Ideas Questions for Admin for the week of Jan. 4th, 2013

Voting is now enabled for this thread.

Posted at 11:58 am Jan 4, 2013 EST

I will be turning off voting shortly. Please get your final votes in!

Posted at 5:12 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

The top-voted question this week was by Brandi from PuurBody:

"As the number of cancellation requests myself and other sellers have received continues to increase, I'm wondering what (if any) plans Etsy has to make sure that this feature is not used as a comparison shopping tool."

Hi, Brandi,

Thanks for the question. Honestly I had not considered this pattern, so your post is especially helpful in that it gives me more to work with.

This topic, cancelations, has come up a *lot* in recent threads and it has our full attention. We're talking over how best to address this and are collecting data about the usage since the feature changed. As soon as we have something to announce about it, we'll announce it widely and I'll be sure to cover it here.

Thanks again and sorry for the frustrations around this.

-M

Posted at 6:05 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

sherry truitt from sherrytruitt says:

"""

Hi Marc, Happy New Year!

Why do the TOU's make it so difficult to cultivate the repeat customer? Asking customers to opt- in to a mailing list is not a prudent solution. They don't, it doesn't work because it require extra effort from a busy buyer.

Coupons with an initial order rarely are used by the time a customer returns; that is if they ever do.

This goes against common sense when running a small business. On my website, I send postcards and emails to my customers a few times a year. My repeat customer rate is 6 times that of etsy. That should speak for itself.

Contacting past customers is not SPAM, it is an important tool to grow a small business and I hope you will consider allowing it in the future. I cannot tell you how many times a brief note from Zappos or Sundance with a coupon has spurred me to an impulse purchase.

At etsy, you see the value of connection by sending random gifts to customers (sellers) . I'm certain it is appreciated. I get calendars from my attorney and insurance agent and the company I buy my gift boxes from. I have never, not once had a customer tell me not to contact them again.

Using a simple program like Mail Chimp allows the buyer to opt out with one click. It also provides crucial data like how many customers open the email, use the coupon code etc...When I look at that data, I know how valuable the contact is.

Many thanks for your consideration.

xoSherry

****

Thanks, Sherry, and happy new year to you as well.

Erin's comment below yours is one of the reasons we haven't done this so far - if a buyer buys from 20 Etsy sellers and they all independently start sending emails and offers with the Etsy name on them, that could certainly feel like an avalanche of emails from Etsy, even if really the shops are all unrelated other than selling here.

That said, I agree with your concerns. We're working on several projects related to this topic, and while I can't say which of them might work out or be successful (launched), I can say we're very actively trying to find good approaches to solving this for you.

Thanks for the ideas!

-M

Posted at 6:16 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Sara from ananemone says:

"Marc, you said previously that you thought Etsy's implementation of policies on collectives was in line with how you thought the site should work; that is to say, some larger collectives did fit with the site's ethos and etc. But you also said that you thought there was no discrepancy between the allowance of larger collectives and the TOU as they are stated."

Hi, Sara,

One of the things that I say in the top post each week is that I only manage part of the company, and that for some things I feel more comfortable referring to other Admin who can provide more specific answers. Your questions on this may be the single best example from these threads I can think of. :) You definitely are asking about details that I don't feel comfortable addressing.

Right after posting this, I will ask someone from the Policy team to respond to your post. I do think what you're asking about is important and worth addressing; I just want to make sure that I neither conflict with the people best suited to answer, nor wade too far into "just my opinion" answers since the last time I tried that for you, I think I increased your concerns rather than solving them.

I guess that's all a too-verbose way of saying, someone else will answer on this.

Thanks for posting. While I know I'm not helping you out on this, I am very appreciative that you want this to be more clear and accurate.

-M

Posted at 6:24 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Caroline from peaseblossomstudio says:

"Can we please have an easier system for leaving feedback? Either a spot next to the feedback left for us in which we can leave it, or at least the date sold showing. At present I have to keep two windows open and go to multiple screens in one of them, just to leave one feedback."

Hi, Caroline,

As you know we're actively working on feedback. I'll forward this to the team working on it so they know about the request. Thanks much for posting it!

-M

Posted at 6:27 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Erin from LythaStudios says:

"Hi Marc. A couple of weeks ago I posted an idea for a listing header and footer that would be shop wide, and editable from your "Info & Appearance" page. The idea being that if you were going out of town for a few days, you could instantly put a header in all of your listings saying so, or if a big holiday shipping deadline was coming up, or passed, - that information could easily be dropped into the top of all listings. The editable footer could have your shipping information or what ever information you might want to change sometimes, etc. Have you folks kicked it around any?"

