What is the Point of the Share & Save Link if it Doesn't Go Directly to the Item?

Hi, 5 year seller here (3 of them active), wondering if anyone has noticed any issues with the Share & Save program.

I used to get Share & Save sales every so often, but I haven't had one in over a year. Now that the cost of doing business is getting ridiculous, I thought I'd do myself a favor and try to take advantage of the program by building a website for one of my products that is politically timely, doing well, and can be used by absolutely everyone. Thing is, I'm not ready to bury myself in tax laws for all 50 states, so my listings link back to my Etsy shop via Share & Save.

When I tested my first link from my laptop, it took me directly to my listing, which is good. But when I tested it on mobile, I ended up on a landing page full of competing products—the most prominent of which was a substantially similar item sold for a lower price and free shipping.

I did plenty of research before creating my product, and this guy's listing never surfaced. NO similar listings surfaced on Etsy, in fact, so I kind of went all-in on it (I have hundreds of hours and dollars into packaging, marketing, and now a website). So, I followed that seller's link to compare his item to mine, and wouldn't you know it, he hadn't had a sale on that item since 2023—until a few months ago, right around the time I listed my item. Suddenly he's piling up five star reviews on a listing that looks like it had been dormant for years.

I'm not knocking that seller—good for him, honestly. But what is Etsy's plan here? I realize it's not personal, but the level of naked evil I'm feeling directed at me as a seller has me a little bit beside myself, and I'm not sure how to reconcile it. I'm a (star) seller in good standing, have (so far) never had a case opened against me, don't use AI art, and don't sell IP infringing products. I can't think of a single reason Etsy would benefit from directing traffic away from an item that a potential buyer has specifically chosen to learn more about, and towards someone else's lower priced item. And the real kicker is that I also have a lower priced version of this item. In fact, I have a range of similar items that could have been shown instead of diverting traffic entirely away from my shop.

Does anyone know the plan here? Is Etsy making more from a single ad click on the other guy's $8.99 item than it would make in seller fees and potential reorders/referral buyers on my $11.00 item?

TL;DR What, exactly, is the benefit to the Share & Save program if Etsy is going to use it to promote other people's products instead of the product that lives at the link?

Thank you!