Pleased it’s not just me that thinks the photo’s look worse since the changes, I thought it was just my photo’s that are naff. 
5 Likes
To be able to find items easily as they categorised.
I make pet accessories. I’ve also completed a Copy Writers course with certificate & know how important tags, headlines, SEO etc are.
In my listings for dog coats - the words “Dog Coats” & “Dog Jackets” go into the sub head group, my heading, frequently mentioned in description and go into tags numerous times. When I key in Dog Jackets in the search - up come “Mens Waistcoats” Chunky Knitted Coat" first listed. The search has obviously picked up on the word “Coat” & so the top listings in the search are Mens Waistcoats! The word “Dog” has been missed until later down in the search. Also, how can the search differentiate between “Toys for Dogs” & “Toy Dog”? I keyed in Toys for Dogs in search & up came a gorgeous handmade necklace with little “toy dogs” on it!
Yes, It’s difficult at times for the Folksy team to work this out &, agree, they do work hard. They have helped me on things I don’t always understand. Great. I’ve been selling on Folksy since 2018 & to date have sold under 10 items.
2 Likes
Hi Liz
Did you know your FB link doesn’t work ? xx
Totally agree with you on this. The search does need sorting for buyers to find, quickly & easily, what they want & what they’ll get. My example was ‘Dog Coats’. I went into Garden & Pets heading to sub head Dog Coats which was added to my heading, ‘Dog Coats/jackets’ added numerous times in description and in tags. I keyed in ‘Dog Coats’ in the search. What did I get - Mens Waistcoats! Wonder where the ‘DOG’ went? Also, how can the search differentiate between Toys for dogs/Dog Toys and Toy Dogs? I keyed Dog Toys for my Ball & Rope Dog Toys in the search. It came up with a necklace with toy dogs on it! Algorithms?
I asked Folksy if ‘Pet Accessories’ or ‘Pets’ could have their own main heading. I was told there wasn’t enough space & not enough listings for pets. Surprising! Yes, since we’re supposed to be a nation of pet lovers! So why, out of over 200 listings on my site & being with Folksy since 2018, with clear photos, good description, relevant tags etc am I not getting sales!! Folksy have taken out the FB, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest icons which I did find useful after I did a new Folksy listing. Click on any of these & the new listing complete with link was inserted into them & I got the views for that item.
Etsy is well ‘overcrowded’ - no chance there - too much competition & Brexit hasn’t helped selling abroad. When I was with Etsy, they made listing so complicated & they were also closing down shops without warning or reason. This was some years ago.
Re:Photos. I have a program where I can cut out shadow + my lovely lounge carpet cannot be seen. My items for sale are clear to see - good description, relevant headings & tags, fair prices, little competition - where are my sales!! I did add a dog in the background for my Ball & Ropo dog toys but someone pointed out that this was distracting & I agreed.
I’m not so keen on eBay anymore &, like you say, their photos are all over the place! They are expensive too & free shipping isn’t free but included in their pricing - most of the time. Their pics are way ‘blown’ up making you believe items are bigger than they really are! I’ve been caught out a few times there.
I’d love Folksy even more if they improved the search & I got more sales. My sales have been mostly other Folksy members - so what does that tell you!
1 Like
Well done to the Folksy Team!
I do local craft fairs & always have a supply of business cards for Handcrafts4Pets and flyers too. I have a link on both to my Folksy shop & hope that will help to promote Folksy as a site! As Tesco says “Every Little Helps”!
1 Like
I initially liked that fact that the photos were bigger but you make a very very good valid point about clicking on one of the other photos and then having to scroll back up to view it! With the old version you could see all the thumbnail pictures underneath and if you clicked on one it instantly changed the view without having to move. This new version is very annoying if you want to look at more than one view of the item and have to keep scrolling up and down!
6 Likes
I would love potential customers to be able to simply type in the shop name in the search bar.
1 Like
Hi, @SeaPinkCards
Only been on Folksy myself since last June so fairly new, but I did learn a few weeks ago, if you click on the word ‘items’ on the left side of the search bar, it comes up with ‘shops’ so people can find your shop if they know the name!
Hope that’s of some help!
Judy
I agree with all you say. And I do feel that amateur photos do indeed reflect on the rest of the site for several vital reasons. People shop with their eyes. So if the first initial impact is a set of poorly lit and thought out photos then they’ll just click away to the more sophisticated looking sites. Also, I checked out the Made in Manchester section and there’s all of only a dozen photos on there when there should be so many more. I’m not even in that section and I’m from Manchester! And it’s been the same photos for ages.
If I do a search for certain items, it seems the same few sellers crop up to dominate the first few pages so I have to skip to page 10 or 11 to get to some fresh sellers. How does this happen? I had to trawl through 15 odd pages to get to the jewellery from other sellers. How are some sellers permanently at the front and others way at the back?
Since I can remember the sellers on Folksy are urged to promote this site, but after all these years it’s still not working to the satisfaction of many, so something has to be wrong.
I’d like to know why Folksy isn’t using sites like Press Loft where our work can be featured and picked up by journalists for features in magazines? If they purchase the premium membership they can feature 1K photos from various sellers as a means to promote us and the site and all for just over £3K. That’s not a lot to get the name and the sellers out there. I know that The British Craft House does this and sellers are picked up on there on a regular basis.
Having said all this, I think the front page interface is OK, and looks professional.
4 Likes
Thanks Judy I’ve just tried that out. I’m hoping that customers will know to do that on the search bar. I’m also new to the site so it’s great to get tips from other sellers on the forums. It really does take a while to get used to everything and I’m definitely still in the stumbling around in the dark phase 
Jean
1 Like
Hi Jean @SeaPinkCards
It’s all a learning curve - which I am still very much on too 
- but folksy folk are friendly and a big help, which is half the battle I have found!
Judy
I’ve had a press feature (with my old shop) after being found on Folksy so they must be doing something right!
2 Likes
The search function, particularly on mobile. Certainly for my business, 60% of my customers are using a mobile device for shopping, and it’s really clunky and would put me off immediately. The results are often not related when looking for a particular item. For example, if I search “cushion cover” I am not looking for a pin cushion.
A really easy fix is the categories too. Bath and Beauty does not belong under Home, it needs it’s own separate heading. Took me ages to find it. I only knew it was there because I had just listed something there. Even bathroom and beauty sections separately would be better.
Sorry, I know that’s two, but I know the latter is an easy one to fix
2 Likes
I would like my items to be easily found. Even with description and tags in place, still hardly finding my items. Folksy say they are aware search engine could be more accurate. I’ve literally added tags, changed description and still it’s pot luck finding my goods. Just so disappointed so little traffic. So please Folksy make the search engine better. Thank you
2 Likes
Has the ‘sold items’ page changed ?
Previously I think it used to look a bit like the reviews, but now it is the same style as the items for sale.
Maybe it is because I have recently passed the 50 sales barrier ?
It looks good, but I’d rather it didn’t show the sold price. I’d like to be able to change my prices when I want without a record of the increase being on the site.
I always wish the prices didn’t show on sold items. I also wish they showed all sold items (like etsy do) and not just a few recent ones.
1 Like
The prices don’t show on sold items, haven’t done for ages. Am I seeing a different page from everyone else?
The price does show for recently sold items, but I’ve just checked my ‘sold items’ page and anything sold more than 5 months ago does not show a price.
I wonder if the price disappears from the sold items once the item expires? That might explain why the newer ones have prices and the older ones don’t 
2 Likes