Etsy Listings, Renew or Copy?

Which is more beneficial, renewing or copying our expiring Etsy listings?

Copy our expired listings or just renew?

This is an interesting question. We must take two or three facts into consideration.

Renewing gives your expiring item a bump while keeping any social media links active.

Let's say that your item has been on over a year and it doesn't have a lot of action. It falls to the bottom of search. (I call this the “stale item effect”). Renewing will bump it up, making it more relevant. However, it again takes a rankings dip.

In that case, I would consider copying the listing. As long as it is not getting hits from social media.

How do you know if your listed items are being found via social media?
1. If you're not doing it, that is unlikely but not impossible.
2. Look at your individual items stats, a poorly understood stats feature of Etsy. Here's how.

Etsy stats can be hard to figure out when determining the level of social media activity. Here is why.

Can you tell which items are ranking poorly?

Testing for item placement used to be easy, but now it is not.

The only other factor I can think of is your shop updates. You will lose the shop updates for items that you copy rather than renew. I do not view that as a major issue. (I have well over 100. Here is more information on shop updates, including 40 ideas for vintage sellers.)

To recap, if you are doing social media, use care when choosing to copy your Etsy listing rather than renewing it. However, if the item is "stale," then copying rather than renewing it may result in it ranking higher in search over a longer period. May. For now.

Any beneficial effect of copying rather than renewing is only temporary.

The whole subject is really about how Etsy's algorithm is working. That is a closely guarded secret. And the algorithm always changes. Here is Etsy's latest information on search.

What do your listing stats tell you? Renew or copy?

Stay tuned for more help with running your Etsy shop.

(On a related topic, is it better to renew an item for 20 cents, or pay for a promoted listing campaign?)

Promoted Listings: Improve your Click Ratio

Etsy's promoted listings provide benefits beyond the ads. The extra statistical data provided can be a powerful tool to improve your listings. Do not be intimidated. It is not difficult.

What is your overall click ratio?

Pull up your promoted listings dashboard. Select a time period longer than a week. Here is a view of my stats:

133810/968=138

Compare your impression with your clicks. That is your overall click ratio. The lower that is the better.

Mine as shown was 138. That means that for every 138 times someone was presented with one of my items, they clicked on it once to view the item.

Is this good or bad? I don't know. However, I can track this number over time.  I will take steps to reduce it.

Individual listings click ratio

Now that I have a number, I can use that as a baseline. Open your ad states and settings table. Select the Impressions column and click it. That will put this column into order from most to least. (If that did not happen, try clicking it again to reverse it and once more to order it.)

Now that you have your very most impressions, compare that number against the number of clicks for each advertised item going down the chart. For starters, just note how widely click rates vary. Some items are much better than others. Here are mine visible from the above chart:

1326 impressions, 12 clicks

1095 impressions, 16 clicks

931 impressions, 8 clicks

868 impressions, 10 clicks

861 impressions, 1 click

Does one of these ratios stick out to you? Yes, the last one. It was visible 861 times with only one click. It is way higher than my shop average of 138. Why is that?

Investigating listing issues

Some detective work is necessary. But you will be rewarded if you can determine what is going on. Here are some questions to ask about the listing:

1. Is the first photo of high quality? The first photo needs to grab peoples' attention. 

2. Does it have a powerful title? Be sure it has keywords and phrases that buyers will use when searching. Keep the best search terms at the beginning of the listing to maximize their importance in search.

3. Are you making the most of your tags? Use all 13 tag slots. Employ a blend of multiple-word phrases repeated from your title and description. Use terms that buyers will use to search for this item.

4. Is there market demand for the item? Are similar items selling online?

5. How is your pricing compared to similar available items?

6. Is your item in the best category?

Actions to take

After you have analyzed your listing in view of the above six points, take action. Retake photos. Tweak titles and tags. Adjust the price and category. Perhaps yard sale the item and move on.

In my example item the issue was tags; I had published the item without changing the tags. That is a serious mistake which I have fixed. However, I only found it after doing a statistical analysis using the data obtained from Promoted Listings.

