What was Etsy thinking when they came up with Direct Checkout??

[Former_Member]

Now that I have direct checkout, and use it exclusively for payments I must add, I am busier than I used to be. It would seem that Etsy should have thought of how it may have helped sellers, and maybe would have had helpers on standby, ready to rush over at a moments notice. Because of good sales, I no longer have the time to sleep in, take naps, go for coffee, spend hours on face book, look at pinterest, and the list goes on and on.

I am now forced to be out scrounging for new merchandise, packing, shipping, trying to keep the shop stocked with listings, answering questions of why I hate paypal, etc.

To top it all off, I am expected to keep track of may sales, my returns, what my fees are, how I could possibly pay them without paypal, and just so much more. It really has like, made me do things that someone in business has to do. Once again, why can't they provide me with a monthly report of all figures that could be taken to my accountant on the silver platter, that should also be provided with this service.

Did they really thing I was capable of figuring this all out on my own, without someone holding my hand the entire journey? What pressure it has put on me, as I am feeling like I might be responsible for figuring some of these things out all on my own. For example since this mess all started, I had to get a debit card associated with the account my Etsy payments were deposited to. I had to do this in order to have access to and spend my money. WoW, I never had to do that with paypal!! Just this past month I could clearly see that Etsy was not going to do my business taxes for me, and for some reason was not accountable for keeping track of everything, and I actually had to work on that too.

A few other things since direct checkout...My snow blower is not running as well as it did last year, the vacuum cleaner quit running, and one of the computers died and needed to be replaced. I would have normally thought this was part of an alien conspiracy, but the timing with Direct Checkout, has me wondering.

It almost seems as though Direct Checkout was made to be a simple and easy credit card processor. (I had my own merchant account once, and come to think of it, DC is much easier). Maybe they were on to something, and I simply thought is was something more.

Etsy, you have created a great service here, and I for one am grateful for having it at my disposal for what it is. If it changes, and evolves, over time, that is great too, but it is soooo much better that nothing, which is what I had not too far back. I still remember having to go to that slime covered site to get my money, and now I am free to do things my way again, and DC has made it possible.

For what its worth, if you do change and evolve, I like the Genie that I see on TV in one of the Satellite TV ads.

[PattenCreations]

Well said griffincat! And with that I'm off to pack a couple of orders and carry on with what needs doing the rest of the day!

P.S. -- and I was one of the hold outs until they figured out the whole payment available right away rather than after marking shipped due to custom work. :)

[DondiLights]

Agree! Well said!

[Former_Member]

Change can be hard for all of us. We always are more comfortable with what we have, as we know very well how it works. We bought a different car last year, and that was also frustrating as VW did not put the controls where I was accustomed to. I now love our car too, now that I know where everything is located.

My post is meant to be humorous as it is humorous to me reading all of the complaints of DC.

I think we all have ideas and requests of Etsy, but I am sure they are prioritizing things on their end, and those priorities might not be the same as ours. We have to remember that the foreign sellers still do not eve have the luxury of using the service, so I am sure they wish the could have all of the problems with it that we do.

I keep going back to the one thing I have done, that is pretty rare in these parts. I shut off paypal to support DC totally. If they had more support from us sellers, that may inconvenience us I agree, then they would have more revenue and more ability to expand and make changes. To support a competitor and complain about DC, does not make sense to me, but everyone has their ideals.

When we made the decision to turn off paypal, we were perfectly aware that there was a very good possibility, that we could lose sales and income because of our choice. Luckily that never happened. Our sales keep going up, and we have never looked back, or regretted our decision. In all fairness, at the same time we went with DC exclusively, we also were conscious of the idea that we might be in trouble, and also listed more than ever, in hopes to possibly compensate for any loss of paypal sales. It all worked out, and all is well. We sold more than we ever had hoped, and are ambitiously striving to add more and make things even better.

We are all in control of our own success. Time is Money. The more, and the harder we all work, the more we will make. Research more, list more, and sell more. There are many reasons that some shops are more successful than others. I feel like I am in the middle of the food chain, and totally respect the sellers here who have figured out how to sell as much in a month,as I do a year!! Most of them did not get that way by accident, but rather by lots of hard work and being good at what they do. Then once you make the top, you have to contend with all of the others copycatting your efforts, and trying to sell your same product cheaper. Business is tough, but you just have to be tougher and you will succeed.

One more thing unrelated to DC, but a good thing for everyone to keep in mind is that "All Good Things Come to an End". What works now, will not work forever, so don't make the mistake of getting in debt based on your Etsy success today. Will it be as good 3-5 yrs from now?? It will be if you can adapt and change with the trends, but chances are, the exact thing making you the most money, will not be 5 yrs from now. There are exceptions to everything, but many fads fade fast, leaving you with inventory you can no longer sell, and less income that you are accustomed to. Be careful of putting all of your profits back into inventory. I have done that a few times over the years. Never took profits, but put them back into more inventory. Well, things changed, and that inventory is now worth 10 cents on the dollar. I should have pulled a portion of the sales out and put in other places, or vacations, etc.

[PattenCreations]

The biggest reason I can not turn off Paypal at this point Griffincat is that via DC there is not currently an option to pay in installments. When I have a large custom order a downpayment and final payment is often the preferred way to go as it means I have the funds needed to purchase what often feels like miles of fabric :) and the customer has that sense of comfort that they have some security in knowing all of their funds are not tied up in the order until it is complete and they see pictures of the finished product. Am not complaining in that - just stating fact. If the ability to invoice in multiple installments becomes available I'll reconsider paypal.

