Why would anyone use direct checkout?

[Former_Member]

I have a few reasons for favoring direct checkout over paypal, but one of the big ones is:

To help Etsy make more money which will enable them to grow and make improvements to the sight. We are in a way engaged in a partnership with etsy, and the more one another grows and prospers, the odds are the other will also.

Why not help them grow and be able to better help us? Will they not keep improving the sight to better things for the majority of sellers? Will they not possibly advertise more to promote themselves and us?

I am quite certain that paypal is not doing anything to help us grow, or to advertise or promote Etsy in any way. In fact, they are promoting themselves and Ebay which I consider to be a direct competitor with us.

It is easy for me to choose where my money would be best spent, and a few inconveniences to help Etsy grow is fine by me.

[LLFarm]

Well said. I think the bugs will be worked out and all will be fine in the end.

[ButterflyFeetDigital]

Of course, our making sales is helping etsy - and if some customers prefer one payment option over the other, having it available to them helps all of us!

[PeriniDesigns]

Well said, not just "Etsy" but everyone here!

[Hendywood]

Great post griffincat :) I don't understand many of the anti-direct checkout comments made on other threads.

[timberlineltd]

I use direct checkout to give my customers more choices.

[Former_Member]

From a business standpoint it only makes sense to help Etsy by giving them more money rather than the competition. If they are aggressively trying to grow and expand they will get their needed money elsewhere if the support is not here. To raise the selling fees would be the other option. If you are going to give someone money to process your money, the smart choice is Etsy.

[sherrytruitt]

I have been selling my work on etsy over five years and have watched them grow, as well as my business. Etsy has had 5, soon to be 6 rounds of capital funding. They are a profit making corporation and as Chad pointed out in the WSJ interview, undervalued. That it a good thing for us.

But, we are not in partnership with etsy. They provide a service and we pay a fee. We follow site rules, we have no hand in making them.

I like having Direct checkout as an option for my customers. That is the reason I do it.

That option comes at a price for me though. since my work is mostly custom, I have currently have over 1400.00 worth of orders I will not be paid for for weeks. The cost of the materials comes from my pocket.

It currently takes 2 additional hours per week to print shipping labels and merge my records.. That may not seem like a lot, but that's a full work day a month. I will also lose my paypal volume discount since more customers choose DC, as it is the first option.

That means less money for each sale in my pocket. As a small business person, one who makes my living with my craft, those are important considerations. For now I keep it, because good customer service is my obligation.

DC, like the search ads are revenue streams for etsy. I don't think the forum threads are anti etsy or Direct Checkout. I think they are well thought out questions from people concerned about the bottom line of their business.

Etsy's bottom line is just fine: http://www.etsy.com/blog/news/2012/etsy-statistics-march-2012-weather-report/

[OriginalsbyLauren]

OP well said. I have had DC for 3 months and don't have any complaints.

I too don't understand all the negativity in the forums, it is an option, no one has to accept it.

I don't do custom orders very often in this shop, my second shop does and I don't have it there yet, so I will then see how that works for me.

[OriginalsbyLauren]

Sherry, I certainly understand why this might not work well for you. I wouldn't like having that much money tied up either.

I could be wrong, but I thought etsy was looking for a solution for people doing custom work

[ArtByDavio]

The way we see it is that you have a choice between the flagrant business abuses of paypal & using a credit card payment system contained within the platform we're all selling on (viz., Etsy).

If you enjoy having paypal "hold" the money you make on the sales you work hard to get, "return" it to buyers trying to scam you out of your product with no questions asked, then by all means keep using paypal over Etsy's direct checkout.

Moreover, if the ongoing ebay/paypal fiasco isn't proof enough of what happens when all the power is transferred into the hands of unscrupulous "buyers" over hard-working, legit sellers, then you haven't been paying attention for the last six years. Just google paypal horror stories and start reading. Or email us & we'll tell you a few dozen.

Temporary glitches & bugs with Etsy's direct checkout is a small price to pay when the alternative is the paypal nonsense of "buyer protection" & "package didn't show up? Well, time to file a claim!"

Sure, it's fun to get to keep your money AND the product someone sold you, but the word for that in fancy legal terms is simply Theft.

Paypal & ebay have proven that the model of pitting buyers & sellers against each other is a destructive way to do business-- it's really no wonder that 600,000 people registered to buy/sell on Etsy last month.

We hope to abandon paypal altogether ASAP, and would stop offering it as a payment option today if it were possible. I myself wasn't a believer in Etsy until Etsy & all the fine people who buy & sell here everyday made me a believer.

Go Etsy!

[sherrytruitt]

@Lauren, I'm still using it so my customers have an option, but financially for me, it's becoming difficult. Two to three weeks is my custom work time, so I do hope at some point etsy will make some changes in the payment schedule.

I have used paypal for over 6 years and have never had a problem, not once. I get a great discount and my money right away. I know others have not had the same experience.

The most important thing to me as an artist in business is to have options. So, I'll continue to use DC and paypal. It's no different than using etsy as well as running my own website for 4 years.

[HapaGirls]

@Sherry - I totally agree with you! I do a lot of made to order and custom orders and need to buy supplies often.

I am only doing DC so it is easier for customers to checkout with a credit card. I will say the benefit of DC as a buyer is not having to invoice customers who don't realize they can use a credit card with pay pal.

I hope Etsy does workout the payment schedule.

[Former_Member]

David, I agree with you. I've had an account with Paypal for 8 years. I've had some hiccups with them, but in fairness, I have to say that I think eBay has created the monster that Paypal has been forced to become.

I can definitely see how direct checkout for Sherry and other made-to-order sellers the advantages can begin to stack up. As Etsy works its way through the transition, I'm confident a process that is equally beneficial to all sellers will roll out.

PayPal is not a bank. This is the real issue for many. I wonder for how long PayPal will be able to maintain its so-so reputation here when all of eBay's selling and buying miscreants figure out a way to infiltrate this site. Sadly, it's probably only a matter of time.

[PatsPottery]

I have signed up with some misgivings. I do a lot of custom orders with a 4 to 6 week turnaround. I do not need the money before delivery, but it just makes me nervous not to have it up-front. What if the customer changes their mind, 3 weeks after the order. Does etsy have the money, or is the customer charged after the delivery button is clicked?

[OriginalsbyLauren]

etsy has the money when we are notified of the sale.

[PatsPottery]

Thank you Lauren♥

[ClaycrazyPottery]

Here is my thoughts on handling custom orders...
I am wondering if there is a way to split up a custom order, so that you can ship out the "custom request consultation document" and then when it is done have a second listing for the shipping fee. Been tossing this around in my head since this came up. Just like a while ago, I think someone on one of my teams paid for a custom stamp and they charged a design fee with a listing.