#microbusinesses

As you know, I usually post my summary of Etsy's quarterly earnings reports here on Tumblr, but this one ran a lot longer than usual and had some important content, so I published on my website blog instead: https://www.cindylouwho2.com/blog/2022/2/28/etsy-fourth-quarter-2021-earnings-report-big-gains-and-a-bigger-fee-increase-for-sellers

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.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

Etsy is now refunding buyers out of seller funds almost immediately in some opened cases, including when the order’s 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 “The 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.” - 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 “unauthorized use” 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 wouldn’t 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. “The 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 packages…By last August, Amazon was estimated to be delivering 66% of its own packages.”

ETSY NEWS

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 sale’s 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 Etsy’s system isn’t 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 Etsy’s 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 didn’t qualify. See here, here, here and here. Note that the badges all disappeared again in January, and no one who didn’t 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 Silverman’s 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: “The takedowns spike around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and “it’s typically competitors trying to slow down someone else,” according to Brent Sausser, a partner at law firm Sausser Summers PC, which represents sellers in such disputes.” The second article: “List 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 — which has received pushback from online selling platforms — 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 individuals’ and small businesses’ ability to sell products online.”

At least a few Etsy sellers are in trouble with the IRS because the tax agency doesn’t believe that some of their PayPal sales in 2018 and ‘19 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 Etsy’s 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 doesn’t 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, 70’s lighting is hot, and colourful weddings will be back (searches up 223%). They then followed up with “early 2022 trends”, focussing on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Some recent search trends: “2,627% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for pastel room decor…177% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for squiggles…54% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for prisms or suncatchers…368% YoY increase in searches for ‘70s lighting.”

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Google’s search algorithm spam update finished rolling out November 8th; you probably won’t see much impact if you don’t 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 year’s 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 page’s real meaning. That doesn’t 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 Google’s search news update for December. [video]

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

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.

Here’s a primer on social media advertising.

Facebook

Facebook ad targeting will no longer allow many types of controversial categories as of January 19 2022. “In other words, you won’t be able to target your ads based on topics like ‘World Diabetes Day’ or other health causes, nor will you be able to hone in on elements related to sexual orientation, political beliefs, etc….[however] Facebook says that brands will still be able to use Engagement Custom Audiences in order to reach people who’ve liked their Page, or Facebook users who’ve watched their videos, while you’ll also be able to use the same as the basis for Lookalike targeting, along with your own email lists.”

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.

Instagram

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 can’t 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

TikTok is projected to have more than 1.5 billion users some time in 2022.

Twitter

Walmart was the first company to try out Twitter’s livestream shopping, on November 28.

YouTube

After some tests, YouTube made “dislikes” on videos private (only seen by the publisher).

How to get more followers on YouTube.

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies)

If you aren’t 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 Ads’ “Performance Max” campaigns are now available to all advertisers. Here’s how to start using them. “Machine learning models then optimize bids for advertisers’ goals.”

Catch up on the most recent changes to Microsoft Ads here, including new countries where it is available. “Microsoft has removed the minimum spend requirement to use Customer Match targeting with email match. Microsoft said the removal of this requirement “makes it possible for more of you to use this feature that plays an important role in moving into the cookieless world…The 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.”

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)

Amazon

Amazon’s 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 Amazon’s 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

eBay had a disturbing “bug” in early December, where some buyer and seller accounts were closed for no reason.

Shopify

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. “Once users link their Shopify accounts with Linktree, they’ll be able to choose which products or collections to promote. There’s 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.”

All Other Marketplaces

ArtFire closed, but didn't bother to notify its sellers directly. It just posted a notice on the website instead of sending an email. It’s 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. “...the company detected unauthorized access to its systems where it hosts and manages its customers’ WordPress servers...the unauthorized person used a compromised password to get access to GoDaddy’s systems around September 6. GoDaddy said it discovered the breach last week on November 17. It’s not clear if the compromised password was protected with two-factor authentication.”

Wix now offers a buy now, pay later option, through PayPal’s Pay Later.

Payment Processing

Klarna, a leader in “buy now, pay later” (BNPL), is introducing “pay now” options, and will soon have a physical card available to US users. “Though behind in market share versus competitors like PayPal, Klarna’s 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.”

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.

