Storque articles: ETSY NEWS

Tech Update plus Customer Care Tip: Hello Policy!

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:40:00 -0000

Dear Sellers,

We're all very excited to introduce the newest shop feature: The Shop Policy Page! Currently, most sellers post their shops' policies in either their shop announcement or profile, but we figured these areas can be better utilized for other your bio or promotions and news about your shop; it's time to give policies a special home. We hope that adding a new feature like this will help the communications between buyers and sellers, making transactions smoother and easier. Now there's a clear place where buyers can look for extra purchase guidelines and info, and sellers can worry less about any important information going unnoticed.

There are now links to your Policy Page from your main Shop page, right in between the link to your Profile and Favorites. Also, a link to your Policies will be included in each listing in your shop. You can edit your Policy Page from the Your Etsy page.

We are not requiring that sellers enter information into their Policy Pages; we welcome users to post their policies wherever they like. But we encourage it! Here is an introduction to the Shop Policy Page as well as some tips on what to consider when creating or modifying your shop's policy.

The following sections are available on the Policy Page; if you do not enter information into the section, its heading will NOT appear on your shop's Policy Page:

1. Welcome
Here you can welcome buyers to your policies; feel free to talk a little about your shop and your handmade or vintage items and supplies. Keep in mind that this is a buyer's first impression of your customer service. A message to let users know about your philosophy and creative process would be a great thing to include in your Welcome section.

2. Payment
Use this space to notify buyers of your shop's accepted payment types and deadlines for submitting payment.

3. Shipping
This is where to explain how you ship your items and when, if you offer upgrades or other options and what to do if a buyer has special shipping requests.

4. Refunds and Exchanges
Let your buyers know whether or not you can accept returns or exchanges on some/any/all of your items and if they have a time frame for contacting you regarding a return. If you do not offer refunds for shipping errors (ie. getting lost or damaged in the mail), this is a good place to mention that.

5. Additional Information
Do you welcome wholesale and consignment inquiries or custom Alchemy orders? This is the place to let everyone know! If you have any other tidbits that didn't quite fit into the other sections, go ahead and add them here.

Working out the best policies for your shop and business can be an ongoing process, sometimes you just have to deal with a bit of trial and error. Take some time to consider the following when adding information to your Shop Policy sections, but remember, your policies are up to you (as long as you adhere to Etsy's site wide policies: TOU and Dos & Don'ts).

PAYMENT
* Do you have the "other" option available? If so, the Policy Page is a great place to elaborate on the "other" types of payment accepted and how you handle will be invoicing the buyer.
* Is payment required within a certain time period? 24 hours? Three days? 2012?
* Is it necessary that you add tax for buyers from a certain state? Consult your local laws or check with an accountant if you're not sure ;)
* What should a buyer do if they need to cancel a purchase from your shop?
* Does your shop accept wampum? If you have any payment methods that need explaining, here is your space to do so.
* Do you require a verified address at PayPal? Must the PayPal and Etsy "ship to" addresses match?

SHIPPING
* Do you use USPS? UPS? Carrier pigeon?
* Are shipping upgrades an option? How/when should a buyer notify you of needing extra shipping options? Is expedited shipping available?
* Do you include delivery confirmation or insurance? Can they be purchased if it is not factored into the shipping rate?
* How do you package your items? Do you use recycled packing materials? Let you buyers know what they can expect.
* Can local buyers schedule a pick up? Please refer to this Storque article regarding safety.
* Do you offer international shipping? Is the buyer responsible for customs fees?
* When do you ship your items? Monday/Wednesday? Every other day? The full moon?
* How long should a buyer wait for a custom or made-to-order item to ship?
* Will you ship to a "giftee's" address?
* Does the buyer need to consider the weather or climate when expecting a package from your shop? Some items may freeze or melt in extreme temperatures, it's a good idea to let your buyers know how you will account for this.

