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On any sales within 30 days of an ad click. Genuine scenario from a few months ago: I'm looking at some shelving on Etsy, I mention it to my mother (using a spe

On any sales within 30 days of an ad click. Genuine scenario from a few months ago: I'm looking at some shelving on Etsy, I mention it to my mother (using a specific seller's name) to double check it's right for what we need. She clicks the first Google result (which in this scenario could very easily be an Esty ad), and now Etsy are taking £12 extra from a £100 order without the seller being able to opt-out. For what? They haven't driven any traffic.

tomnipotent 7y ago
It's unlikely the Etsy ads will be targeting stores names, but generic terms they can match to their market place in real time. It's far more likely in this scenario, there will be little confusion between the generic text ad and the first organic link that clearly has the seller's name in it.
- stordoff 7y ago
  I don't see why they _couldn't_ - they specifically say "All of your listings or shops may be promoted". Even if they don't, it still falls into a similar trap. A few weeks prior (when I was still looking for cheaper alternatives), I mentioned off-hand that I've found one option, and it's on Etsy. Did she Google "[generic term] + Etsy" (I only found one seller, so it's tantamount to searching the seller's name)? I've no idea, but if she did, they're probably taking 12%.
  - tomnipotent 7y ago
    > I don't see why they _couldn't_ It's not easy to automate, or to build a model that demonstrates that targeting this low-level will have a positive ROI. Advertising is a fickle game, and I don't see this being successful without building it on a broad program that allocates spend by some segmentation of their sales (e.g. product category).
    - shostack 7y ago
      Dynamic creative from a product feed setup to serve to a retargeting audience of people who visited those pages is not a terribly difficult ad task and certainly something Etsy is capable of doing from an engineering standpoint. I'm not quite sure why you feel it isn't but I'd like to better understand your perspective.
      - tomnipotent 7y ago
        And how do they get the traffic to retarget in the first place?
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  Why wouldn’t Etsy target popular individual store names? It’s a guaranteed financial win for them.

tomnipotent 7y ago

It's unlikely the Etsy ads will be targeting stores names, but generic terms they can match to their market place in real time. It's far more likely in this scenario, there will be little confusion between the generic text ad and the first organic link that clearly has the seller's name in it.

stordoff 7y ago
I don't see why they _couldn't_ - they specifically say "All of your listings or shops may be promoted". Even if they don't, it still falls into a similar trap. A few weeks prior (when I was still looking for cheaper alternatives), I mentioned off-hand that I've found one option, and it's on Etsy. Did she Google "[generic term] + Etsy" (I only found one seller, so it's tantamount to searching the seller's name)? I've no idea, but if she did, they're probably taking 12%.
- tomnipotent 7y ago
  > I don't see why they _couldn't_ It's not easy to automate, or to build a model that demonstrates that targeting this low-level will have a positive ROI. Advertising is a fickle game, and I don't see this being successful without building it on a broad program that allocates spend by some segmentation of their sales (e.g. product category).
  - shostack 7y ago
    Dynamic creative from a product feed setup to serve to a retargeting audience of people who visited those pages is not a terribly difficult ad task and certainly something Etsy is capable of doing from an engineering standpoint. I'm not quite sure why you feel it isn't but I'd like to better understand your perspective.
    - tomnipotent 7y ago
      And how do they get the traffic to retarget in the first place?
ceejayoz 7y ago
Why wouldn’t Etsy target popular individual store names? It’s a guaranteed financial win for them.