Hello Etsians!

UPDATE:
There's even more info in this post, Upcoming Changes to Search: Your Questions Answered. Ok, here's the original post... 

On Monday, May 5, 2008, some important and exciting changes are happening with searching and categories. These changes are in response to feedback from all around the Etsy community, and were first introduced back in February with Rob’s Focus on Handmade Storque article. Here's a rundown of what is to come:

We’ll be separating item search into three new searches: Handmade, Vintage, and Supplies.

Handmade Items – This is the default search. This searches all items on Etsy that are not tagged with “commercial” and do not have “vintage” as the first tag. Handmade supplies will still appear in this search. You can search tags and titles or tags, titles, and descriptions.

Supplies – This will search all of the supplies on Etsy, both handmade and commercial. Any item tagged “supplies” will show up in the results. Only crafting supplies should be tagged supplies.

Vintage – This special vintage search returns only items within the Vintage category. This means items with vintage as their first tag (selected from the dropdown menu in the listing process). Only items 20 years or older can go in Vintage.

The existing search will also remain available. Just select “All items” from the search bar to search handmade, supplies, and vintage all at once.

We’ll also be making changes to the category browser. Currently a top-level category such as Jewelry shows only items within the Jewelry category. The subcategories and sub-subcategories contain any items that have the tag “jewelry,” but are not necessarily in the Jewelry category. We call this “category bleed.”

The changes on May 5 will eliminate category bleed. All subcategories will only show items from within that category. Meaning the subcategories of “jewelry” will no longer pull up jewelry supplies.

The Patterns category is also gearing up for change, although this will not be part of the May 5 update. In order to help keep things organized, Patterns will be moving into the supplies category. A new drop-down will appear in the listing process for Patterns, prompting you to select handmade (if it’s your own pattern) or commercial (if it’s someone else’s pattern)

What you need to know as a seller:

To make sure your items are coming up in the right search, you may need to adjust your tags.

• Make sure your listings comply with Etsy’s policies. In short, any item not handmade by you (or a member of your collective if you qualify as one) must be tagged with the word commercial. Commercial Supplies may only be listed in the Supplies category, and must have commercial as one of the tags. Unaltered vintage items must be at least 20 years old, may only be listed in the Vintage category, and must have the tag commercial. Sellers who refuse to follow these rules may be penalized.
• Properly tag handmade items (including supplies). Make sure these do not have the tag commercial, or your item will not appear in handmade search.
• Tag handmade supplies with the word handmade. This will allow them to show up in the handmade subcategory under Supplies.
• What about vintage supplies? Vintage supplies are art/craft supplies that are 20 years or older. They may be listed in either Vintage or Supplies, at the discretion of the seller. As with all unaltered vintage items, they must have the tag commercial. Non-vintage supplies listed in the Vintage category will be removed.
• Tag patterns with handmade/commercial. This category will be moved into Supplies very soon, and your items will be moved for you. Handmade/original patterns: please add the tag handmade so your items will appear in the handmade subcategory. Commercial patterns: you must add the tag commercial, and may not use the tag handmade.

How to edit your already listed item's category and tags:

On the second page of the Item Listing process, you chose a Category and tags for your items. If you need to edit these, go to Your Etsy, and click edit next to the listing. Click on the pencil icon near the tags to go straight to the item’s tags. Click the x next to any tag to delete it, and choose a new category from the drop-down menu if necessary. When you are done making changes, click Last at the bottom of the page, review your changes, then click Finish. Done!

We hope these important changes will benefit the entire Etsy Community.  We want to improve the shopping experience for buyers, and thus,  help our sellers reach their customers in a more targeted way. We realize it takes effort and time to retag, and that many of you will have questions. Please see the forum thread.