Done with Etsy and seller nonsense

[Jennasis]

For the 4th time this year I've been burned by an Etsy seller. And they all must think buyers are stupid to fall for the laughable stories they come up with to try to cover their laziness, or lies.

I bought a T-shirt for our trip to WDW. I get a ship notice from Etsy, however the notice has (rather suspisciously) no tracking #. After the estimated delivery date comes and goes, I message the seller asking where the item is and can she provide the tracking # so I can see where it is. "Oh sure...I'll get that right to you!" she responds. The next day she sends me a tracking # and when I plug it in it says the item was shipped THAT DAY. I message her back saying this and she claims "Oh no! I sent it out last week...they must have lost it and then just found it."

Right.

Well, the item finally arrives and is 100 sizes too small...but I LOVE the design. So I gift the smaller one to my sister and, like an idiot, order again from the seller for a much larger size. Anyone want to guess where this is going? I get a "shipped" notice from Etsy again with no tracking #, and I wait a few days to ask her for the tracking #. "Sure, will get that to you when I get home". I get it two days later (a photo of the receipt from USPS with her fingers covering the date...like I'm not going to plug in the tracking and see everything!). Yep...was just sent that day. I mention that to seller again and this time it's "No I sent it out with the wrong address and it got mailed back to me so I had to resend it".

Really? In 4 days it managed to get all the way to my zipcode, been declared undeliverable and then sent all the way back to her?

This scenario has played out 2 more times with 2 other Etsy shops. Just today one claimed, after I messaged her because the tracking # showed USPS was still waiting to receive the package (so she printed the label but never took it to the post office), that she just saw my inquiry to her about the item (that I sent her 4 days ago) and she found the package in her car. She asked if I still wanted it or a refund, and I told her it was a Christmas gift for a gift exchange on the 22nd and could she overnight it? She refused and refunded the order even though I said I still wanted it. I then checked her shop a little closer and that's when I saw the "Going Out of Business" notice from September, and the many recent reviews from the last two months of people never receiving their orders.

Sorry small business folks trying to make a side hustle. As a small business owner I WANT to support your endeavors, but I'm done with the stories, and runaround and nonsense (you too Ebay). Amazon never lets me down. (I found a replacement gift for the gift exchange tonight and it will be delivered on the 22nd. Thank you Prime!)

 

[JenBush]

That’s really frustrating. I’ve not had any issues with Etsy. I do however only order from shops that have a lot of good recent reviews or shops owned by people I or my friends personally know because I’m afraid of running into issues like the ones you have had.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Sounds irritating, can you take a photo of the design and make a t-shirt yourself on Sutterfly or something?

My personal favorite is when a label was created but isn't at the shipping place yet, it's a nearly eternal stall you can only stop when you flag the charge at the credit card co if you have records.

 

[Jennasis]

Sounds irritating, can you take a photo of the design and make a t-shirt yourself on Sutterfly or something?

My personal favorite is when a label was created but isn't at the shipping place yet, it's a nearly eternal stall you can only stop when you flag the charge at the credit card co if you have records.

They shouldn't be allowed to post a "Your item has been shipped" notice unless they can provide a tracking #. It's so frustrating. 4 TIMES since October.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

I've had issues with Etsy as well. Shipping labels get created instantly and the person then takes a week to create the item. Low quality products. Every time I go there I have hopes this time will be different but it seems to be pervasive.

Regarding ebay, I would look for top rated sellers. They get punished pretty hard if they don't meet their handling time (should be 1 day to get discounts on fees).

Full disclosure: I am an ebay top rated seller. Shipped 8 packages today and have 3 going out tomorrow.

 

[wenrob]

They shouldn't be allowed to post a "Your item has been shipped" notice unless they can provide a tracking #. It's so frustrating. 4 TIMES since October.

Lots of places do this not just Etsy/small businesses. Part of the problem is they use shipping services to try to save money so it ends up being a double process.