Here is another example of why an item has a low click rate. Take a look at the data from this listing:

The top performing search term for this listing is "hall tree." These hooks can be used for a hall tree. This is not a hall tree, but rather just the vintage hooks for one.

I checked to make sure my item is in the fixtures category and not furniture. That's good.

Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where the tag stays. It will drag down my overall click rate. I know why and am good with it the way it is.

Clicks per order

In a recent time period I had 14 orders and 1229 clicks. When you do the math, 1229 clicks/14 orders = 88 clicks/order. That is another ratio to track over time. I don't have enough data to reach any conclusions yet.

My non-ad rate was 134 clicks/order for the same time period. Now that I have baselines, my next goal is to improve the ratios.

Low overall impressions

If an item gets ridiculously low impressions, the issue could be SEO. This is often the case if an item gets almost all of its clicks from ads hardly any from regular searches.

Etsy uses the same relevancy information for ads that it does to determine how your items show up in general in searches. In that case it is necessary to tweak titles and tags.

More information from Etsy.
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What is your click ratio? How many clicks per order does your shop average? How can you improve your numbers?

Thanks for joining me in looking at the extra statistical data you receive as a part of Etsy's Promoted Listings!

Promoted Listings: Tweaking and Experimenting

Your Promoted Listings campaign is up and running. Is it going well? Are you ready to make some adjustments?

There are at least four aspects to your ads to consider when experimenting:

• What items are you promoting? Everything? Older items? Certain categories? Just a few higher priced items?
• How much per bid? Automated bids, custom bids, or a mix? Have penny bids worked?
• How much per day? What time each day do you reach it? Have you raised that on peak days?
• Are you only promoting at times? Only during some months? Just certain days of the week, say weekends only? Or do you let your budget run out every day, so you are not advertising late in the evening?

Because of so many variables, it is wise to tweak only one aspect of your advertising campaign at a time. Whatever you adjust, keep the other three factors the same. That way you can isolate those changes when evaluating results. 

When experimenting, be sure to allow enough time. A day or two do not provide enough statistical data to make important decisions. Allow at least two weeks for evaluation, perhaps as long as a couple of months. It might take that long by the time you tweak what you are promoting, how much per bid, how much per day and when you are advertising your items.

Reports from sellers vary from losing money to making back over ten times what they put in. The average seller I polled makes about four to five times what they spent.

At a cost of $35.66, there was revenue of $188.99

Yes, you must work hard for such a return. Vintage sellers must buy, research, list, pack and ship vintage items. However, making back four or five times what you spent might be worthwhile.

Here is some more information from Etsy.

Plus, there are benefits beyond the ads. Are ads working well for your shop? Can you make them work even better?

Promoted Listings: Benefits Beyond the Ads

Does your shop need more traffic?

Etsy's Promoted Listings are advertising, pure and simple. Enrolling in the program increases the visibility of your listings. (Here's how to set it up.)

However, there are benefits to Etsy's Promoted Listings besides the obvious.

A bump for your shop

Who doesn't need a bump in Esty relevancy? That's exactly what Promoted Listings give you. It happens because you get more clicks and favorites. Those extra clicks (albeit paid for) bump your items up in Etsy searches. The effect lasts beyond your campaign, too.

Increased visibility

Some sellers feel that having two slots on a page rather than one enhances your image to the shopper. You look like a more established shop somehow by being present twice. A shopper may see your item once and not click, but choose to investigate when they see it a second time.

Access to enhanced stats

Etsy sellers already receive detailed statistical data.  Information includes keyword details and individual item stats.  

Etsy's Promoted Listings Dashboard is a great source of additional statistical information. Where else can you see how many impressions you get? Some questions answered are:

• When presented with your item image, what percentage of shoppers actually click on it? 
• How active were shoppers on a given day? All factors being equal, fewer impressions mean less shoppers searching.

After a week or so we begin to receive access to more data about exact what search terms were used. On your "Manage" chart, we begin to see links to "searched terms."

