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Anyone had this happen on Etsy?

YadaYadaYada

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Feb 2, 2016
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A couple of months ago I noticed that my search bar on Etsy was prefilled and "recently viewed items" showed things I would never look at like Druid costume, suit of armor...you get the idea. I changed my password to be safe.

Now it is happening again "vintage sapphire ring" "isis pendant" etc. I'm totally perplexed, not sure if this is the result of AI or what?

Has this happened to anyone else?
 
Yes, I’ve noticed it over the last couple weeks or so but it’s usually prefilled with something related to what I had been looking at.
 
Several years ago I opened an etsy account but never bought anything. My account name was just random letters assigned to me when I signed up.
All I ever did was browse, no purchases at all.
Suddenly I had a "follower". It freaked me out, so I closed the account!
Haven't been back since.
 
I just check my Etsy, it just has a list of “ Popular right now“ of stuff I would never look at or buy. It pops up when I click search
 
@collier, it was so strange like nothing I have ever searched for would lead to that costume and armor? I don't think they make it in my size! Lol!

@Txborn79, if what was coming up was even close I wouldn't be as bothered but their AI or whatever is way off!

@stracci2000 that was me!

No seriously though random people will "follow" you but you can make stuff you've looked at and favorited private so I don't really see the point then.

@Smith3, so not just me then I guess which is good but they need to take a lesson from EBay, their suggestions are a lot more helpful!
 
It might also be the ‘new likes’ of sellers you follow?
 
That has not happened to me. I think I have only ever seen things that I actually looked at in my "recently viewed items". That is kind of creepy.
 
Maybe Someone hacked your account ?
can you email or call Etsy about this ?
 
@PreRaphaelite, I don't know if that's it, this is the search bar so it doesn't seem like that would be the case but they are always changing things so who knows.

@OdetteOdile, it really is creepy and strange

@jeweln, I could and may reach out to Etsy but isn't it strange that this happened after I changed my password once already? Like the chances I would get hacked twice after that fact don't seem very good.
 
i look at etsy pretty regularly and this has not happened to me...i would be concerned as well.... changing your password was good, hopefully things go back to normal!
 
This is happening to me, too! After I search for something, I'll notice that the search window is pre-filled with some other term that is somewhat related to what I just searched for. I think it's probably a new Etsy feature.
 
@KristyDarling, that is good to know! I think this is the case with me as well, as an example I was searching for a "goddess pendant" or "art nouveau figural pendant" and this is what Etsy is giving me, this is what comes up when I go on the Etsy site, I did not type anything in search, this is how it came up:

IMG_7728.jpg

Now the last time I was on Etsy it was "vintage sapphire band" in the search so I don't remember what I had been looking at but that's what it thought I wanted to see apparently. I'm going to keep an eye on this and see if it changes. Etsy is always running tests so this is probably another one.
 
Have you logged into your account on a shared device/computer? If you forget to log out, it keeps you in so it could be someone else in your family looking those things up? Or maybe, delete your cookies and see if it happens again.
 
For me it just brings up "Popular right now". A bunch of items that have nothing to do with my searches.
 
@Rubymal, a good suggestion about cookies, no I haven't been on Etsy on a shared device so don't have to worry about that.

@lyra, it's interesting that you don't see this, when Etsy does tests they do not roll it out to all accounts just a subset then it either goes away or gets rolled out to everyone.
 
If it's US only, I won't see it of course.
 
:-o :lol-2: @JPie, my gosh what is that?! That is freakin scary.
 
I haven't had an issue with the "Recently Viewed Items" section. My beef is with their picks for me.

1582673462437.png

What's with that stupid mask? You are right to be irritated about it.
 
Couple of thoughts.
Do you ever visit etsy on a mobile.device? If so there a massive world of online.ad auctions and whatnot that I wont bore you with but depending on your.privacy settings this will affect every page (and aapp) you visit.
Wipe your cookies, delete your history
Use a browser like.duckduckgo-no more airlines knowing you are searching for a better rate or comparision shopping boots.

I don't think it is a hack or compromise. I think that AI is wonky amd makes generalizations often based on similar users.
 
if it makes you feel any better, after this thread i checked my account and my suggested items were a hanky, an address embosser and a disney gigi tshirt...wth? LOL...i only search antique/vintage jewelry :confused2::?:
2A325AA3-436D-46DD-8F14-282BEC23D300.png
 
Thank you for the reassurance @CSpan, I am most always on my phone when on Etsy although I do use duckduckgo, it's good to know it's not me!

@lynahs1295, hey at least you don't have that scary mask Jpie has! They really need to straighten this out, it's not doing the buyers or sellers there any good.
 
I haven't had an issue with the "Recently Viewed Items" section. My beef is with their picks for me.

1582673462437.png

ummmm.... that is super creepy!!!
 
Yeah, I think it is the cookies as I have started looking for some gift ideas for my mum. I see list of “ Popular right now“ and yeah, same as other websites, It is the algorithm to give others a chance.
 
Several years ago I opened an etsy account but never bought anything. My account name was just random letters assigned to me when I signed up.
All I ever did was browse, no purchases at all.
Suddenly I had a "follower". It freaked me out, so I closed the account!
Haven't been back since.

This just happened to me with my etsy! Which is the weirdest thing because I am as private as can be on there except for leaving reviews for the people I buy from. It's like ok enjoy my empty profile then lol. I'm not going to follow you back. I follow some vendors I like and that's it.
 
This just happened to me with my etsy! Which is the weirdest thing because I am as private as can be on there except for leaving reviews for the people I buy from. It's like ok enjoy my empty profile then lol. I'm not going to follow you back. I follow some vendors I like and that's it.

It was so weird because I never bought anything. So why were they following me? What was there to follow? It was kind of unsettling.
 
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