breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens—delivered straight to your email inbox—then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Etsy Seller Survey: Shipping Address and Order Management

2009-05-19T15:50:00-05:00

Attention Etsy Sellers!

We want to make the selling experience better on Etsy and we need your help. We value your input and would love to gain some more insight into your process regarding shipping procedures and notifications about sales.

If you are an Etsy seller, please take our brief Shipping Address / Order Management Survey. It'll take three minutes!

Click here to take the survey.

The survey closes in one week, so don't delay! And we thank you for your participation!

See related posts about other surveys.

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Etsy's Trademark Guidelines

2009-05-19T14:45:00-05:00

Hi! This is SarahSays, Etsy's in-house legal counsel.

A little over a year ago we launched the Etsy Trademark Permissions Program. Since that time, dozens of Etsy members applied to use and were granted permission to use the Etsy marks in products, for free.

In an effort to further support and encourage ideas, services and tools that use and supplement the Etsy services while also protecting Etsy’s reputation and brand identity, Etsy is excited to introduce the Etsy Trademark Use Guidelines. We hope that these Guidelines will help Etsy members, Etsy Teams, and others refer to Etsy or our services without compromising the strength of our trademarks or our brand identity. Please note, these Guidelines are intended clarify Etsy’s existing policy; this is not a policy change.

The Guidelines consist of three parts: a general overview section, an examples section with specific and detailed explanations, and a section dedicated to the Etsy Trademark Permissions Program to request permission to use the Etsy mark.

The Guidelines only concern the use of Etsy’s intellectual property (for example, the term “Etsy”). For issues regarding any intellectual property which is not exclusively owned by Etsy, please refer to Etsy’s Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy.

We will be holding a Virtual Labs at 10:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, May 21, 2009 to answer any questions you may have regarding the Etsy Trademark Use Guidelines or the Etsy Trademark Permissions Program. I want to personally thank the community for your passion, your patience, and the creativity you bring to Etsy.

Tech Update: Announcing New Art Subcategory Showcases

2009-05-12T15:45:00-05:00

Attention Artists,

Following up on the launch of Jewelry Subcategory Showcases, today we begin selling a new set of Subcategory Showcases in the Art Category. Art Subcategory Showcase spots are on sale now and available for purchase on the Showcase Gateway. These spots will begin appearing on the site starting tomorrow, Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 12am EDT.

The new Art Subcategory Showcases increase the availability of spots for this popular category, and will also allow you to reach an even more targeted group of shoppers interested in your specific medium, be it printmaking, painting, sculpture, etc. These spots will be priced at $7 per 24-hour cycle. There will be 25 spots in each Subcategory Showcase. The subcategories in Art include:

Aceo
Collage
Drawing
Fiber art
Illustration
Mixed media
Painting
Photography
Print
Printmaking
Reproduction
Sculpture

The Art Subcategory Showcase spots will display the same way as the Jewelry Subcategory Showcase modules (as shown below), and they will be shown on all pages within the subcategory.

These new Subcategory Showcases can be purchased in the same manner as the other Showcases — through the Showcase Gateway.

Remember, in order to be placed in a Subcategory Showcase, your item must be tagged accurately. For instance, an item going into the Collage Subcategory must be tagged with "art" (as the first tag) and also with "collage" as the second tag. (The second tag determines which subcategory your item will fall under.)

Artists and art-lovers, we hope you like this new promotion!

What is this Showcase thing? For a general introduction to Showcase, read Matt's Storque article 13.5 Questions about the Showcase, and for deeper thoughts on figuring out if Showcase is right for you, see Beth's Showcase Deconstructed article.

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: Adding USD to Prices on Etsy.com

2009-05-12T15:20:00-05:00

As you're shopping on Etsy today, you will notice that we are starting to add the suffix "USD" across the site to notify users that our prices are listed in US dollars.

In this first phase, you will see this change in several places, including Checkout, Search results, view detail pages, Gift Guides and on Your Etsy. There are some places, such as the Treasury and Showcase, that will be changed at a later date.

In the future, we plan to offer the ability to see prices in different currencies. Showing the three letter USD suffix is an important first step in this process.

We've closed commenting on this article; please join in this Forum thread to discuss your questions or comments about these improvements.

P.S. If you would like to receive breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens—delivered straight to your email inbox—then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Handmade Code: New "Etsy Addict" iPhone Application

2009-05-01T10:00:00-05:00

The Etsy Developer Community, located at developer.etsy.com, serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. We here at Etsy's blog, The Storque, started this Handmade Code series where we invite the developers to step up to the mic. Here's Daniel, maker of the new iPhone application "Etsy Addict"...

Say you're waiting at your bus stop with a coffee in one hand, and suddenly you're overcome by a sense of curiosity and anxiety: has your favorite Etsy seller listed any new items since you last checked twenty minutes ago? This is a condition known as Etsy addiction. Now, you have an iPhone, so you pull it out of your pocket, slide to unlock, fire up Safari, dig out your Etsy bookmark, wait for the page to load, click on Favorites... By then you realize that your bus has rumbled to a stop in front of you, and now you have to fish quarters out of your pocket WITHOUT spilling coffee on the driver or, worse, on your iPhone! You sigh.