Open the link and you see a screen that provides some useful data, called "Listing Analytics."

If no terms are available, try one of two things:

1. Select another item. 

2. Expand the date range. You a week or more of data for the system to provide any data.

The screenshot below is an example of some keyword details from the Listing Analytics page:

You have unique access to exactly which search terms are more commonly used for your items. Use this information to refine your titles and tags. This is an opportunity to optimize your listings for commonly used keywords. Be sure to include some longer, less common phrases as well, called long tailed keywords. Here is some in-depth information about long-tailed keywords.

For example, I discovered that plurals are not necessary according to my data. So I can adjust my tags, perhaps squeezing more tags in those thirteen fields. (I am trying that out at least.)

I am still new to this program. I will learn more as time goes on. And I will be sharing it with you.

Here is some more information from Etsy.

How have you benefited from your promoted advertising campaign? What have you learned?

Promoted Listings: Step by Step

Select Advanced Settings to set your maximum bid

It is 2017. You have done some research and decided to go ahead with Etsy's Promoted Listings. Open the sign-up page. Go ahead, push the orange button. There, you are advertising!

Enter your maximum CPC right away. It can be as low as 1 cent

Set an overall maximum bid right away. Push the "Advanced Settings" button. (Right below "advertise new listings automatically.") Set a maximum bid (called Max CPC). Setting an upper cap on the price you pay for ads can avoid some expensive browsing... You big spenders can set it as low as 1 cent.

Click "manage" (illustrated below) and you see the big table with your listings. It asks if you want to advertise new listings. (I add mine manually but my reason for that is not a huge deal.)

You can advertise specific items and not others by toggling the orange buttons on and off. Likely some items for sale need more exposure, while others do not. 

Setting Bid Prices

After the initial set up, now it is the time to adjust bid prices. If your shop is small, it is easy. If your shop is large, this may take some time. Or you can just leave everything at the same bid.

When you set your low bid price for some items, you may see a little exclamation point. That indicates that the bid price virtually never reaches that (low) level. In that case, the item is unlikely to be seen for that bid, but it is not impossible.

You will be pleased to note that your bid for the advertising space can be lower than your maximum bid. For example, I have some jewelry items where my bid was 5 cents, but they only charged me 1 cent for a view. That indicates that the bidding process is like eBay where you put your max but what you pay can be less. If I put a lower number than they suggest I still can get some placement. Perhaps not at the top of the first page, but increased visibility nevertheless.

I am amazed that a competitive market like jewelry can have such a low bid price compared to post cards and photos. Odd. It has to be simply how much the sellers want to pay to advertise, how competitive Etsy's promoted listings are for that category, those keywords.

Reading the data

After a few days, open your advertising dashboard. A link is in your shop drop-down menu.

Your dashboard gives an overview of how the advertising campaign is going. Impressions each hour or each day give you an idea of the ups and downs of Etsy searching. Are searches up or down during the Super Bowl?

Advertising dashboard. Manage button circled in red.

Has your campaign run out of money before the end of the day? Did you lift the cap, lower your bids, or just let it run out before 12 PM?

Push your Manage Promoted Listings button as shown. A chart or table of your items can be seen with all sorts of interesting information. We will discuss that in a future installment.

Etsy's Paid Advertising Options

Your shop is up and running. Inventory is listed and well photographed. Your listings are optimized for key words used during Etsy searches and search engine queries. You have even made a few sales.

Your shop is all ready, all ready to ship great vintage items. But it's very quiet. 

How do you turbo-charge your business to the next level? The same way that businesses have for 180 years: pay for advertising.

Two types of paid advertising are available through Etsy's Advertising Dashboard:

• Promoted Listings
• Google Shopping Ads.

Both are set up so that you only pay if someone clicks on your item. Your dashboard will provide the following information:

1. Impressions (your item showed up at the top of someone's search)
2. Clicks
3. Cost per click
4. Buys (within a certain period of time after they clicked using your ad)
5. Revenue (how much buyers spent on your items)

In each case, the cost, your advertising budget, can be set as low as approx $1 per day. What you pay can be less than that. Etsy has set an upper limit of $10/day.