Hi, Erin,

Thanks for the post, and also for the excellent convo from last week -- sorry I haven't replied to that yet.

On this topic, the team looking into this area is just getting started for the new year, so no, nothing has been done or discussed on it yet. I do agree that the request is a good one, and I'll forward this to the right person so they can consider it.

Thanks again.

-M

Posted at 6:34 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Faith from AlaiynaBSoaps says:

"Shipping labels - need the ability to "Ship Another" from the same order. Some orders need to be shipped in more than one package and sometimes orders need to be re-shipped for a variety of reasons (order never arrived, replacement needs to be sent, etc.) Would love a "Ship Another" button to print another shipping label from the order after the original shipping label has been purchased/printed. Right now, one needs to use an other service (paypal/shipnow or usps. com) to do this."

Hi, Faith,

Thanks for the post. I've asked a member of that team to reply to this. Look for their answer in this thread.

Thanks again.

-M

Posted at 6:36 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Jewelry Supplies from nottoto says:

"""

Hi Marc, let me try yet again :)


SHIPPING PROFILES AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING TO LISTINGS

Are shipping profiles ever going to be programmed to automatically update to the listings that use them, once we make any changes to that profile?

With the advent of US postal rates increasing very soon, wouldn't this be the perfect time to implement this?

Admin said last October that it's a great idea and was being considered as an optional choice for sellers. What's the latest news on this?

Thanks!

****

Hi,

First, I mostly answer in order of vote count, so if you don't get a reply, it usually means the question didn't get enough votes. These threads get a *lot* of votes now, so not everything makes it to the top of the list.

I've asked a member of the team to post a reply to this. Look for their answer in this thread.

Thanks for posting.

-M

Posted at 6:40 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

necklush from necklush says:

"Hi:) We need a standard printable report for Direct Checkout or Shop Payments (not sure what you call it!) ... something like Paypal's monthly report where we can print it out on one page. Currently it's page after page of transactions... I know there is a CSV file but how about a standard report for easy tax time and for book keeping. I have made this suggestion before but no one seems to vote on it. Hopefully we can get an answer or you can pass along our suggestion regardless. Thanks! Troy"

Hi, Troy, thanks for the post.

In an earlier thread, someone asked for something similar, and a member of the Payments team posted a reply:

www.etsy.com/teams/7714/ideas/discuss/11433876/page/28/?post_id=152...

I'll make sure to forward your post so that the details you ask for are considered as well.

Thanks again.

-M

Posted at 6:44 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Gypsymoon Chainmail from GypsymoonChain says:

Why are people with legitimate complaints or problems being banned from posting in the forums? Someone will bring up a problem, get a (usually) canned answer, and when they complain they are muted? I am honestly confused, are we not supposed to ask or something?

****

Hi! I'm RobWhite, and I'm on the Forums Team. Since this is a matter particular to the Forums Team, it's something that I can offer a comment on.

The Forums Team enforces the policies for Etsy's Forums and community spaces in the Forums themselves. You can find those policies here:

www.etsy.com/dosdonts.php#thecommunity

In every case surrounding the suspension of anyone's Etsy Forums privileges, those suspensions occurred only after multiple violations of our policies over time or a serious violation that warranted immediate action. We do not act on the basis of whether or not a member has what could be perceived as a complaint, but whether or not individual posts constitute violations of Etsy policy. We make clear on the site and in emails that we send that repeated violations of Etsy policy can result in a loss of Forums privileges.

Any member can be critical of Etsy in constructive fashion while complying with Etsy policy; certainly some do, and the insight they provide is valuable. Any member who repeatedly violates our policies for the Forums puts their Forums privileges at risk.

Posted at 6:51 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

AnyOldTime from AnyOldTime says:

"""

Follow up Answers to Previously Asked Questions

Hi Marc! Maybe next week could you devote this space to answers to questions you were either referring to other staff or finding out about or discussing with other staff?

For instance, I may have missed it, but I know I asked if we could have a repository for all of the clarifications for the TOU and policy in one place, rather than having to rely on recollections of sellers of what staff said in the forums.

You responded that it was a great suggestion and I'm wondering what became of that suggestion among the other things you are working on answers for? Thanks!