That's where Etsy Addict comes in, a brand new app for iPhone and iPod Touch. Checking your favorite seller's new listings is now just a couple of taps away, and it's way faster than doing it via the browser, so you actually get to see stuff before your bus arrives. And everything's formatted just right for your iPhone or iPod's screen, so there's no awkward zooming and panning around. Even if you close it to pay the bus driver or check your email, Etsy Addict takes you right back to where you left off. Sweet!

And it works just as well in the car (as long as you're the passenger!), living room, office, coffee shop, bar (Quick! You have 2 minutes while your date is in the bathroom) or airport. Yes, my wife has actually made a purchase waiting to board a plane. A major source of inspiration for this app is my wife, Joyce (zebracakes on Etsy), who named the app, though you could also say that it's named after her.

Q: Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc?
It's available on the iTunes App Store for $0.99 USD. See http://danieldickison.com/etsyaddict

Q: Who is it for?
It's designed exclusively for Etsy addicts! Of course, even if you don't think you're an addict, you're most likely in the denial stage. It's best to face the fact: Etsy Addict will let you lead a healthy life. (Of course, some may claim Etsy Addict simply feeds your addiction. I guess that's ok, too.)

I'd say that as of now, this app is more useful for Etsy shoppers than shop-keepers. But I do have plans for adding useful seller features in the near future (such as viewing recent feedback and sales), so stay tuned via the mailing list!

It was released on April 24th, which, by coincidence or perhaps fate, was Etsy Day. It looks like it's slowly gaining in popularity as the word gets out. I want to say thanks to everyone who has downloaded it already!

Q. How do you use it?
Whenever I write applications, I put myself in the shoes of the user. Actually, if it's a personal project like Etsy Addict, it's always exclusively about making an app that I personally want to use but doesn't exist yet (see the bus stop horror story, above). And, I figure that if I want something, there must be other people that do, too, especially with something as popular as Etsy and iPhone. And the new Etsy Developer API made this all possible.

Q. Are there any costs?
It costs $0.99 USD (also available in other currencies) to download on iTunes. You get free updates after that.

Q. What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
I always love receiving comments, questions, feature ideas and criticism. There's a mailing list, which is the best place to air these, or you can find my contact info here.

Q. What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? What is your favorite part about the app?
My favorite part is that it's so snappy. I put a lot of effort into making everything run smooth and quickly, and I think that's a key feature for a cell phone app.

The reviews on iTunes so far has been great! In fact, they're virtually all rational, fair and intelligible reviews, which is really refreshing considering the quality of some apps' reviews on iTunes. Maybe Etsy users are just that much cooler!

"So far, it's fast and attractive, just what etsy store owners would want for their customers."
— 5/5 stars by Etsy user smallbell

"I am an Etsy addict so I am thrilled that there is finally an app!"
— 4/5 stars by ZooplesAndCo

Q. Anything else you'd like to add?
Pictured is the Etsy Addict headquarters (aka our bedroom) in Pittsburgh, PA, and I'm wearing a t-shirt by kidpirate. If you squint, you can see the Etsy Addict source code in the background where I'm working on the first update. And I look disheveled from hay-fever sneezing all day long!

Tech Updates: Advanced Search

2009-04-30T12:08:00-05:00

UPDATE: There is a now a link to Advanced Search in the header at the top of every page on Etsy. Look for it next to the Search button.

After a busy period of testing and refining, we’re excited to announce some significant enhancements to Etsy's Search—and the shopping experience on our site. These changes were outlined in our March 9 article on Search, and a number of you have had the opportunity to preview them in recent sessions in the Virtual Labs about Etsy's Search.

What’s changed?

Simplified search dropdown menu. The main search dropdown menu now offers the following options for searches: Handmade, Vintage, Supplies, All Items, Sellers. Previous options included “Handmade Items: tags, titles,” “Vintage Items: tags, titles,” “Supplies: tags, titles," “Handmade Items: tags, titles, descriptions” and "Materials." Modifiers like tags, titles and descriptions have been removed from the search dropdown menu, and the Materials option has been moved to our new Advanced Search page (more on that in a minute). Etsy searches item tags and titles by default.

Redesigned search results pages. Search results pages for Handmade, Vintage, Supplies and category-specific searches have been redesigned. The Search Tools, Search Tips and Matching Sellers boxes have been moved from the right side of search results to the left side of the page, following a standard in use on many ecommerce websites and search engines. There is now a price filter on all item search results pages, including the pages you get when you click on links for Tags and Materials on item listing pages. Additional filters will eventually be incorporated into this area on the left.

When no results are found for a search, users will now be presented with suggestions for searching and see recently listed items on the site.

Advanced item search. We now have an Advanced Search page, accessible via the Search Tools box on every item search results page.

The Advanced Search page offers a variety of ways to search for items on Etsy. You can search within Handmade, Vintage, Supplies or All Items. You can also search within the categories specific to Handmade, Vintage and Supplies. By default, searches within these areas will include sellers' item tags and titles, but you now also have the option to include item descriptions and item materials in your search as well. You can also limit your search by including only item tags, titles, descriptions or materials in your search, or any combination of these attributes. You may find that including item descriptions is useful for some searches but not for others, or you may find that limiting your search to item titles returns the best results for your needs.