REFUNDS and EXCHANGES
* What items in your shop can be returned for a refund or exchange? Are there sanitary issues with accepting returns on your items (in the case of earrings, underpants, bath & body products, etc.)?
* How long does a buyer have to contact you regarding a refund or exchange?
* Under what conditions will you offer refunds? Wrong size? Damage in transit?
* Who is responsible for the shipping cost of returned items?
* Can custom orders (if offered) be returned?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
* Does your shop have FAQs? What are they?
* What should a buyer do if there are options such as color choice or size?
* How should a buyer contact you? Convos? Ham radio?
* Do you offer discounts?
* Are you open to wholesale or bulk order requests? Consignment? Custom item inquiries? It's a good idea to let buyers know if these options are available and how to go about getting more information.
* Do you offer special gift wrapping or other gift services in your shop?
* Is your home pet friendly? Do items come from a non-smoking home? Do you craft outside where dandelions may end up in your art? If there are common allergens (like scents, nuts, animal products, etc.) you may want to use this space to notify your customers.
* Do you donate to charity? Buyers like to know this sorta thing about the shops where they spend their money. If you're crafting to save the phytoplankton, let the community know.

Remember, shop policy is just as unique as the handmade items in your shop, so Etsy admin can't decide what is best for you or your business. These are some guidelines to help you get started, so if you're not quite sure what will be ideal for you, perhaps consider asking some more seasoned sellers or find a local entrepreneur who can give you some tips. Don't worry, if you're not quite ready to lay down the law, filling out the Policy Page is optional but be sure to give some thought to your shop's policy before listing items for sale.

Please feel free to post your ideas, theories and beliefs about shop policies in the comments! Direct any questions to support@etsy.com. For sellers wishing to discuss their personal shop policies and best practices, please refer to this forum thread.

Ch-ch-ch-changes: Updates to Etsy's Site Policies

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:20:00 -0000

Dear Etsians,

It's spring! Time to refresh and renew. And that's exactly what we've been doing here at Etsy — a bit of spring cleaning. We brought out the site policies and noticed they were looking a little dusty, rusty and rough around the edges. So we've polished up the DOs & DON'Ts and Terms of Use and are pleased to present some shiny, new and improved updates!

Last week we posted a sneak peek preview of the proposed updates to get feedback from the community. After a very positive reception and a few minor tweaks, we're ready to put these into effect today.

For the most part, the policies are still the same. We've reorganized and clarified the existing policies to address some concerns expressed by members over the past year. We have made a few changes and additions. This update is in response to questions and issues raised by our community; our aim was to make the policies easier to understand and to address some of the preceived "gray areas." For your convenience, we'll outline the basic changes below, but we expect every member to read through the updated DOs & DON'Ts and Terms of Use in their entirety.

Both documents have been reorganized to provide a more logical arrangement of information. The Terms of Use has been tightened up as strictly the legal agreement for using the site. The DOs & DON'Ts contain all our site-wide polices that pertain to specific features and functions of Etsy. The DOs & DON'Ts have also been reformatted out of the constraints of the "Do/Don't" list structure.

Below is the Cliff's Notes version of the updates. (This will look familiar to those who participated in the preview last week.) Please follow the links to see the specific section where these policies are defined.

Collective shops: The definition and requirements for collective shops have been clarified. (These are the rules for shops with multiple people involved.)

Conversations: Sending a Convo to notify a seller that they are featured in a Treasury list is no longer explicitly considered "spam." Instead, common sense prevails — do not use Convos for advertising or promotional purposes.

Transaction disputes: Buyers and sellers are encouraged to communicate and resolve matters on their own. Transactions may only be reported in three situations: non-payment, fraud and non-delivery. Issues should only be reported after there has been an effort to resolve the issue between the buyer and seller.

Shop Policies: Sellers now have a dedicated page in their shops to outline personal policies on payment, shipping, returns/exchanges and more. Please note that your shop policies may not contradict any of Etsy's site-wide policies. You can read more about the Shop Policies feature in this article: Hello Policy.

Non-payment time frame: We have removed the "three days to pay" policy. We trust our sellers to use good judgement in developing their policies and provide excellent customer service. We encourage all sellers to post their payment terms on their Shop Policies page.

Feedback: We've outlined the specific situations in which Etsy will consider removing feedback for members. You have up to 30 days from the date feedback was left to contest feedback. Additionally, we've expanded Kiss and Make-Up to allow members to resolve neutral (as well as negative) feedback issues on their own. Another feedback change we'll be making soon: the ability to leave feedback will expire 90 days after the transaction date. That change will go into effect on July 1, 2008, so get your backlog of waiting feedbacks cleaned up before then.

Rules for listings: We've clarified a few of the long-standing gray areas, such as: defining vintage and supplies, conditional listings/upgrades, graphic design services and explicitly prohibited items.

