A customer has tried 4 times to place an order and has been unable to do so

[BesoDelCorazon]

A customer message me today saying that she wanted to make sure that she had ordered only one pair of earrings, instead of 2 and asked me to check to make sure the quantity is only one.  I check on my side and find that the order did not go through.   I then asked her to check her purchases tab and apparently the order didn't go through on her side either.   How can I advise her.  She has tried 4 times already, on different devices, without success.  Can anyone offer advice, please?

[Martybugs]

Sounds like the customer needs to contact Etsy to determine what's happening.  There's probably nothing you can do in this scenario.

[LastCentury]

Sounds fishy to me... Lots of scammy scamsters especially during the holidays.

I was able to go thru the process up to purchase now.

But to play deveil's advocate you can advise her to:

- use an actual computer instead of a mobile device.
- try a different card just in case she has maxed out the one on record.
- have someone else to place the order.
- clear her browser cache and try again.

No payment in your account? no parcel to ship.

good luck!

ps, you might have gotten emails about payment still processing / do not ship?

[BesoDelCorazon]

Thanks!  She had purchased from me previously, months ago, without incident.   I'm definitely not going to ship until I get an actual order, but I wish I could help her out.'

I never got an email from Etsy or a caveat from Etsy about not shipping until payment processing is complete, which is what I usually get when a buyer has placed an order, but there was a problem with the card/payment processing, etc.

I'm wondering if it's a glitch.  Etsy seems so glitchy this time of year.

[TheRakuOfAmerica]

I had same issue with a customer that asked me how to proceed to buy a vase. 

I suspected is a scammer and told to follow Etsy instructions on screen. 

Now i realise she might not have been a scammer but just a customer that had difficulty buying for some reason.

She first made me an offer, which i accepted and then she messaged that cant figgure out how to buy it. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@BesoDelCorazon: Until an order is accepted by Etsy and their payment processor and you see it on your Orders page, the process is only between the buyer and Etsy and there is nothing a seller can do or find out.

Why it fails can have so many possibilities - a glitch on Etsy's side, an issue with the buyer's payment, not finishing the process (for example when using PayPal), etc etc etc.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

you can't do anything, and etsy won't discuss your customers finances with you.

It could be many things, they would have to contact their card provider, and/or etsy

[ValleyEmporiumFinds]

I had this happen a couple of days ago, the customer opened a help request which had an order number so it did seem a bit more genuine, even though I had no order showing.

I contacted support and they confirmed it wasn't a scam and escalated it, the order finally came through about 6 hours later. Support confirmed it was a technical problem.

[BesoDelCorazon]

From personal experience, I find Etsy to be incredibly glitchy this time of year.  

[ZenCatPottery]

This is a very common way that scammers try to cheat new shops here on Etsy.  They will try to get you to click on some external link & give them some financial information.  Or they will ask for your email & then you will receive a message purporting to be from Etsy asking for your financial information.

*Etsy will not ask for your financial information because they already have it.

*All legitimate messages from Etsy will be in the “from Etsy” folder in your messages section.

Never click on any outside links given to you in a message.  Never give out your email address.  Never give out your financial information unless the message is in the “from Etsy” section no matter how legitimate the message looks (ie, Etsy logo).  

If this is a real customer then the problem is with them and they need to contact Etsy to figure out how to fix the problem.  I have been on Etsy for many years though and no customer has ever contacted me about not being able to complete a sale.  Why would anyone contact an individual shop owner about an Etsy account?  This sounds fishy to me.  I suggest you reply to this supposed customer and tell them that they need to contact Etsy support.

[EarRunwayShop]

Your advice is great, kudos!

[BesoDelCorazon]

The seller was trying to use Apple Pay, which was unsuccessful, so she used another form of payment and the transaction went through and I now have the order. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!