Expect this Advanced Search page to grow as we roll out additional enhancements including improved options for searching by seller and by location, as well as more intuitive ways to refine your search.

What’s next?

We’re refining a forthcoming option to sort search results by Most Relevant. In its initial rollout, we anticipate that users will have to actively choose to reorder the default search results (search results will continue to be sorted by Most Recently Listed by default). This new Most Relevant option will allow users to sort search results by Most Relevant in addition to Most Recently Listed and by price.

A number of you had the opportunity to preview the Most Relevant option in recent search-focused sessions in the Virtual Labs. We have another search Virtual Lab coming up next Tuesday, April 21. Anyone who is interested in testing different searches will be given access to a special area on Etsy to try out new search features and discuss the future of Etsy Search with us. Join us Tuesday, April 21 at 3:00pm EDT (check when this is in your time zone) in the Virtual Labs to talk search.

As we noted in March, improving the item listing process is central to improving the quality of Etsy's Search, and we’re hard at work on improvements in this area. We will share more details about listing process improvements as they near completion.

There’s much more to come, so keep the detailed feedback coming and stay tuned. We will continue to communicate our progress in this area here on the Etsy Blog, in the Etsy Forums and to the Etsy News email list.

We've closed commenting on this article; please join in this Forum thread to discuss your questions or comments about these improvements to Etsy Search. Also, be sure to mark your calendar for our next special Virtual Lab session on Tuesday, April 21 at 3:00pm EDT.

P.S. If you would like to receive breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens—delivered straight to your email inbox—then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: Site Maintenance on Community Flash Applications 4/23/09

2009-04-22T13:43:00-05:00

We will be performing site maintenance on Treasury, Chat, Virtual Labs, and the Voter on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 from 3pm to 4pm EDT. (Click here to translate this time on a world clock.) We want to give you a heads up, since many of you use these site features every day. (For those of you who haven't tried them yet, you're missing out!)

Thank you for your patience while we keep these features performing at their best (in other words, with flying raccoons, gold stars, and satisfying "ping" sounds). We are not anticipating any problems with restoring Treasury lists, but we apologize in advance if your lists are lost.

Check out these Community site features and let us know which one is your favorite in the comments below.

How-tos about Treasury | FAQ about Virtual Labs | Voting Posts on Etsy's Blog

Tech Update: Announcing New Jewelry Sub-Category Showcases

2009-04-08T12:34:00-05:00

Hello Sellers,

On Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 12am EDT we will begin selling Jewelry Subcategory Showcase spots. (Translate this time on a world clock.) They will be available for purchase at the Showcase Gateway. These spots will begin appearing on the site starting Friday April 10, 2009 at 12am EDT.

If you have tried to buy a Showcase spot in the past, particularly in some of our more popular categories such as Jewelry, you might be interested in this upcoming trial offer. Not only will the new Subcategory Showcases increase availability of spots, but they will also allow you to reach an even more targeted group of shoppers interested in your specific type of item.

These spots will be priced at $7 per 24-hour cycle. There will be 25 spots in each Subcategory Showcase. The sub-categories in Jewelry include:

Subcategory Showcase spots will display just as the Showcase modules on the recently updated category pages, and they will be shown on all pages within the subcategory. These new Subcategory Showcases can be purchased in the same manner as the other Showcases — through the Showcase Gateway.

Remember, in order to be placed in a Subcategory Showcase, your item must be tagged accurately. For instance, an item going into the Necklace Subcategory must be tagged with "jewelry" (as the first tag) and "necklace" (as the second tag). (The second tag determines which subcategory your item will fall under.)

This is the first trial offer for Subcategory Showcases and we welcome your feedback in this forum thread. (We will close commenting on this post in order to consolidate feedback.) After we evaluate feedback on these Jewelry Subcategory Showcases, we will consider launching Subcategory Showcases in other Categories.

What is this Showcase thing? For a general introduction to Showcase, read Matt's Storque article 13.5 Questions about the Showcase, and for deeper thoughts on figuring out if Showcase is right for you, see Beth's Showcase Deconstructed article.

P.S.
If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: Seller Directory and Stocked Shops

2009-04-01T12:30:00-05:00

Hello friends,

Recently, we updated one of the ways to shop on Etsy — the Seller Directory on the Buy page of the site. We are now limiting this page to stocked shops (a stocked shop has at least one active item listing). Our goal is to improve the shopping experience on Etsy.

All Etsy shops will remain findable on the site. This change only affects which shops appear of the Seller Directory on the Buy page of the site. Unstocked shops will still be accessible via username search as well as direct URL (the username.etsy.com web address).

Shops with only inactive listings and shops in "vacation mode" will not be viewable in the Seller Directly for the duration of inactivity.

We continue to strive to improve both the selling and buying experience on Etsy, and we hope that this update to the Seller Directory is another step in that direction.

Get to know some sellers through our Shop Local series or check out the new Recently Listed site feature!

Etsy Seller Payment Survey

2009-03-17T12:19:00-05:00

*Update* The survey has closed as of March 18, 2009. Thanks!*

Attention Etsy Sellers!

We want to make the selling experience better on Etsy and we need your help. We value your input and would love to gain some insight into your experience in accepting online payments for your business and on Etsy.

If you are an Etsy seller, please take our brief Payment Seller Survey. It'll take three minutes!

Click here to take the survey.

