What is a Treasury?

Etsy defines a treasury as "an ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery of handpicked items." Basically a treasury is an opportunity for you to pick out items that display your own taste. You can arrange your items according to a color, theme, or a style. You can use a treasury to promote your favorite sellers or team. Etsy Admins (the staff of Etsy) often promote whole or partial selections from a Treasury list to the front/home page.

What is a Treasury West and where do I find it?

Treasury West is just as important as the main Treasury, it's just a little bit harder to find. You can't reach the main Treasury from the front page. There are two ways to find Treasury West. The URL (web address) is http://www.etsy.com/treasury_west.php . The other way is from the craftopolis treasury clock which I will explain later but you can click on the clock and it will take you to Treasury West http://www.craftopolis.com/index.php?com=tc . In theory the Main Treasury is better for sales because it's easier for shopping customers to find. Also, percent wise, more front pages are chosen from Treasury West, but Etsy Admin does search through both Treasuries so they're both just as important. I will also go over what they look for as far as "front page material" a little bit later.

How do I know if I'm in a Treasury?

Hopefully the person who created the treasury (the curator) will convo you, but this is not always the case. The way you can search for yourself is by going to craftopolis and using their "treasure hunt" feature http://www.craftopolis.com/index.php?com=th When you plug in your etsy id it will let you know if you are in any treasuries, including if you're an alternate. If you click on the treasury name from craftopolis it will take you directly to the treasury in Etsy. You know how exciting it is to find out you're in a treasury, so why not convo each person you've included in your treasury including the link to the treasury you've created so they can share in the excitement too! :)

How do I know if a Treasury I'm in made it to the Front Page of Etsy?

Etsy does not contact you if your Treasury makes it to the front page or if an item of yours in a treasury makes it to the front page. There is a website that can find that information for you! It's Craftcult, http://www.craftcult.com/vault.php?userid= The vault shows you all of the front pages, but if you click on "search for member" you are able to search for yourself two ways. "Lists featuring items by" will tell you if you were included on the front page at any time. "Lists made by" will tell you if any of the front pages were made from your treasuries.

What is a BNR Treasury?

BNR stands for "Buy and Replace." These are treasuries created to help generate sales for each other. One person creates a treasury and when you buy an item from one of the sellers featured, you're replaced in that treasury. You don't have to buy the item being featured in the treasury, just an item in their store. Once you purchase the item, you come back and list the store you bought from and the transaction # in the comment section of the treasury. The curator (the one who made the treasury) will replace that item with an item from your store. Sometimes if your item doesn't sell before the treasury ends they'll include you in the next BNR treasury. Others have special rules like if you purchase from the top row you'll be guaranteed the next 4 treasuries. You need to read the first comment by the curator in each individual BNR Treasury to see their rules.

How do you "snag" a Treasury?

Timing is everything! In order to "snag" a treasury, Treasury Main needs to drop below 333 treasuries and Treasury West needs to drop below 222 treasuries. There is a tool to help you gauge approximate timing of when enough of the treasuries will expires so that other spots open up and that's Craftopolis http://www.craftopolis.com/index.php?com=tc .




An important thing to remember when using Craftopolis is that is just a gauge. It runs approximately 15-20 minutes behind the actual Etsy expiration time, so when it says there is about 35 minutes until the treasury opens up, it's a great idea to go straight to Etsy's treasury. You can sort treasuries by hotness, title, curator, or expiration. You want to sort it by expiration and go to the last page so you can see which page is expiring first. If you are in Treasury Main and there are 340 treasuries, just count up 8 from the bottom and you'll see when the last one will expire in order to open up for new treasuries. This can change though, because curators can delete treasuries at anytime and sometimes do when the lists get close to 333 (or 222 in Treasury West) so it's important to stay close to the computer. There is no need to refresh the screen, it will automatically update. Once the list drops below 333 or 222 a box will open up and allow you to enter your title. Have this prepared, if you wait too long and the treasury fills up that box will go away. Also once you save your title it can not be changed. Now you can add your items and create your treasury!!! You can also add a subtitle and location. The subtitle defaults to "a few of my favorites." The location defaults to from "somewhere special." You can change your location to your actual location, a random place, or even a URL (web address) like your blog or Facebook fan page. You can only have one treasury at a time in Treasury Main and Treasury West. Do not use multiple accounts to make more than one treasury.

What is a poster sketch?

A poster sketch is your own personal workspace and can be found here http://www.etsy.com/poster_sketch.php .



