NEW stupid ideas that keep getting ridiculous and time consumming

[0ldgeezer]

Am I the only merchant that finds it obsurd that we keep getting “Improvements” to the shopify core program without being asked if we if I actually want such a feature?

I find the changes that are being made by “Someone” are causing me to have to work harder and longer to keep my storefront updated with products. The latest example is the DUPLICATE feature in the admin products screens. I must “Assume” that the feature was originally created to make things easier for merchants to add additional items to their store inventory. BUT, someone must have forgotten what the word duplicate actually means, because when I select duplicate, it makes me click on a number of selections asking me to include these in my new item. When I used to select duplicate it simply allowed me to do exactly that, duplicate an item with a simple title edit which included all the things listed in the original item I was duplicating from. Now, I need to select the items I want to keep in the duplication process. I would think that it might be more intuitive if they asked me what I didn’t want to keep which would require no additional imput from me if I didn’t want to make those changes.

When I am adding 100 or so items at a single sitting, I would like to have less selection to make in order to save time. Now I need to select 3 more items from a list in order to “DUPLICATE” an item. I think it is a bit backwards doing it that way and making more work for me. And, now when I duplicate an item which places me into editing mode, I can’t change the quantity of the item I am duplicating, unless I actually save the item first, then review the quantity and make the change if needed. STUPID feature. If I am duplicating something it means I want another that is exactly like the one I am cloning from.

I would think the Shopify powers would be more responsive to what the majority of the merchants actually want by sending out a POLL to everyone which can be presented during the admin login process and asks “Do you want to see this feature added to your store functionality” which would allow merchants to give direct feedback on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of hair-brained ideas before we need to try to adapt to something we find a problem. Just like the LIVE VIEW fiasco which forced a revolving globe onto us so we could view where a potential buyer was coming from. We all now how that one turned out. It took months to get back to something we could actually use, like a flat topographical map, that did not require spinning it and trying to stop it in mid spin to view.

Come on Shopify, lets get with the program so merchants can actually be more productive in their admin interface.

[Shay]

Hi @0ldgeezer

Thank you for sharing your feedback here in the community about the recent platform changes we have made. I understand that you don’t feel that these changes serve you very well and want to make sure that your feedback is heard.

While we don’t have a direct channel designed for feedback, our support team has the ability to provide feedback to our developers through all our contact methods, including here in the forums. We always want to hear from our merchants so please feel free to share constructive feedback at any time.

I’d love to hear more about your experience using the duplicate feature (It sounds like you use it regularly!) and see if I can also address some of your concerns.

One of the things you mentioned was:

Now, I need to select the items I want to keep in the duplication process. I would think that it might be more intuitive if they asked me what I didn’t want to keep which would require no additional input from me if I didn’t want to make those changes.

I can completely understand where you are coming from on this one. For merchants like yourself who use this feature frequently it can definitely be a time consumer to select checkboxes you need to have selected every time. We do receive regular and frequent feedback from our merchants that they do not like to have checkboxes preselected for them, as many click through so quickly that they forget to uncheck and it makes more work for more of our merchants in the long run. That being said, we do review detailed analytics to see what options merchants are using most and base that decision on the majority of merchant use cases.

When I am adding 100 or so items at a single sitting, I would like to have less selection to make in order to save time. Now I need to select 3 more items from a list in order to “DUPLICATE” an item. I think it is a bit backwards doing it that way and making more work for me. And, now when I duplicate an item which places me into editing mode, I can’t change the quantity of the item I am duplicating, unless I actually save the item first, then review the quantity and make the change if needed. STUPID feature. If I am duplicating something it means I want another that is exactly like the one I am cloning from.

Again, for your use case I can completely understand why you want the duplicate option to work that way. The duplicate feature is predominantly for merchants duplicating a small selection of products, and not for quantities like 100. If you are using the “duplicate” feature to create lots of new inventory, I would actually be recommending you use a CSV file. You can copy and paste all the fields, change the handle and adjust the quantity and import back into your store. Depending on what you need to change, a CSV can have that many new products created in less than 10 minutes. If you haven’t used a CSV before, they can feel a bit intimidating. As long as you have a copy of your inventory saved in a backup CSV that hasn’t been edited, there really isn’t too much to be concerned about. I would strongly suggest looking into creating duplicate products using CSV if you are creating that many at the same time: Importing products with a CSV file · Shopify Help Center

I would think the Shopify powers would be more responsive to what the majority of the merchants actually want by sending out a POLL to everyone

Shopify takes a lot of factors into consideration when rolling out new features or platform changes. Sometimes changes are made and are rolled out to a small selection of merchants at a time and sometimes they are rolled out all at once. We closely review the data of how and when these features are being used and cross compare that data with other factors as well. Every change made is designed to be a benefit to the majority of our merchants. Sometimes, that may not end up being the case and we might roll back a feature or adjust the scope of the feature.

With over a million merchants on the platform, not all changes are going to be the right fit for all our merchants. That doesn’t mean we don’t value the merchants who don’t quite fit that mold and we strive to find an inclusive means for all the stores that are powered by Shopify. We also are 100% open to feedback, all of the time. Without merchants, Shopify doesn’t exist. Without your feedback on things, we can’t improve as quickly as we want to.

If you have any additional feedback I am happy to hear it! Please know that my responses here are not meant to devalue your feedback but to hopefully allow you some insight into our processes and to provide a viable alternative for the issues you mentioned.