and so it continues. . .

I have previously written about the pattern of new shops opening and then massive drops twice a month. 😶 Many people were reluctant to believe it or discuss it, like they didn't want to know it was happening and they didn't want to discuss or propose the causes or reasons behind it.  I have been curious about the yo-yoing of the # of shops the whole time I have been on etsy. 😏

I found it shady and questionable when etsy suddenly decided to change the definition of "active shop" and what was shown. I have found it hard to believe that 1,000 - 2,000 shops open nearly every day, I mean damn where do all these people come from? 😵

Then it became a clear pattern of build build build plummet. After some discussion I have come to lean towards a few theories. First that etsy marks and collects a list of accounts and closes them all at once, this makes some sense as it condenses certain work functions to just a couple of days a month. Second is that many of these are based on unpaid bills, due to the regular monthly nature and the day(s) of the month of the clearing out this is a real possibility. Finally, it is caused by regular infringement sweeps, like the disney department files all it's take-downs on the same 1 day each month which doesn't seem as likely when you phrase it like that. 😄

Whatever the reason, the fact is twice a month there are huge drops in the number of shops shown on site. 

2,995,671 shops found for  1/01/2020
2,997,061 shops found for  1/02/2020
2,999,082 shops found for  1/03/2020
3,001,046 shops found for  1/04/2020
3,003,213 shops found for  1/05/2020
3,005,961 shops found for  1/06/2020       -21,648
2,984,313 shops found for  1/07/2020
2,985,204 shops found for  1/08/2020  *same 2 days in a row
2,985,204 shops found for  1/09/2020    so rare
2,992,406 shops found for  1/10/2020
2,994,585 shops found for  1/11/2020
2,997,054 shops found for  1/12/2020
2,999,695 shops found for  1/13/2020
3,002,374 shops found for  1/14/2020
3,008,821 shops found for  1/17/2020
3,010,880 shops found for  1/18/2020
3,013,094 shops found for  1/19/2020
3,015,878 shops found for  1/20/2020
3,018,515 shops found for  1/21/2020     -7,581
3,010,934 shops found for  1/22/2020

The last time I posted about this I was accused of "fear-mongering" however it is not my purpose, I simply noticed an oddity and wanted to come up with theories to explain it.