The survey closes in one week, so don't delay! Spread the word to your seller friends!

See related posts about other surveys

Tech Update: Freshening Up the Category Pages

2009-03-12T19:15:00-05:00

Etsy's Category pages have a fresh new look—check them out. This is the first set of enhancements we have in mind for the Category pages. Our goal in implementing these changes is to enhance the shopping experience on the site, making it easier to navigate and to find items to purchase. We also hope that the improved design will encourage shoppers to spend more time on these pages.

So what’s changed?

More prominent Category Showcases. The Category Showcases have been given greater prominence at the top of Category pages and are more clearly distinguished from the rest of the page with a slightly shaded background and the title “Sponsored Items from Etsy Sellers.” The images are larger than in the previous version, and we have also added the item title and price to make browsing more efficient. We will be carefully following the performance of these pages and listening to feedback from shoppers and sellers. We may make design adjustments based on that information.

To accommodate these changes, three items from the Category Showcase will randomly display each time the page is loaded or refreshed (versus the five smaller item images in the previous version). To browse through the entire Showcase, there are navigation arrows on each side as well a link to a page showing all items in a particular Category Showcase. Items will continue to be randomly displayed in this section from the full pool of relevant Showcased items.

New area for Category title, subtitle and illustrations. We have also added an area for each Category's title and subtitle, making the purpose of the page more clear, particularly for those who land on the page from searching on Etsy or via a link outside Etsy. As an additional benefit, this will help improve Etsy’s visibility to search engines since they principally read text. The new illustrations on each of Category page are meant to add a cohesive visual element from Etsy’s front page.

Nested subcategory list. Now when you browse to a subcategory, you will see a nested list of the other subcategories on the left side menu. This allows a shopper to quickly navigate from one subcategory to another.

Here's the big picture:

As noted above, we will have a few other changes to Category pages coming in the near future. One of these future enhancements will be highlighting related content from Etsy's blog on Category pages. Content that is relevant to each top-level Category will be featured in the left side menu. We have seen that engaging content draws shoppers into the site and can inspire people to discover new treasures. We’ll keep you posted on other improvements to the Category pages as we get closer to releasing them.

We welcome your feedback on these design changes to the Category pages in this discussion thread in our Forums. (We’ve closed commenting on this article to consolidate the conversation.)

Here's to a better shopping experience on Etsy!

ps
If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Talking Product with Etsy’s VP of Product Sara Hicks

2009-03-11T11:50:00-05:00

Hi friends,

Following up on the latest installment of Talking Shop with Maria Thomas, I wanted to provide a few operational updates from the Product Team here at Etsy.

We are excited to talk about what we’ve accomplished so far in 2009 and provide a glimpse into the priorities for the rest of the first quarter of the year (Q1) and into the second quarter of the year (Q2). Consider this the start of an ongoing series of regular updates.

So, what have we accomplished in the last few months?

Web Analytics (via Google Analytics) for Etsy sellers rolled out in January.

In February we introduced the Etsy Developer Community in beta form. We believe the full launch of Etsy’s API will unleash pent-up creativity and many new exciting applications for Etsy sellers and buyers.

We also rolled out three viral marketing tools:
- The first is a “Bookmark and share” feature, which is available on every item listing page, shop page and blog posting. This feature allows you to quickly and seamlessly share your Etsy discoveries on sites like Facebook and Twitter.
- We also updated the Etsy Shop application on Facebook. The Etsy Shop Facebook application is similar to the Etsy mini but it’s specifically for Facebook. More and more buyers and sellers are using Facebook to spread the word about Etsy items and events.
- In early December we made some relatively small but important improvements to the RSS “feeds” available from Etsy. Shop feeds now contain thumbnail images, are available on every item listing page and come pre-formatted for easy upload to Google Base. Scheduling item uploads to Google Base is a great way for sellers to help Google — specifically Google Product Search — find their items. Shoppers will then be able to find sellers' items via the 'Shopping' link on the upper left of any Google search page.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, starting in November and December, you should have noticed speed improvements when searching on Etsy and across the whole site. My colleague, Chad Dickerson, posted a technology update that has more detail on some of these improvements.

And, here are a few items we said we were going to deliver but, for various reasons, we opted to defer for the time being. We haven’t abandoned these items completely, but we have shifted some priorities. When we have further details on timing for these important initiatives I’ll be sure to let you know.

We have not yet introduced new tools for Etsy Teams as Maria outlined in her November 2008 Talking Shop article. This is something we know is important and intend to provide, but as Matt Stinchcomb recently explained in an Etsy Teams Virtual Lab, we have a few more urgent priorities in front of us first (I’ll mention those in a minute).

We did not roll out the Super Etsy Mini as described in Matt’s holiday marketing plan post. We realized that the Super Etsy Mini was probably trying to do too much, so we’ve gone back to the drawing board and are working on a broader “widget” development plan.

Now, where are we headed? As Maria said in her post, “2009 is a time to keep our heads down, replenish the soil, and focus on making better the basic elements of the site.” Here are some further details on our top priorities going into the second quarter of the year:

Search

Search is our top priority for 2009. We understand that Search is vital to your business and though we expect to make changes throughout the year, we won’t launch any surprises. We will test, preview, and communicate before we make significant alterations to Search. This week, Product Manager Sean Flannagan posted an article about our plans for Search. We anticipate numerous updates to Search throughout 2009 with the goal of improving the experience for both buyers and sellers. Many more details can be found in Sean’s article and we will provide additional details, in the form of Virtual Lab events, Blog articles, and Forum posts, as we get closer to each new feature.

