[ANNOUNCE] Shop Developer Mode

[Matt Graham]

Hi all,

I probably don't have to tell you but there are some notable shortcomings in the options available to test applications using the Etsy API. Testing on production is more reliable than the old sandbox used but, but comes with the downside that you're working with production data. This has brought some of you to unexpected run-ins with our MITS team.

To help address this, we have added a new feature for developers, Shop Developer Mode.

https://www.etsy.com/developers/shop

Shop Developer Mode makes your shop's listings not discoverable via search. This keeps buyers from accidentally finding and/or buying test listings that you only meant to for verifying the behavior of your application.

When should you use Developer Mode?

If you are a developer working on a new application that you will sell to or share with Etsy members, you probably want to have your shop in Developer Mode so that you can test your features without doing things that are visible to other members.

If you are just getting started as a seller on Etsy and using a newly built application to load your inventory, you may want to use Developer Mode until you're confident that the application is loading your listings correctly. Once your shop is live with all of your inventory, you can then restore your shop to the normal sales mode so buyers can find your new items.

If you are an established seller on Etsy with an active inventory, please do not use Developer Mode as buyers will have difficulty finding your items. If necessary, you can create a separate shop specifically for testing and put that shop in Developer Mode instead.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions or feedback about this.

Thanks,
Matt

[Graeme Grant]

Ummm... okay ... I Think.
 
This works only for Listings, what about transactions, history , receipts, orders, cart, etc ... Many developers need to test these too... Does this new mode support all functionality without incurring and costs to the developer? What options is Etsy looking at offering for all API scenarios?
 
Wouldn't Draft Listings be more suited? Then shops with Active listings can still be functional and test at the same time without the burden of a new shop/account requiring paypal, etc.. Suggestion: Add a development listing state. for listings
 
G.

 

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Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 22:31:42 +0000
Subject: [ANNOUNCE] Shop Developer Mode
From: mgr...@etsy.com
To: etsy-...@googlegroups.com

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[Matt Graham]

Hi Graeme,

Thanks for your feedback.

On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Graeme Grant <grag...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Ummm... okay ... I Think.
 
This works only for Listings, what about transactions, history , receipts, orders, cart, etc ... Many developers need to test these too... Does this new mode support all functionality without incurring and costs to the developer? What options is Etsy looking at offering for all API scenarios?

That's true. I forgot to include in the original email that we're looking at additional features for testing other parts of the app as well. This is not a complete solution, but was something that could be provided in a relatively short time frame.

At this point, we're considering special test accounts that will have restricted access for acting as the other half of a transaction for testing purchase related features. Can you clarify what you mean by "history" in the list above?

 
Wouldn't Draft Listings be more suited? Then shops with Active listings can still be functional and test at the same time without the burden of a new shop/account requiring paypal, etc.. Suggestion: Add a development listing state. for listings

Draft listings are still available and should be used when possible. I will update the docs to say that.

At this time we are not considering a "development" state for listings. The states are very central to Etsy's system so a new state would be fairly risky. Even more significant though is that the new state could potentially break the validity of certain tests. If other approaches prove unworkable, it's possible we would reconsider this though.

Thanks,

Matt

[kevin]

I want to make sure I understand. For testing purposes, can I test ordering a product from a store in this new mode? If the products don't show up in search results, I am hoping I can go to the url directly to test ordering the product. I am fine paying the Etsy fees associated with my testing.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Matt Graham]

Hi Kevin,

On Fri, Jul 26, 2013 at 10:03 AM, kevin <kcr...@gmail.com> wrote:

I want to make sure I understand. For testing purposes, can I test ordering a product from a store in this new mode? If the products don't show up in search results, I am hoping I can go to the url directly to test ordering the product. I am fine paying the Etsy fees associated with my testing.

Thanks for this question. Unfortunately this setting doesn't yet affect how we review orders, so that is still potentially risky. The interim plan is to have better communication between developers, the API team and our MITS team to document which accounts are used by developers for testing so we can avoid banning them from activity taken during testing.

The longer term approach that we're currently considering is special developer test accounts where listings can be created and purchased without risk of banning.

And with the current developer mode, you can indeed go straight to the URL to find the listing.

Thanks,

Matt

[Graeme Grant]

Hi Matt,
 
History? The original version of the Sandbox allowed copying of an existing shop and all its data - worked great. Then some bright spark decided that copying was not needed and made us generate our own data thru API. It was clunky and difficult. A commitment was made to make it easier and give it pages so that we could interact with it to generate data - didn't happen. Then the API fell into total disrepair and out of sync. Now today it's canned - A valuable tool that died a slow & horrible death.

Actually by "History", I mean data history in general where there can be - using a live site to generate data is risky and costly.
 
G.
 
 

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Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 23:46:39 -0400
Subject: Re: [ANNOUNCE] Shop Developer Mode

[Chris Z.]

It sounds like to me that if I create a listing even in developer mode that the usual Etsy charges will apply at that time.  Is this correct?   If tru, the only thing this mode does is prevent changes from occurring with our on-line shop.

Thanks

-Chris

[Matt Graham]

Hi Chris,

Yes, charges will currently still be applied for any listings you create. You can avoid the charge by creating the listings in draft mode.

Thanks,

Matt