Your desperation is showing. . .

Sometimes I really want to shout at other etsy sellers, "your desperation is showing".  I know it sounds rude or mean but it's actually quite true and a big factor in what is wrong with etsy's search results.  😐

I have dug in and did some research in the form of several searches and checking things within the search results and what I have found is really disappointing.  😕

There are many many sellers who are mis-tagging and mis-using attributes which contributes to the bad search results because it is purposeful mis-information.  

For example in my "chainmaille barrette" search recall the bracelets, well click into the listing and check the tags and that seller has tagged the bracelet with the terms barrette, necklace, and key chain.  So the listings appears in many more searches than it should because the seller has purposely mis-tagged the item as things it is not. 

The same is true for the mis-use/abuse of the attributes, etsy has stated that the holiday attributes should be used for when an item would be used or themed.  So christmas trees and christmas themed items should be attributed to the holiday christmas but things that simply could be christmas gifts should not be because virtually anything could be a christmas gift but not be at all christmas related.  For example when "valentine's day" option was removed from certain jewelry sub-catagories and styles many sellers had a forum freak out the admins tried over and over to explain the distinction and many refused to accept it or follow the edict.

These things have led me to the conclusion the bad search results are only partially etsy's fault and largely due to poor seller behavior, specifically seller desperation to be seen even in searches that do not fit their items, basically shoving things down people's throats even though they know perfectly that they are misrepresenting their things, clogging the system with bad results, driving shoppers away from the site and it's "broken search". 😒

It is the very definition of "cutting of your nose to spite your face" or "shooting yourself in the foot" if you prefer. 

The real problem lies in there is no real solution either etsy has to hire teams of people to comb through a gazillion listings and delete/remove the inappropriate tags and attributes or sellers have to grow up stop trying to game the system and take responsibility and fix their sh*t.  I do not see either of those things happening. 😞