Shipping

Stamps has rebranded as Auctane, which is the name of one of Stamps’ 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. “Carolyn 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 consumer’s shift to a sustainable mindset.” 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. “There’s not much demand for that perfect pencil skirt, or other things that seem so ‘yesterday.' Why invest in cashmere sweaters to wear around the house?" Corlett said. "They’re only going to accept what their client base is going to take.” Instead, timeless pieces — including handbags, totes and accessories — are selling well, as are items with sentimental value.”

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 “Explain what you’ll do differently” - 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. “The app seems to be designed for social media managers, small business owners, and anyone else who has something to promote but isn’t a pro at graphic design.”

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)

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 mid-September (although a few articles are older than that).

I am taking the next week off, so the next report won't be out until late October at the earliest. Let me know if there is anything that you would like me to focus on!

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

The new USPS policies that will result in slower delivery of around 30% of its volume kick in on October 1. “One way the USPS plans to reduce costs is by using fewer airplanes to ship mail and instead use more trucks, which can move a higher volume of mail for less money. Ground transportation is also more reliable than air in all seasons, according to the USPS...Individuals and businesses will face longer delivery times for both outgoing and incoming mail that needs to travel by postal truck for farther distances. So the changes will especially impact people sending letters or packages from coast to coast -- and also to and from Alaska and Hawaii, as well as to and from Puerto Rico and US territories that rely on air transportation.” If you aren’t already warning customers of slower delivery based on the past 18 months, this might be a good time to start. You can check the projected delivery times between continental US zip codes here. [soft paywall; Washington Post] USPS has temporarily stopped delivering to New Zealand due to pandemic limitations, after stopping Australian shipments in September. Canada Post has warned that mail to both Australia and New Zealand may experience serious delays at the moment, but packages are still being accepted.

Some buyers from Ireland are having their purchases delayed or even returned. An Post says it is the fault of Brexit and recent EU customs changes. Canada Post mentions Ireland on their service alerts page as well.

Not all of the facts are clear, but many Etsy sellers of vintage luxury goods and famous brands have had items removed by bots, likely due to Etsy’s crackdown on counterfeit items. Some items have been approved and relisted, but until that happens, many sellers are notified that they will have a payment hold placed on their shop. This appears to be very temporary for most. Since Etsy is not divulging much publicly, those of you who sell on multiple channels may want to avoid listing such items on Etsy at the moment. Etsy user JMOldeVintage compiled a list of some of the Etsy forum threads on the topic here. This is one of the earliest threads, discussing designer patterns.

ETSY NEWS

Etsy is getting some media attention for its shoppable virtual house, its biggest move into augmented reality (AR) yet. As you tour the house (full 360 views and staircases included), you can hover and click on items, leading you back to the product for sale. AR is increasingly common in retail, so check out the site if you have the time - it is worth understanding the possibilities. The Etsy blog post is here.

Not only does Etsy publish trend guides for sellers, they also do it for buyers. According to Etsy, holiday trends this year will include non-traditional colours such as neon (in the past 3 months, Etsy counts a “47% increase in searches for colorful, pastel, or neon holiday items, and a 41% increase in searches for jewel tone items.”), and they have also seen “a 168% increase in searches on Etsy for vintage or antique brooches...searches for checkerboard prints are up 37%...searches for mushroom decor up 366%...1,056% increase in searches for easy DIY kits, ...a 68% increase in searches for outdoor blankets.”

Attention holiday ornament & small decor sellers: Etsy is promoting a short sale October 11-12.”...to participate: schedule a sale for at least 20% off of one or more of your holiday ornaments from October 11-12.”

Some buyers can now post videos with their reviews, at least on the app. This appears to be a really slow rollout.

Etsy is promoting their new partnership with Airbnb; you can apply “to be part of our curated collection of delightful finds that make an Airbnb stay a 5-star experience. Have a couple of home goods, hosting elements or personalized touches that would be a good fit? Hit submit by October 4, 2021 for the chance to be included!”

There has been an odd change to Etsy search: free shipping no longer controls the top pages of large Canadian searches.

US sellers can now purchase eco-friendly packaging at a discounted price. “Etsy has partnered with EcoEnclose to bring sellers in the US packaging made from 100% recycled materials or certified responsibly sourced paper...57% of Etsy buyers surveyed indicated that they were more likely to make a purchase if the item shipped in recyclable packaging.” There is also a slightly more detailed blog post on the topic.

