Etsy Is Failing Me Big Time, as an Artist Painter

Latest Painting Listed on Etsy
18x24" on paper / $139

Does any original painter actually have success on Etsy anymore? What Etsy was set up to be, it no longer is, that's for sure. It was set up as a B Corporation to function as a useful site for real artists and artisans to sell their original artwork and wares. Once it became an investor's target and gave up its B Corporation status, it also sold its soul. Now, when I search for an original painting that I have listed, I see random items come up as well as tons of prints or print upon canvas options. 

It is as if Etsy is trying to compete with Amazon or become another Target online. I doubt there is anything they would refuse to sell these days. It is probably where I should try to sell my used bicycle. Or, the Redleaf rose seeds I just harvested from my garden. Or, the designer clothing that I plan to take to the recycle store soon.

I started out with such great success in 2016, 2017, and 2018. Then, things started to slow down because that is when Etsy prioritized profits over its artists. I had html and SEO skills from blogging and they paid off when I set up my site. The way you set up your listing and used keywords was logical and led to logical search results both on the Etsy site and on Google. Then, they created chaos and illogic in search results when they started prioritizing those who who pay extra to be featured, to advertise, or whatever special programs Etsy devised to get extra income from the seller. 

I catered to Etsy's shipping requests when they leaned on us as sellers. I offered free shipping on all items when they told us it would help our search rank. (I couldn't tell it did, but hey, I tried.) Just this week they informed us that we would have no choice but to specify shipping times and methods. This is really difficult for a painter-artist who has works on canvas and various size packages, but Etsy doesn't care about that. I fail to see setting this as a priority from a handmade true artist working alone in a studio. 

A very short while ago Etsy announced that we should attempt to become a Star Seller Shop. I clicked on their infomercial and found out that I made it in each rating area except for my # of sales was too low to qualify as a star shop. I got a 100% on my message response rate, a 100% on 5 star ratings, a 100% for on-time shipping and tracking, and I even made their minimum in sales dollars amount since mine was over $300. But I'm not a star seller because I would have to have a minimum number of 10 orders in a certain amount of time, and I only had 4. What a bunch of rubbish. Does anyone actually get paid to sit around and think up these kindergarten hero badge nonsense designations? Or are they just set up to shake out those of us who aren't low price high volume commercial print sellers?

Which segues into one of my biggest pet peeves of all. When you do a search for 'original art' or 'original painting' or 'original handmade', the search turns up prints and non original art and unrelated items. Also, in a recent search for floral art, to see who was getting top rank, 8/10 were from Russia or Ukraine. And they weren't that good, either. What is going on here? If I were on the buying side instead of the selling side, I think this would also frustrate me. But if I DO want a 4x4 inch floral of an acrylic daisy flower that is crudely done, I guess I'd be happy especially since they offer *free shipping* YAY! Besides, they must be great since they are at the top of the search.... hmmm.

Every so often I try to search which other sites out there might be better for selling my art. I have wished that some new group of techies would start a new Etsy that was like the old Etsy. If anyone has done that, I'm not aware of it. 

Does anybody have any suggestions? Ideas? Let me know. I'm frustrated. My sales used to average 3 a month and they have fallen off a cliff. I've had 124 sales, and 229 people have favorited my Etsy shop and 39 people have given me a 5 star review. I earned those numbers through a lot of hard work and effort. I hate to give all of that up. What to do.