Heidi while I agree concentrating on what we make is what we should do, and believe me I do … from the customers point of view, seeing an ever changing show of what has just sold could be very inspiring… the Best Sellers list is often dominated by the same sellers … as it is value based… so the small sellers rarely get a look in
There is surely room for both.
I too think it would be more varied from a customers point of view. The top sellers can be very static
Don’t disagree with any points, I completely understand the logic (and have just given this three votes ie to remove the best sellers); I just think that if the end game is to vary the customer experience, or to give them ides on what to buy, then a great homepage, easy navigation and a decent search tool are all I need as a buyer. Not sure one thing on its own is going to help that much but I’m at risk of changing the subject of the thread, which I hadn’t meant to.
(I came on here as I did do a search for an item I wanted to buy earlier today, and despite being very clear on my search term, I got a wealth of unsuitable suggestions, many of which I couldn’t even work out why they could have appeared. So I think the website has bigger priorities to fix the customer experience.)
But like I said I’m at risk of hijacking the thread and changing its subject so many apologies. But really pleased I rediscovered Dixie’s blog (!).
Voted 
She talks a lot of sense. Specially this.
… think you have been targeting other hand makers which is not logical, you need to seek customers not other makers.
I have been in the top sellers list more weeks than I havn’t this year, this is not down to Folksy promotion as I can only recall one item being chosen as a Folksy favourite in the past year…if that in fact it may have been a gift guide item and it wasn’t something I would have chosen, definately not one of my bears which is what I sell more of. I quite often have a few sales within the 7 day period and they are high end. It is easier to reach up to possibly number 10 then it takes a lot more sales to keep climbing. Personally I like the best sellers list and there have been a few shops recently that I havn’t seen before but I also like the idea of the last sold items so that we also see smaller sales. I don’t think any of my customers would even look at the best sellers list, most just come direct to my shop. My sales are from collectors who found me on Instagram and facebook and from recommendations, most are customers that buy regularly and have returned time and time again but definately not by being on the front pages.
I think the best sellers list or having a last sold items list etc is probably rarely going to be viewed by customers and are mainly there for sellers to look at. If I didn’t sell on Folksy and was just a customer I would just search for the item I wanted to buy.
I like the idea of last sold items but we did have this feature when i first joined and it wouldn’t give anyone much exposure as it would change every few minutes, I also don’t think we could have a best sellers list based on the number of items sold instead of value but perhaps there would be room for both.
My idea would be 2 best sellers lists, one as it is now but for the top 20 sellers only then use the bottom half of the same page for Best sellers by qunatity of items sold that way everyone has a chance of being in one or the other list. We might also find that the new list of highest quantity of items sold becomes similar to the highest value in that we see the same names every day as I am sure there are some sellers that sell a high amount of smaller priced items regularly.
I agree I think both would be a good idea, I have just made a suggestion of splitting the best sellers page and having the top 20 best sellers by value of goods then underneath the top 20 seller by quantity of goods, calculated in exactly the same way over a 7 night period and changing every night. This way everyone will be happy with it and we could still have Last sold items on the front page…not sure why this was taken off a few years back but Folksy must have had their reason for it. I do remember when I first joined there was something about people adding their own items to the shopping basket to get to the front page…but no idea where it was now or whether that is why it was taken off. Perhaps they just needed more rroom for all the gift guides etc.
Glad you said it had been there before. I thought it had but wasn’t sure. It was always exciting when you sold something to see if you could catch it in the list. Best were the late night sales …sometimes they stayed for hours
Very few of my sales arise from casual visitors. They get to my shop because, like you, I direct them there. But have had a c Folksy favourite recently which has sold.
Yes it might be good to bring it back Joy, everyone needs that little buzz when they see their item appear on the front page. I got to number one a couple of times this year and was very excited, even managed to capture the image on my phone 
for eternity and then when it goes quiet I can remind myself how busy I was
Pleased to hear your Folksy favourite item sold … wouldnt it be good if we had statistics to see whether more items sold that were favourited by Folksy or not.
I like the idea of rewarding successful sellers by more exposure but I do feel it’s important to mix it up a bit by including new sellers and frequent sellers of small value items.
Perhaps we should be thinking more along the lines of combining a showcase of ‘What’s hot’ with ‘up and coming trendy’ - that would give a good mix of varied items in one place that would appear fresh and appealing to potential customers and give inspiration and direction to other Folksy makers.
I agree - I did make a sale of a basket from the exhibition - the one that I had selected to be considered - but additionally - and whilst I don’t particularly do statistics - our shop and Facebook views/likes etc did grow during August - our weekly Folksy “recent activity in your shop” email showed far more activity - especially of Alan’s photos. But I did pick up the gauntlet of being accepted into the exhibition and really worked at the social media. Definitely agree that doing something is better than doing nothing and leaving it to someone else. Even when we do markets and events I do a lot of social media to promote our presence. August for us felt much busier shopwise - I sold the exhibition basket plus several other baskets; a Cornwall shop-keeper found us on Folksy and placed an order for 20 fat-ball feeders and I apparently - according to a customer who bought the exhibition basket - hit the top of Google searches - “ I was browsing on Google this afternoon and each basket I found was a ‘sold’ one of yours…so I wanted to snap this one up quick as to not be disappointed.”. Gob-smacked!! 
It’s a great idea and would give a broader perspective of what is on Folksy.