Many small businesses who moved to producing pandemic supplies have found themselves with excess unwanted stock and even a large financial loss. [mentions Etsy and the mask surge]

CEO Josh Silverman sold a bunch of stock recently. Like, a lot.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

More image recognition and other goodies are coming to Google search and Google Shopping. For example, you may be able to take a photo of a broken object and ask Google how to fix it. By early 2022, you will be able to “...take a picture of a pattern on a shirt and ask Google to find the same pattern on socks.” TechCrunch explains some shopping examples here.

Don’t waste your time getting backlinks through directories or guest articles; Google has made it clear they are not allowed.

If you are a regular reader, you know that SEO goes well beyond Google and Bing. This article summarizes the various social media and other sites that you shouldn’t neglect, with some tips for each. But if you want to drive a lot of traffic from YouTube, make sure you do your keyword research first.

If you want to sound clueless when you talk about SEO, you should use the words “LSI keywords.” If you would rather sound smart, read this piece on why LSI keywords aren’t an SEO thing.

No doubt you’ve heard that Google has over 200 ranking factors, but John Mueller says that isn’t really accurate any more, given the way their algorithms work now. [text & video]

Semi-advanced content: Google has released a new guide for ecommerce SEO, written for people who are designing websites. Even if you are using a website builder, there are a few things worth knowing, including how to launch your site and make sure Google indexes it.

Semrush, a popular but expensive SEO tool, is offering free use of its backlink and social media toolkits until the end of this year if you sign up for a free account (not the 7-day free trial account; you’ll have to pay after 7 days if you sign up for that.) Here’s their explanation.

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

Very few people will open your emails if the emails don’t end up in their inboxes. There are many things you can do to improve your chances.

Social media is an excellent way to keep up with fashion trends, as many trends start there.

“Nobody cares about your product or service” is a great headline, but more importantly, it is the truth. You can make your content marketing much better by focussing on the customer and their problems that need solving. [article is translated from Spanish and has some grammar/punctuation issues because of it, but don’t let that distract you from the truth!]

Twitter is rolling out tipping onsite, at the moment only on the iOS app, but Android is also in the works. Bitcoin is one of the 9 accepted payment methods. They’ve also introduced the ability to authenticate NFTs.

TikTok has a new profile test which lets you feature particular videos on your profile. Confused by TikTok? Here’s a good beginners guide. They’ve now reached 1 billion active users each month.

Snapchat has a new trends tool that provides insight into both users and what they are talking about.

Reddit can be difficult to use for ecommerce as many users are very concerned about spammers, but there are some ways to make it work.

Here are some tips on using hashtags on Instagram, and a list of the top 50 hashtags on the platform this year. It’s a deep dive, so if you feel your hashtag game could improve, definitely read it!

There has been so much negative Facebook news later - and well-deserved, I might add - that it is hard to know where to start. The Verge has a good piece on why this isn't just more bad press.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Now that Google’s original plan to deal with the loss of tracking data is in shambles, they’ve released their new model: data-driven attribution (DDA). This will be available for existing ads accounts and even Google Analytics 4 in the coming months, so if you advertise with Google, it’s time to learn the new options (although you can opt out right now). “Data-driven attribution looks at all the interactions—including clicks and video engagements—on your Search (including Shopping), YouTube, and Display ads in Google Ads. By comparing the paths of customers who convert to the paths of customers who don’t, the model identifies patterns among those ad interactions that lead to conversions.”

If you have a strategy beforehand, stopping your paid search ads temporarily can teach you a lot about their usefulness. Using a calculation such as return on ad spend (ROAS) “...doesn’t tell us if we actually lost money buying users who would have converted anyway. And it doesn’t show what might have happened if we simply didn’t spend.”

Whenever possible, you should test your ad copy, to make sure it converts.

In case you missed it, the free Google Shopping ads now require unique product identifiers or they may be rejected.

Maybe it’s because I don’t use Google Ads at the moment, but I have to admit it feels like they change something every week and then there are multiple articles. Here’s one on the changes to display campaigns.

