Etsy Test Directs Buyers To About Page Instead Of Shop Home Page
Etsy sellers are once again frustrated with testing during the all important Q4 holiday season as shop links direct buyers to the sellers' about page instead of to the shop home page.
I often go from a listing to a shop home page, to look at what else a seller has to offer. I just noticed today that clicking on the (now teeny) shop name, within the listing, now goes directly to the "About" section, rather than the top of the shop home page. It's hard to tell that it's even a shop, let alone that the seller has other listings.
An example, from a listing in my shop ... clicking on the BlackSheepDyeworks link, below the title, takes me to:
That #about at the end of the url is the culprit; without that added, the url goes to your shop home; but with it added, goes to the about section.
I see this in a different browser/incognito as well, in all listings. I sincerely hope this is a bug rather than a test or change - it's a really terrible time to be messing around with any limitation on what buyers can potentially see once they (miraculously) land on one of my listings.
Some sellers are only seeing this test when looking at Etsy in an incognito browser window, but others also see it while logged in.
Many sellers commenting were concerned that buyers may not realize they can navigate to see other items in their shops.
It's merchandising dereliction to direct the shopper anywhere other than to items they can buy. Please fix this!
I see it too. If I was not familiar with Etsy, I don’t think I would know to scroll upward so this could be rather unfortunate place to land.
As a buyer I'm already frustrated by the sudden lack of category filters. Now Etsy is 'dumping' buyers into the about section of a shop instead of bringing them to the start of the home page so they can easily see the other items the shop offers?
Yes, I know I can scroll up the page to get there but what about new visitors to the marketplace? Or even more veteran users of the site? What might they be thinking?
So during this crucial 4th quarter holiday shopping season we have experienced: 1. Another test hiding item description from buyers 2. Removal of category filter to help buyers find what they want to buy 3. An attempt to keep buyers from seeing all items within an individual shop
I can only guess that Etsy has already given up on this quarter and is just throwing random things at the wall hoping something sticks? I mean at this point, Christmas shopping pretty much IS over anyway but it sure wasn't when they were playing description hide and seek or no-filter-for-you!.
One seller thought the change made so little sense, they wondered if it could be sabotage by Etsy employees who were laid off this week.
I have been trying to figure out why anyone would make or approve this change. I'm beginning to wonder if it is a last act of sabotage by an employee in the 11% being laid off.
Making this change, especially in busy season, can only be a death wish for Etsy. I hope management jumps on this immediately to correct this mess for the sake of all sellers and stockholders, too.
Others confirmed that if a shop did not have an "about" section, the link defaulted to the store homepage, giving those sellers an apparent advantage.
I wonder what happens if a seller has no about section? Will test that when I’m back at my computer tomorrow, assuming I’m still in this nasty test...
...As I suspected, a click on the shopname link in a shop with no "About" section sends you to the top of the shop home page, as it normally would. There is no #about at the end of the url.
So shops with no About info have an advantage in this test, over shops who follow Etsy's advice and fill it in.
As a temporary workaround, some sellers suggested putting a link to your shop home page in the about section...or even a reference to your direct website.
I inserted my shop link as the first line in the Story of my About section, hoping that anybody that lands there from this test will more easily find their way back to my listings.
I just had another idea ... I could add "Visit my website at ... to see all my yarns" as the first line. Of course, it wouldn't be a live link, but may give me some degree of satisfaction.
