Sunday, April 25, 2010

How I Feel About Treasury East

I made my first Treasury East today.  I've been putting it off for awhile because I've been protesting.  I'm a huge fan of the current Etsy treasury system.  I love the thrill of the catch, and it's exclusiveness.

(for those not on track, an Etsy Treasury is a collection of 12 items from Etsy made by members of the Etsy community.  Previously, you had to wait until the amount of treasuries dropped below 333 in Treasury Main and 222 in Treasury West.  Enough people complained in the forums that they could never get one and that treasuries should last forever and you should be able to make as many as you want and people should be able to leave as many comments as they want... and Treasury East was born.)

Anyways, I cracked and made one.  I just re-watched "The Royal Tenenbaums" and thought that would be a fun treasury to play around with.  So I went for it!  Here it is:

Now I feel that since I've made one, I can criticize the system.

Pros:
1. Availability.  I can create a treasury whenever inspiration strikes.
2. Easy to arrange.  I love being able to drag and drop listings.
3. Visibility.  Treasury East was made to reflect the site widening of Etsy.  I love the larger images.
4.  More items.  I had such a hard time narrowing down just 12 items for a regular treasury.  Treasury East allows 16.

Concerns:
1.  Attack of the Treasury Easts.  Because none of these treasuries ever expire, I'm afraid the Treasury East hub will soon be overrun with outdated treasuries filled with mostly sold items.
2.  Duplicate Treasuries.  I'm afraid that people will make multiples of the same treasury trying to get the same items on the FP.
3.  Lack of searchability.  There is still no way to search to see what Treasury Easts you are included in.  A beta version came out, but it was shut down for some reason.  Hopefully one will permanently launch soon!
 

11 comments:

  1. great post ashli! I love your thoughts and your new treasury!

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  2. I agree with a lot of that. Another thing I thought would be a cool idea was if you could search one persons list of treasuries. Say you saw a list by "X" person you could then click on them to see all the lists they made? I'm in the I think small boat of people who miss the Gift Guides so I wish if I were shopping and knew a certain person made good lists I could see all of them. Just a thought!

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  3. Your thoughts are the same as mine even though I could never make a main or west due to the timing with a toddler.

    I do worry about the overwhelming amount of treasuries already made and the fact that the number is just going to multiply every day and never even out. Hopefully that will get fixed since this is just beta testing.

    I like your new treasury. I did find a way to search T-easts that you are in, I will have to find the link for you!

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  4. Nice treasury! :D Here's mine:

    I just put together a BnR on treasury east! :D I'm planning on this being one of the new etsy hot-spots since it doesn't expire. If you don't know what a BnR is you'll have to click the treasury and find out. It's a wonderful way to promote your items/shop and support fellow etsians at the same time. :) Check it out, tweet it, facebook it, blog it, etc. The more people we can get to come the better. Check back regularly because it will constantly be changing! :D I've posted items of all different price ranges so shop, promote, and have fun!

    LINK: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bd2610d72fc8eef929288e9

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  5. I agree with you, but I am one of the lucky ones who is retired and therefore always able to get a Treasury.

    I have been concentrating on Awareness Treasuries. If you want to help me support Awareness through my Treasuries, I keep the link to the current Treasury on my shop welcome. http://cherylspurplecow.etsy.com

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  6. I appreciate your take on all of it, Ashli. I am one who has heretofore been excluded from making treasuries mostly because I don't really understand how to "snag" one..but also, fear of spending a lot of time making one & having nothing to show because I didn't do it right. These factors have prevented me from ever trying to get a treasury.
    I got brave when East came on the scene and do you know what? I even messed up with T-east. Yup, spent time I didn't have and had nothing to show for it. I did it twice and all I got was my title, description & my comment. Am I destined to be a Treasury misfit? Only time will tell...

    But, I do see all of your points and will be interested to see how everything pans out! Great post!

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  7. I agree with your points. I have yet to make one... even though I used to love the chance to create a treasury... east kinda took the excitement away from catching a treasury.

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  8. eventually T-East will be the only treasury available. no more t-west or t-main. i wonder how this will change etsy... only time will tell

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  9. Good thoughts on the Treasury East. I just saw one of your items on the Front Page in a treasury called "Something Blue" it is lovely. Looking forward to your future blog posts!

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  10. I agree. I think the cons out weigh the pros.. So many aspects of Etsy are so saturated as it is and... it just seems crazy to me to have treasuries that don't expire.
    Plus, I love the thrill of scoring a treasury. And I think people put more time into creating a great treasury when they know its hard to get one.

    Still, your treasury is excellent - great choice for a theme!

    Wes Anderson, if you're reading this ... which I'm sure you are ... I kind of have a huge crush on you.

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  11. oh Shirin I hope he's reading this! I need to tag it "Wes Anderson" so he will find it... I'm sure he checks socialmention.com just like the rest of us!

    A blog post will be coming soon about another discovered PRO about treasury east... the ability to make permanent wishlists and registries.

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