RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, January 13, 2022
Happy 2022, and welcome to my latest summary of the top news, studies and helpful resources for ecommerce, social media, SEO and content marketing (with a special focus on Etsy), compiled since my last update in November (although a few articles are older than that). I didn't get completely caught up from the holiday season, but will cover those missing topics in the next few updates.
Note the new format - I've grouped topics a bit differently, and added a few new ones. I like it a lot better than the previous one, but will probably make at least a few changes, so please let me know if you have any complaints or suggestions. Post your thoughts here on Tumblr, email me through my website, or connect on Twitter.
Etsy is now refunding buyers out of seller funds almost immediately in some opened cases, including when the orderâs tracking shows the package as delivered. Recent examples include:
a case (with full tracking via Royal Mail) in the UK; seller is escalating with Support
a US case with full tracking; Etsy did refund the seller eventually after they escalated their complaint âThe solution is to request a call back from Etsy. Do not go through chat or email. I waited about 5 minutes to get a call back.â - what do those without access to call backs do?
a digital download case that may have been a scam; no word yet on a refund from Etsy
All payments had cleared. Some sellers have claimed that Etsy refused to refund them, even after the seller demonstrated compliance with Seller Protection rules. Most seem to involve âunauthorized useâ but in some cases the buyer wants to pay the seller back. Speculation is that this is due to a new bot from Etsy, which wouldnât surprise anyone who has been paying attention. This could also be related to the weird glut of order cancellations both buyers and sellers are complaining about: see here, here, and here.
US Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday were not quite as big as last year for online retail, possibly because some buyers heeded warnings and purchased holiday gifts earlier than usual. Amazon was up over the same period, however. Overall, US ecommerce sales were up over 2021, due to bigger totals before and after Cyber Week. While up from 2020, December sales did slow compared to November, possibly due to omicron. In the US, the areas with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates had the highest amount of in-person shopping.
Amazon expects to become the largest delivery service in the United States by early 2022, leaving UPS and FedEx behind. âThe retail giant now oversees thousands of last-mile delivery companies that deliver packages exclusively for Amazon, as well as a budding in-house network of planes, trucks and ships. It has also dotted the country with warehouses and air hubs that can speed along packagesâŚBy last August, Amazon was estimated to be delivering 66% of its own packages.â
When Etsy made some minor upgrades to the payment account page on January 1, some sellers were confused by the changed terminology, and mistakenly thought that there had been a fee increase. In particular, Etsy previously hid the payment processing fee on the line with the total saleâs credit to your account, while it now places that charge on a separate line. Etsy is also finally breaking out the taxes that it collects on sellers behalf, which should have been the way it was done from the beginning. This should make things easier for at least some of us.
Some sellers with payment reserves have been unable to get their money released when they ship with tracking, as Etsyâs system isnât recognizing the tracking. While the UK issue has been partially resolved, it went on for close to one month, and other countries such as Germany are still experiencing the same issue. This could also affect sellers elsewhere if shipping companies missed scans during the holiday season and the likely upcoming pandemic-related labour shortages.
Note that this lack of tracking is now happening with Etsyâs Pitney Bowes integration for letters in the US. See here and here.
Quite a few shop owners were surprised to find themselves with Star Seller badges in mid-December, even though they didnât qualify. See here, here, here and here. Note that the badges all disappeared again in January, and no one who didnât have at least 95% on shipping seemed to get one.
Klarna is now available for purchases from Spain and Australia.
Etsy was one of many large sites that went down due to the Google Cloud outage on November 16th.
The company continued to get good media mileage from Josh Silvermanâs assertions that Etsy sellers mostly aren't affected by supply chain issues, including an invite to a conference with President Biden. Here are stories from Fox, the New York Times, and CNBC.
There is also more attention to the problem of false intellectual property claims and counterfeit takedowns. From the first article: âThe takedowns spike around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and âitâs typically competitors trying to slow down someone else,â according to Brent Sausser, a partner at law firm Sausser Summers PC, which represents sellers in such disputes.â
The second article: âList a secondhand product from fashion companies like Michael Kors, Dior, or YSL, and you could soon be facing down an IP notice trying to block or restrict the sale, say online sellers. These takedowns can destabilize independent merchants and jeopardize their livelihoods. And now, sellers say overzealous takedowns are getting more and more intense across different e-commerce platforms, just as consumers are beginning to embrace secondhand fashion over buying directly from manufacturers and big-box retailers...The INFORM Consumers Act, supported by Amazon, Etsy, and eBay, would require online marketplaces to take additional steps to verify the identities of high-volume third-party sellers. Meanwhile, the SHOP SAFE Act â which has received pushback from online selling platforms â would open platforms up to lawsuits unless they take certain steps to prevent counterfeit products. But Liebesman and critics of the bill say the legislation as-is could end individualsâ and small businessesâ ability to sell products online.â
At least a few Etsy sellers are in trouble with the IRS because the tax agency doesnât believe that some of their PayPal sales in 2018 and â19 were actually made on Etsy. This Etsy forum thread tells one such story. If you know anyone affected, please have them contact me, as I can connect them with the others to share tactics on getting this fixed.