Facebook has been one of the most vigorous complainers on the topic of Apple’s recent privacy updates that make it easy to stop advertisers and apps from tracking your behaviour. They’ve upgraded their messaging and ad tools to help small businesses compensate for the loss of data. And, as explained here [soft paywall; Washington Post], some apps are still tracking you anyway, likely through device fingerprinting, so it may not be the advertiser Armageddon - or the privacy Eden - that some would lead you to believe.

Reddit has increased its traffic and ad revenue; next on the list is increasing their advertiser options.

Shopify continues to add new integrations, including a new deal with Yahoo which allows site owners to use various premium Yahoo ad tools.

If you’d like to start advertising on LinkedIn, this is a great review of the various types and how to approach them.

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

If you still haven’t started with Google Analytics 4 yet, here’s how to get it working using Google Tag Manager.

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

TikTok Shopping was introduced late in September, and includes ads, live shopping events,and integrations with website builders such as Wix. They’ve also integrated Square.

Go Daddy is introducing a card reader and a countertop terminal for accepting Go Daddy Payments.

Squarespace recently released a new set of ecommerce and website tools, including a video creation app, the ability to have video classes and scheduling, and integration with Etsy shops that allows you to import reviews, among other things.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) has become so popular that even Mastercard is opening a new service. The main differences between this and credit cards are the lack of interest rate fees and the limited window you have to pay in full (in this case, 4 installments).

MISCELLANEOUS

Is your website accessible to disabled users? Here are 5 common problems and solutions.

I know, I know - it has been a long time. Fortunately, I made lots of other posts to keep you occupied while you were waiting for this update! And even better - now you get two updates at once, because the original post was too long for Tumblr.

The short-term plan is to continue adding more blog posts to my website while still producing this news summary fairly often. Is there something you really like or really hate about this feature? Please let me know, by leaving a comment or emailing me.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

By now you have probably heard about the Star Seller Programme Etsy will implement on September 1st; here is my summary. Some quick points a lot of people seem confused on:

you only need to reply to the first Message from a buyer in a Message thread they initiated

you can check the csv provided on the Star Seller dashboard (click the Shipping score, then click Export) to see which items Etsy said you shipped late; there are tons of bugs right now so expect errors

US sellers have tracking available for regular mail for under 60 cents (great for greeting card & sticker sellers), but only through Etsy Labels

Most Etsy sellers have no hope of getting this bonus, due to their low sales and income numbers, living outside of the United States and therefore not having affordable tracking, or the stringent 5-star review requirement, where even 4 stars counts against you.

Etsy will have new shipping requirements for items shipping within the United States, but they didn’t surprise most sellers who had been paying attention to Etsy’s shipping “suggestions” in the past year. You will soon be required to add a shipping carrier, mail class, processing time and originating zip code so that Etsy can estimate a delivery date. Note that items without these 4 details will be deactivated instead of renewing in the near future; Etsy says they will let everyone know when that happens. They also want tracking added as of August 11th, but you can get around those requirements. Finally, they don't want items marked as shipped until with the carrier, which means you cannot use other (cheaper) label services unless you print the same day you ship. (No doubt they want more sellers buying Etsy Labels!) This is also an issue if your local office doesn't get frequent pickups, as Etsy doesn’t count those offices as the actual carrier. Don’t make these mistakes on your ecommerce website. [Slow load times is still one I am working on]