Community: We've added an official anti-spam rule for the Forums and a policy prohibiting solicitation for donations in the community spaces.

Teams and Storque: Making a first time appearance in the DOs & DON'Ts are specific sections for participation in Teams and The Storque. Nothing here is really new; these polices just have a new home alongside all the others now.

Terms of Use: The alterations to the Terms of Use have been mostly cosmetic, so we won't get in to the nitty-gritty here. We cleaned up the language to make it easier to understand and reorganized some information to more appropriate sections. We added a new section on Meetings and removed the section on Feedback (as this info is more appropriate for the DOs & DON'Ts). In general, the Terms of Use and DOs & DON'Ts complement one another.

The updated DOs & DON'Ts and Terms of Use are effective as of today, May 15, 2008. However, there are some changes that will impact existing sellers and shops, and we want to give everyone a fair amount of time to adjust and edit. As such, we are allowing everyone a grace period of seven weeks. The deadline for full compliance is June 30, 2008 (by the end of the day at midnight EDT, for those of you who are sticklers or procrastinators). The grace period only applies to compliance with the changed policies as mentioned in this article.

Be sure the email address in your Account Info is up-to-date; we use this address to send vital messages about your account. An email will be sent to all members about this policy update, as well as the recent Search and Category changes. We are revising the Help section (FAQs and Help Guides) to be consistent. If you're interested in getting other important news sent directly to your inbox, subscribe to our Etsy News Alert emails.

If you'd like to comment, ask questions or discuss these updates to our policies, please join us in this Forum thread. Etsy Admin Beth (aka bethela) and Lauren (aka stellaloella) will also be hosting office hours in the Virtual Labs on Friday, May 16 at 3pm EDT to chat about the site policies.

Policy Sneak Peek: Upcoming Updates to Etsy's Site Rules

Thu, 08 May 2008 19:00:00 -0000

Dear Etsians,

One of the things I love most about working at Etsy is that, as a company, we strive to work with our members. We actively engage in discussions with our community, listen to your concerns and use that insight to help us shape the site.

The DOs & DON'Ts of Etsy have been in place for about a year now, and during that time, we've gotten a lot of feedback from our community on these site policies, through the Forums, Virtual Labs and emails. Internally, we've spent several months gathering that info, discussing and reworking our policies to make them clearer and more balanced — and we're now ready to share that work with you in a sneak preview.

Why a preview? As I mentioned, it's important for us to get feedback from the community, to build the site together with you. We'll be taking a few days to get your reactions and make any necessary final tweaks before we go live with the new DOs & DON'Ts.

For the most part, the policies remain the same, though we've reorganized things a bit. There are a handful of substantial changes, which I will highlight below. We've also published a special page where you can preview the updated DOs & DON'Ts in their entirety.

Reformatted: The most notable difference in this version is the format, and this is one of the key things we'd like your feedback on. The DOs & DON'Ts are no longer literally "Do/Don't" statements. It became clear to us that this rigid format was not as helpful as we had originally anticipated. We've also added direct links to Help resources for each section. (Although the document isn't literally "dos" and "don'ts" anymore, we're keeping the name "DOs & DON'Ts" because our members already know this as the name for our site rules.)

Collective shops: The definition and requirements for collective shops have been clarified. (These are the rules for shops with multiple people involved.)

Conversations: Sending a Convo to notify a seller that they are featured in a Treasury list will no longer explicitly considered "spam." Instead, common sense prevails — do not use Convos for advertising or promotional purposes.

Shop Policies: With the updated D&D, we'll be launching a new feature; each seller will have a dedicated page in their shop to outline personal policies on payment, shipping, returns/exchanges and more. Please note that your shop policies may not contradict any of Etsy's site-wide policies. (More info on this to come soon!)

Non-payment time frame: We've removed the site-wide "three days to pay" policy. We trust our sellers to use good judgement in developing their policies and provide excellent customer service.

Feedback: We've outlined the specific situations and time frame in which Etsy will consider removing feedback. We will also be tweaking the feedback system's functionality: Kiss and Make Up will be available for neutral feedback and the ability to leave feedback will now expire 90 days after the transaction date.

Rules for listings: We've clarified a few of the long-standing gray areas, such as: defining vintage and supplies, conditional listings/upgrades, graphic design services and explicitly prohibited items.

Community: We've added an official anti-spam rule for the Forums and a policy prohibiting solicitation for donations in community spaces.

