Day 6: Customer Experience as "Negative Factor" in Etsy Search

In their recent announcement about search, etsy warned that "recent cases and past intellectual property infringement issues can have a negative effect," while completed "about" pages and shop policies can have a positive one. I believe this is an attempt on etsy's part to stop shops that pop up quickly full of copyrighted knock-offs, since many of those shops don't necessarily take the time to fully complete their profiles. Yet the announcement caused stress among many shop owners who asked what specifically was defined as a "case"? What if someone brought a copyright case against them but the matter was found in their favor; would that still count against them? And for how long?

I, too, had some stress about the ambiguity of the statement. Two months ago I went out of town and completely forgot to pay the last $30 of my etsy bill. I was late for a whole four hours before getting a reminder notice, then hopped online and paid it off. Not a big deal, right? But for four hours my shop was suspended. Would a suspended shop count as a "case"? I was pretty sure it did, since that coincided with a big drop in sales.

So I wrote a note to etsy support and asked about search factors, and received a surprisingly helpful answer that no, a temporarily suspended account does not cause etsy to denote or diminish sales or views (thanks Andrew). If you have any questions specifically about any cases or issues against you in the past, a visit to the etsy help page may hopefully bring some illuminating details or reassurances.

Day 6 - December 6th
Etsy sales: $4
Etsy Views: 291 (not bad)
Total Etsy Items: 395 (whoops; look like 10 items expired)
Updated Etsy Items: 3/395
Facebook Likes: 318
Instagram Followers: 497 (+1)