Visibility Crisis: Etsy’s Unresolved Search Bug Pushes Holiday Sellers To Black Friday Breaking Point
Etsy sellers struggle with search visibility glitches lasting over 3 weeks, causing major Q4 holiday sales disruption with no end or explanation in sight.
The issue began on or around November 6th with hundreds of sellers taking to the Etsy community forum, Reddit and other social media channels to share their experiences with a sharp, sudden drop in visibility on the platform.
One community post with over 600 responses summarized the problem, calling for greater transparency from Etsy about whether this is a technical issue or the result of intentional changes to search algorithms.
Since November 6th, shops are disappearing from search. Views drop to almost zero. This is hitting established shops with years of good history, good metrics, no violations.
Multiple sellers have reported the exact same pattern: it started November 6-7, putting shop in Vacation Mode temporarily fixes it for 24 hours, then it happens again. Same timeline, same workaround, same shops affected.
Nobody knows what's causing it. Support tickets get generic responses or go days without updates. We're left checking our shops every morning, not knowing if we'll be visible or not. Toggling Vacation Mode daily to appear in search (personally I'm concerned if doing this will affect the shop in ranking in longterm as well). Running a business in this type of uncertainty is not fun.
Technical issues happen, we understand that. What's actually concerning is having no information at all. Is this a known bug? Is someone working on it? Will it keep happening? Should we expect a fix? We have no idea because nobody is telling us.
For many of us, this is an important source of income. It's peak season, and the not knowing is as real as the bug itself. You can't plan, you can't adapt, because you don't know what's going on and how many times it will happen again in the future.
A moderator responded on November 12th, acknowledging that Etsy is investigating the issue - but no further updates from the company have been forthcoming.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We’re investigating the issue, and we’ll share an update as soon as we have more information. We appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this.
A Reddit post with over 500 responses claims there may be thousands of sellers affected, keeping an ongoing updated list of accounts which have reported the problem and also confirming that putting a store in vacation mode does seem to work as a temporary fix for about 24 hours but that the potential long-term impact of repeatedly switching it on and off may be risky.
Since November 6th, established Etsy shops are being completely removed from search results with zero explanation. This isn't about normal algorithm fluctuations - entire shops with years of history are going from thousands of views to almost ZERO overnight.
The Pattern:
- Started November 6-7, 2025
- Shops completely disappear from all search results
- Visits/Orders from search drop to absolute zero (not just low - ZERO)
- Affects established shops with perfect metrics, Star Seller status, no violations
- Vacation Mode toggle temporarily fixes it for ~24 hours, then it breaks again
Who's Being Hit:
- Shops with 5-15+ years of history AND new shops
- Star Sellers with thousands of sales
- International and US sellers alike
- Both POD and handmade shops
The Real Damage:
- Sellers going from 30+ sales/day to ZERO
- Peak Q4 season completely destroyed
- People unable to pay their bills
- Small businesses built over years vanishing overnight
The problem appears to have started around the same time that soon to be CEO Kruti Patel Goyal held an Ask Me Anything session where she made it clear that Etsy will continue to move full steam ahead with AI initiatives - and while there's no clear indication that AI specifically is in play with this issue, it's certainly fair for sellers to wonder if it might be a contributing factor.
Liz Morton
Has your Shop been affected by this Etsy visibility issue? Let us know in the comments below!