ETSY NEWS

My summary of the last 18 months of Etsy search changes shouldn’t contain many surprises, but you will still want to check it out, just in case. Not providing many details on what actually changed, Etsy is now going to be putting reserves on more payments accounts than they initially announced. “The factors we look at are not changing, but we’re making updates to both the specific timeframe and earnings threshold we use. Sellers may have a reserve placed on their account if they recently made their first sale and have earnings above a certain threshold. Now, we may also hold a higher percentage of funds in reserve than we’ve communicated previously.” This fits with them “temporarily” banning new shops from non-Etsy Payments counties (except for India). They can’t hold money if they don't control the money. This seller is having 75% held for 3 months, while this one has to wait up to 180 days. One seller noted that this is easier on people from countries with access to Etsy Labels, because at least those people can have their label fees paid out of the reserve. There were new European Union VAT and customs requirements as of July 1, and Etsy put several pieces together with details of how it will all work on their site, but there is still tons of confusion. You can read about Etsy collecting the VAT and how to fill out the customs forms here, and how to fill out tariff codes here if you weren’t already doing that. The information on IOSS has been particularly dense, but a UK seller got some clear instructions from Royal Mail. Etsy sent Canadian sellers an email telling them to and their GST/HST numbers to their accounts per a new Canadian law, but provided zero information on said law, and therefore created quite a bit of confusion. There is an Etsy forum thread here. Amazon explained it much more clearly. Note that many online businesses started charging Canadians GST and HST in July, so if you are not GST exempt, be aware you may end up paying more for website builders, streaming services etc. Here is Squarespace’s explanation. Etsy fees went up July 1 for sellers in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, and Turkey. Etsy calls it a “Regulatory Operating fee”, but others note that these countries applied these taxes to large internet companies who were paying little tax up until now. Note that eBay is one of the only companies who has so far not passed the fee on to its sellers. Etsy has bought Depop, the online marketplace for second-hand fashion. Here are articles in The Guardian, CNBC, The Verge, Cnet [text & audio], and Vox. Most commentary mentions that Depop skews younger than Etsy's current base of buyers and sellers. Depop is not without its critics: “[the site] has contributed to a phenomenon of sellers scouring thrift stores to find items that can be marketed for far more than their original purchase price, and sometimes broadcasting their findings on platforms such as YouTube. This has fueled criticism that Depop, among other sites, has helped established another cycle of waste within reused clothing marketplaces while driving up prices at thrift stores, as Vox’s Terry Nguyen explained in April. The platform has also been criticized for lacking body diversity and contributing to sizeism.” [from Vox] While there are some similarities between the two businesses, most haven’t noted that this was the second company bought by Etsy that sells used but not necessarily vintage items. (Selling used is a big trend right now, and is expected to continue to grow.) Music marketplace Reverb is now partnering with manufacturers of new instruments. What will change at Depop once Etsy takes over officially? They mention more seller services here. [slide 20] You can register to watch the webcast of the investor call here. [I haven’t watched it yet.] Then Etsy bought Elo7, the handmade marketplace often referred to as the Etsy of Brazil. This acquisition will also continue to run independent of Etsy instead of being absorbed into the main site as Dawanda and A Little Market were. Shares rose after the announcement

[includes a CNBC video interview with Josh Silverman] Other platforms are also jumping into the Latin American market. Etsy has removed the Google Analytics tracking codes from shop home pages, making it tough to know how much traffic you are getting. Still no word on whether or not this was intentional. A seller claims Etsy allowed a hacker access to the seller’s shop, even though the seller had 2-factor authentication activated. Etsy released its Transparency Report for 2020 [pdf], with a summary here. They blame most increases in infractions on the swift growth of the site during the year. Here’s a scary set of stats: “About 0.44% of orders placed in 2020 resulted in a case, up from 0.37% in 2019. 1.3% of buyers with a purchase in 2020 filed a case, and 13% of sellers who made at least one sale in 2020 received a case...Case rate may continue to increase in 2021, as we are focused on making it even easier for buyers to report order issues to the seller and to Etsy.” Note they used to include the number of shops suspended for non-handmade and other prohibited items, but skipped that this year. Hmmm Etsy continues to clean up the site, including through banning the sale of gun parts and accessories. Rob Price, the reporter who might have triggered some of the recent Etsy actions with his article at the end of April, reported on the incorrect suspensions here [paywall, Business Insider]. “Insider put out a call on Reddit to speak to Etsy sellers who thought they'd been banned wrongly, and received dozens of emails from users who had been banned recently and said they were confused as to why. Insider asked Etsy about 11 of these banned stores, and seven of them were subsequently unbanned. (Some other sellers managed to get themselves unbanned by appealing the decision independently, and others weren't comfortable with Insider talking to Etsy about them.)” I can confirm that some sellers are getting reinstated on their own, including a few that surprised me. Despite the cleanup & the media attention, there are still a lot of fake vaccination IDs available, as well as “COVID-19 misinformation merchandise”. “Additionally, a label in the seller’s listing read “Ad by COVIDid,” which means that the seller purchased extra paid advertising and Etsy collected money through ad fees on the fake COVID-19 vaccination IDs.” NPR also covered this story, and Slate still found some on Etsy in July, but they disappeared within a week. More pages on the Etsy site are now available in Russian and Portuguese, including Seller Handbook articles - which is bizarre, since people in Russia can’t open new shops right now. Etsy is also greatly expanding its office in Mexico. Etsy released its fall trend report, giving us tips all the way to Halloween. They still anticipate a lot of outdoor events, reunions, weddings and other delayed events, as well as buying for the major dates such as back to school and Halloween. Some search data: “3,697% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for fidget toys...Over the last three months, we’ve seen an increase in searches for tapestries...245% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for Victorian Halloween items...272% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for sweater vests...1,368% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for Halloween diy...414% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for neon wedding signs.” For a change, Etsy got the holiday trend report out really early this year. It covers Canadian Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. It lists overall trends, bestsellers and popular search terms for all major categories, and does breakdown some country trends as well. “International sales increased 145% compared to the same time in 2019, driven by increased international marketing.” It’s too much to summarize here, so do check out your category for some tips. There was a bizarre copyright infringement scam on Etsy in mid-June, with someone impersonating eRank filing crazy claims against shops selling SEO and Etsy selling advice. Etsy reinstated the listings by the end of the day, but anyone affected should make sure they complain