Payments

Yesterday we launched new functionality enabling sellers to pay their Etsy bills with PayPal. Many sellers have asked for this, and we hope many opt in (sellers, this means you can use PayPal if you want, but you also have the option to use a credit card).

We’ve also evaluated our collection policies for sellers' Etsy bills. The result of this evaluation was announced in December and will go into effect in March 2009. Etsy relies on collecting fees from our members in order to continue developing and growing our business. The majority of Etsy sellers do pay their bills promptly and in full, and for that, we are very thankful. However, there are also some sellers who allow their bills to become overdue and these new policies are intended to help Etsy collect its fees from those sellers.

Checkout

You will see more clarifications and improvements to the Etsy checkout process in March and throughout 2009. We understand that Etsy’s checkout process (and the text we use to guide buyers through it) can be confusing, especially because items are marked as “sold” in Etsy’s catalog in a separate step from the payment processing. In March, we will be clarifying language around this process. In the coming months we will be working to better clarify the functional elements of the overall process, including introducing inline registration (i.e. letting first-time buyers checkout on Etsy without forcing them to confirm their registration first).

Safety, Security, and Trust

We continue to focus on creating a vibrant marketplace that is built on the principles of safety, security, and trust. While it may not always be possible for Etsy to disclose its fraud deterrence practices, you can have confidence that we are doing everything to make sure buyers and sellers on our marketplace are safe and community places like the Forums, Chat, Virtual Labs remain meaningful. Etsy takes these issues very seriously and thus we continue to update our infrastructure to keep fraudulent behavior off of our site.

Showcase

In March you will see improvements to the design of Etsy’s Category pages and, more specifically, the design of the Category Showcase promotional modules at the top of those pages. Our goal is to make these promotional slots more relevant and attractive to Etsy shoppers.

In the coming months, we are looking to expand Showcase placements to other relevant areas of our site to provide more opportunities for sellers to gain additional exposure. Again, more details will be provided as we get closer to launching these updates.

Seller Tools

I know that there are certain seller tools that are critical to managing your shops. According to many of the forum threads and support emails I’ve read, being able to rearrange items in your shop should be at the top of the list. We are going to provide some tools to let you do this in the next month.

Site Performance

This is listed last, but site performance is one of the features that we always keep on our minds here at Etsy. As mentioned above, Chad’s article details our progress in this area.

There’s much more ahead so please stay tuned. I’ll be back with regular updates on what we’ve accomplished from this list and what else we have lined up for the remainder of the year. As always, your feedback is important, so I look forward to a continued dialog around our priorities. Please post your comments in this forum thread (we'll close commenting here to consolidate discussion).

Thanks,

Sara

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: Pay Your Etsy Bill with PayPal Now Available

2009-03-10T14:45:00-05:00

Sellers,

After a smooth and productive beta test, we're very happy to announce the full public release of functionality that allows you to pay your Etsy bills via PayPal. You will now see an option for PayPal under "Method of payment" when you go to Your Etsy > Your Etsy Bill > Make a payment.

When you select PayPal as your method of payment on this screen and click "Submit Payment," you will be taken to PayPal. Log into PayPal to complete the payment. You will be directed back to Etsy upon completion of the transaction.

Paying your Etsy bill with PayPal is optional. You can still pay your Etsy bill via the credit card you have on file with Etsy. Regardless of whether you pay your Etsy bill with PayPal or credit card, Etsy sellers need to keep a valid credit card on file with Etsy because we require a valid credit card to become an Etsy seller at this time.

With this release we are also removing the minimum payment amount for seller fee payments, whether paid by credit card or PayPal. Previously, Etsy only accepted payments of $1 or more from sellers. This is no longer the case—Etsy sellers will be expected to pay their bills in full regardless of the amount. So, if you are billed $0.60, you can now pay $0.60, and you have the option to pay via PayPal.

We'd like to thank all the beta testers for their valuable feedback. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions.

Can I pay my bill with my PayPal account?
Yes. Go to Your Etsy > Your Etsy Bill, select the PayPal option and click the green button that says Submit Payment. You will be directed to PayPal and prompted to log in to your PayPal account. Log in, review your payment and click “Pay Now”. You will then be redirected back to Etsy to conclude the transaction. If you pay via PayPal eCheck, your payment will be held as "Pending" until the payment clears, and your bill balance will not change until your payment is cleared.

Can I pay my bill with my PayPal account directly, without signing into Etsy?
No. You must pay your bill by signing in to Etsy and going to Your Etsy > Your Etsy Bill.

Is there a minimum amount I must owe Etsy before I can pay my bill?
No. There is no minimum amount you must owe Etsy before you can pay your bill. If you are billed $0.20, you can pay $0.20. You have the option to pay your bill via PayPal or with the credit card you have on file with Etsy. Etsy sellers are expected to pay their bills in accordance with our collection policy.

Do I have to use the PayPal account I use to accept payments on Etsy to pay my bill via PayPal or can I use another PayPal account?
You can pay your Etsy bill with any PayPal account you like.

