Finally!

You would THINK it is not difficult to maintain the Etsy Star Seller status, but it’s actually incredibly tough, and ironically, the metrics actually reward only big sellers who have on-staff employees and automated shipping systems.

In March, I had ONE buyer give me a 2 Star Feedback, with there being nothing wrong on my end.

I needed to get FOUR 5 star Feedback reviews to offset the damage incurred by a buyer unhappy because they didn’t read the listing. Luckily, a review came in yesterday(April 30th, last day of the month). Just under the wire, or I’d not have been honored with the Star Seller Status for yet another month.

Strangely, I DID receive those four 5 star Reviews before month’s end, and even a fifth one, but the algorithm calculates over a three month period…. I’m not very adept in math, and I am unable to grasp the formula, much less run the numbers. But one thing I get very clearly is that the smaller number of sales you make, the more a single ding to the metrics used in the Star Seller formula damages you.

I know many Etsy sellers have realized that the Star Seller program is poorly thought through, but when one takes pride in their business and work VERY hard to provide excellent service, efficient shipping and a quality product, it is difficult to be told you “weren’t good enough.”

I had a shipping error too, which adversely affected my status. It was due to my manually inserting the wrong number in a Tracking label.This has happened to me before (the second month after the Star Seller program was rolled out), and unless you catch the error very quickly and correct it, there’s nothing that can be done. You’re reputation is damaged and the bots look down their noses at you for the rest of the month.

Sure, I know….bots don’t have noses. But Etsy Support staffers do, and when you contact them, with photos of the post office receipt that shows the single digit discrepancy,and screenshots showing the package was actually shipped and received properly, they can’t help you. They’re not allowed to adjust the data. That must be a fun position to be in.

So, when the number error happened to me the first time, I learned my lesson, and began double, triple checking the Tracking Numbers as I entered them. All was fine for a while, but eventually I didn’t catch one, and noticed the parcel was listed as being “pre-transit.” Luckliy, there is a built in grace period, connected to your listed “shipping time frame,” and you have those days to adjust it. Once that time frame has passed, you’re out of luck.

I began meticulously checking my departed orders to make sure they didn’t show as pre-transit, and…it was fine. Until I neglected to notice that it had happened again. Ding! No star Seller for you!

When you contact Etsy support and ask if they can fix the issue that the system won’t allow the seller to, the suggested way forward is to use the Etsy Postage system, which is automated to be attached to the customer’s order.

Granted, using Etsy Postage saves you a bit of money on, so seems like a good idea. But the cost of the machine and labels are an additional expense that has to be offset. For a small seller like myself(sometimes going without a single Etsy sale in a month), that’s a big expense.And,in my situation, I don’t have electricity at my house,and my business supplies are stored in my van. The machine wouldn’t have a dedicated spot, but would need to be stowed, in protective packaging, between uses. Plus I’d need to find an electrical outlet to plug into to print my label…. Every time. Maybe that seems like no big deal, but I assume anyone thinking that is not remembering how things get more difficult for them when the electricity goes down during a storm….

The good news is, that my cabochons sales have begun to really take off – on a platform that is not Etsy,where the poor babies sit twiddling their little stone thumbs and wondering why nobody sees them. So, I’m looking at the cost/benefit formula on a postage label printer again and will likely make the investment this summer. Then I can use the Etsy postage system and save on postage fees.

This summer I’ll also be doing a local market where I offer my earrings and pendants. I have the feeling that I will see good sales there too.  If you’re local or visiting the Mid_Hudson Valley this summer, stop by the New Paltz Open Air Market! I won’t be there every Saturday, but if you follow my Instagram, I’ll be posting reminders.

With the upshoot in my recognition as a reputable supplier of high quality, artistically crafted cabochons, and the improvement in sales through the open air market, I have the feeling it will become difficult to rationalize the Etsy listing fees for items that never get seen, and the 10% plus cut from every sale. I’m sticking with Etsy for now, and I will probably maintain my shop for tutorials, but sadly, I think I may be outgrowing what the Etsy platform offers my business.

That’s very sad to me. I had alway expected to have to work hard to be successful with my small business, and I’ve always looked at Etsy as an integral and supporting part of the equation. I’ve put in that work, but to be honest, I’m beginning to see that Etsy has not done it’s part, and perhaps never really did.

For the last two years, I insisted that even simply for use as a Shopping cart, Etsy was a great value. I was used to the listing system, felt the storefronts were attractive and easily navigated for both visitors and sellers, and believed the Etsy platform was very stable from a cybersecure perspective.

The platform stability I’ll still stand behind. I don’t believe Etsy has ever suffered a serious cyber attack they couldn’t defend before it became visible to anyone but the internal IT department. I still think the storefronts are the best looking of any selling venue out there. Fees? I’d be more than happy to pay them – IF I was selling things! But I’m kind of feeling like that’s the rub. I’m not selling things, and I wonder how much of Etsys strategy is dependent on earning listing fees, postage sales, and advertising revenue. Do they simply see fees associated with sales as icing on the cake, or are they REALLY doing what needs be done to help sellers make sales?

And I’ve come to think that maybe sales from people such as myself aren’t actually something Etsy, the company, values. They seem to want to promote sellers who can crank out multiple sales, if they promote an item. They’ve been on the “personalization” kick for well over a year, which is great for a seller who has a design template and simply has to type in different names on a Cricut vinyl template design. Not so great for a jewelry artist that does one of a kind work….

I kind of get that too. Online navigation analysis shows that people will only click through one, two and maybe three pages before they get sidetracked,lose interest, or notice their work supervisor is about to see them playing instead of working and shut things down. It may well be that Etsy doesn’t want to risk bringing people to their site and hoping they’ll continue to shop if that remarkable, one and only, item that led them there got snatched up before they could click “Buy Now!”

Perhaps Etsy should look at that. Perhaps they already did, and are not interested in enticing visitors to look around the site to make their own discoveries. “See it? Want it? Get it!” seems to be the strategy, and not “Come browse within our vast markets and discover something wonderful that you never knew you needed until now ….”

Well, I’m going to stop typing for now. I will probably come in and check my spelling, grammar and punctuation at some point, but I’ve got orders to ship(for $400 worth of stones, and not a single one bought through Etsy), and more stones to cut. However, I’ll leave you with this revised look at my Star Seller status. I had one whole day to feel good about my Star Seller achievement before Etsy updated my seller dashboard and reminded me that I’ll be losing my crown come June unless I “get with the program.”