What is your take on this Etsy conversation?

gwynne · Aug 5, 2015

NHdisneylover said:
Maybe the profit margins on the more complicated items are higher?
Or, one the seller's kids is older and planned on making the headbands and then did not?
Neither excuses the seller though.

I wonder why you and your friend tried to buy from someone with many reviews indicating that headband orders are not fulfilled and other orders are often late? There are literally dozens of people making and selling toddler/baby headbands on etsy--I would choose someone with good reviews from the get go.

This. I think it's probably a case of liking the price/style and choosing to ignore the obvious warning signs.

NHdisneylover · Aug 5, 2015

gwynne said:
This. I think it's probably of a case of liking the price/style and choosing to ignore the obvious warning signs.

That seems more likely than many reviews suddenly being posted in the past two days.

I just think buyers ought to put in the minimal effort to read reviews posted right there on the site before placing an order. That doesn't excuse the seller at all, but it causes me to be little less sympathetic towards the buyer.

DisneyLvr55 · Aug 5, 2015

I don't appreciate being called a liar, because that is the furthest thing from what I am. I said there were no negative reviews until recently, i.e. after the items were purchased, and its the truth. The fact that the seller was having problems is obvious (or just didn't want to do the headbands anymore, I don't really know) hence the reason the negative reviews are just now starting to come in.

gwynne · Aug 5, 2015

DisneyLvr55 said:
I don't appreciate being called a liar, because that is the furthest thing from what I am. I said there were no negative reviews until recently, i.e. after the items were purchased, and its the truth. The fact that the seller was having problems is obvious (or just didn't want to do the headbands anymore, I don't really know) hence the reason the negative reviews are just now starting to come in.

I don't think anyone used the L word except in the above post...

Maybe it's more about being able to read trends. For me, if I saw a trend (even late in the game) that indicated obvious trouble, I'd take my refund and move my business elsewhere, ASAP. I have no interest getting into a back and forth with a seller for weeks.
I know me. I wouldn't care how cute the particular baby headband was...it's a baby headband. They are everywhere.

OP certainly has the right to do what works for her. These things are very individual.

Maggie Lizer · Aug 5, 2015

I think that seller was *way* over her head and handled the situation badly, and I think they buyer had a right to be upset at how it was handled, but if I were the buyer, I would not have kept it going after being told I would be issued a refund and getting the headbands as well (although VERY much after promised). I wouldn't have been quite that . . . rude, I suppose, even though I may have really felt that way inside.

I would, however, leave an honest review (without vitriol) about the repeated promises of delivery that never came to anything and the ultimate resolution of the sale to caution other buyers.

figment81 · Aug 5, 2015

Both were in the wrong by letting emotions get involved. This is simply a business transactio that didn't pan out well for either party. No excuses need to be made, aside from " I am so sorry they are not ready yet, I have been swamped it will take another week and I will get those out to you, if there is anything else I can do for you please let me know," and then the seller can choose what to do if they want to make it up to the buyer, like throwing another in for free, refunding shipping, refunding half the order, some good will gesture. But to basically say I didn't want to make these and I tried to tell you that passively before is bananas.

The buyer was in the wrong by getting emotionally heated. And continuing the conversation just leave the reviews without the heat and move on.

Things happen I'm a buyer and a seller, and yeah I have dropped the ball on things before, in some cases I will express ship ( and of course make no money on it but it's doing the right thing) or refund shipping and send right away. its happened a handful of times, and order just gets lost in the shuffle

NewRVLady · Aug 5, 2015

Honestly, I was searching for Baby Bibs on ETSY -ordered-and had a couple confusing emails with the seller -I wanted phrase A but with Colors B sort of thing-and I NEVER looked once at her reviews!
and I am an Etsy seller-LOL!

scrapquitler · Aug 5, 2015

Dawnlight said:
I think the seller handled it graciously despite the buyer being very mean to her.

I do think it's not very business-like to have the delay, but she was right to offer immediate refund if she couldn't fulfill the order.

I agree with this.

This sort of thing is exactly why I do not sell the items I make.

I think that buyers need to realize that most sellers on Etsy are hobbyists who make things to bring in a little extra income for their family. In this situation it looks like the seller was upfront and honest about how long it would take her to make the items, and the buyer seemed okay with that. The buyer did get a bit nasty and that's when things went downhill, mostly due to the buyer, not the seller.