to Etsy about the fact each shop now has a “withdrawn” IP claim against it. Forum thread is here. The Attribute update for July included dozens of new gemstone attributes for jewellery, as well as new video game categories and more new updates for India.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Etsy has recently made changes to the notices it displays under the "Message [Shop Owner]" button on listings - they are now showing more specific response times to some visitors ("within 2 hours"), and even the words "Speedy responder!" for some shops.  [UPDATE: as of the evening of January 28th, the shorter time frames & “speedy responder!” seem to have disappeared, but the other inaccuracies remain.]

Problem is, the displayed response time is completely wrong for some sellers. I have talked to a few shops that are experiencing this, and I am also one of them. My jewellery shop has displayed "within a few hours" (see screenshot above) since they introduced this notice a few years back, but within the past two weeks that version has vanished entirely, and when you click to message me, you see the notice that I usually reply "within a few days". 

That is completely incorrect; I respond rapidly throughout the day, and never take more than 12 hours overnight. Hilariously, my second shop shows that I respond with in 2 hours or a few hours, which is more accurate - but I never respond in that shop until after I finish with the jewellery messages.  So, a shop with a slightly slower response time can show a much faster response time. It makes no sense. 

I've complained to Etsy about how this is wildly inaccurate, and they basically said they aren't going to fix it before the next set of updates.. 

So for the moment, Etsy makes some shop owners look like they are lazy and slow to respond to customer questions and problems, and that is no doubt affecting shop sales.

How It Is Supposed To Work

Etsy Support assured me this notice:

counts how quickly a seller replies to the first message sent in a thread; you don’t have to keep replying quickly after the first message

doesn’t count messages marked spam

doesn’t count messages that do not need a reply

Now, if that were true, my notice should obviously say I respond within 12 hours at the very worst, so it is clear that what they told me isn’t what is actually happening to me and to other sellers. So what gives?

It’s likely that it is counting times when a buyer sends duplicate messages (I’ve had 3 or 4 at a time), duplicate requests to cancel a sale, or sends multiple short messages as separate threads. Logically those should fall under “messages that do not need a reply” but Etsy seems to have a different definition of that than the rest of us do. I remember a few times in the past two months when I have received duplicate requests to cancel an order, likely sent by a panicked buyer who thought the first request didn’t go through, or perhaps caused by an Etsy glitch. Most experienced sellers also noticed an increased rate of duplicate messages and short messages in separate threads when Etsy introduced the new message function in 2019. So, poor Etsy UX is likely part of the reason that some of us have inaccurate response times posted in our shops. Unless Etsy gives us more info, though, we can’t be certain. 

Why Should I Care?

It’s perfectly fine to not be worried about this for your own shop, but be aware that Etsy’s own stats show that when sellers respond quickly, they are more likely to close the sale. 

On January 26th, a banner appeared on my Messages page; it states:

"You could get more sales if you respond within 24 hours*

When it comes to providing great customer service, quick response time is key! *Based on data from Jan–Dec 2020, messages sellers responded to within 24 hours led to more sales than messages with a longer response time."

Obviously we can question that, especially since the evidence is that they are not counting the first response times correctly! But it does make sense. The longer a potential customer has to wait, the more likely it is that they will change their mind or find another place to buy.

