Call me a cynic, but it seems to me that the front page is designed to send new buyers to Folksy’s favoured shops and items via the curated lists. Unless people know what they’re looking for, in which case they can browse the categories, the only option for general browsing is the curated lists.
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Glad this is not just me! It seems to have coincided with the change of the home page. Hmmm!
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The first few years I sold better than I expected to on Folksy and I braced myself last year for the Christmas rush, but it didn’t happen.
My sales this year have been appalling so I’m not sure I will be renewing my plus account in January. I sell my work in a Seaside gift shop that has kept me so busy in the last few months, it has really made it obvious how dire things are for me on Folksy.
It is such a shame, I promote on Facebook etc, but the lack of promotion from Folksy and the fact that we stand little chance of appearing on the front page now makes it difficult to be found.
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For me the drop in views coincided with the introduction of the new shop layouts (and the beta prefix that we all had in our shop URLs for a number of months). The new shop layout was introduced at the end of September so some of that drop was disguised by the increased views of the holiday period.
So far this year I have only about 2/3 of the views from Google that I got in the same period last year. And a noticeable percentage of those views are for old items that I haven’t had in stock for a really long time. I am by no means an expert but I can’t help but think that perhaps the beta prefix changed how our items were indexed by Google and resulted in Folksy links ranking lower in searches than they had previously. Hopefully it will improve a bit now that the beta prefix has been removed.
I certainly don’t think this is the only reason for the drop people have noticed and correlation does not necessarily equal causation so I don’t know if it is even really a reason at all! It’s just something I noticed.
It’s weird because on the other main platform I sell on I have had the exact opposite trend. Sales and revenue are more than double what they were last year. It’s a bigger platform, yes, but I sell and do the exact same things there as I do here and promote both in equal measure so … basically what it boils down do is that really and truly I have no clue!! 
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I was considering renewing my Plus account after letting it lapse last year, but given that it’s unlikely anyone will find my shop now that the recently listed link has gone, I’m not sure whether to or not.
I used to frequently use the recently listed link to browse shops (window shopping if you like) and miss it now.
There seems to be a limited number of spots on the favourites/recent activity section on the front page now and I wonder why two of them need to be taken up by the featured shop when it has its own dedicated section?
Unless buyers are searching for something in particular, most shops are going to be overlooked, particularly by people who are new to Folksy. Rethink required
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I am just in the process of listing some items but I’m thinking that when they expire after Christmas I will let my shop run down. It’s sad because I really like the idea of a british only website but the fact is after almost two years I have only just had my 25th sale compared this to 200 on the other site.
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I too miss the recently listed and does that effect those of us that have plus accounts.
I feel the front page is out of reach and no matter how i try with photos i dont seem to get there.
As a buyer the recently listed page was a good browse if you didnt have a particular thing in mind.
Ellie
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Oh ive just got a plus account 
i am quite new to all this folksy lark but don’t understand why folksy doesn’t do a question and answer part with the makers? Or does something like this already happen?
There’s the Meet the Maker section for you to fill in, it’s a good idea to tell buyers a bit about yourself.
Ment the people in charge of folksy hear and reply to the makers questions and input?
Yes there’s the suggestion page, where you can put forward suggestions for improvements and other people can vote for them and that’s one way you can input.
http://folksy.uservoice.com/forums/117463-suggested-features
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Oh OK I see many thanks for your help shall take a look.
Taking away the recently listed is definitely a big contributor to the reduced viewings to my mind. As someone whose job sometimes takes over the personal life for short periods, I can testify that when I made the effort to ensure that I was relisting regularly, I would see an absolute correlation to increased views. Since this has been removed from the front page, I too have seen a significant impact i.t.o. reduced views. Of course this hasn’t been helped by the fact that the job has taken over a little recently too. 
Annelee xx
I’ve not noticed a drop in views since the change as of yet myself.
I really miss the recently listed too, I used to browse through there regularly and use it to curate my pin boards, also the best sellers list not that I was there much but what it did do was help me see what type of items were selling well and trending, please @Folksyadmin bring back these two links we miss them.
My views did drop off a bit but this week seems to be better, I shall be very sad to see people go too especially those who have been here for a long time like @dottiedesigns and others here, feels like family leaving home.
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It would be interesting if folksy could give us an update on the wider picture @Folksyadmin. Views on my shop are not great, but I’ve changed a few other things recently in terms of where I spend my efforts, where I promote etc. so it’s difficult to pin it down to one thing. so I’d be interested to know what analysis the folksy team could share about trends across the whole site. A lot of people seem to think the recently listed is part of the problem, but I can recall plenty of comments on here from people about how rubbish the recently listed was, esp after folksy plus account came in, and your listing only sat there for 30 seconds. So I’m not sure that’s the real problem.
I don’t think the problem is about not being on the front page, but about the fact that new buyers are unable to browse generally without knowing what they are looking for, or without being directed to a curated list. With the recently listed section you could browse page after page of a huge and diverse collection of items.
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I’m in a real dilemma, I also do not like the new front page and feel that it is now near impossible to get on the front page or the folksy favourite finds and gift guides. My Plus account is for renewal tomorrow (27th) and I’m not sure if it is going to be worth renewing it.
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I enjoyed looking at the recently listed too, and have bookmarked that page now so I can have a look when I feel like it! As regard to views, mine started dropping off about a year ago and although I had good sales over Christmas and new year, since around March this year it all went a bit quiet again and I was at a bit of a loss as to why. I edited a lot of my listing titles and descriptions about a month ago and am pleased to say my views have been steadily climbing again, although this could possibly just be due to Christmas coming round again? When I go onto Google analytics I notice that quite a lot of my views are now coming from organic search which I think is good, and a lot of views are taken up by people viewing my shop, rather than individual listing pages (which aren’t counted on the Folksy views counter), which is also fine with me, because at least people are looking at my shop!
Ok, so I decided to pay the 45 for another year, mainly because I wasn’t sure where else to go. However I’ve had the worst day for views since I started and with more listings than ever before, 4 page views all day. Folksy what is going on, I’m really losing heart here…
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