Etsy has introduced two new features on the site: Vacation Mode and Batch Deactivation.
The Storque article can be read here: http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/etsyNews/article/tech-update-vacation-mode-for-sellers-now-live/2513/
The associated Forum thread is here: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5821667
From The Storque article:
These features provide different solutions for sellers to quickly and temporarily “close” a shop or make certain items inactive when they will be away from Etsy for an extended time. Read on to learn all about how to use these new tools in your Etsy shop.
When in Vacation Mode, items in a seller’s shop cannot be purchased. The seller’s shop will appear empty, with a special vacation announcement. The seller’s items can still be viewed via a direct item link (if they are linked from an outside blog for example), and can still be Hearted (added to favorites), but will not appear in site searches or the Category Browser. Buyers can sign up to be notified via email when the seller returns from Vacation Mode.
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Firstly, it is great that this has finally happened - it’s long-overdue.
But … I have serious concerns about this works. I think stores in vacation mode get *far* too little exposure for their listing fees and that would mean I’d be very wary of using this feature at all.
Surely it would be better to continue to have those items show up in categories and search, but with some text with ‘on vacation’ across the image or something similar.
This could definitely be done and would solve the dilemma of not wanting to irritate buyers by sending them to shops which are currently out of action, but also giving them the opportunity to find things they might like to buy later on - and not entirely killing the seller’s business (in terms of exposure) while they’re temporarily closed.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:22 am
I’ve always had problems with the inactive feature and the expiration clock. I lost 2 months or more on items when I moved. But Ebay does the same thing so it’s not necessarily novel. I haven’t yet tested how things look under the new mode, hopefully there’s something mentioning that the shop is still there.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:02 am
I have not read through all of that long thread but I wonder if anyone has mentioned the typo. When you visit a shop that is on vacation, at the top is the shop’s own custom message but then there is this statement which is placed by Etsy and which contains duplicated words (”sent to your”):
“Signed up to be notified when [store name] returns
You can elect to receive an email notification when this shop is reopened. The email will be sent to your sent to your registered email address.”
Frankly, I’m tired of pointing out typos and errors that never get fixed. Oh wait, they *finally* corrected “hampster”. How long did THAT take?
September 24th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Wow! They fixed the typo already.
Amazing.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
They fixed “hampster”? And didn’t write a Storque article about it?
:)
September 25th, 2008 at 11:30 am
aha! the hampster dance generation comes of age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hampster_Dance
not sure if i will use vacation mode (tho i do note some sellers have been clamouring for it in the forums) but the batch inactivation tool looks like it might be useful (i’ve used the one on dawanda and it is brilliant).
hopefully this heralds the roll out of other batch edit functions like tag addition/removal for teams business, a more efficient shipping batch edit, addition of set text in descriptions, etc. - all of which would streamline the seller experience on etsy greatly
verdict = cautiously optimistic