Sneak Peak of new feature!
In Charles’ “weather report” in today’s Etsy newscast, he mentions Etsy’s promotional campaign for the Holiday season.
Charles says:
“What are we doing to support that effort? Three major things.”
1. Etsy gift guides
2. The buy handmade initiative
3. sending Etsy items to press outlets, so they will include them in their own Gift Guides
Here is a screenshot from the newscast, it looks like a mockup of the gift guide.
I believe these are screenshots from a staging environment on the Etsy office server.
There was no time frame given in th e Etsy newscast as to when the Gift Guide feature will be released into production. It needs to be pretty soon for the Holiday 2007 shopping season.
You can also see the account logged in is Rokali, and the navigation bar is slightly different than the current version in production. There is a separate tab for supplies.
current navigation bar: Buy Sell Alchemy Forums Storque Your Etsy
staging navigation bar: Buy Sell Alchemy Supplies Community News Search Your Etsy
I don’t know if this is also a sneak peak at proposed changes to the navigation bar, or just leftover code in the staging environment that they never cleaned up. The Gift Guides is the only new feature they mentioned in the newscast.
(to see the screenshots full size, just click them)
November 6th, 2007 at 8:23 am
It’s very nearly too late for gift guides for this year’s shopping season, unless they put it online this week. Most people would have rather seen Alchemy come back - but it’s pretty much too late for that this year too, not many people would be able to do custom work at the busiest time of the year on short notice. (But buyers would expect them to be able to.)
(Of course my comments are tinged by the fact that I must count on at least 2 weeks shipping time for orders to the U.S. unless someone wants to pay crazy prices for courier. If these things get up and running soon, I suppose it will be in time for domestic sales. Good for them. Everything I’ve sold to date was to the U.S.)
And, if it is a glimpse into what will come, I foresee issues. Supplies gets its own button - but what about Vintage? If they are going to be separated from handmade, it should reflect both. If only Supplies is… well that’s missing half the point. People will continue to misunderstand Etsy if they see non-handmade vintage items mixed in with handmade.
I know one store some of those items are from. I’m sure she wouldn’t be impressed to see of her items being used in a mock-up with another name attached, no matter who it is. Don’t they ever think about what they make available publicly?
November 6th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Having your items in an Etsy newscast would be quite marvelous free advertising, IF they listed YOUR shop name under it instead of Rokali’s name. :p
How hard would it have been to use the correct shop names in the mockup?
November 6th, 2007 at 10:31 am
So that’s what the Gifts for Dad, gifts for your dog, gifts for toddlers, etc. threads are for.
I’ve never looked at those.
They better get those up soon if they are talking about this Holiday Season.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:43 am
This comment has nothing to do with the Gift Guide per se - but did anyone else notice the News button on the menu bar of the mock-up?
I wonder if that will take you to Tech Updates in the Storque (probably) or to a brand-spankin’ new real news source . . .
Hmmm.
I’m off to ask in the fora.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
… and wow! two blisteringly quick admin replies and denials …….
Yes, the holiday shopping season is here already when you have to factor shipping in. The Alchemy season is virtually over when you factor in the negotiation and make AND shipping time.
Etsy reminds me a lot of the knee jerk actions/reactions/legislation of the last conservative government in the UK … and look how they sank.
Is there anyone in high command that knows about selling online??
November 6th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
and so it goes….people who have spent years learning to spin or make glass beads or whatever get relegated to a little button. NICE>
November 6th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
HehHehHeh, amanda - those admins were quick on the draw, weren’t they?
rita, are you referring to the Supplies button on the mock-up? Admin said in my inquiring thread ( http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5306888 ) that the GiftGuide page was nothing more than a mock-up and was not a sneek peak at upcoming features.
In any case, if/when they separate Supplies and Vintage - whether via a dedicated search feature, or a sister site - my understanding was that handmade supplies would remain part of the original Etsy venue. They deserve the tag of handmade, strictly speaking, more than anything else on the site.
November 6th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
i think they were a little bit ’sensitive’ with your thread coming hard on the heels of dingo’s detective work thread the other day
as for the supplies debacle, i was now under the impression that all supplies were going over to a supplies only ’site’ - with handmade supplies being lumped in with commercial
i wish wish wish i could just redirect to ecrater (goes off to read all the “mentioning your own website” legalities)
November 6th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
There certainly seems to be lots of time and energy spent on dressing up, creating fake news shows, interviews, weather reports, etc.
Which makes one wonder- who again is working on the site?
November 6th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Yep, I noticed it and mentioned it in the article, but I also said
Pretty much anything on that page other than the gift guide is not necessarily part of the current plan, it could be an “inside joke” on their testing platform, etc.
The gift guide was the only thing they really committed to. That was the sneak peak, I think showing us the rest was an accident!