Recently, Etsy announced another news on the site, which will affect all sellers. And I want to tell you about it in this post. I have been on Etsy for many years, and during this time the platform has not implemented anything new.
Besides all sorts of bureaucratic difficulties and various new rules and blocks.
But recently, another newsletter came from them with very interesting news. On September 1, 2021, they decided to start assigning star status to sellers. So if you are a good conscientious seller, you have a lot of positive reviews, you respond quickly and send parcels, then a star seller icon will be displayed in your store. Thus, it will be a good signal for customers that your store is trustworthy. This should encourage customers to order goods from you.
These stars should appear only from September 1-st, so it is still unclear exactly how it will look, but now you can start preparing your store to receive such a mark.
The Star Seller section has already appeared in the seller’s account. This is what it looks like.
You can view your status and check your progress there. At the moment, the data is probably still being collected.
How to become a star seller on Etsy?
So, what will it take to become a star seller on Etsy.
- Have a lot of positive reviews
- Quickly (within 24 hours) respond to customer requests
- Send parcels on time with the track number
What should I do if not all these points were met?
The main thing is not to get upset. As the platform promises, the quality indicators of the stores will be reviewed every month based on the work over the past three months.
So it’s enough to work on the mistakes, and next month it will also be possible to get a star.
And now a few of my personal thoughts
Why did Etsy suddenly decide to change something and make new features for sellers? Let me remind you that nothing like this has been observed on Etsy for three years. At first, it seems that the platform is trying to benefit sellers and buyers. In some way, this is true. But my personal opinion is that the marketplace is trying to increase sales with this functionality in principle. It is more pleasant to buy from trusted sellers, anyway. Many people are afraid of online purchases, but now Etsy vouches for the seller. This should increase the responsibility of sellers and sales in general, but the platform does not care who will be the seller. As for me, this sign will not help much in sales in each particular store, because there won’t be any priority in the search results. And how will this star be very different from an icon with good reviews?
And one more thought – the platform wants to implement an algorithm for tracking unscrupulous sellers. So I wouldn’t be surprised at the mass store blockages soon. So if you have a “sin“, I advise you to work on the mistakes and somehow correct yourself so as not to lose the store.
And what do you think about it? Have you already received the star?
I’ve achieved Star Seller Status here in September (www.TweetNStitchy.etsy.com)…. but honestly I’ve been responding to messages, shipping on time, and asking for 5 star reviews for years. This new program is strange – because I feel like Etsy reviews already provide all the information buyers need (and they incentivize nice behavior and being a great, honest seller, because bad customer feedback is crummy for business). This program kind of just feels…. controlling.. by Etsy. One of the reasons I came to Etsy was for the joy of selling in a marketplace that didn’t require much of me other than being a nice person and selling great produces. But Etsy is getting all handsy and I don’t really like that. It feels a bit like an intruder is mucking about in my store.
I don’t know if the badge is going to drive business my way – because I keep working hard, doing social, being honest, and selling great products. Is the badge making people shop in my store? Or is it my hard work? I kind of lean toward hard work being the main factor. That’s my 2 cents.