Also, if a shopper is in a hurry, they are unlikely to send a message at all when they see that a shop (supposedly) usually does not reply for over 48 hours. This is especially true for Etsy’s core buyers who shop the site many times a year. They will get used to seeing quick response times posted on shops and will wonder why some are slow, and wonder if that is a reflection of all of the seller’s customer service skills. 

By placing this notice on shops, Etsy is definitely driving traffic away from shops with slower response times. 

But there is an even bigger concern for some shops: Etsy uses message response time as a customer service metric. 

“As a seller on Etsy, you’re expected to:

Prepare and ship orders within your chosen processing times and “ship by” dates

Set realistic expectations with accurate listing descriptions and images

Respond to shoppers’ Messages promptly with resolution-focused customer service

Treat shoppers and fellow sellers with respect and courtesy“ [emphasis added]

Etsy looks at these factors when reviewing a shop for closure. So if a shop has a string of bad luck with cases opened or bad feedback, Etsy will also look at their message response time as one of the factors - and that message response time could be wrong, since Etsy is somehow calculating it incorrectly. Shops could potentially be closed because Etsy thinks they don't reply to messages promptly, when they in fact reply pretty quickly.

Note that Etsy also uses their customer service expectations in the Seller Protection Policy. That’s right, a seller could be ineligible for seller protection if they aren’t meeting Etsy’s preferred message response times. (Note they don’t define “promptly”, so I have no clue whether 24 hours or 48 hours is too long for seller protection.)

There’s also the flip side to be worried about: what happens if your displayed response time is much faster than your real response time? Surprisingly, I am hearing from sellers who tell me that Etsy says their usual response time is just 1 hour, which they say is completely inaccurate, and they worry this will set unrealistic buyer expectations. 

Lastly, even when accurate, this notice disadvantages sellers who work fulltime  jobs where they cannot spend time on Etsy, as well as sellers who live in time zones where they will be asleep when the vast majority of Etsy buyers - Americans - are sending them messages. Shop owners without employees who spend long hours actually making their items are also at a disadvantage; replying to messages immediately throughout the day is a lot less efficient than handling them twice a day all at once. On a site with so many sole proprietors, and where you can’t have an employee handle shop messages without giving them access to all of your banking and credit card data, does it make sense to be pushing response times so hard? This is not what many would call “keeping commerce human.”

Needless to say, Etsy needs to fix the errors immediately. The potential harm to affected shops is serious. 

What Can We Do About This?

Unless we know why these response times are sometimes wrong, we can’t guarantee we won’t have a slow response time displayed. Etsy refuses to tell me which messages it took me “a few days” to reply to, so we’re wandering in the dark here. There is no one approach that is guaranteed to work. 

One seller on Reddit suggested using the auto-reply feature all of the time, so buyers always get a response immediately. Bizarrely, this seems like a good suggestion. The notice displayed on your shop does not change when you set the auto-reply, so the buyer has no warning they might not get a real response quickly, and you can compose the auto-reply to say anything you want. However, I suspect that Etsy would frown upon this solution, so it would likely hurt you if your shop goes under review for any other reason. Also, they may have some way of monitoring shops that always have auto-reply on, which could eventually garner your shop a warning. Then there is the fact that the auto-reply can only be set for 5 days maximum, so anyone trying this needs to make sure they reset it each time it runs out. 

Another seller in my Reddit thread said they may start marking every message that doesn’t need a reply as spam. That’s obviously going to annoy Etsy, and could potentially hurt a buyer if they get their messages muted from too many spam reports. We also can’t be sure the spam filter does remove all messages from this notice process, even though Etsy said it does, because we know there is an error somewhere. Definitely always mark actual spam as spam, though; there is no downside to that. 

If you have an incorrect response time displayed, you must contact Etsy to complain. Use this link to contact them, and ask why they are showing this when it is not true. Ask if they are counting duplicate messages from the same person as separate threads needing replies. Ask why they won’t turn this off until it works correctly. Don’t give up. 

It’s also necessary to get the word out on this one. Etsy falsely claiming a seller has slow customer service - something that is guaranteed to drive away some buyers - is coming darn close to outright defamation. 

If your response time notice is inaccurate, please contact me here or on my website; we need to strategize how we are going to force Etsy to fix this inaccuracy. 

This post will be updated as required.