Ideas

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The top-voted question this week...

Celia writes:

"It is an onerous task for us to exclude countries we sell to. In some cases our items are prohibited to be sent to that country (for example jewelry and leather to Italy) and in some cases it is illegal for us to sell to that country (Cuba, Iran, etc).

"Right now we would have to list all the countries in the world we WOULD sell to and just leave those out. It would be so much easier to let us exclude countries and since Etsy is US based, it would be wonderful to have the countries that the USA has trade restrictions on automatically removed."

Thanks for the post, Celia. We're very well aware of this issue and have been discussing it internally. I don't have anything specific to add to the support responses yet, but I expect we'll have something more official soon.

I've mentioned on our internal threads that this was the top-voted question this week; that will reinforce the interest level in the topic.

Thanks again.

-M

Jerry Burkhart writes:

"I assume you have noticed that more than a few posters no longer bother with this thread. Do you think maybe it is because you decided to not answer anything but the fluff questions with fluff answers? and ignore a lot of serious questions that were voted top . :-)"

But if all the people who hate the answers have left, and you're still here, that must mean you like the answers! Thanks, Jerry!

;)

You're right that things have died down since the first threads, but how could they not? They are no longer novelties and some of the really burning questions had at least some discussion. Also, we haven't made any significant changes to the site since early November, so there's less new stuff to ask questions about. Hopefully people are also busy wrapping orders. :)

I think I've ignored or said I wouldn't reply to only three of the top-ten-voted questions. In every case it was because the person posting was venting in a way I don't want to encourage. If you want an example of how to post a frustrated, pointed question without crossing the line into venting, take a look at lobsterlu's question this week. It's a great example of being frustrated while still maintaining a good conversational tone. If people can't do that, I don't see a reason to answer them. But again, that's only a few obnoxious posts -- in general, I think the participants here are doing all they can to get their points across well and with respect, and I am trying to do exactly that, too.

Other than that I only ignore top-voted questions that are duplicates of ones I've answered that week, or which are so huge that I can't answer them in a single response.

As for my answers, for "fluff" they sure seem to produce a lot of counterarguments. :) If I were just saying "We appreciate great questions here, next question?" I don't think I would be getting the replies I do. Sometimes people say they didn't think they got a real answer, but more often they either like or disagree with the answer I do give.

Pretty much every week I say "heck yeah, you're totally right" to at least one question. In many cases, I directly act on my agreement with the poster. As one example, I pushed to add the "Art" link back to the home page based on benwill's arguments on the topic in these threads, and we did. I later visited Ben in his studio in Portland and talked with him for a while about his business and what else we could do to support it. We're now working on a project internally that stemmed directly from that conversation. I don't think that's fluff.

Conversely, if I don't agree with someone, I tell them that directly, and I do so every week. In many cases, people tell me that even though they don't like the answer, they do appreciate hearing a straight and final answer on a topic that otherwise they'd keep having to ask about. Better to know the request is unrealistic than to hold out hope indefinitely. I don't think that's fluff, either.

I'm sure some people have found I won't push to make the changes they care most about, and have left in frustration, but I hear from many others who come back to the thread every week because they appreciate hearing about these topics. While I won't promise release dates and can't give satisfactory answers to everything, I think even crossing off some questions from the list of concerns people have is worthwhile.

Also, I like talking to Etsy sellers, so I'll probably keep doing it even if traffic dies down quite a bit, in some form at least. :)

So yeah, I think your reaction is too cynical. Ask me something, and I'll give the best and most direct answer I can, within the bounds of setting expectations well (not overpromising), and being respectful of other sellers and the other people who work here.

That's what I think. :)

-M

Brandi writes:

"This is another of the cancellation questions: it has come to my attention recently that it's very possible that new to etsy customers don't actually know what a cancellation request is, and may actually believe that it's a do-over of some sort and that the money they paid to the seller would instantly go back onto their credit card so they could purchase another item. Now of course, this is not how it works at all, and as a seller, all I can do is cancel the transaction.

