Does Etsy send notifications for price drops on favorited items?

Question

Does Etsy actually send out notifications for price drops on things I have favorited because I feel like I'm missing out on deals constantly. I’ve been using the platform for like eight years now so I’m not exactly a newbie but this is driving me crazy because I feel like the app is gaslighting me lol. Basically I’m in the middle of a home office renovation here in Seattle and I’ve been eyeing this gorgeous mid-century floor lamp that’s listed for $285 which is a bit over my budget but I figured I’d wait and see. I favorited it weeks ago and I’ve been checking my phone constantly for a push notification or an email or anything but I've got nothing.

Today I happen to just click on my favorites list and boom—it’s marked down to $220. No alert. No red dot on the app icon. Nothing. If I hadn’t manually checked I would have totally missed it and this is the second time this has happened this month. A few weeks ago I lost out on a vintage rug because it went on sale and sold out before I even knew the price changed and I was pretty gutted about it because it was a one-of-a-kind piece that would've been perfect for the guest room.

I went into my account settings and checked the notifications tab and everything is toggled to on. I get the annoying pings all the time like:

someone just bought an item in your cart

this shop you like has a new item

shop has a coupon for you

So the system definitely knows how to talk to my phone and send me stuff. Is there a specific threshold for the price drop? Like does it have to be a certain percentage off before it triggers an email? Or maybe it only works if the seller uses the official Sale tool instead of just lowering the base price manually? I’m honestly so frustrated because I’ve spent thousands on this site over the years and it feels like such a basic feature that should just work. It’s making it impossible to hunt for deals on high-ticket items if I have to manually refresh my favorites page every three hours like a crazy person just to see if a seller is running a promotion...

SnowboardSoul · Accepted Answer

Not totally sure, but I think the notifications only trigger if the seller uses the official sale manager tool. If they just manually edit the price, the system might not recognize it as a deal worth a ping.

Check if the item has a sale badge

Verify your email filters just in case IIRC it is pretty glitchy sometimes, but keep checking manually just in case. Good luck with the office renovation!

SummerSolsticeCA · Answer

Totally agree. In my experience, the backend code only fires alerts if:sellers use the promo toolit's a 10% minimum drop Manual price edits dont count as sale events.

MunichMist · Answer

> Move high-ticket items to your cart manually; it's the only way to catch real price drops reliably. @Reply #3 - good point! Honestly tho, the cart method has been a total bust for me lately. I actually think it's less reliable because the app just spams those annoying "forgot something?" pings instead of actual price change alerts. Being in the same boat as the OP is exhausting. I've been watching this specific handmade leather bag for months and even with it sitting in my cart, the price dropped $40 last week and I didnt get a single notification. Only found out because I happened to refresh manually while on my lunch break. It's super frustrating that I've been dealing with this since the start of the year and still cant find a straight answer on why the system is so hit-or-miss. Basically feels like shouting into a void at this point.