Cookalas House Of Cards on Etsy.com

I guess, if you frequent my blog, you’ve been wondering where I’ve gotten off to.  Well…… it’s complicated.

Last Wednesday I woke to find that over 400 listings had been deactivated in the shop and my living nightmare ensued.   For years, I have been listing my Pandora style items the same exact way that every other seller on Etsy does – as “Pandora style”, and not even thinking twice about it because everyone else is doing it.   Well, it turns out it’s considered a form of copyright infringement.

Oh, boy.

So wow, what a shock! What an awful feeling! My gosh, being an artist I know the value of copyright, so I am ashamed.  Deeply ashamed.  It never dawned on me that I might be infringing with the way I was wording my listings.  I thought “Pandora style” was self-explanatory.  Now that I know, I plead guilty and I am now neck deep in the hoopla of having to edit every single one of those 400 plus listings, one by one.  I have been at it since last Thursday, when REACT.org explained to me exactly how I had to word the listings, and I am exhausted, and depressed. 

So, henceforth, no more Pandora style, the correct terminology is now “European Beads”  or “European Style”.  Live and learn I suppose, and a lesson well-learned. 

But, what irks me now is all those other shops who are still using Pandora style for items that are not authentic Pandora.  I have always been up front about that with my customers – I have never lied or told anyone that the items I sell are authentic Pandora.  I’ve always maintained that what I offer is an inexpensive alternative to authentic Pandora for the 95% of us on this planet who simply cannot afford authentic but still want the look of it. 

So now, because of the new changes in Etsy’s search engine, I am losing an awful lot of potential customers because they are searching for Pandora or Pandora Beads or Pandora Style – and since my listings must now say “European Style” or “European Beads”, my shop listings are not being included in the search results.  My sales have dropped to 75% less than they were – and this is a huge loss for me.  *huge, huge sigh*  I depend on those sales I make to help supplement my pension, and pay my bills.  Besides that, I have devoted the last 6 months of my life to trying to build up the shop.  I have been working into the wee hours on a daily basis, trying to promote on the social media and trying to get more traffic to my shop, and now this.  I can’t help but feel kinda devastated.

SO, until I get the shop back to where it was with listings, I’m going to be scarce here – I will try to blog as much as possible though. So, please, do not abandon the blog.  As soon as things are back in place I’ll begin making daily entries again.  In the meantime, thank you for your concern and support. To me , it’s a priceless commodity.