Can I sign up as a seller on Etsy with a PayPal account, and use that to pay my fees?
No. Etsy accepts PayPal as a way to pay your bill but we still require a valid credit card to become an Etsy seller.

Etsy says my payment is "Pending." Why? How long will it remain pending?
A “Pending” status results when a payment is made with PayPal eCheck. eCheck payments are usually made when your PayPal account does not have a balance, and does not have a secondary backup funding source associated with it. eCheck payments made from a PayPal account associated with a U.S. bank account will be held as pending for 3-4 business days. eCheck payments made from a PayPal account associated with a bank account outside the U.S. will usually be held as pending for 7-8 business days. When the electronic funds transfer clears your bank, the payment will be completed, and your Etsy bill balance will be updated accordingly.

We hope you find this feature convenient. Let us know what you think in this dedicated discussion thread in our Forums. We will be sending an email out to all Etsy sellers regarding these changes before the next billing cycle.

Tech Updates: Improving Search

2009-03-09T13:00:00-05:00

Today, we rolled out some small improvements to the search experience on Etsy. In addition to explaining these improvements, we want to share with you more about our approach to improving Etsy’s search function. Improving search on Etsy is an ongoing, collaborative effort involving the entire Etsy community.

First, what’s launching today?

Search dropdown menu choice has been made persistent. Previously, when performing a search under Vintage for example, the search dropdown menu would switch back to Handmade after clicking to view an item in the search results. Your dropdown menu choice is now persistent when searching under Handmade, Vintage, Supplies or All Items—until you change it. We’ve also made it easier to return to your search results from an item listing page—just look for the “Search Results” link in the breadcrumb navigation below the Etsy logo.
Search result sort order has been made persistent. Similarly, if you like to sort search results by price for example, Etsy will remember your preference and allow you to keep sorting search results the way you want to for the length of your session on Etsy.com, until you decide to change it (or open a new browser window and start a new session). This is another small way to help make Etsy more searcher friendly.
A price filter has been added to search results for Materials. You can now set a price range for search results under Materials—look for the price filter under Search Tools on the right.

We’re working on a lot more that we want to tell you about.

Where We Are

Etsy’s search is faster and more active than ever. After replacing Etsy’s search technology with Solr—an industry-leading, open-source search system—we’ve seen significant increases in search speed and volume. Etsy engineer David aka davidgiffin led this work, which has led the way to all-time highs in the number of searches per day on Etsy.

Improving the speed of search on Etsy is part of a larger initiative aimed at making Etsy’s search simpler and more effective on the buyer side and more intelligent on the seller side. When we talk about the “buyer side of search,” we are generally referring to the search bar, dropdown menu and search results. When we talk about the “seller side of search,” we are referring to the item listing process, especially tagging. The listing process on the seller side directly impacts the search experience on the buyer side.

Here’s what we’re working on now:

Simplifying the Search Dropdown Menu
The current search dropdown menu is a confusing experience for many. For starters, there are too many options. In addition, we’re asking users to work too hard when we ask them to think about things like tags, titles or descriptions when they search. Most buyers or browsers don’t think in such a nuanced way when searching.

The default search option on Etsy is “Handmade Items: tags, titles.” The majority of searches are done with this setting, which excludes the description field for handmade items. The description field is also excluded from the search options for Vintage, Supplies and All Items. Many Vintage and Supplies sellers on Etsy have expressed concerns about this (there is an option to include the description field for Handmade items). We understand that concern and agree that the fields available to be searched should be consistent across Handmade, Vintage and Supplies.

We believe that including the option to search item descriptions will improve buyers’ chances of finding unique items that delight them. So we will be including an option to search descriptions for Handmade, Vintage, Supplies and All Items on search results pages, and making the search dropdown menu exactly that: Handmade, Vintage, Supplies, All Items. The other existing search dropdown options such as “Materials” and “Sellers: usernames” will still exist, as will the search dropdown options available from other areas of the site.

This is the first step in a gradual streamlining of Etsy’s contextual search dropdown menu.

Improving Accuracy
Currently, Etsy’s search results default to a reverse-chronological order display, with most recently listed items first. Item fields like tags and titles are weighted equally, which doesn’t always help buyers find what they’re looking for, particularly when item titles are written in a playful but non-descriptive way.

There will be no immediate changes to the way search results display on Etsy. Our goal is to give browsers and buyers an option to sort search results by relevancy, in addition to recency, to help them find items of interest.

Our current work on relevancy involves weighting some item fields more than others. What do we mean by weighting? We mean the importance attributed by the search engine to the types of fields being searched. For example, to return quality search results by relevancy, we may find we need to give item tags slightly more precedence than titles and significantly more precedence than descriptions. This would be due to the nature of the data: tags are usually more specific than titles, and descriptions need to be processed appropriately to determine relevancy. The recency of listings is also an important factor in returning quality search results on Etsy and will continue to be weighted highly.

We will continue to communicate our progress in this area. Improving search on Etsy is by its nature a collaborative community effort, as everything listed on the site comes from the community. Sellers need to understand how Etsy’s search function works in order to list items effectively and have their items be found.