Etsy's Promoted Listings

These are ads within Etsy. You've seen them when searching and shopping on Etsy. They discreetly say the word "ad" on them. On a PC, the ads are all lined up and I pretty much ignore them.

When buyers use the Etsy App, ads are harder to ignore

However, on a mobile device using the app, the ads are better blended in, seemingly unpredictable. That's a game-changer for me, as they can't easily be ignored on the app, which many buyers now use.

This paid advertising service is very easy to set up. Basically, you set up your daily budget, a click or two, and it is good to go.

Once you activate Promoted Listings, you will be able to view a dashboard for managing them. There you can toggle individual listings off. You can target which items get advertised and which do not. You can also adjust how much you spend per click.

Promoted Listings use your Etsy listing titles and tags. It is a good idea to optimize these before enrolling. If you are not sure, check your stats for Etsy traffic. Be sure that "Search" is among the first three traffic sources. If not, tweak your listings.

Promoted listings provide benefits beyond just the ads. More advanced information is here.

Google Shopping Ads

All Etsy sellers receive some exposure through Google Shopping ads. Etsy enrolls every shop in a basic program of paid ads. Since Etsy added the paid version, I have seen the stats for my Google Shopping numbers steadily decreasing. That means to me that Etsy has cut back on their "free" advertising.

My views from "free" Google Shopping Ads have been heading downward

These paid ads are found in a couple of places on shopping engines. One place is at the top of searches. Another place on the Google search engine is Google Shopping Ads. When you search on Google, there are tabs and choices on the top for Images, Maps, News and Shopping.

In reality, the Paid shopping engine ads include more than just Google. Have you heard of Bing, ShopStyle or Facebook? They can all be part of Etsy's advertising network.

It takes at least a week to optimize your bids. You will want to run your shopping engine campaign for at least one month before doing a hard evaluation.

Here is an important caveat: Shopping Engine Ads are subject to the terms and policies for each individual shopping engine (here are Google's policies) which may be different than Etsy's. I haven't heard of it being an issue, but it could be.

Further Information about paid shopping engine ads is here. Read how to manage your paid shopping campaign here.

I have had an Etsy shop for several years. Is it necessary to advertise?

Advertising increases the exposure of your listings to shoppers. You can choose to do this on Etsy, Shopping Engines or both.

Advertising cannot guarantee sales, only exposure. Your products must sell themselves. Ads only work if you have a salable product that need more exposure. Items that will sell themselves if they could just get seen.

We all must pay for the privilege of increased exposure. Etsy is now a publicly traded company. "Pay to play" advertising is one way for them to show a higher profit for their shareholders. It is just a fact of life.

If you sell in saturated categories, paid ads may be the only way he get adequate visibility within Etsy searches. Sometimes it appears to me that shops could do some work on their SEO and photos, and bump themselves up rather than pay for ads. However, that's a personal business decision made by shop owners every day.

Have you tried Etsy's paid advertising? Did it work for you?

How can a tablet help my vintage Etsy business?

Is a tablet the best choice for your vintage selling business?

Perhaps you are holding back from getting a device. Too difficult to learn. Too expensive.

Do you own a smart phone already? Have you tried using that for your business? How does its size work? Once you wear bifocals, you may prefer a tablet. There are mini tablets that are a little smaller which may be another option.

When my husband and I decided to buy a tablet, we were not sure how much use we would really get out of it. Hence, we bought a basic model without cellular service.

After we found out we really liked it and can use it, we purchased another one, a basic one with cellular service. Finally now we own one with maximum storage, thin size and portability along with cellular service.

My experience 

As far as recommendations, I only have experience with the Apple iPad. It is very intuitive. I have a full-sized one so I can see it with my over-50 eyes.

Because I take a lot of photos, we eventually purchased an iPad with the most memory available and an upgraded iSight camera. A "mini" is also available, which some prefer.

