The problem is the awkward (for all sellers, not just Vintage shops) Etsy category structure is a really poor fit for Vintage items in the way that collectors and gift-givers and decorators usually search for them. Additionally, the customer Etsy targets for the site generally (not for any specific type of item) is a young woman aged 14-29 who obviously (based on her age) isn't all that interested in nostalgia for stuff at least 20 years old. Etsy uses the first page at the Vintage link to showcase a curated, not entirely Vintage, selection to the customer the site is targeting. Newish clothing, accessories and jewelry, digital downloads (not Vintage anywhere outside the mendacious Etsyverse), manufactured mineral specimens and decorative objects (stones are old, so crystal balls and agate coaster sets newly made are "vintage).
Check pages 1 and 2 at the Vintage link at the right top of the page, and have a look. No matter the time of day, between 12 and 20 items on page 1 aren't Vintage...even though they are considered among the top 48 "vintage" items in terms of relevance on Etsy.
Wake up, Etsygirls!
UPDATE: this happened not quite a year ago, in September 2017. It was announced at the time as a "current test" and discussed in this thread in the Etsy Forums: Vintage Sellers, I hope THIS IS BOOST TO US... The original post quotes the test information:
Current tests
The information below is accurate as of September 26, 2017, and includes tests that are most relevant to sellers.
Type: Updates to Etsy's category navigation menu
What we're testing:
- Adding Art & Collectibles at the top of the category navigation menu
- Removing Kids & Baby from the top of the category navigation menu
- Expanding the Wedding category to Wedding & Party
- Making the Vintage category a clickable link that takes shoppers directly to the Vintage category page
- Additional changes to reorganize and regroup categories and subcategories within the category navigation menu
Goal: To simplify the category navigation menu so buyers can easily find products on Etsy.
Audience: A percentage of all buyers on Etsy.
Start date: September 2017
More information: This experiment does not impact the categories you’ve used to list your items. You don't need to make changes to your listings. Additionally, items in the Kids & Baby category will be included in relevant top-level categories, such as Clothing, Accessories, or Toys.
Removing the drop down menu sent shoppers interested in vintage directly to a curated page with 9 Etsy "categories" at the top, each with a staff curated thumbnail photo which was not linked to the item shown, but the "category". The categories then, as today, were:
- Home & Living
- Jewelry
- Art & Collectibles
- Clothing
- Craft Supplies & Tools
- Books, Movies & Music
- Accessories
- Toys & Games
- Bags & Purses
The same photo is not always shown for each "category". Instead there is a small number of curated photos that can appear in each of the nine spaces. But here's where Etsy shows the intention behind the change: every time the page is accessed between 3 and 5 of the nine curated thumbnail photos show NEW -- not VINTAGE -- items for sale. The link has been utilized as part of Etsy's "guided shopping experience" to clue in shoppers that "vintage" on Etsy doesn't have to be old. Don't you love it, Etsygirls?
Here's where I had this information saved, in a post made to my companion blog in October 2017: Etsy tests a new way to connect shoppers with vintage items...
One of the 4 items called out in that post as fake "vintage" is shown as the thumbnail for Accessories as I type this, 10 months later. Because that's how #etsysellsvintage
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