Busy Week

I don't know exactly what I've done all week, but it seems to be flying by.

Some errands, like riding up to the grocery store to get ingredients for dinner, and some usual cat box pooper scooping, and some vacuuming and that reminds me I really need to wash out the fridge today. And vacuum the floors again.

Some lawn mowing yesterday.

And lots of working on my etsy shops.

Last week Etsy changed the search system from most recently listed to most relevant. And the fur is flying all over the Etsy forums. Sellers have been used to buyers finding their shops from a search system that really never worked all that well, and sellers have been spending hundreds of dollars renewing their items so that when a buyer searched for said items, their shop would hopefully come up in the first few pages of the search. It was a crap shoot and savvy sellers would pack their titles and tags with non-related key words to come up in all sorts of non-related searches. Now, when a buyer is searching for a specific item, only specific items come up in the search whether they were listed yesterday or three months ago. From a buying perspective, it's wonderful. But now that buyers can see 50 like items all together on a page or two, they are being a little more discerning in their shopping and are not just grabbing the first thing that comes up that is anywhere near what they are looking for in their search. And sellers need to re-learn how to title and tag so that their items are more relevant. And instead of going in and working on tags and titles, sellers are flocking to the forums and complaining that it's not fair and they won't be able to feed their kids because they aren't getting any sales with the new search and goddammit it's just NOT FAIR and why should a shop that doesn't spend hundreds of dollars in renewal fees be seen alongside their shop in a search. It's exhausting just reading all of the complaints and again, get your ass into your shop and work on it. But, it's always easier to complain instead of do.

Wonder if the recent stock market crash and horrible economic forecasts have anything to do with sales slowing down? Nah, it's all Etsy's fault.

So, I've been working on re-doing some of my titles and changing a few things around. My sales did slow down some, too, but yesterday and today have picked back up some in the supply shop anyway. I've never sold a lot in the handmade shop, but have had a few sales this month in that shop too. Actually, if things keep going the way they are now, it looks like it might be a pretty good month after all.

How's the weather? We seem to have gotten a break this summer with the rest of the country roasting in the hottest summer ever, but we haven't had as many over 100 degree days so far. It's actually been pleasant enough to where I don't have to turn on the a/c until after lunchtime, and can even have the windows open in the morning. For all that fresh Bakersfield air to come in. I'm happy about that because the less we use the a/c the less we have to pay in electric bills.

Waah Waah Waah

The whining and crying and moaning and groaning has once again started over on the Etsy forums. Etsy is trying a new approach to the search system, a system that as it is now has totally frustrated me every time I've done a specific search for anything because so much junk that has nothing to do with what I'm searching for comes up every. single. time. The new search will be on relevancy rather than just recency, and the search will only go into effect when you type something into the search bar. Browsing through categories will still bring up the most recently listed. They are trying the relevancy search out on three consecutive Thursdays, yesterday being the second time, and then will go over sales figures to see if relevancy brings in more sales than recency. And then go from there.

It's not set in stone yet folks, and remember, the whole rest of the internet works on relevancy.

But, according to some of the sellers on Etsy, the relevancy search will mean the deaths of their businesses because nobody will ever be able to find them ever again and items listed a few months ago may show up before theirs! Oh, the horror! Hey, why don't you try making your titles and tags more relevant for starters? And, remember, if someone is browsing a category, YOUR NEWLY LISTED ITEM WILL STILL SHOW UP IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER!

Yesterday one of the most successful sellers on Etsy was complaining that since her items are artsy and aren't something people generally use a search bar to find, they just happen to stumble across them, that this relevancy search will completely shut down her business. And Etsy is her job. And she can't pay her bills if buyers can't find her. Waah waah waah. You've had over 11000-yes ELEVEN THOUSAND-sales on Etsy and since you've had so many sales I guess you think you are the only seller that Etsy caters to? How about the seller who's only had 100 sales and the relevancy search will help buyers find her wares more easily because unrelated crap won't bog down their search, or better yet, totally frustrate them so that they shop somewhere else that has a better, MORE RELEVANT search? But, no, it's all about you, isn't it?

She was whining that she refused to list or renew anything yesterday because nobody would find her anyway and she hadn't had a sale all day. Poor thing! MAYBE YOU DIDN'T HAVE A SALE ALL DAY BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T LIST ANYTHING! I'm sorry, but I just don't feel any sympathy when top sellers come into the forums and whine about not having a sale all day. No sympathy at all.

Last week another of the more successful type sellers was also crying about how the relevancy search had made her sales just stop overnight. I had to laugh because another person in the thread responded to her by pointing out that she had 4 sales that day, 4 the day before, 5 the day before that, and so on. Stopped overnight my ass!

Anyway, just felt like ranting today, I'm not about to go into the forums and rant, that just causes trouble!

Oh, and the seller who didn't have a sale all day yesterday? She has 13 sales so far for today, so maybe whining in the forums works for sales after all?