Fortunately I have had mostly stellar service from Etsy sellers who go above and beyond with speedy shipping, beautiful packaging and little extras thrown in. A lot of those t-shirt makers get a Cricut and start a business before they really know what they’re doing or getting into. I see it all the time in groups I belong to. I try to see how long they’ve been around and read the reviews. Not foolproof but I’ve only been burned once on Etsy and it was a digital file.

 

[wenrob]

FWIW if you like custom t-shirts for your trips or holidays a Cricut (on sale) will pay for itself rather quickly and t-shirts are easy to make after a little trial and error. I bought a bunch of nice t-shirts from Target on clearance for $5 a piece in a variety of colors and if my kids need a themed shirt it takes about 30mins start to finish to knock one out.

 

[_19disnA]

Not clear what the seller gains by doing what the OP is describing but I have never ordered anything from Etsy. Were they hoping you forgot you ordered it and then only planned to ship after you questioned the status? If that site lets you leave reviews, I would be sure to note your situation happened on two separate occasions and seller doesn't 'ship' in a timely manner.

 

[Jennasis]

Not clear what the seller gains by doing what the OP is describing but I have never ordered anything from Etsy. Were they hoping you forgot you ordered it and then only planned to ship after you questioned the status? If that site lets you leave reviews, I would be sure to note your situation happened on two separate occasions and seller doesn't 'ship' in a timely manner.

Well, they have your money, so there is that...but the reality is, they're just lazy. I can't leave a review since they refunded the order. I left reviews on the other ones.

 

[scrump]

I have been burned on Etsy as well, so I too have become more cautious. I was stupid, though, and bought jewelry on Etsy (not super expensive, but not cheap). Never again. Tsk tsk on me.

For the most part, I have had positive experiences, but have definitely scaled back my initial enthusiasm from years ago.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not clear what the seller gains by doing what the OP is describing

I think largely what is happening to the OP and likely many others overall is like what wenrob described people getting into the business but not having it all worked out. Sometimes your business takes off without you really being able to handle it, other times just a few orders is putting people in a scramble.

I don't think the sellers are necessarily doing it always intentionally. But from what the OP is describing sounds like the sellers are behind on orders/plumb forgot they had someone's order and when prompted by the consumer they realize "oops..gotta get that out" so they try to sorta cover up their mistake by making up things or hiding dates. The going out of business one is probably that they have scaled back so much of their operation already that they have things falling more through the cracks. Just my thoughts because I could totally be wrong about these sellers intentions. I do think a seller who is going out of business needs to be ethical and honest with how they are going to proceed with their orders until they close up for good. Meaning don't take on too many orders that you can't fulfill knowing you're exiting the biz.

I don't know in particular about the t-shirt but with other sellers some of it could be them getting their own materials right now taking a while or being very costly on their side where they can't get as many as before. Certainly no excuse from a consumer standpoint when you make a purchase you expect something in return and timely too but I can see how the ups and downs recently in supply can make issues.

 

[bethy]

I've got to say I have had nothing but absolutely positive experiences with Etsy. It's a go to site for me!

 

[CynBeth]

I've got to say I have had nothing but absolutely positive experiences with Etsy. It's a go to site for me!

Same here.

 

[Christine]

Etsy does make me nervous but I did order 3 gifts from them this year. I only had a small amount of trouble with one. It was a personalized sweatshirt of my daughter's cat's ears and the name. When I ordered it, the estimated arrival date was supposed to be around 21 December. The information stated that it would take a max of 8 days before shipment from my order. That all seemed like it would work out. On day 10, I still had not received a shipping notification and "all of sudden" my estimated arrival date was 23-27 December. I had no proof of the earlier posted ship date, of course. But I know I paid attention to it because I had to give my daughter the gift earlier than Christmas day. I did message the seller and explained that I really needed the gift by Saturday, 18 December. I know that was earlier than originally posted but at this point I was now 10-12 days post order. The seller messaged me back right away and said no problem and shipped it that day and I got it the next day.

