Etsy Testing Add To Cart In Search Results

Etsy sellers have noticed what appears to be a test showing "add to basket" buttons in search results for some items.

Sellers expressed their concerns in the Etsy community - with the primary one being the possibility of increased returns or other negative consequences due to buyers not reading descriptions before adding to cart and completing checkout.

This is new (for me, at least). The search results page now shows the option to add an item to the cart directly from the results -- WITHOUT clicking on the item and reading its description, or even viewing photos beyond the thumbnail. This seems disastrous for those of us selling dollhouse miniatures, and I'm sure for other categories where confusion about size and material frequently arises. (When there's a frequent point of confusion for a listing, the advice given on this forum is usually "Write up the info and make it one of your images" -- but now that solution has been severely compromised.)

A small silver of good news is that for items with variations, the button instead prompts the viewer to "Choose options" and then takes them into the listing as normal. So this change will only impact items without variations.

Yeah, I’m seeing it too….yet another fine mess Etsy has gotten us into. I wish we could hold them responsible for all of the refunds that will result from this latest stunt. Why would anyone add something to their cart and checkout without knowing what they’re buying?

Are we now going to have to put dimensions as the first three words of our titles or mark up our thumbnails with measurements? It’s difficult enough to find descriptions with pertinent info, now they expect buyers to purchase based on one photo?

Oh my ! I’ve had people order miniature things thinking they were full sized even with descriptions and multiple pictures trying to show scale, I dread to think what will happen if people can just order from a thumb nail ! we all know people don’t read what they are buying, and etsys search isn’t clever enoug to separate doll house miniature from full size.

Several posters suggested since for now at least the test doesn't seem to be affecting variation listings, sellers could try to use that as a work around.

I sometimes put a variation asking if they have read the entire description, yes or no.

May have to start putting that on every listing...

What do you think of add to basket in Etsy search as a buyer or seller? Let us know in the comments below!