The Etsy Star Seller program is getting new features, the marketplace announced today. First, it’s providing sellers a way to review the stats Etsy uses to measure their performance – specifically, their responsiveness to messages and their on-time shipping.
It’s not clear why Etsy waited to provide this information to sellers after introducing the Star Seller program 5 months ago, but it’s here now.
In today’s announcement, Etsy said that with the New Year on the horizon, “we want to make sure you have all of the information that you need to continue your journey to becoming (or staying!) a Star Seller.”
Sellers can now download a ZIP file that contains two CSV files: one for their messages and one for orders they’ve shipped. “From there, you’ll be able to see whether you responded to messages within 24 hours and which orders met the criteria for on-time shipping,” Etsy explained.
Etsy also expanded the FAQs for the Star Seller program and created a video on how the badge works. Etsy didn’t elaborate on what exactly it added to the FAQs, which can be found on this landing page on Etsy.
The page still says that Star Seller status does not directly impact the ordering of search results, though Etsy does display a badge for qualifying sellers. However, as we’ve previously reported, Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said he was considering using the program to influence sellers’ placement in search results.
You can find the full post on the Etsy Announcement board. Let us know what you think of the program and of the new stats and FAQs Etsy announced today.
I’m busy running a business.
Don’t have time for this ridiculousness.
Just went over there….
It’s even more ridiculous in person……
How STUPID.
Has nothing to do with the goings on of eCommerce.
Who let these morons in ?
I’m pretty sure nobody pays attention to this garbage.
A BADGE? What am I , a freakin’ Girl Scout?
BTW–latest organizational rhetoric is the “Revenue Operating System.” Touted as “happy sellers = growth = more revenue for us.” Etsy Management has failed to understand (or forgot long ago) that there are REAL PEOPLE selling product on their site. They have reduced them to operating cogs in a system that is to earn them a profit. Their data analysis is being pushed to the shop owners to try to get them on board with this way of thinking.
Honestly, did/do most sellers open a shop on Etsy to be corporate business analysts–or did they just want to open a shop to sell product and the business portion was supposed to be handled by Etsy so they could get on with creating unique items? Etsy (or any one of hundreds of selling platforms out there,) are missing the point. And when they do put together a team of customer facing problem solvers, they usually pick those shops with the highest revenue, which are the shops that are mostly no longer handling the design & craft of their business. They’ve farmed out the actual production and are measuring the analytics, to grow their businesses. (Many of those also have their own web sites & use Etsy to gain new fans. I know I did.)
OK-so I’m getting fed up with all the problems I hear & read about when nothing seems to be able to be done and those companies honestly do not care. All I can hope for is a backlash & some of these giants come tumbling down.
I suspect that Etsy revenues for this quarter are not as great as anticipated, so they are pushing the Seller Badge with an attempt to increase sales.
Latest data…December U.S. holiday numbers are good, however, are softer than anticipated. And as a jeweler on Etsy, I will say that this season is probably one of the slowest I’ve seen as there isn’t much appetite for jewelry priced over $250. Yesterday, on CNBC, Ebay CEO was asked how sales were for December and if he’s seen a slowdown due to Omicron. All Ebay CEO would say is that Ebay sells refurbished merchandise. It appeared to me that Ebay CEO was using the CNBC platform to advertise Ebay instead of talking about any real data. Evading the question about current sales tells me that sales on Ebay have not been so great, so I suspect they won’t be so great for Etsy, either.
Etsy is filled with frivolous products that consumers will avoid when inflation becomes a problem. Inflation numbers came in at 6.5%, with inflation hitting major items like food and energy. Anytime Etsy tries to push something onto sellers, it’s when sales numbers lag. I heard a market analyst say that Etsy is not a good “buy” if inflation kicks into high gear.
“Sellers can now download a ZIP file that contains two CSV files: one for their messages and one for orders they’ve shipped.”
so… a seller needs to be a star seller to access this information? wouldn’t it be helpful if ALL sellers could access this information? oh wait…. it’s already there, just not in zip files. but star sellers are rewarded with… ZIP files? the mind boggles….
maybe Etsy could fix it’s crazy search function, so buyers could actually find things on etsy to buy. rather than having to use Google search, to find something offered on Etsy.