Teams and Storque: Making a first time appearance in the DOs & DON'Ts are specific sections for participation in Teams and The Storque. Nothing here is really new; these polices just have a new home alongside all the others now.

The Terms of Use, Help Guides and FAQs for the site will also be updated to reflect the changes in the DOs & DON'Ts. Those pieces will launch along with the final version of the DOs & DON'Ts. Once we gather your feedback and make changes (if needed), we will launch everything together. At that time, we will send an email notice to all members. We will also allow a grace period for all members to comply with the any changed policies.

We ask that you join us for discussion in this Forum thread and a special Virtual Labs roundtable chat on Friday, May 9 at 2:00 PM EDT. Please be sure to read the preview of the entire revised DOs & DON'Ts to provide us with the most accurate feedback.

Tech Updates: Report this Post

Tue, 06 May 2008 20:45:00 -0000

Today, we launched a report this post feature to Etsy's forums. The Community Team at Etsy always appreciates your help in keeping a lively and fun community atmosphere when participating in the forums and we hope this new feature will help make your posting experience run much smoother! The report this post feature should be used when you see a post that doesn't fit within Etsy's forum guidelines and you want to alert the Community Team.

Here's what you'll see on each forum post:

When you click the "report this post" text, it will take you to a screen that looks like this:

Once you have filled out the necessary information in the submission form, just click submit report and your report will be sent directly to the community inbox completely anonymously! This should make the forums run a lot smoother and help the Community Team stay on top of concerns amidst the community in a timely fashion.

Thanks again for all your help and hope you enjoy,

Etsy

Father's Day Showcase on Sale this Thursday, May 8th 2008

Tue, 06 May 2008 18:35:00 -0000

Dear Sellers:

Baseball season has started and lots of gardening has begun. It's almost summer and it's hard to believe Father's Day is just around the corner!

The Father's Day Showcase will be going on sale this Thursday, May 8th at 12:00pm (EDT). This Showcase will be linked by way of a special themed banner on the homepage of Etsy.

We hope that sellers choose items that they would give their own fathers, a friend's dad or your husband. Some ideas may include cuffflinks, sport-related items, t-shirts or new briefcases! It is a great place for sellers to give buyers gift ideas for the very special men in their lives.

It goes on sale Thursday, May 8th at 12:00 pm EDT.

Go to the Showcase Gateway to purchase a spot.
It goes live on Monday, May 12th at 12 am (midnight) EST and will run until June 15th (Father's Day).
For $15 USD, Etsy sellers can purchase a 24 hour spot in the Father's Day Showcase, which is linked to from a prominent banner on Etsy's homepage.
You now administer which items you want to be fed into your Showcase slot through the tool in Your Shop. Read more about this process here.

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.

Etsy-wide Communications: Summary of April 25, 2008 Community Chatt

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:32:00 -0000

Hi there Sellers!

Last Friday's Virtual Labs' Community Chatt with Matt, (and marymary, Vanessa, TeenAngster and HeyMichelle) was about ways to get important information out to our sellers. This was a great brainstorming session, and we gathered some ideas that we're very excited about!

Please see the minutes of the Communications Chatt to see what we talked about!

This Week's Chatt (with Rob)
Topic:
Sellers expanding their shops: employees, outsourcing, and how this impacts *handmade*

Some successful sellers are telling us that they need employees to keep expanding their handmade Etsy businesses. Please come to discuss this important topic! Chatt special guest Rob aka Rokali, founder and CEO of Etsy, will be leading this one. Not to be missed!

Agenda:
For those selling handmade goods: Are employees necessary for a seller to "make a living making things"? Are the items still "handmade"?

What sort of hired help is needed for handmade sellers? Is *what* potential employees do for the shop relevant?

Does the number of employees that a business has impact whether the shop belongs on Etsy? If so, how many is too many?

Are different rules necessary for sellers of commercial supplies and vintage goods? Are employees acceptable for these types of shops?

What sort of information do you need (for example, links to information about employment law) to grow a business that includes employees?

Should sellers who are outsourcing, involved in collectives, and employing people be approved by Etsy? What sort of approval process would you be interested in?

About Community Chatt With Matt:
Each week Etsy admin Matt invites you to join us for a live, online discussion of topics of interest to the Etsy community. Our intention is to give buyers and sellers alike the opportunity to speak directly and candidly to Etsy Admin. We listen, take notes, and make sure that everybody who wants to gets a chance to speak. We can always be reached at community@etsy.com with more ideas and suggestions.