"Are there any plans to make the whole process more clear? It seems to me that the option being shown the way it is now gives the false impression that a purchase is not binding, and that pushing the button instantly erases the sale as if it never happened."

We have been doing research on some of the questions around this topic, so in that sense yes, there is work being done on this right now. I haven't yet gotten a recommendation on how to change things based on that research, though. It's clear that the changes we released did alter things a bunch, but in many ways that has turned out to be good.

I hear from custom sellers a lot about this, so that seems to be an area where we need to do more work.

So yes, we're working on this. Insert my usual disclaimed about no promised or implied release dates.

Thanks for bringing this up -- I hadn't personally thought about the effect on new buyers yet, and your points are interesting and worthwhile.

-M

Bones Nelson writes:

"Many, many sellers are noticing and commenting on threads about the fact that the Browse sections are very, very often dominated by a handful of shops. [....] Can you please tell us, Mark, is this a glitch? Is it a bug of some sort in the software? If so, when will it be fixed. If not, how can Etsy be more fair or individual shops be more competitive about placement in Browse?"

I notice cases like this, too, and no, it isn't intended to be that way.

We have continued to work on the Browse pages since launching them, and have made some substantial improvements. That will continue. I don't think you should view the goal of these pages as to be complete fairness -- the only way to get close to that is to put items in completely random order each time the page loads. We know through extensive testing that buyers buy a lot more if we order items based on relevance to their expressed interests. One person's relevance is another person's unfairness, and there is definitely no way to make everyone happy with any ordering we choose.

But that's not meant as a cop-out -- in some cases the ordering can be better than it is, and we do intend to keep improving these pages. (As to "when," I don't promise release dates here for reasons covered in previous threads.)

-M

Eileen writes:

"I would love more information in my stats. For one thing, I think it's crucial to be able to compare this month to this month last year. It's inconvenient to have to put in the specific dates every time you want to check this. I'm sure many of us would agree that this comparison is the one that really tells us how our business is going. Another thing I would love would be the ability to see how many of an item I've sold. For those of us who sell the same thing over and over it would be very helpful for inventory preparation. Shop stats are great. But I think there is more to be had."

I agree completely with all of this. I don't really have much to add other than "yes yes yes."

-M

Liz Hutnick writes:

"Same shops on the Front Page daily, sometimes several times a day. I know I have asked this before. Is this ever going to change?"

Hi, Liz. I've answered variants of this question before - I find the home page frustrating, too, and I want to make very substantial changes to it. Some of these would involve varying the items and shops shown on the home page much more often.

Since you're asking about shops' appearance, I will say that sometimes shops are featured frequently because they sell very frequently - great photos, high demand, good pricing, good fulfillment, and so on. As I mention in another answer above, complete fairness is not the goal. We try to make choices overall that we believe lead to the best health for the marketplace, which has to cover both seller and buyer happiness.

But not always. And sometimes we're just wrong. (Gasp! :)

So, yes, it will change, no, I'm not sure when or how yet, and yes, I'm sure the change will remove some current frustrations and introduce others, in the manner of all change. :)

(By the way, if I haven't said this recently, we haven't made substantial changes since early November and don't expect to until January. If we changed the home page in a substantial way right now, I'd fully expect a very long thread of sellers reminding me how close we are to the holidays!)

-M

April writes:

"I would really like the ability to have some sort of "Important Announcement" that displays on every page of my shop - including listings. Especially right now when I just need to let people know of shipping cut off times. As far as I know, there is no place that is static for all pages - such as announcements or banners ... and it would be really helpful if there was."

Yes, I've gotten that request before and I agree with it. We effectively have this in the vacation banner but not for when you are selling, which is too bad. I'll make sure the team that could add this knows about the request.