DisneyLvr55 · Aug 5, 2015

scrapquitler said:
I agree with this.

This sort of thing is exactly why I do not sell the items I make.

I think that buyers need to realize that most sellers on Etsy are hobbyists who make things to bring in a little extra income for their family. In this situation it looks like the seller was upfront and honest about how long it would take her to make the items, and the buyer seemed okay with that. The buyer did get a bit nasty and that's when things went downhill, mostly due to the buyer, not the seller.

Thank you for your opinion! I'm of the opinion that once you open a store, and start selling your hobby for profit, your not longer a "hobbyist" and now a business owner, so acting like one in a professional manner is fitting.

Refusing to complete an order in the designated amount of time is not professional.
Not contacting a buyer when you are way behind / unable to complete their order is unprofessional.
Refusing to complete the order after being offered more time is not professional.
Telling the now annoyed buyer that you *were* going to make them and give send them for free, but now your not is again, not professional.

My friend in no way pressured the seller to hurry up and make the items. In fact, she waited till the last day of the expressed wait time to inquire when the order would be fulfilled. But its over and done with now, and a new order has been placed with a new seller. They promised to have the order out by Friday

Fingers crossed!! lol

nkereina · Aug 5, 2015

If I were the seller, I would have asked the buyer for a two week extension or to issue a refund. If the buyer agreed to an additional two weeks, I would have made it a priority to complete the order during that time. It sounds like the seller had already completed part of it anyhow. Sounds like buyer REALLY wanted the headbands and would have likely waited the extra two weeks.

Ravensorrow · Aug 5, 2015

I have an Etsy shop. Sometimes things happen that you cannot control. People tend to forget that a lot of times we are one man shows and not Walmart or Amazon. This could have been handled better by both parties involved, but I think that it's disrespectful to post the full (private) conversation on a public forum.

NewRVLady · Aug 5, 2015

I think the OP said what they ordered was VERY simple to make-a headband for baby
I am thinking a ribbon with a flower attached-elastic...something like that
the lady had that order for over a month
she should close shop temporarily and catch up orders
(Etsy sellers do this a lot)

gwynne · Aug 5, 2015

NewRVLady said:
I think the OP said what they ordered was VERY simple to make-a headband for baby
I am thinking a ribbon with a flower attached-elastic...something like that
the lady had that order for over a month
she should close shop temporarily and catch up orders
(Etsy sellers do this a lot)

There are a zillion sellers of baby headbands on Etsy alone.
I am totally befuddled why OP didn't just get her refund and move on. Seriously, these items are very trendy now and they are available everywhere. Etsy, Artfire, Amazon, Macy's, JCP, the local Walmart...

cluvsdisney · Aug 5, 2015

nkereina said:
If I were the seller, I would have asked the buyer for a two week extension or to issue a refund. If the buyer agreed to an additional two weeks, I would have made it a priority to complete the order during that time. It sounds like the seller had already completed part of it anyhow. Sounds like buyer REALLY wanted the headbands and would have likely waited the extra two weeks.

I don't think she even started the order and only said that to make the situation not seem as bad as it was. It just wouldn't make sense to me to have half of custom and made to order items complete and walk away from the sale.

The seller clearly got over her head with orders and should have put her store in vacation mode at the first whiff of being overwhelmed so she could catch up or at the very least increase the shipping time in her listing. I understand things happen, most people do, but this is a business and honest communication is key when you are taking other people's money.

Disneychick75 · Aug 5, 2015

DisneyLvr55 said:
OP here. Thank you to everyone who replied. It's appreciated! My friend is the buyer. I have to agree with what pretty much everyone said here. I feel that the seller was wrong in almost every aspect. I don't understand why the seller would try to issue a refund three days after my friend bought the items. I would have had a bad feeling right from then and probably taking the refund, but as always hindsight is 50/50. I also agree that my friend can be snarky but if you knew her in person its all funny. Of course, with written word it's hard to tell a lot of things. She's also very sarcastic and "tell it like it is" so yeah.... I guess that's what she did! It was very obvious to both of us that the seller was not going to fulfill the order, no matter how much more time my friend gave her, no matter how nice she could have been to her. Not that that is an excuse, but that's why she got so snarky.
Having looked at the seller feedback now, everyone who bought headbands has been ignored and unfulfilled and also left negative feedback. The seller makes other items, and while she's gotten less than great feedback on the quality of those items, and sending them past the promised shipping date, she seems to be fulfilling them. The weird thing to me though, is the other items that this woman in making are very involved. My friend wanted something easy to make headbands. She should be able to whip those out pretty quickly and yet those are the things that she's ignoring.
And I agree it's not worth it to get angry over something as silly as headband, it was more the principle of everything. Asking how much more time do you need, and having that question ignored was frustrating. Then being told by the seller that she was going to fulfill the order that night for free after giving the refund all of the sudden was the last straw.
So that's about it. Thank you to everyone who replied! Now we are off to scour Etsy to find someone who will actually make some silly headband for us!!!
because I was getting half of them - my friend is the one who's account we used, and she's the one who had the communication with the seller.