Redesigning the Listing Process
That’s why we’re focused on redesigning the item listing process, which is really where it all begins when it comes to search on Etsy. Our search index is updated constantly by thousands of sellers around the world, all of whom have different ways of describing their items. We’re working to make this listing process more structured, intelligent, understandable and fun, and the steps we’re taking are all done with the search experience in mind.

We’re taking a thorough look at Etsy’s category structure and our current use of tags. Incorporating more structure here will ultimately enable category-specific filters on search results pages, allowing users to narrow down their search intuitively. It will enable multiple ways to shop: for example by category, by recipient, by material or by technique. Better data collection during the listing process could enable buyers to filter search results by location or by shipping preference. Making tag entry more intelligent and social will also help improve the Etsy search experience. We’re exploring a variety of ways to provide more direction and clarity during the listing process so that it’s easy for sellers to list items in such a way that the right people will find them.

As Etsy CEO Maria Thomas mentioned recently, we have Sep Kamvar, “one of the world’s brightest minds in personalized search,” working with us on this area in particular. Expect improvements throughout 2009. Details will be announced here on the Etsy Blog, in the Etsy Forums and to the Etsy News email list.

Come Try It Out
Improving search is an ongoing, iterative process involving continual testing and evaluation. We’ve been busy testing search adjustments with users here in Brooklyn at the Etsy Usability Lab as well as remotely, and we’re about to begin a series of Virtual Labs where we’ll give anyone interested access to a test area to try out different searches and discuss the future of Etsy search with us. The first of these sessions will take place this Friday, March 13 at 1:00 pm EDT (check when this is in your time zone). Save the date and join us!

Where We Want to Go

Search enhancements we’re actively exploring include things like links to related searches on search result pages, spell-checking functionality to suggest searches for misspelled words, advertising options for search result pages and many more features we’ll discuss as they near completion.

We’re excited to partner with you to make search on Etsy better. There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when you find that perfect, one-of-a-kind item on Etsy and we want more people around the world to experience it.

We've closed commenting on this article; please join in this Forum thread to discuss your questions or comments about these improvements to search. Also, be sure to mark your calendar for the special Virtual Lab session on Friday, March 13 at 1:00 pm EDT.

Tech Updates: Beta Release of Etsy Bill Payment with PayPal

2009-03-03T18:37:00-05:00

UPDATE: This feature is now live! Read about it here.

Sellers,

Today, Etsy is kicking off a beta test of functionality that allows sellers to pay their Etsy bills via PayPal. Many of you have asked to be able to pay your Etsy bills with PayPal. International sellers in particular overwhelmingly prefer PayPal as a method of payment, and sellers have told us it would be convenient to pay their Etsy bill with the same PayPal account they use to collect payments from sales on Etsy.

A small group of Etsy sellers will begin testing this functionality today. Once we have their feedback, we will communicate more details about the timing of a full launch. Details will be announced here on the Etsy Blog, in the Etsy Forums and to the Etsy News email list.

We have also updated the Etsy-to-PayPal experience: Etsy branding has been incorporated into the PayPal checkout pages linked from Etsy. This is designed to reduce buyer confusion during checkout. Now, when a buyer is sent to PayPal from Etsy during the Etsy checkout process, the Etsy logo will be visible at the top of the pages where the payment is made. We think this will help lessen the confusion experienced by some new buyers on Etsy, as we've seen in user testing, research, survey results and feedback from the community.

See how-tos about using PayPal.

More enhancements to the Etsy checkout process are in the works, and we will communicate further details about them as they near completion.

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Site Maintenance: Etsy Forums Only, 2am Monday March 2, 2009

2009-02-28T14:23:00-05:00

UPDATE: All done!

Etsy forum-goers,

We want to give you a heads up that early Monday morning, March 2, 2009, at 2am we will be performing site maintenance on Etsy's forums. The rest of Etsy will be functioning normally. We estimate that the forums will return at 7am. To translate these time on a world clock, try this tool. We will be posting updates on the progress at fix.etsy.com, but commenting will be closed there in order to handle the resulting high traffic.

Thank you so much for your patience as we make necessary tweaks. Hang in there!

P.S.
If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: Admin Announcement Forum

2009-02-05T13:51:00-05:00

Hello friends,

Today we launched a new Forum section for announcements from Etsy admin.

We are always striving to improve communication with our community, and we hope that this new Forum section is another step in that direction. Please understand that we will continue to engage with the community in the other sections of the Forums, and not all posts from admin will appear in the Announcements area. Instead, we plan to reserve it for those pieces of information we deem important enough to be exalted to this special section. As this is new for us too, there may be some "figuring out" about the best way to utilize this section and what types of information should be there. Nevertheless, we are excited that we have yet another tool to help get the word out to the community.

Please note: Only Etsy admin can post in this section of the Forums.

P.S.
If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Updates: Handmade Code & Etsy's Beta API

2009-02-04T10:34:00-05:00

I just moved to NYC in September, and I am still finding my way around the subway. For a while, I carried around a paper subway map, but in the rain and snow, it quickly became tattered and was very inconvenient to unfold in a crowded rush hour train. Then one day I heard about iTrans, a subway map application for the iPhone, so I installed it on the iPhone that I carry with me everywhere. Problem solved! The iTrans app makes my iPhone even more useful and indispensible to me, yet Apple did not develop it. Apple provided a free "SDK," or "software development kit," for developers so that they could build applications like the iTrans app that I have grown to love. A developer downloaded the SDK from Apple and built this app independently. These are amazing times we live in — when the ideas and work of many can join together to provide so many more options than one company ever could! At Etsy, we're excited to be opening our doors to this type of innovation.

