Australian Sellers, Serious Bug with your Location. Many are shipping from "Iowa" "north carolina"

[#1]

This bug was pointed out to me by another seller in Sydney...that my items were listed as dispatching from "iowa", his from "north carolina" - a potential buyer in Australia contacted him asking if he shipped to Australia! 

I might have figured out what the problem was - Free shipping! - turned that all off, re did all the shipping profiles...... and back to normal "shipping from Austalia" - lets hope it stays that way!!

Make sense now why there have been next to no sales in 2 weeks compared to 5-10. 

I contacted support  via chat and the response was along the lines of  "thank you for your feedback, we will pass on your ideas about the design of the site " ...I asked for the issue to be passed on to technical support........but dont hold your breath for things to change with this serious bug. 

[C20Ceramics]

@ApogeeVintageyes I still see "shop local" on the app... @MyOrganisedHome yes I seem to be one of very few showing the correct location now after changing my postcode and deleting any free shipping profiles.....  but absolutely no idea why this hasn't worked for others, and now it is just me and a few others here are showing the correct location. I noticed yesterday the few Canadian and Danish shops I looked at also had weird US states as their homes. I have noticed also slightly different versions of the Etsy website depending which shop I am logged in as (I have 3 different shops) 

[ApogeeVintage]

@AnniebelloPaper I've taken more notice of the buyer's app since all this came to light! @C20Ceramics the "Shop Local" option definitely placed me geographically in the US so even as a buyer, my experience has been messed with completely, directing me to shops in the US exclusively. Now, it only shows Free Delivery/Est.Arrival/Price and Location. I was hoping this meant they were ironing out some of these humungous technical issues but nothing else seems to have changed.

[CostumePatternTrim]

This is so disappointing - It’s just one debacle after another!

[FunkyKoala]

Yes it is and I still cannot access any help from Etsy. I don't know why I stick with this place sometimes but Ebay doesn't seem any better.

[lalarossa]

Three days ago, I asked for help in this chat. I was told the tech team would be contacting me via email. I'm still waiting for an email.

[bobsiDi]

I have changed my postcode here in Australia on my listings by adding 00 in front of my postcode. Another Australian shop suggested this as the ap showed my sales are from Michigan. All is OK now. My actual Postcode is 4870 (Michigan post codes also starts with 48 - I checked). Etsy are really stuffing this up and perhaps that is why I have had no sales from Australia and the US in weeks.

[AnniebelloPaper]

Just adding to the list of countries affected ... apparently NZ shops are having the same issue. If you know any kiwi sellers, please pass this issue on. They might not be aware if they don't use the buyers' app. 

[AnniebelloPaper]

And we can add the Philipines to this as well. I'm checking the shops of anyone not in the US who is posting on the forums about low sales, no views recently. That's how I found out about the Philipines.

[AnniebelloPaper]

And the plot thickens...

After reading a comment about updating the sellers app, I wondered if the same might be part of the buyers' app location problem. I uninstalled and then reinstalled the buyers app. If I'm not logged in or searching as a guest ... I see my cat lover notebooks (the only one without the modified postcode) as shipping from Australia. When I log in (as you would if you had an account and wanted to buy), that listing is still shipping from Illinois.

This is so frustrating because it's not consistent and cannot be seen the same by everyone and Etsy still hasn't even acknowledged it's a problem and don't look like even attempting to fix it, let alone give anyone an update.

edited to add ... once I logged in and then logged out again, the listing is still showing as shipping from Illinois AND I'M LOGGED OUT!

[DollHeaven]

@AnniebelloPaper  Oh, bother.  I got my daughter to check my shop on her phone in the buyers app and was thinking I was one of the few Australian shops not affected  as it showed her I was shipping from Australia.  And now,  from what you are seeing, I very well could be.

[AnniebelloPaper]

@DollHeaven it looks like you're ok. The problem is linked to postcodes matching the start of US state postcodes. You're in Victoria so maybe no 3's in the US that match your postcode. There is a seller in NSW with 27XX and she managed to get hers to show normally by switching to a postcode a couple of numbers away.

[DollHeaven]

@AnniebelloPaper Thank you for checking. 

I have been wondering if it is the first two numbers of the postcode that is triggering the problem.  Someone from another Victorian shop said she had noticed her shop as shipping from Mississippi and the first two digits of her postcode were the same as codes from that state, so maybe there are no US states that start with a 37.

[AnniebelloPaper]

@DollHeaven I think it's however many numbers match. I'm 6066 and it's Illinois as is or Connecticut if I add 1 zero to the front. Two zeroes gets me back to Australia but I think it's more about the fact that my postcode is then 6 digits and not 5. Seeing the altered postcode is not a valid Australian postcode, it shouldn't work but it does.

[CostumePatternTrim]

@AnniebelloPaper - Does anyone have a idea of when this actually started?

[AnniebelloPaper]

@CostumePatternTrim the first I knew of it was this thread which was started Tuesday but the German thread was started Monday. The OP there says he's reported a week before so looks like two weeks. That would be two weeks of nothing fixed by Etsy. Sellers are doing the work around that seems to work for them. Ridiculous really considering there's at least 5 countries involved. You can bet if it was affecting US sellers, it would have been fixed by now : (

Australian, New Zealand, Germany, Poland, The Philippines, Portugal ... I'm thinking it's everywhere that has number-only postcodes of 5 or less digits.

[FunkyKoala]

Did this start when they shut down the old Sell on Etsy app I wonder?

[AnniebelloPaper]

@FunkyKoala coincidence perhaps but it's the orange buyers' app that is the problem, not the new blue sellers' one. I think it's connected to the stupid test they did when they hid the shipping location on listings and buyers didn't see it unless they put the item in their cart. 

[farbfein]

Austria and Switzerland  also

[AnniebelloPaper]

@farbfein seriously?? OMG, this is just getting bigger and bigger. And still nothing from Etsy. Unacceptable, especially if they were alerted by the Germans nearly two weeks ago!!!

[bobsiDi]

@FunkyKoala I have my suspicions that this started when the new app was introduced.

[FunkyKoala]

@bobsiDi 

I think I agree as I just installed the buy on Etsy app today and it has the same 'loading' screen as the blue seller's app. So I wonder if they are somehow related or something. I could go on about how 'busy' the buy app is....

I did change my postcode to add in two 00 earlier today but have changed it back now. I just don't know enough about what is going on.

I still can't get onto Etsy help to get the chat feature. The same callback option appears and is greyed out and unavailable to me.

[FunkyKoala]

There was an issue with something technical or financial (can't remember so long ago) and I tagged one of the Etsy forum 'moderators' to help but I can't remember who he was! He did help too.

[bobsiDi]

@FunkyKoala on checking your shop it says you ship from Iowa. I have a list of US postcodes for you to peruse. See https://www.zipcode.com.ng/2022/06/list-of-5-digit-zip-codes-united-states.html

[FunkyKoala]

@bobsiDi 

Thank you! I do already know that it is a prefix for postcodes from Iowa. I did change it with the two zeros in front and it went ships from Australia but my views and traffic tanked dramatically so I changed it back. Appreciate the help!

[AnniebelloPaper]

@FunkyKoala your views might have tanked but at least buyers will know that you're not in the US. Imagine if you get an order from a US buyer who doesn't realise you're not in the same country (worse that you're at the other side of the world) and then wonders why it's taking so long to get their item. They open a case and Etsy refunds because it didn't arrive when it was supposed to ... because it's coming from across the globe and not the next state over.