 

[fla4fun]

I have “window shopped” on Etsy, and seen some lovely items, but I have always worried about having issue like the OP. I used to buy on EBay, but when they went more to storefronts than auctions, I became nervous there too. On Amazon, I only purchase if I have experience with a particular store or if it is a fulfilled and shipped by Amazon item. I still have issues if the item is delivered by USPS, but otherwise I do okay.

It’s a shame, because there are some very nice things on Etsy, especially custom jewelry pieces, but I am too nervous to take the risk.

 

[dez1978]

FWIW if you like custom t-shirts for your trips or holidays a Cricut (on sale) will pay for itself rather quickly and t-shirts are easy to make after a little trial and error. I bought a bunch of nice t-shirts from Target on clearance for $5 a piece in a variety of colors and if my kids need a themed shirt it takes about 30mins start to finish to knock one out.

This... I won't make anything for anyone else yet because I don't want the stress, but I have a sublimation printer, a cricut and a heat press and make a TON of stuff for my family. Random school spirit week that requires my kid to dress like a unicorm and I don't know about it till 9 pm the night before? No problem lol.

One big issue for etsy sellers is finding the shirts they need. They can't keep every size in ever color on hand so sometimes they have to order it which has to be shipped to them as well. As far as sizing, I have yet to see a seller on etsy who didn't have a size chart on there that had measurements for their shirts. So unless they sent you the wrong size... I do agree they shouldn't be able to say it's shipped if it hasnt, but I've had a ton of stuff from Amazon that's been late or shown up days after its said it was delivered

 

[Jennasis]

This... I won't make anything for anyone else yet because I don't want the stress, but I have a sublimation printer, a cricut and a heat press and make a TON of stuff for my family. Random school spirit week that requires my kid to dress like a unicorm and I don't know about it till 9 pm the night before? No problem lol.

One big issue for etsy sellers is finding the shirts they need. They can't keep every size in ever color on hand so sometimes they have to order it which has to be shipped to them as well. As far as sizing, I have yet to see a seller on etsy who didn't have a size chart on there that had measurements for their shirts. So unless they sent you the wrong size... I do agree they shouldn't be able to say it's shipped if it hasnt, but I've had a ton of stuff from Amazon that's been late or shown up days after its said it was delivered

The shirt was an XL. No size chart. I typically wear a LG so went up a size because my experience with these Etsy stores has been cheap cheap shirts that run small. The XL was so tight it was like a bathing suit! I actually posted here after I got it looking for suggestions to stretch it...then gave up and ordered another. I ASKED for a 3X and she sent me a 2X but luckily the 2X worked.

I wore it once at WDW, washed it when we got home and the cheap shirt already has a hole from washing it.

No more Etsy. I've learned. But I appreciate you trying to defend the shop and blame me for ordering the wrong size.

 

[SC Minnie]

I have a side hustle and mostly sell through my Facebook page or word of mouth. People have asked me if I sell on Etsy or why don't I sell on Etsy and it's for the very reason some have mentioned. I have a full time job (and a small part time). This is my side hustle. I do not want to get above my head and not be able to meet requests.

Sounds like this person is getting more orders than she can make or she is very unorganized.

 

[mom2rtk]

They shouldn't be allowed to post a "Your item has been shipped" notice unless they can provide a tracking #. It's so frustrating. 4 TIMES since October.

They can't any more. That has recently changed. I think there's a price range, maybe under $10 or something like that, where they can mark it shipped, for people selling small items that can be mailed with stamps. But the option to mark something as shipped now requires a tracking number.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I've had good luck with Etsy in the past. It was Harry&David I've had trouble with this year.

I also ordered something else straight from another company and got the "shipping label created" message on the tracking number. I'm guessing it's in a container ship - I should have ordered it through Amazon.