You can create your treasury on your poster sketch by adding, deleting, and editing until a treasury spot opens up. When looking at a listing you can find the item number in one of two places. It's at the very end of the URL (web address) and also on the right side bar under "additional item info."


You also don't need to worry if you close your poster sketch window because it will automatically save and you will be able to see it again if you are using the same computer as long you don't delete your flash cookies (different than your internet cookies). Once a treasury opens up all you need to do is copy the item numbers from your poster sketch to your treasury! :)

How long will my Treasury be there?

Treasuries expire two days after their creation. Sometimes they are given bonus time (up to 24 hours). This happens randomly in order to balance out the number of treasuries and their expiration dates.

What does Etsy look for to choose a Treasury for the Front Page?

Here are some tips for making "Front Page Treasuries"

1. Admins look for treasuries who's top three listings are eye catching. Remember that this will be the first page that people will see when coming to the Etsy website and they want this to represent them well.
2. Good photography throughout the whole treasury is essential. Clear and well-lit photos as well as good composition are important. (As a seller who wants to be featured in treasuries, remember that clear, eye catching photos are what they're looking for).
3. Even though the alternates aren't visible on the treasuries page, the Admin can see them. If your treasury makes it to the front page the alternates will be used if the other items sell. Make sure all your alternates are used and that they're just as good as the ones in the treasury.
4. Use a creative title. There are a lot of treasuries to look through. This is what will "pull" your audience in to open up your treasury.
5. Use a wide range of price points.
6. Use a varied collection of items (clothes, jewelry, soaps, shoes, paintings, cards, food, hats, make-up, etc). It is okay to make a treasury with one type of item. You can do a whole treasury on hats if that's your thing. It probably won't make the front page, but it will be fun to look at and that's okay! :)
7. Make sure the items you are putting in your treasury are from sellers with good feedback (100%).
8. Make sure you don't repeat any sellers.
9. Etsy doesn't normally choose treasuries that include items with prominant watermarks on the first photo.

How do I know if my Treasury made the "Hot List?"

Another way to sort the Treasuries is by Popularity or "Hotness." Hotness is calculated by a special formula of clicks, views, comments and other factors. There is a little box to the left of your Treasury title that starts out gray and will change in color the hotter or more popular it becomes. It changes from gray, to blue, to green and so forth until it turns red hot!

How do I make a "screen shot" of my Treasury to use on my blog or Facebook?

To make a screen shot of your Treasury you want to look at your Treasury on your computer screen. While holding the "Ctrl" key down, press "Print Screen" (while still holding the Ctrl key). Usually you can find the "Print Screen" button on the top row of buttons on your computer. Now, go to the bottom left Start Up menu --> All programs --> Accessories --> Paint. Once you open up your Paint program you can go under edit and then paste. There is your screen shot of your Treasury! You can crop it there if you'd like and save it to your pictures from paint also! (You can save any screen shot from your computer using this method). If you prefer not to use Paint, you can use the photo editing program of your choice.

What does C&C mean?

It stands for "Click and Comment." Clicking refers to clicking each individual item, yes all 12, in the treasury. Have you ever noticed the little gray numbers up in the top right corner above each item? That's how many clicks each item has. When you add the total clicks for all items in the treasury together that is their total clicks. Commenting is physically writing a comment about the treasury. Each treasury is allowed 44 comments, so often you'll see curators delete comments to allow more. This goes back to the "hot list." Adding up the clicks and comments increases the popularity of the treasury and in theory gets noticed by Etsy Admin.

Treasury by cksilver

What is a Team Treasury?

A team treasury is a treasury made up of only items from your team members. If I were to create a 100% CAST team treasury then when searching through Etsy I would search castteam . Also remember to search under the category "All Items" not just handmade, because we have vintage and supply sellers as well.

Should I add an item of my own to my Treasury?

You are allowed to put one item of yours in a treasury, but if your treasury was to be chosen for the front page one of your alternates would probably be chosen instead of your item because the treasuries are not intended for self promotion. If your treasury was chosen you do get credit, so people can click on your name from the front page.

The thought of getting your treasury on the front page is very exciting, but that shouldn't be the goal of making treasuries because it doesn't happen all the time. In fact it is very rare. Instead, we should enjoy making treasuries, have fun promoting each other, and if we do make it to the front page, enjoy the surprise!

Further Reading:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/how-to-make-a-treasury-the-nuts-and-bolts-688/

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/how-to-make-a-great-treasury-list-671/