****

Hi, AnyOldTime,

Thanks for posting. I am going to say no to this request, though. I can certainly understand why you would want the updates, but I don't want to post expectations here about when or if something is going to ship. In general, the answer should come in the form of "here it is" rather than anything else.

Of course, if we decide to look into something, work on it for a while, and then decide not to do it, that won't happen, but in that case I'm sure the topic will come up again and I'll reply to it, clarifying, at that point.

My reason for saying no is primarily to avoid this having even the appearance of a request-tracking system. We do read and consider these threads and when I say "I'll forward that," I definitely do, and the forwards often produce long discussions internally. Beyond that, I feel it's important not to make promises about if or when something will ship. We can make better products if we take the time to test, validate, and improve features, or decide not to ship them, right up to the day that they launch.

That's not to say these threads are the only way we can communicate with you. :) But at least for this format, we won't be using that format. You are always welcome to post asking for an update on an older topic if you want.

In this case, we haven't yet had the discussion on this topic since some of the people who would need to be involved are currently out.

Thanks again for the post.

-M

Posted at 6:53 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Tina Mammoser from TinaMammoserArt says:

"Could convo folders please act as folders, and not just as tagging systems? It's very confusing to put things in folders and not be able to delete them from the main inbox - because we're not actually putting them in folders. Would help many sellers better organise communication, particularly custom order sellers I'd think. :)"

Hi, Tina,

I would happily bang my head against the nearest wall to express my shared frustration on this topic. :) Let me know if you need to see a picture of that happening. :)

We have been working on this and had to slow it down for the holiday freeze period. We'll pick it up again shortly. At that point I will stop banging my head against the wall. :)

-M

Posted at 6:59 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Picket Fence Confections from pfconfections says:

"""

Any hope that listing variations will soon include price?

I know I'm not alone in feeling like their shop looks cluttered because this is not available. All of my cookie designs are available in regular and gluten free. Gluten free is more expensive. So, I have to create a separate listing for those. I end up with two listings (occasionally 4 if a design comes in different quantities) with the same pictures and description. It creates too many unnecessary pages for people to look through.

Please tell me this is in the works! Thanks!

****

Hi,

Thanks for the comment. This is, I think, the single most frequent request around variations, if that helps. I will forward your comment onto the team. We're very happy with the early usage of variations and I'd like to see it continue to improve as people use it more.

Thanks again.

-M

Posted at 7:02 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Ann from PrettyVagrant says:

"It was mentioned that goggle shopping adds would not be paid for after the New Year. I still am getting a few hits in my stats from this feature. Of course most of us can not afford the fees associated with Goggles new "pay system".
Is Etsy still paying for these? If so, do you have any idea how long they will continue to do so? I would hate for Etsy to loose their presence in Goggle shopping because the small work from home shops can not afford to advertise."

Hi, Ann,

We haven't made an announcements about this yet, but intend to post about our plans for the future soon. Thanks much for posting on this and happy new year.

-M

Posted at 7:04 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Deb from DellaCreations says:

"I'm referring to the date that shows on our customer's receipt/invoice which is calculated from the processing time we select when listing the item. It's great that it shows up on the customer's receipt/invoice, but it disappears when the item has been marked as shipped. I think it's important that the original "scheduled to ship by date" remains on the receipt/invoice and the actual ship date is added to it. If there should ever be a question of when the item was promised to ship by and when it actually did ship, the info would be right on their receipt. Also, if I ship earlier than initially promised, I would like the customer to be aware of that (the whole under promise and over deliver goes a long way toward making a customer happy)."

Hi, Deb,

I don't know the answer to your question. I've asked a member of the team to post a reply. Thanks much for letting me know and "hear, hear!" to underpromising and overdelivering! :)

-M

Posted at 7:06 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Erin from LythaStudios says:

"Marc - last year you mentioned that big changes (and small, and anything that wasn't really critical) were being held off until after the holiday rush. I was wondering if you had any kinds of heads up on when we might start seeing new features, and any hints on what they might be?"

Hi again, Erin,

We have ended the holiday freeze period and have started deploying code again very regularly. Some of those changes will start to become visible in experiments and launches very soon.

As before, we don't pre-announce launches unless there is some exceptional circumstance, but the announcements will be posted in Forums and on the blog.

Hope this helps.