-M

sarantos writes:

"Will you please explain why week after week the ONLY jewelry items that have been featured in the new 3 'Gift" modules at the top of the main page are stamped alphabet items? So far I have seen alphabet necklace, alphabet necklace, alphabet ring, alphabet necklace, alphabet necklace, alphabet ring. Oh wait, I think there was an alphabet bracelet too. Why with all the diverse and massive amount of jewelry talent on this site do you focus on one narrow thing? Mix it up. Please. You really have low expectations of the buyers visiting the site."

Those are a new feature and one that we launched right before we stopped making changes for the holidays, so in their current form they are fairly limited. You can expect them to change in the future. That said, they've been very effective at driving interest.

I agree with the comment that we don't do a great job of showing the diversity of jewelry on the site. I find this a big frustration. We are currently running some tests around this concern and we're working on other projects related to it, too. You may be happier in the future as a result.

-M

Sara replies,

"Marc, I would advise you to be careful to warn sellers in as much detail as you can as soon as you can how the FP will change if it does so in a substantial way."

I hear you. We're not planning to do anything imminently at all. Right now I'm just expressing my own frustration with that feature of the site.

-M

colorblockshop, your question got a lot of votes but I believe I just answered it replying to another question. If I missed anything let me know.

-M

Sara writes:

"Last week I quoted your TOU regarding collectives. Do you think that the wording of the TOU as it stands implies (incorrectly) that Etsy-legal collectives can consist of only a few people?"

Hi, Sara. I'm not the expert on this and the person I most want to speak with about your posts is currently away. I'd like to defer answering you directly on this until the new year as a result. I'm not at all dismissing the concern; I'm just saying the TOU aren't directly my responsibility nor expertise, and so I want to check with the people who know them better before replying.

Feel free to remind me if I don't answer in the new year.

-M

Rebecca writes:

"Have admin given any consideration to the removal of call out posts on the etsy forums? I have seen personal details shared, shops with good reputation slandered. The thread will be closed however the 'callout' remains forever to be googled. Spam posts can be removed, will etsy consider removing call out posts as well."

Huh. I don't know the answer to that, but I'll look into it and post an answer in next week's thread.

-M

Eileen Flieg writes:

"Will Etsy consider providing better tools for sellers who are located in states that have difffering sales tax rates depending upon the city, town or county of the recipient? As it is right now, we can attempt to establish rates by zip code, but this is not reliable, as zip cross these bopundaries."

Hi, Eileen. Yes, we've been discussing this general topic and we're thinking about how best to make improvements here. As usual no promises, but I understand the complaint. I'll forward this note to the group that would do the work. Thanks for the suggestion.

-M

Cher writes:

"Virtually every item in my shop is made to order. Some of my buyers assume that there is "1 available" since it says that in every listing. I have made it as clear as possible that my items are made to order, but several buyers have mentioned to me, "well, it says 1 available". Is there a way to do away with "1 available" and make 'made to order" an option instead?"

Good idea. I'll forward it to the person most interested in this topic at Etsy. Thanks!

-M

Pam writes:

"Forgive me if this has already been asked, but is anyone working on offering a simple, black and white, short and sweet, packing slip for Direct Checkout orders? We've been asking this in the main forums but I've not seen a response from admin."

I've asked someone from that team to respond in this thread. Thanks for the suggestion.

-M

Jennifer (Jaye) Fox writes:

"Is Etsy giving any thoughts to expanding customer service? It seems that a lot of the frustration that people are experiencing--and the need for this thread in the first place--is due largely to the fact that it is so very difficult to get help directly from Etsy."

Well, we have already made a number of changes in the last few months, including launching a completely redone Help section that has been much more effective. Other recent projects launched as tests, too. So I'd restate your question as, are we going to continue improving the way we offer customer service, and the answer to that is yes. You can expect us to keep working on the way we communicate with people on the site, through Help, Support, these threads, and otherwise. I think it's a hugely important part of what we do.

