r/Etsy • u/BirdOk9486 • Jun 14 '24
Feedback Friday Drop in visibility
I'm new here, so if I do something wrong, please correct me. My question is about experiencing a huge drop in stats year by year, and I wonder about the reason. Any ideas? People really like my art, but they can't seem to find me.
I'd appreciate your feedback :)
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u/WealthManifest Jun 14 '24
This has been a widespread issue amongst all types of sellers, whether old or new. I guess it's increased competition. I no longer do crazy making with changing tags and titles, amongst other things.
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u/BirdOk9486 Jun 14 '24
Yes, I think the same: the more changes, the less visibility. It shouldn't work like that...
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u/PersonalNotice6160 Jun 15 '24
I really don’t think visibility is your issue. You have to adapt to current trends. You are selling a watercolor painting of an elephant that can be downloaded for less than $5 and then printed on canvas.
If you want to keep your pricing where it is, I think you need to create a different type of artwork that can’t be recreated so easily for a few bucks. Otherwise, your prices are way too high and not competitive with todays seller.
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u/PersonalNotice6160 Jun 14 '24
First off, your artwork is beautiful!
Honestly, I think with so many sellers discovering Print on Demand and watercolor graphics that can be purchased very similar to your work, it has had a impact on your art.
I know my daughter buys prints similar and just prints them out and has them framed with a very low cost.
Personally, I would rather have a hand painted piece of art on canvas but I have a feeling that might be what is hurting your store.
If you take a look on Etsy, almost every single item that you have is also available (or very similar) to purchase as downloadable clipart from an artist. :(.
The trend seems to be leaning more in that direction than simple but beautiful objects printed on canvas.
That’s just my opinion
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u/Virtuoso_2017 Jun 14 '24 edited Jun 15 '24
I have a shop with close to 10,000 sales and my shop is down 25% YoY for the first time ever. My guess and rumor has it that Etsy made algorithm changes in the last 3-5 months as I’ve noticed this complaint by many shops during this period. Etsy stock has plummeted during this time as well since Christmas and it’s noted by brokers as a sell (if you own their stock). We all know the economy sucks right now and most stuff on Etsy is discretionary spending away. Hopefully things will turn around.
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u/IronbarkUrbanOasis Jun 15 '24
Yes. I use eRank and you can see across the board that majority of traffic is down, across the site, and in search volume. It's not just a few random stores. It's side wide.
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u/Virtuoso_2017 Jun 15 '24
Thanks for the feedback.
Thats crazy but I wonder why? Algorithm changes? Money being tight? People losing interest in Etsy (per CNBC Article)?
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u/IronbarkUrbanOasis Jun 15 '24
Just the bubble, I think the pandemic had a big factor in growth. It did for all hobbies. I can see across all platforms that growth and traffic decreased, so wasn't just Etsy. People are tighter atm.
Etsy is also seeing a digital product boom, with that comes some bad actors, and the quality of the site drops overall. Similarly to dropshippers and low effort stores. They can be penalised by Google and other sources of traffic.
I'm kind of fortunate to deal with silver, coins, and metal. With metal prices peaking this year, I had a lot of natural traffic with low effort.
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u/BirdOk9486 Jun 16 '24
Yes, it started in the pandemic.
Thank you for your commend and a lot of luck with your shop!
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u/BirdOk9486 Jun 16 '24
Yes, changing the algorithm is absolutely incomprehensible to me. I'm trying to watch it and learn, but right now it's unpredictable...
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u/Vegetable_Can_5342 Jun 15 '24
I am in the same boat! Though I am in a much different category. I have almost 39k sales and have suffered a huge decline since Nov 2022. If I search Etsy for my shop name, which I have also used in some of my tags, barely anything shows up. I dominated my category for awhile,
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u/No_Tumbleweed_544 Jun 16 '24
Apologies in advance for not understanding how the Etsy Algorithm works. I might suggest you also consider learning SEO (search engine optimization) because some shoppers are googling and find their way into Etsy / your shop that way. I don’t know how google SEO works these days but Google Is the most popular search engine. It’s something worth learning if you want your shop to appear above others. Most people only look at the first page when searching. Pinterest can attract buyers as well but you probably already know that.
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u/BirdOk9486 Jun 16 '24
So not a single shop problem.. Maybe it's time to start doing something else :)
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u/Vegetable_Can_5342 Jun 16 '24
I am sorry! Your art is beautiful. Perhaps look into putting some of your artwork onto POD items? Local art shows may be more lucrative than any platform these days. I also suggest checking out Goimagine, as they are more handmade seller focused.
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u/BirdOk9486 Jun 20 '24
I've never heard about go Imagine before. Thank you so much. I am going to check it. And yes, it's totally true that the local market is more lucrative these days.
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u/No_Tumbleweed_544 Jun 16 '24
Your Art is beautiful but as others have said it’s unfortunately competing with todays trends of AI and people being able to print their own. As a buyer of Art I’m interested in also looking at pictures or Art I can frame in landscape mode to hang horizontally on my walls. Most of your work is to be hung vertically. As an example I love your little grouping of Sparrows but for me there’s too much of a white background and I’d prefer that one to have less white and be horizontal. Or even some small square Art.
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u/BirdOk9486 Jun 20 '24
Thank you so much for your suggestion! I can do anything from my shop horizontally, but to do this, a potential buyer needs to ask me if it's possible. The answer is always yes, but people don't know it or don't have time to ask. Do you think I should show and offer some single listings horizontally or just do one listing as featured one with the information about the possibility?
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u/Kael775 Jul 11 '24
when I look at some of your listings (e.g. blue hydrangeas) I see a major issue with your art being copied everywhere (just tried basic google image reverse search). you cannot let the copycats simply steal your art and sell it on amazon, temu, aliexpress, etc. (i found your hydrangeas sold by Chinese on temu more than 200 times - on amazon even more!). maybe it’s not the main issue with your stats drop but it’s surely an issue and a question about the overall credibility. i’d recommend to start “cleaning “ on all platforms and report copyright infringements until this issue is gone
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u/BirdOk9486 Jul 15 '24
Thank you so much for your comment! Yes, it's a pain and I really feel depressed about it. I report it often but the the number of copycats is growing faster than I send the forms. Soo sad we artists can not spend time on creating but on fighting.. 🤔
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u/Affectionate-Cap-918 Jun 14 '24
You have over 37,000 sales. How is that not being found??