-M

Posted at 7:08 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Nelleke from HandcraftedorVintage says:

"Yesterday our fellow seller traftgirl55 started this thread:

www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/11500372/page/1

We discovered that HipSwap used an Etsy API to draw numerous listings of Etsy to their site..."

Hi, Nelleke,

Thanks for the post. I'm aware of the issue you're talking about.

In general, I think it's better that we not answer questions like this -- if an issue was resolved, I'm glad it was resolved and would rather not restart it, even by accident. I will say that we were made aware of this concern by sellers, and I very much appreciate that people reported it to us.

I realize this answer is vague, and am making it so intentionally. Like I say, let sleeping dogs lie and all that...

Thanks again.

-M

Posted at 7:12 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

sharon from EmbellishedLife2 says:

"In view of this thread (about the lack of supply seller visibility on Etsy):
www.etsy.com/teams/7714/ideas/discuss/11288769/page/1 "

Hi, sharon,

I found that thread very helpful. We're looking at this issue closely and while we don't have anything to announce yet, you definitely have been heard on this topic.

Thanks again.

-M

Posted at 7:16 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Marina Vazzana from wordology says:

"Is it possible for non-US shops to have Etsy Gift Cards and purchase them with PayPal? I know we are unable to have Direct Checkout at the moment but isn't GC do-able via PayPal?"

Hi, Marina,

I suggested exactly the same thing many months ago, as we prepared to launch Gift Cards, and we found we weren't able to do it. We did look into it and considered it very closely. That said, we are very focused on extending our Payments features internationally and you can expect to see progress on this in the future.

Thanks for the suggestion.

-M

Posted at 7:18 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Okay, all, I need to head out. Thank you for all the posts and comments. I'll read through the whole thread again tomorrow morning, but likely won't reply then.

Happy new year and have a great week!

-M

Posted at 7:19 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Faith from AlaiynaBSoaps says

Shipping labels - need the ability to "Ship Another" from the same order. Some orders need to be shipped in more than one package and sometimes orders need to be re-shipped for a variety of reasons (order never arrived, replacement needs to be sent, etc.) Would love a "Ship Another" button to print another shipping label from the order after the original shipping label has been purchased/printed. Right now, one needs to use an other service (paypal/shipnow or usps. com) to do this.

******

Hello Faith. Thank you for your comment.

You are correct, and we are aware that there are scenarios in which one purchase needs more than one package for fulfillment, and we don't currently support that with Etsy Shipping Labels.

Multiple shipments per order is definitely under strong consideration as something we'll do in 2013. You have probably noticed that we've made numerous changes to the Shipping Labels user interface over the past couple of months. One of the motivations behind these changes was so that we could add multiple shipments per order capability down the road.

I can't provide a specific date for when (or necessarily even if) this will be released but it's a reasonable request and we'd like to be able to accomodate it. Your input is helpful for us to understand how important this feature may be to Shipping Labels users.

Thanks!
eric

Posted at 10:01 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Jewelry Supplies from nottoto says

[...]

SHIPPING PROFILES AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING TO LISTINGS

Are shipping profiles ever going to be programmed to automatically update to the listings that use them, once we make any changes to that profile?

With the advent of US postal rates increasing very soon, wouldn't this be the perfect time to implement this?

Admin said last October that it's a great idea and was being considered as an optional choice for sellers. What's the latest news on this?

*****

Hello!

I think that what you're really expressing here is that it's a lot of work to maintain proper postage prices across a shop's entire inventory. We understand this to be a problem and we're evaluating different solutions for approaching this. Some potential approaches utilize Shipping Profiles, and some do not.

We're not likely to make the change you describe in the near future -- like it or not, Shipping Profiles (as well as the Listing Variations bulk editor) weren't designed to auto-apply, and it would probably be really confusing to just change the underlying behavior without providing the appropriate tools so you can see which profiles are connected to which listings. It's a good idea, but not a simple change.

For now, you'll need to keep using the Shipping Profiles batch tool to apply Shipping Profiles to listings. We will be looking for solutions to make configuring shipping rates easier, and I hope it's something we can address before too long. At this point, I can't provide any more specific guidance than that.

thank you,
eric

Posted at 10:20 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Deb from DellaCreations says

RE: The "scheduled to ship by" date

I'm referring to the date that shows on our customer's receipt/invoice which is calculated from the processing time we select when listing the item. It's great that it shows up on the customer's receipt/invoice, but it disappears when the item has been marked as shipped. I think it's important that the original "scheduled to ship by date" remains on the receipt/invoice and the actual ship date is added to it. If there should ever be a question of when the item was promised to ship by and when it actually did ship, the info would be right on their receipt. Also, if I ship earlier than initially promised, I would like the customer to be aware of that (the whole under promise and over deliver goes a long way toward making a customer happy).

