Sally and the Hidden Treasures

I opened the door. “Sally,” I exclaimed. “It’s so good to see you! Come in. Here, let me take your coat,” I said.
“Thanks,” Sally replied. “Brr! I think winter is close at hand. That wind is sooo cold!” she continued.
“Well, it’s warm in here by the wood stove,” I responded. “Let’s go sit there and I’ll tell you about hidden treasures.”
“Hidden treasures?” queried Sally. “You’ve discovered treasures? Is it gold?” she asked.
I laughed! “Well,” I answered, “It isn’t that kind of treasure. Maybe I should have said Treasuries!”
“You mean like the U.S. government treasury?” Sally questioned.
“No,” I said, still giggling. “I mean Etsy Treasuries.”
“Well,” said Sally, “Do they involve money?”
Smiling, I said, “Money is what we all hope for when people see our creations in an Etsy Treasury.”
“Tell me more,” said Sally.
“Well,” I began, “A treasury is a collection of the creations of various artists. The collection can be chosen by any Etsy seller. When you are on a team like I am.......the Bbest Team to be specific....and I look for items to put in a treasury, I choose them from the shops of my team members.”
“You said you have over 300 members on your Boomers and Beyond Team,” said Sally. “How in the world do you decide which items to select?”
“You are right,” I replied. “And the thing is, you can only choose 12 to be shown at one time, and four alternates. So, it isn’t easy to decide.”
“Can you do this every day?” asked Sally.
This time I snorted with laughter! “I wish,” I answered. “Getting the opportunity to create a treasury is a trick in itself. There is a main treasury, and for that one, you have to wait until there are 333 treasuries on the list, and then the second it changes to 332, you have to be ready to create a title in a box that pops open at the bottom of the page. And, you only have a few seconds to type in your title and hit the Save button, or it goes away.”
“Well,” Sally continued, “What happens after you make the title?”
“After that, you can take as long as you want to select items to put into the treasury. A few times, I have just happened to be at the computer when the magic number appeared, and I had to hurry and type in a title, and then go looking for the selections, or treasures, as I prefer to call them. But, I don’t really like to create treasuries on the fly like that. It takes too much time, and then it is a bit awkward to arrange them in the boxes. What I really like to do is find what I want ahead of time and use the Poster Sketch Tool to arrange the items in the order I want. Then I write the ID numbers down for each item and when the box pops open, the title is entered, and the treasury page is there, I can easily type all the ID numbers in the boxes provided.”
“That sounds awfully complicated,” said Sally.
“Oh, believe me, when I first joined Etsy a little over a year ago, I had no clue how to do a treasury. And I was in total awe of those Boomers who created such beautiful collections of items. My friend, Pearl, in Colorado, and Zuda, in Illinois, told me it wasn’t hard to do, but it still took me a long time before I tried it. And now, I love it. Simply love it! I especially love creating treasuries for the Bbest team because so many of them leave such nice comments about the treasury, and they click on everyone’s items and even look at more things in those shops! And not only that, they comment on people's creations in the weekly chat thread.”
"Chat thread?" asked Sally.
"That's another whole topic," I said.
"Okay,” Sally went on, “But, you still haven’t told me how you choose what to put in the treasury when there are so many members on your team.”
“First, I type in bbest team in the Search box next to handmade, tags, titles, and then I can see what people have listed from their shops. And then to be quite honest, I look for a color scheme. I find something I like, and then look for other things in the same color family. That’s my favorite way to find treasury items. I also try to find different shops than the ones I chose before so more of my team members get a chance to have their items seen.”
“Well, that’s all very nice,” said Sally, “but who looks at them and how do folks know they are in a treasury?”
“If someone has chosen an item from your shop and placed it in a treasury, and you scroll down through the lists, you will see a gold star next to that treasury. So, what I do to see if anyone has chosen one of my items for a treasury is scroll down through the lists and look for gold stars! But, there is something else that is really neat about the Boomers and Beyond team members. They always look for treasuries made by their team members and comment on them even if they don’t have an item in a treasury. That is one of the things that makes the Bbest team the Best team! They are so supportive.”
“I know,” said Sally. “You have told me before what a great group the Boomers are. You sure are lucky to be part of that group.”
“Yes, I am,” I agreed. “They really are the very Best!”
“Earlier, you said you all hoped being in a treasury meant money,” said Sally.
“Oh, yes, that!” I replied. “Well, each of us who has a shop on Etsy hopes that folks will find our shops and want to buy what we make. Other sellers, and those who set up buyer accounts on Etsy, may look through the treasuries to see what is there. And, if they click on your item, and visit your shop, they may find something they want to buy!”
“Will you show me a treasury?” asked Sally. “I want to see how this whole thing works. Maybe I’ll find something I like,” she smiled.
“My pleasure,” I answered. “Bring those brownies, and let’s head for the computer. I’d be delighted to show you the wonderful talents of the Bbest team! Sometimes, there are quite a few made by Bbest team members.........lucky us!"