[Former_Member]

Deb,

That is totally understandable. Hopefully Etsy will come up with something for you. It is tough to do many things with it I can see, and luckily for me, as seller it works fine for what I do.

On a side note. I see many sellers doing layaway or installments and using DC. It seems this is not allowed, yet happens daily. Does Etsy ever do anything to enforce their rules? I guess if you are going to have rules, yet not enforce them, there is no point in having them?? You can not invoice for shipping upgrades, etc, yet many sellers just set up the shipping charge as another sale, and make it work. I would think maybe Etsy, since they say it can't be done, would do something to stop it. Meanwhile good sellers that abide by the rules, are really the ones suffering and not doing it.

[Former_Member]

ooops

[Former_Member]

I love the way you put this, Griffincat...a rather tongue in cheek response to all the complaining going on around Etsy these days! Even with all its flaws, I am happy to have Etsy as a venue and DC as a means of payment. If not for Etsy, I'm pretty sure I would never have even considered selling online.

[VelvetRevived]

Brilliant post griffincat! I don't look at the forums very often and I almost never comment because I have better things to do with my time (like run my three Etsy shops) than to read about all the whining and crying. Thank you for saying exactly what I have been thinking for a while now! I love DC (still have PayPal for now) and have NO problems with it at all. Thank you for making my afternoon!

[dottiesdream]

Well said. I was hesitant at first, but glad I took the chance. Sales have been great. I add my thanks to Etsy.

[Former_Member]

quite funny, I enjoyed it, put a smile on my face.
Happy Creating

[Former_Member]

Just because there are a lot of great things about DC, doesn't mean it can't be improved. I held off because I do a lot of custom orders, and felt that I money for supplies should be available to me before I created and shipped the order. Others also shared this concern, and people voicing this concern most likely led to the change of funds being available for deposit the day following the order. once that change was made, I joined up. Suggestions for improvement can be helpful...

[OriginalsbyLaurenToo]

OP. roflmao! Thanks for posting, so nice to see something positive

[DaffodilCorner]

Loved this. I wasn't sure when I first started reading, but quickly realized it was 'tongue in cheek' humor.

Yes, Berry Carroll, Direct Checkout can be improved. I'm just glad Etsy rolled it out knowing that it wasn't perfect but gave us a chance to use it and suggest improvements. And they have made quite a few improvements since the initial release.

[Former_Member]

great I am waiting for my sales to come in.

[Frameyourstory]

Fun post and I love Etsy and DC. Very easy to use and all in one place. Yay

[Former_Member]

hey guys, i m not sure if i set dc am new here

[Former_Member]

A direct checkout Genie?? I can't even begin to imagine what that would entail...should we make a DC Genie infomercial to run the late-late-late-night time-slot? :)

But in all seriousness: DC definitely has room to grow, and I'm really excited about working with all of you in the future.

[Theteepeeguy]

I started up with DC so I didn't know a world without it. That said I sure would like to be able to pay my shipping labels with DC funds so I don't have to constantly circulate funds that are just going to go back into Etsy.

I liked the humor OP. What a problem to have. My social life is really suffering Thanks Etsy!

[SewMeHawaii]

I signed up for DC as soon as it became available and my sales took a giant leap forward. I love it! I had not even thought of turning off my PayPal as I still have some of my buyers using it. Now, I will take that in consideration. I never minded waiting a few days for my payments to click in, but I don't do a lot of huge orders. I think, in a way, I'm lucky as what I sell is traditional and doesn't change from decade to decade. I do put some of my profit towards new fabrics, etc. but when I have several pieces in stock, I make my products and hold off on buying for a while. For me, recently retired, Etsy has been a wonderful place to fuel my passion for hula, make beautiful skirts for hula dancers and supplement my income. I have no complaints!

[FabbCreations]

Yes I have sold a few more items from my shop. Still need more exposure, working on that.

Thanks Etsy Great Idea!

[RivendellRocksSedona]

Well said griffincat. Love use of laughter to blunt all the negative comments.

Thank you, Etsy Administration for giving sellers another way of expanding our sales.

[Former_Member]

I love DC. Since I signed up, most of my sales have been from DC.

[ChantillyAvenue]

Not that I expect anyone to recall this fact or anything, but I was really skeptical when DC was first rolled out that it would live up to all of the hoopla. They can count me in as one of the converted. Sales aren't rolling in like gangbusters, which I never expected anyway, but I would be lying if I said they hadn't improved. I'm also quite frankly amazed at how quickly my funds become available, and how easy the entire process is (definitely quicker & easier than PayPal), and tickled to death that I can get international 1st class labels through DC. My only quibble, and it's really not a huge one, is that I'd like it if they would deduct the cost of my labels from my shop account; I'm accustomed to having a low monthly bill, and I think fees just go down easier in general when you pay them on the front end - but that's just me. Otherwise, I'm pretty satisfied with DC thus far, and I never thought I'd say it, but I do prefer it to PayPal.

[glowgirl16]

I can't remember the last time I had to email a paypal invoice to someone who couldn't figure out how to pay with a credit card... it used to happen nearly daily, sometimes frequently in one day.

Direct checkout is a huge time saver for me, and definitely a sales increaser. I had a lot of sales needing to be canceled cause customers just didn't get why and how to deal with paypal invoices.

I never had any doubts that etsy could handle this...and am SO happy they have and it's proven to be a great working model (and money maker for them too!)

THANK YOU ETSY.