Shop Update photo using a rustic Filters app

Models with cellular service are more expensive up front. Additionally, you will have to pay for monthly data. We already had a cell phone with a local carrier and we bundled the cellular service with that.

If you don't purchase cellular data, you will only be able to use your device at home (if you have WiFi) and in other locations with WiFi. There are many places with free WiFi like fast-food restaurants, malls and libraries.

Our most extreme need for WiFi was a vacation we took in a remote location on the Canadian border. There was no US data. In order to view my emails, we had to cross the border and go to a little town office in Quebec. That is an unusual situation.

We purchased our iPads through the local carrier so that they would work with the local carrier. A savvy millennial would no doubt be able to do it cheaper.

We have 2 GB of cellular data per month, which works for us. With 1 GB, I had to continually check our data use in "settings." With 2 I am good as long as I don't do any streaming or uploading photos.

If you live in an area with a lot of carriers, you will have more choices. I live in a rural area. We need reliable data service in that area, so we used the best local carrier. I am sure that there are better deals out there.

15 ways to use a tablet in your vintage Etsy business

How do I use my device? How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

My Coach Sutton purse for auctions

1. At auction to look up prices 
2. At auction to photograph items. 
3. While bidding at auction, refer to the pictures. (In my case so I know which tray lot I am bidding on.)
4. I delete the photos that I don't use. The auction photos I save and record the price I paid for the item right on it for tax records.
5. Taking listing photos. 
6. Editing listing photos.
7. Enhancing photos. (Example: an app called Filters which makes items look textured and/or vintage colored)
8. Storing photos either on my tablet or in cloud storage.
9. Shop dashboard. The new Etsy Shop Manager for the Sell on Etsy app is even better than the new interface for the PC. Our views and favorites are better showcased in my opinion.
10. Composing listings. The app has been glitchy, so I often just use the regular web browser.
11. Shop updates. (I even have used my auction photos.)
12. Inventory management. I use Numbers on the iPad.

    

    Tablet used for inventory management

13. While packing orders, I play movies with my device.
14. Social media. I don't do much besides blogging. Even off line, I composed blog postings using Notes. (Blogger doesn't work well with a tablet.)
15. Financial management. There are free and low-cost spreadsheet programs available. 

Apps for our tablets

Spreadsheet - Numbers
Camera - comes with the device (called Photos), also Yamera
Photo Editing - Photos, plus Photo Editor
Photo Enhancing (Filters and Vintage Coloring) - Photos, plus Filters
Adding Text and/or Graphics to Photos -  Photos, Canva, Photo Editor
Social Media - I'm not an expert
ITTT - If This Then That - free app to create chains of simple conditional statements that accomplish things.
DropBox - store, sync and share files
Cloud Storage - iCloud, OneDrive

Sell On Etsy app. Has been unreliable. Mostly use the website via Safari. Hopefully it has been improved with the new site improvement rollouts of February, 2017.

Accessories for Work

1. Absolutely buy a case. I have dropped my iPads numerous times. I have broken three cases, but not the tablets.
2. Carrying one around. I use a vintage Coach bag. I have also used various other crossbody style bags.
3. Camera lenses. Inexpensive on eBay. Close-up and fish-eye.
4. Tripod adapter. Take another look at my setup for inventory management. My older iPad is attached to a tripod with an adapter that is available on eBay.

Internet service. If you use cloud storage such as iCloud or OneDrive, your photos will be uploaded and stored. That is a good thing. However, the process can take up a lot of bandwidth, slowing down your Internet WiFi service. We have just upgraded our Internet service at home from 3 to 25 mbps. That allows for streaming video on multiple devices.

We also pay for some extra cloud storage. Apple's is 99 cents per month.

So, have you been inspired at all to try out a tablet? I enjoy mine much more than I expected to: reading and working while we travel. Streaming movies while folding laundry. Video chatting with friends and family. Playing Spider Solitaire at bedtime...

Are you using a tablet to help run your Etsy business? Does it work well?

Here is an Etsy team for tablet users.