Testing Etsy's Showcase Feature

Well, I thought I'd try Etsy's Showcase feature and see if it brings some attention to my shop.  I've never done it before, and I don't know anyone who has, so I haven't a clue how this is going to turn out.  And then I thought it might be a good idea to blog about it for the sake of other Etsy sellers, to see if it's worth doing.

The Showcase, basically, puts one item from your shop at the top of a selected category page, hopefully resulting in more views to that item, and perhaps to other items in your shop, and if you're lucky, maybe even a sale.  For example: if you sell jewelry in your shop, you book a slot (you can choose the date depending on how many slots are remaining) in Etsy's Jewelry category.  You can choose one item to be showcased, and if that item sells Etsy will bump your next choice up into the showcase slot.  The idea is to be featured on the first page of that category's search, instead of getting lost in the shuffle of the hundreds of new entries per day; the showcase keeps your item at the top of the page so that people viewing that category can see it at the top, regardless of where it is in the listings.  It sounds like a good way to get buyers' attention, since Etsy is overloaded with new items every day, and it's easy to get overlooked.

So I booked  a showcase for the glass category for today (I chose the snowflake glasses as the featured item), and I'll keep you apprised of the progress.  I'm curious to see whether this results in more hits to my shop (or perhaps items being favourited, convo queries, etc.--any evidence of my item being noticed), and am going to be paying close attention to the numbers.  If even just the view count goes up it will have been a darned good investment for $7.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but...well, my hopes are up, lol.  So cross your fingers for me...I'll post about the result when the showcase has expired.

Etsy's Glass section is here, and hopefully my listing will be seen at the top of the page.


Wish me luck folks...I need it. :)

<3
J

Update:
edited at 1:26 PM EST (keeping in mind that most people who are going to be viewing this are in the US):
I've edited the listing so that my glass stars are listed.  On further thought it occurred to me that a) the stars tend to get a lot more attention than anything else in my shop, and b) people might be more willing to look closer at something that's a bit more affordable.   So I switched things around a bit and now the Sunrise Pastels glass star is featured in the showcase.  Now we'll see what happens from here...

Update #2:
edited at 5:40 PM EST:
Well, it's late afternoon/early evening and I've got exactly TWO new views, and one of them is a friend. Does not bode well.  Maybe people will log on in the evening? sigh...

Update #3:
edited on Sunday, 10:04 AM EST:
What a waste.  A waste of time, money, and more importantly, emotional energy.  I didn't get a single hit (the view count for a few of my items went up by exactly one, and it was a Facebook friend checking out my shop).  Very discouraging.  I really thought something would come of it, even just a hit or two...nothing.

I can't explain it--I don't know if Etsy was particularly slow yesterday, if there was something going on in the US (a holiday, particularly nice weather, etc.).  Maybe it was just the luck of the Ides?  Whatever it was, I don't recommend the Showcase feature on Etsy.  At least, it didn't work for me...if anyone else has any luck with it I'd like to know.  For the meantime, at least, I think I'll keep my $7...discouraging.

I'd appreciate hearing about anyone else's experiences with Etsy's Showcase (and Etsy in general).  I must be doing something wrong, I just don't know what it is.