Made to Order...

[artinsilk]

What to do with Made to Order items? Considering that we are paid only after we ship?

With Paypal and Google Checkout, the order is paid in advance.

I will not be able to create Made to Order paid with DC, since I want the funds before I create the items special ordered.

How do we handle those with DC payment?

[DingandKennie]

Most of my orders are custom orders. I've had 3 transactions through DC already and I am still in my initiaI 10 day hold period. I am lucky to have enough reserve in my PayPal account to pay for the shipping costs so the waiting period is not an issue for me.

[artinsilk]

The question is about the fact that made to order are paid in advance, before the creation of the items.

It works with Paypal and Google Checkout but not with DC since we are supposed to get our money after shipping.

[DingandKennie]

I really don't have an answer for you other than don't offer DC. If you don't have the materials you need on hand and have to wait for the payment before purchasing materials that might be your only option. Or you could possibly mark it "shipped" before it's really shipped.

[sherrytruitt]

Please don't ever mark something shipped that isn't. That's not ethical.

Most of the items in my shop are made to order. The customer does pay upfront, we just don't get paid by etsy until the item ships. The customer doesn't know you haven't gotten the money.

I really don't see the problem. Once you have things in the pipeline you are always getting paid on Monday.

You can't run a business that close to the bone, where you use the funds to purchase supplies for each order you get.

[artinsilk]

sherryfruit, I could bet offended by your comment but I will not, as I realize that you have no idea what my business is about. I have been in business for 3 decades and I do not operate close to the bone.

Over the years I have got orders for weddings that were up to $3000 retail price and the silk and other supplies were about $800 to $1000.

Because this kind of large wedding orders are personalized for the customer only, they were uniquely created for these customers therefore, like with any large custom orders deposits were required.

I will use Google Checkout for those...

[DingandKennie]

Sherry - just to clarify, I never mark an item shipped until it has. I was only making a suggestion.

[sherrytruitt]

My remarks were not meant to offend, Jossaini. I think it is awesome you have been in business for 30 years. I guess Direct Checkout isn't for everyone. I too, have extremely large wedding party orders where great sums of money are involved. I simply like DC because it is the most hassle free way for the customer to pay.

[heartsabustin]

I'm not doing DC in my purse shop - I've got to have that money in my PayPal account so I can order silks and linens for the bridal clutches. I've got DC in this shop as a test to see if it will help boost my sales any.

[millabear]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the good dialogue about this. It's important for us to understand the myriad use cases associated with early deposits so we can build tools for these kinds of situations. Here's what I recommend for deposits, which I think some other sellers are doing: create a deposit listing for just the amount of the deposit/down payment, if youre having a dialogue with a buyer about a large order. You can click shipped for the deposit, so long as a buyer understands that this "shipment" is really about closure of the early deposit and that another payment is coming.

Hope this helps,

Camilla

[sherrytruitt]

That's a pretty big shift in policy, but I would certainly do that. I didn't think it was allowed, so thank you, Camilla.

It's important that our buyers understand exactly what we mean, so perhaps the verbage you just used should be included in the body of the deposit listing.

[millabear]

If the description and title are very clear that the listing is for a deposit, and not an actual item, this would be acceptable, as there will be another listing for the actual items themselves. However, when a listing is for something that can actually be shipped, it's requested that you only click the shipped button when that is actually what you did.

[millabear · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

I want to clear up something about my earlier posts in this thread. I was mistaken when I said that it's acceptable to post separate listings for the deposit and items.

Etsy's current policy says that each item must have just one listing, and that no listing may be conditional upon the purchase of another listing.

We know that installment payments is an important facet of custom orders for many shops, as a way to access funds prior to shipping, and we're continuing to work toward solutions for this.

I apologize for the confusion.

[timberlineltd]

Hi Camilla. Perhaps Etsy should make an exception to this rule. I think the deposit should be an acceptable listing. Don't understand why not.

[KeeDesigns]

I just want to chime in that I sometimes place a listing for a deposit on a big-ticket made-to-order item and then a second listing for the balance due upon completion. So I am very interested in suggestions/resolutions to "Etsy's current policy that says that each item must have just one listing, and that no listing may be conditional upon the purchase of another listing." So far this method has worked well for most of my customers.

[timberlineltd]

Julie. I too have done that in the past and never realized it was against the rules. I just would like admin to explain why it is against the rules.

[Former_Member]

Camilla is this policy about not listing deposits new? It seems like a pretty big policy shift.

Tons of people make listings for partial payments. And the way you worded it also implies that gift certificates are not acceptable. Isn't a g.c. conditional on the purchase of another listing?

re "Etsy's current policy says that each item must have just one listing, and that no listing may be conditional upon the purchase of another listing. "

[sherrytruitt]

@Helen, I think it has always been against the rules, that's why I asked about the shift in policy my post above. I have thought about taking deposits for large wedding party orders, like multiple sets of cufflinks.

I take deposits on my website, but on etsy I require payment up front in full as it is currently the only way to "legally" do it on etsy.

[Former_Member]

I do MTO items too.
What i use is my PP Debit Card, so i can still buy supplies. So far it's working fine.

[Former_Member]

Huh. Well then I learned something new today. Thanks Sherry.

There are some super high profile sellers who take deposits though, that's why I thought it was okay.

[timberlineltd]

Still wish admin would explain why this is not acceptable to put up a listing for a deposit on a custom order. I cannot think of any other solution to get the deposit unless you send a pay pal invoice for the deposit. Then etsy would lose out on its commission on the sale of the deposit part. Please admin, weigh in here and explain why this is not acceptable.

[sherrytruitt]

I asked almost 2 years ago why this couldn't be done ( even though as Helen states people do it all the time) and I was told that it would artificically inflate the number of sales a seller had as well as etsy as a site reports.

It's never been allowed, just like listings for gift wrap and upgraded shipping are not allowed. Doesn't mean there aren't thousands of them though.

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

Hopefully I can provide some clarification on this issue for some of you. Etsy's policies state that each listing must represent a tangible item for sale and should not require the purchase of another item. This affects listings for things like deposits, shipping upgrades, add ons, etc.

Sherrytruitt is correct; part of the reason for this is that it could artificially inflate sales, feedback, etc, and could also become messy if a dispute were to arise.

I do want to stress that we understand that this is a concern for our sellers and, as Camilla mentioned, we hope to be able to provide a solution to this down the road.

[CocoandChia]

Bumping this because I just don't know what to do or how to do this correctly.

I have a customer who wants to make payments on an expensive piece through DC ... like a layaway thing ... ten $100 payments.

Thanks for any help.

[OriginalsbyLauren]

I would ask her to use paypal, if that is possible.