Week in Review — January 11, 2026

A settling-in week, with New Year search patterns starting to show real traction and the usual post-holiday operational tasks well underway.

New Year keyword strategy paying off early

Following Wednesday’s piece on organization and wellness-oriented search behavior, several sellers in relevant categories reported strong early results, consistent with how quickly this particular buyer motivation tends to show up in actual sales data.

Returns and exchanges: manageable volume, per most reports

Following Thursday’s piece on handling post-holiday returns, sellers generally describe this year’s volume as consistent with a typical January, manageable with clear policy and prompt handling rather than overwhelming.

New promotional scam variant confirmed circulating

Following Friday’s alert about fake New Year feature offers, we heard from a few more sellers describing similar attempts, confirming it as an active pattern building on the same structure we’ve tracked in previous seasonal variants throughout the year.

CEO transition: still quiet

No substantive public statements yet from Goyal in her first full week and a half as CEO, consistent with a typical early transition period. We’ll continue watching for her first real signals on strategic direction.

What we’re watching

Continued New Year search momentum, and whether any early signals emerge about the incoming CEO’s actual priorities as her first weeks in the role continue.

Back next Sunday.

This week on Crafts Daily Wire

• This Week on Etsy: Messaging and Inbox Changes
• Nifty.ai for Etsy Sellers: What Changed in Their Latest Update
• New Year Keywords: Organization, Wellness, and the ‘Fresh Start’ Buyer
• Handling Post-Holiday Returns and Exchanges Without Losing Your January
• Scam Alert: What’s Targeting Etsy Sellers This Week