******

Hello Deb.

Interesting comment. I think that one the assumptions around the "Ships by" versus "Shipped" date was that once the item shipped, the "Ships by" date is less important. Also, as you may know, we've been evaluating displaying expected arrival dates, and, at some point, there's just too much information on the page.

All that said, for the vast majority of sellers, the only dates we'd display are the "Ships by" and "Shipped" date, and I can completely get that you're proud to get the customer's item out the door early, and that it's something that's likely to make your customers happy.

I don't know if this is something we'll do, but I will take a note of it and bring it up with the folks who worked on it. Thank you for your feedback.

eric

Posted at 10:33 pm Jan 4, 2013 EST

Sara from ananemone says:

When you read the TOU regarding collectives, they state three scenarios in which collectives are allowed (and only 3).

1. "Collaboration," which gives as an example 2 artists completing separate parts of one project.

2. "Sharing a Shop," which gives three examples, each of which (re: handmade) has 2 people sharing a shop.

3. "Shop Management Help," which gives two examples where 2 family members or friends are involved in one shop.

So you have, in the TOU, at least 6 explicit examples of acceptable collectives, and each has 2 people in it and suggests a very small-scale "collective."

This contributes to an impression that collectives on Etsy must be small; there is no example that says, "Shop Management Help - you own a shop, and have 12 employees who design and produce your items while you handle customer service inquiries."

While the last example is clearly something Etsy accepts, you must understand why many sellers find it surprising and to some degree unacceptable - it's not suggested anywhere in the TOU.

****

Hi Sara!

This is Mark from Etsy’s Policy team. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this; I definitely hear what you are saying. I would love to give a Policy perspective on what our intentions are for wording our policies in such a way.

Please remember that the examples described in the three types of collective/multi-person shops listed in the DO’s and DON’Ts are just that: examples to help illustrate the concept of a multi-person shop on Etsy. As examples, they are not intended to be hard and fast rules about how many people may be allowed as a part of a multi-person shop.

You are absolutely correct that scenarios involving just two people appear ofen in these examples. But this is not intended to imply that ‘2’ is some sort of limit for what is allowed, but rather to keep the example scenarios as simple to understand as possible. By choosing the smallest possible number for a multi-person shop, it helps us to easily illustrate the concepts of the three types of allowed multi-person shops on Etsy. Many people reading the DO's and DON'Ts are encountering the policies for the first time, and don't always have a more established member's depth of knowledge of our policies and marketplace.

However, I do understand your concern that this may give some members the impression that these numbers themselves are intended to be guidelines. Of course, it isn’t our intention to create such an impression. We will take that critique about our wording into consideration.

Finally, please keep in mind that the number of people involved in a multi-person shop is only one factor in determining whether or not a shop meets our criteria. On Policy team, we are always trying to find the right balance between specificity and generality. Were we to pick different numbers in our examples in the DO’s and DON’Ts, we might be inviting different types of confusion about what is allowable.

As always, I strongly encourage anybody who has specific questions about their own shop or items to contact Etsy’s Marketplace Integrity team. They are the experts who know best how our policy is applied in real-world scenarios, which are often quite complex! They are always happy to help and can be reached at integrity@etsy.com.

Posted at 4:57 am Jan 7, 2013 EST

Since a couple of folks had some additional questions regarding Forums policy enforcement, I wanted to offer one more post on that.

To put it plainly: we do not suspend any member's Forum privileges because they have posted something that has upset a member of the Forums Team (or any other staff member, for that matter). Period. Any supposition to that effect is incorrect.

Our team is made up of members from multiple countries and different cultural backgrounds. These inform the discussions that we have in some instances of Forums policy violation, recognizing the effect that differing cultures, senses of humor, comfort levels with the English language and other factors might affect one's post and the way it could be perceived.

In fact, this demonstrates the problem with defining some specific list of things that aren't okay to say: it makes no allowances for these differences in the way that people communicate. With that said, we feel that virtually any style of communication can be respectful of others as well as stay comfortably within the rest of our policies for community spaces.

Posted at 3:32 pm Jan 7, 2013 EST