Speaking of the IRS, most US sellers will need to provide their tax information to Etsy under a new law that took effect January 1, 2022. See more here. As usual, a bunch of shops were put into vacation mode after following Etsyâs instructions. Making sure that your name is the exact same as on your SSN or EIN paperwork seems to help. If you are a non-US seller who received the messages, here is how to make sure Etsy doesnât shut you down.
Etsy published their trends for 2022 in December with a look back at 2021 as well. You will discover that emerald green searches are already up 60% in the last 3 months, 70âs lighting is hot, and colourful weddings will be back (searches up 223%).
They then followed up with âearly 2022 trendsâ, focussing on Valentineâs Day and Motherâs Day. Some recent search trends: â2,627% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for pastel room decorâŚ177% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for squigglesâŚ54% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for prisms or suncatchersâŚ368% YoY increase in searches for â70s lighting.â
SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES
Googleâs search algorithm spam update finished rolling out November 8th; you probably wonât see much impact if you donât do spammy things. But then they started a core update on November 17th, which took 1-2 weeks to roll out completely. Google says they will reconsider timing for next yearâs holiday shopping season after many SEOs complained. The last update seemed to hit some sites very hard, but Amazon, Walmart and Etsy were among the ecommerce winners, according to this study.
Google does recognize bold text on a page as a way of emphasizing the pageâs real meaning. That doesnât mean you should bold everything, though.
Moving a site or even just some pages? Google says to make sure you keep the redirect in place for at least a year [video], for SEO purposes.
Here is Googleâs search news update for December. [video]
SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site
Shopping on social media is expected to grow much faster than website-based ecommerce in the next few years, making close to 20% of overall online sales, driven primarily by Gen Z and millennials.
Hereâs a primer on social media advertising.
Facebook ad targeting will no longer allow many types of controversial categories as of January 19 2022. âIn other words, you wonât be able to target your ads based on topics like âWorld Diabetes Dayâ or other health causes, nor will you be able to hone in on elements related to sexual orientation, political beliefs, etcâŚ.[however] Facebook says that brands will still be able to use Engagement Custom Audiences in order to reach people whoâve liked their Page, or Facebook users whoâve watched their videos, while youâll also be able to use the same as the basis for Lookalike targeting, along with your own email lists.â
If you are using Facebook Ads to get signups/registrations, you probably should be using Lead Ads, which keep the registrant on Facebook & produced more signups for less spend in this A/B test.
It looks like Instagram is going to push videos more than still images in the future, which could change traffic and engagement for some businesses.
They are also testing a reverse-chronological feed, but it canât be set as the default, so users will have to select it each time they open Instagram.
Instagram hashtags are a crucial way to get noticed; learn how to use them and which ones are the most popular.
TikTok is projected to have more than 1.5 billion users some time in 2022.
Walmart was the first company to try out Twitterâs livestream shopping, on November 28.
After some tests, YouTube made âdislikesâ on videos private (only seen by the publisher).
How to get more followers on YouTube.
(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies)
If you arenât having much success with your email list, here are 17 tips that can improve your effectiveness.
ONLINE ADVERTISING (ALL EXCEPT SOCIAL MEDIA)
There was a Google Shopping ad bug on November 12-13 that hugely increased the cost-per-click. While it has long been fixed, check your reporting to see if you were affected, as you are likely eligible for refunds.
Google Adsâ âPerformance Maxâ campaigns are now available to all advertisers. Hereâs how to start using them. âMachine learning models then optimize bids for advertisersâ goals.â
Catch up on the most recent changes to Microsoft Ads here, including new countries where it is available. âMicrosoft has removed the minimum spend requirement to use Customer Match targeting with email match. Microsoft said the removal of this requirement âmakes it possible for more of you to use this feature that plays an important role in moving into the cookieless worldâŚThe Microsoft Audience Ads is now available to all customers in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Venezuela. Previously is was available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Germany.â
STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING
Google Analytics 4 will no longer track bounce rates; instead, it looks at engagement rates.
ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS (minus social media)
Amazonâs UK site will no longer accept UK-issued Visa cards as of January 19, 2022; they say it is due to the high Visa processing fees. Critics note that Amazonâs fees for its third party sellers can be as much as 20%.
US users will be able to pay with Venmo starting in 2022.
eBay had a disturbing âbugâ in early December, where some buyer and seller accounts were closed for no reason.
Shopify is testing a product search app that would include all websites built with Shopify. Businesses would have to opt in.
In the meantime, outside search engine traffic is still a way to get more eyes on your Shopify site; here is a somewhat-advanced set of tips for technical SEO on Shopify.
Linktree now offers the ability to feature Shopify items on your page. âOnce users link their Shopify accounts with Linktree, theyâll be able to choose which products or collections to promote. Thereâs also an option to live sync Shopify collections onto Linktree, so that any changes made on Shopify are reflected on Linktree automatically. Users can display up to six products at a time and host multiple links for different collections or stores.â
ArtFire closed, but didn't bother to notify its sellers directly. It just posted a notice on the website instead of sending an email. Itâs not clear if sellers can get their data now that the site has shut.
All Other Website Builders
GoDaddy experienced a large data breach, which may have exposed the information of 1.2 million customers. â...the company detected unauthorized access to its systems where it hosts and manages its customersâ WordPress servers...the unauthorized person used a compromised password to get access to GoDaddyâs systems around September 6. GoDaddy said it discovered the breach last week on November 17. Itâs not clear if the compromised password was protected with two-factor authentication.â
Wix now offers a buy now, pay later option, through PayPalâs Pay Later.
Klarna, a leader in âbuy now, pay laterâ (BNPL), is introducing âpay nowâ options, and will soon have a physical card available to US users. âThough behind in market share versus competitors like PayPal, Klarnaâs approach as a way to pay online and its share of checkout is providing some competition. Merchants are telling Klarna that its share of checkout is steadily growing after being in the U.S. market for just two years.â
Afterpay says its own BNPL services were up 34% during Cyber Week.
Not wanting to be beaten at the name game by Meta/Facebook, Square is now called Block, although the merchant services will still be known as Square.
Stamps has rebranded as Auctane, which is the name of one of Stampsâ subsidiaries. The new corp also owns Endicia, MetaPack, ShipStation and several other shipping applications.
BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE
Resale continues to increase in popularity, with some seeing it as a way to locate rare items, while others are all about sustainability. âCarolyn Thomas, president and CEO of Aravenda, a consignment software company, noted that the resale industry is growing 11 times faster than traditional retail, citing ThredUp data. This trend is likely linked to two factors: supply chain logistics and the consumerâs shift to a sustainable mindset.â
However, the popularity means there is a glut in some types of items, and people may struggle to find someone to take their items on consignment or even as donations. âThereâs not much demand for that perfect pencil skirt, or other things that seem so âyesterday.' Why invest in cashmere sweaters to wear around the house?" Corlett said. "Theyâre only going to accept what their client base is going to take.â Instead, timeless pieces â including handbags, totes and accessories â are selling well, as are items with sentimental value.â
Shipping prices have gone up everywhere, and the frequent push for low or even no shipping fees in ecommerce means some sellers might be seeing more complaints about those fees. While not everyone can find cheaper shipping methods, many will benefit from tips on reducing and dealing with shipping cost complaints.
No matter how good you are at running your business, sometimes you will need to apologize to a customer. Here are some really good tips, and 5 example letters. My favourite is âExplain what youâll do differentlyâ - as a customer, I want to know how you are going to prevent this from happening to others (or to me in the future).
IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS
Part of an ongoing series on product photography, here are articles on basic photo composition and then advanced photo composition.
To pull your social media posts and ads together, check out these simple design tips to remember. [infographic and text]
Creative Cloud Express is a new app from Adobe that has a free version as well as paid options. Adobe claims it is easier to learn than Photoshop, and it comes with templates as well as the ability to edit videos and images. âThe app seems to be designed for social media managers, small business owners, and anyone else who has something to promote but isnât a pro at graphic design.â
Here is a good collection of pdf, video, image and other tools with a simple interface, for free. I used a few of the pdf tools with great success.
Looking for new fonts? Check out 20 new ones that are free for commercial use.
MISCELLANEOUS (including humour)
Want to start learning how to code? Here are 11 free ways to pick up coding skills.