-M

Carolyn Finnell writes:

"Fine art has never been promoted well on Etsy. I get the finds, and I check it every day, and I can tell you that the number of times a piece of art has been featured in it is miniscule. When you realize that Art is second only to Jewelry in the number of items listed on Etsy, it becomes obvious that Art is being sadly neglected. I respectfully request that Etsy start a Fine Art newsletter similar to Finds, Fashion, Weddings, etc. It would make a lot of artists happy and might very well increase Etsy's revenue."

I'm not sure I agree with your suggested solution, but I do agree with your problem statement. I'm not positive what solution we'll choose but we are actively looking into this. It is an area in which I have a lot of interest and I think Etsy could do better.

-M

Mary Anne writes:

"I agree with Marina, Marc. This feedback issue seems to be getting out of hand....on both sides of the fence. I refer you to the "Why is feedback abuse permitted?" thread on the Site Help forum. I think sellers are "running scared" and some buyers take advantage of that, for whatever reason. Sometimes, when I have my "buyer hat" on, I can see issues from that point of view, however, I do feel that the scales are balanced in favor of the buyer, leaving the seller often vulnerable and with no real recourse. The entire system needs to be re-tooled and re-written so that it is understandable and equatable on both sides. I am hearing too many horror stories about buyers who push the wrong button and create all kinds of feed-back havoc for the seller without understanding exactly what they did and/or that there is an alternative way of approaching the issue. Please do read this thread and others relating to this issue. I think you may hear the desperation in the sellers' voices. Ultimately, neither the seller or the buyer are being adequately served."

Yes, I've mentioned before I agree with many of the concerns around this. We are currently planning work around this.

As always, I'm not promising a particular solution or date, nor even *any* solution - what I'm promising is that we're working on it. We will want to be convinced that anything we change is better balanced between buyers' and sellers' interests, and benefits the marketplace overall. That will involve a lot of work and testing. But - we agree this issue is one that deserves that attention.

-M

Faro writes:

"I'd like to be able to save targeted searches for specific items I am hinting for, and have an email alert when something is listed in that specific search."

Yes, I want this, too. :) It comes up often in our discussions. I will reinvigorate the discussion of it with your post. :)

-M

Lauren Darby writes:

"Could,we please have a way to manage multiple shops from one account."

I get this request all the time. I don't have anyone assigned to it right now but I'm aware of the demand for it and we'll consider it. Thanks for the suggestion.

-M

Gwynne Collins writes:

"Better reporting for Direct Checkout that we can have without having to download to an excel spreadsheet. Breaking down the Sales/Fees/Refunds/Shipping/ and having TOTALS of each of these for the month."

I've asked someone from that team to reply in this thread. Thanks much.

-M

Sara replies:

"This is just the funniest thing to read because Rokali used to promise this all the time, and I think at one point said they'd get it done within the year (this was in 2008? 2009? something like that)."

Well, that's a great example of why not to promise dates. :)

-M

Okay, I'm done for the night. I'll read responses tomorrow, though I probably won't reply then. Thanks to all who participated! See you next week.

-M

Gwynne Collins from PenGwynneBeads says Edited on Dec 14, 2012
Better reporting for Direct Checkout that we can have without having to download to an excel spreadsheet.

Breaking down the Sales/Fees/Refunds/Shipping/ and having TOTALS of each of these for the month.

Would jump up and down for this! :)

===========

Hi Gwynne,

This is Chris from the DC team. We definitely understand the need for some deeper reporting and are considering what we can do in 2013 to make your shop easier to manage. Thank you for the feedback!

Regards,
Chris

Pam writes:

[i]s anyone working on offering a simple, black and white, short and sweet, packing slip for Direct Checkout orders?

========

Thanks Pam! We are, in fact, looking at making a simplified version of the printed receipt that can be used as a Packing Slip or Gift Receipt.

I don't have a concrete release date at present, but we do understand and see the need for this feature.

eric