I didn't realize the seller wanted to issue a refund after 3 days- reading comprehension problem, I guess, lol.

So after seeing that, both the seller and the buyer are wrong. The seller should have issued a refund at the 3 days mark. I've had a few instances where that happened and figured there was a problem on the seller's end- no big deal. I wasn't notified except my email that I had been issued a refund. I found another seller and it worked out fine. The buyer should have just taken the refund and moved on to another shop. The rudeness was inappropriate. Stuff happens. Lord knows there are tons of shops from which to choose headbands. When thinking about buy an item from an Etsy shop, I always do 3 things:
1. Check the shipping policies.
2. Check any notes on the seller's homepage.
3. Read the reviews, especially the bad ones. Those sometimes will mention later than proposed shipping or inferior materials used, etc.
Oops forgot to add that Etsy seller should close her shop until her life is more settled.

The Mystery Machine · Aug 5, 2015

sam_gordon said:
They're both "wrong". The seller shouldn't have accepted an order she couldn't complete and the buyer was rude once finding that out.

Yep.

Mizzoufan · Aug 5, 2015

I think the buyer was over the top and very rude and hateful. She needs to learn things happen sometimes. She was offered a refund. Take the refund and be done with it. The seller needs to learn not to take on more then she can chew.

Kalliope · Aug 5, 2015

The buyer sounds unstable. Good for the seller for keeping her cool and refusing to engage the crazy.
All of that drama and angst over baby headbands? Good grief.

sunshinehighway · Aug 5, 2015

It sounds like the seller bit off more than she could chew.
Hopefully she learns from that.
The buyer sounds difficult.
I don't sell on Etsy but I do some selling on Ebay. I absolutely encourage buyer questions but when a buyer or potential buyer has lots of questions and sends multiple messages, I automatically expect they will be difficult to deal with.

LisaR · Aug 5, 2015

Disneychick75 said:
I didn't realize the seller wanted to issue a refund after 3 days- reading comprehension problem, I guess, lol.

So after seeing that, both the seller and the buyer are wrong. The seller should have issued a refund at the 3 days mark. I've had a few instances where that happened and figured there was a problem on the seller's end- no big deal. I wasn't notified except my email that I had been issued a refund. I found another seller and it worked out fine. The buyer should have just taken the refund and moved on to another shop. The rudeness was inappropriate. Stuff happens. Lord knows there are tons of shops from which to choose headbands. When thinking about buy an item from an Etsy shop, I always do 3 things:
1. Check the shipping policies.
2. Check any notes on the seller's homepage.
3. Read the reviews, especially the bad ones. Those sometimes will mention later than proposed shipping or inferior materials used, etc.
Oops forgot to add that Etsy seller should close her shop until her life is more settled.

But that isn't how this went down. The seller didn't automatically issue a refund because she couldn't get the product out in a reasonable amount of time. The seller didn't tell the buyer that she had absolutely no intention or no way of fulfilling the order. She didn't tell the buyer that she had 100+ orders and couldn't fulfill those in a timely matter. She told the buyer she would gladly issue a refund because it would take 2 - 3 weeks to get the order. The buyer was satisfied with that wait time. Had the seller said any of the things above, I am sure the buyer would have taken the refund and gone elsewhere. Waiting two or three weeks for a homemade item isn't asking too much and the buyer was fine with that.

I am 100% in support of the buyer. I am sick and tired of terrible customer service. Etsy isn't a hobby, it is a business. If you choose to open up a shop, then you have a business on your hands and customer service should be a priority. After the seller stops dwelling on her hurt feelings, I hope she puts on her big girl pants and realizes that she is in over her head and suspends her store.

What is your take on this Etsy conversation?

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