You can view minutes from past meetings HERE.

Discuss the Chatt with Rob in this forum thread.

Tech Update: Changes to Search and Categories are Live!

Mon, 05 May 2008 18:01:00 -0000

Today, we launched some exciting changes to Etsy's search engine. These changes were requested by the community and we think they help improve the shopping experience on Etsy.

We've separated item search into three new searches: Handmade, Vintage, and Supplies. The default is Handmade, with Vintage and Supplies available in the drop-down. You can also select "All items" to search Handmade, Supplies, and Vintage all at once.

Consequently, it is critical that sellers categorize and tag their items correctly in order to place them within the proper search. Last week, we posted some information that will help you with that process. You can read the initial heads up here — Tech Updates: Upcoming Changes to Search and Categories — and its companion, follow-up article here — Upcoming Changes to Search: Your Questions Answered.

Thank you for helping us with these site improvements! You can also sign up for Etsy News Email Alerts to have breaking news delivered to your inbox.

Etsy Statistics: April $howers

Fri, 02 May 2008 17:05:00 -0000

Frankly, we were a little worried about April’s numbers at the start of the month: Easter, a big shopping holiday, was in March this year, and April has one less day than March.

Overall, our fears were unfounded — while our growth wasn’t quite as robust as March, we did hit some terrific milestones.
The numbers:

295,797,972 pageviews, up 4% compared to March.
There were 710,000 new items listed, up 1%.
427,000 items sold, up 6% from March’s number.
We added over 65,000 new buyers, essentially flat vs. March, but an impressive number, nonetheless.

The milestones? We sold over $6 million for the first time ever, an 8% increase over March! Also, April 30th was Etsy’s biggest day ever, with 16,580 items sold, representing $256,000. Thanks, CNN!

Etsy in the Press: Busy-ness News

Thu, 01 May 2008 20:44:00 -0000

Hustle and bustle. There is a lot of talk these days about the state of the economy, and as that relates to Etsy, we are no exception. Except... much of the Etsy-buzz in the press lately has actually been good news. Huzzah!

Yesterday, the American Morning show on CNN featured Etsy as part of a story about low-risk online entrepreneurial opportunities during a recession. Co-host Kiran Chetry and Polly LaBarre (co-author of the bestselling book Mavericks At Work) mentioned several key Etsy stats, and featured items from theblackapple and girlsavage. They also shared a few anecdotes, and had many kind and upbeat things to say about Etsy in general. We'll post a link to the video when it becomes available.

Another bastion of business news, namely Business Week, chose Rob as one of their "Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech." Click the link with that name to see the interview (Rob is number seven) and glean a few words of wisdom.

Down under, The Age newspaper wrote a nifty piece about how Etsy is moving some of the local craft scene online, and what that has meant to local entrepreneurs. The story includes a few choice quotes from Vanessa, as well as a few Melbourne-based crafters. Tuesday saw, or rather heard, an interview with Jean Railla (founder of getcrafty.com) on New Hampshire Public Radio. The topic was the monetization of the DIY craft movement, and in part how Etsy fits into that puzzle. Finally, in our own backyard, the New York Post mentions us as part of a round-up of promising new web companies based in the Big Apple. Busy, indeed! And with that, I'm going back to work.

Looking for more Etsy in the Press mentions past? Check out the EtsyinthePress Featured Column!

In Case of Emergency: Off-site Blog for Updates

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:18:00 -0000

In the event that Etsy becomes unreachable, please head over to http://fix.etsy.com for updates. This blog is hosted off-site, which means it's not inside our main cluster of servers in New Jersey. Instead, it's on a server in Virginia.

Since we'll only use this blog in the event that Etsy itself is totally unreachable for a significant amount of time (which means, I hope we never use it), you might want to make a note of the url now and bookmark the link. Typing the address in directly will be the only way to get there.

We have decided to use the off-site blog in lieu of emailing everyone for several reasons: it takes over 24 hours to send all Etsians an email; when our servers are down or unreachable we most likely can't send any emails; and we'd be emailing thousands of people who don't want to get an email.

Thanks!

P.S. If you're feeling adventurous, you can browse around our old blog and see what we had before the Storque. It goes all the way back to our very first post (at the bottom of the page), when I was the only person posting. How times have changed!