In the technology world, there is always a lot of talk about "platforms," "APIs" (Application Programming Interface) and "SDKs" among developers, pundits, and company executives, but when you look beyond the jargon, they are all referring the same thing: a set of tools that allow developers to build completely new products based on the unique data and capabilities provided by the platform. In the earliest days of computing, companies like IBM provided the "platform" of choice for developers building applications, but the audience for those applications was typically guys in lab coats in the basement. Fast forward to today, and we are experiencing a golden age of platforms as developers are able build applications for everyone on platforms ranging from Facebook to the iPhone. Fundamentally, the companies behind successful platforms recognize that there is untapped creativity and unmet needs beyond the four walls of a company. Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, and other household technology names all have successful developer programs because, even with their vast resources, they realize that they can't build everything customers might want or need.

I am very familiar with the way this phenomenon unfolds. Before I joined Etsy, I ran the developer program at Yahoo! and managed the release of a number of major APIs there. "I do think developers will inherit the earth" — I said that in an interview with Wired and still believe that today. When I joined Etsy, one of the things I was most excited about was the proliferation of applications created by outside developers using data available from our servers. Historically, Etsy never made it difficult to access the functions that were created to serve applications like Time Machine 2, Color Picker and Treasury, but they were all officially unsupported for outside developers. Not surprisingly, developers "found" these capabilities and began building applications and services around them.

This is a well-worn path in the recent history of web-based platforms built by even the largest and most successful companies. I am sure many of you use Google Maps and find many of the "mashups" built by developers quite useful. By the time Google released an official Google Maps API in the summer of 2005, developers had already been hacking away at the Google Maps product for months — they had "found" the hooks into the system. Google took notice and began work on an official Maps API. As the Google Maps product manager at the time said half-jokingly to Wired when Google released the Maps API: "We are doing this [release of the Maps API] because they were already doing it." Motivated by inherent curiosity and the desire to build something new, developers push the boundaries of a platform and suggest what is possible. Passionate communities form around these technology platforms. New products and services are built on these platforms, which inspire other developers. It's good for everyone.

We think a formally supported Etsy API will be good for everyone, too. To that end, I am excited and proud to say that Etsy has begun an invite-only beta test of an official API with a select group of developers. It means supporting a new type of customer in addition to the buyers and sellers on Etsy: the developer. Releasing APIs takes significant thought and follow-through. So like those before us, before releasing the API publicly, we wanted to make sure that the API had the appropriate infrastructure that developers need to make them successful. We want to have the system in place to gather the appropriate information from developers to support the higher demands third party applications place on our system. That meant creating documentation, developer key provisioning, and stable supported methods that developers can depend on. We have spent the past few months putting these features together, with the effort being led by Tom Kutter aka kutty on the Product Team and Justin Sheckler aka Stunji on the Engineering Team. In reaching out to a number of developers who have already built Etsy applications, we have spoken to them about those applications and future ones they want to build. If you are a developer and are interested in joining this early-stage beta, please email us at developer@etsy.com.

For you, the sellers and buyers of Etsy, providing a developer platform is ultimately about more choice and possibility. The beautiful thing about providing a platform is that we simply don't know what will be built on it. We provide the tools to developers and step aside to let the magic happen. In the coming weeks, you will see more activity and announcements about the public release of the API. Stay tuned — we can't wait to see what developers build on the Etsy platform.

Please also stay tuned for a general Tech Update coming soon.

Tech Updates: Feed Enhancements, Google Base and More

2009-01-08T17:45:00-05:00

UPDATE 11/25/09: Google Product Search no longer supports submissions from individual sellers on marketplaces like Etsy. Etsy is partnering with Google as a participant in the Google Product Search Marketplace Partner Program. Learn more about Etsy's Google Product Search Syndication feature.

We've rolled out some small but important improvements to Etsy's RSS feeds. (What is RSS? Check out this post for an introduction.) These enhancements are designed to make Etsy's feeds more discoverable, useful and visible.

What's changed?

1. Shop feeds now include thumbnail images! They're also much easier to find. Previously shop feeds could only be found on shop pages. Now, in addition to shop pages, every item listing page on Etsy includes a link to that shop's feed. Look for it below the "Bookmark and Share" link under "Page Tools":

2. We've also made Favorites feeds easier to find. Did you know how easy it is to keep up with the latest items from your favorite sellers, or your friends' favorite sellers? All public Favorites pages now include a prominent link to the associated Favorites feed:

3. RSS autodiscovery has been implemented throughout the site. This means Etsy feeds will be easier to discover by both people and search engines. If you use the Mozilla Firefox web browser, you'll know you're on a page with a feed when you see the little RSS icon in the web address field. You can click it to access the feed.

4. Shop feeds now come pre-formatted for easy upload to Google Base! Uploading items to Google Base is a great way for sellers to help Google — specifically Google Product Search — find their items. Shoppers will then be able to find sellers' items via the 'Shopping' link on the upper left of any Google search page.

ps
If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.