Buyers receiving an order confirmation email as well as this item is sold out email

[NaturesHeavenlyArt]

Two buyers in the past couple days received 2 emails directly after their purchase. The first is an order confirmation.....the second is a this item is sold out. They are very confused as we are also. Messages below from our customers.  Is this a glitch, test or something else. Please look into this as it reflects on our shop as well as it is time consuming to try and explain something we are unaware of and have no control of on our end.

"First I got a confirmation, then an email that says it's SOLD OUT - I'm confused!"

"So the order did go through? First, I received an email confirming my order, then received an email saying, "It's gone for now."

[ArtDollsbyJD]

Are they the same item?  Do you have quantity listed?  Was the quantity low?  It might be that the buyers ordered at about the same time so the crossing resulted in neither getting the item?  On some you have a quantity of one but you list variations.  I don't know if that could cause an issue like this. 

Or it could be a glitch if they both tried to order the same item with a quantity of one at the same time?

You are speaking to fellow sellers, not Etsy.  If you want to talk to Etsy you will need to email them. 

[NaturesHeavenlyArt]

Thanks for you thoughts....I rarely come to the forums so I will contact Etsy directly. I thought they used to check the technical issues thread and respond.

2 different products, different days so I don't know.

[nineteen27]

@NaturesHeavenlyArt 

etsy does check the technical issues section.

some sellers never look to see what section a thread is started in before they post.

so yes... you posted in the right place.

but it seems as though etsy is sending those emails on purpose for whoknowswhatdumbreason.

[OniOniOniArt]

@nineteen27  - I think you're right, they are probably sending them on purpose but there's a programming glitch causing them to be sent to the person buying the item also. It could be linked to favorites or maybe the folks that have stuff sitting in their carts?

[DoozleDesigns]

One of my customers received a notice after she had checked out that an item she purchased was sold out. She wanted to know if I could replace it with another item that she liked. I thought she must be confused and told her that the item she ordered was in stock and I would be mailing that to her unless she had changed her mind. 

This kind of thing makes us look incompetent and it's the last thing we need during the holiday season.

[LittleStuff4u]

I had the same issue. Wrote about it under a different post here.. same problem with my customers getting emails that their purchase is sold out. 

[givemeacrown]

I've seen at least one other report of this in recent days.

Did their purchases make the items become sold out? If so, I wonder if the people had the items in their favourites prior to purchase? Is it possible that Etsy is sending emails to anyone who had favourited an item (and opted into receiving emails) to let them know it sold, but forgetting to exclude the person that actually bought it?

[NaturesHeavenlyArt]

Good point....not sure.... hopefully Etsy will shed some light on this.

[LandKbeads]

I would hope that this 'test' would only be sent to customers who have carted the item rather than those that have simply favorited it. But, it is Etsy so who knows?

[LaurelArts]

I have been getting messages from customers who are confused as well, wondering if they are going to get their orders. Not sure why Etsy is sending them the sold out message. They bought the last one.

[Adorabilities]

If you are able to contact Etsy, please let us know what they say about this. I can't think of any good reason that they'd be sending "sold out" messages to people. If they've purchased it, it wasn't sold out.

[CloesCloset]

I had this happen to a customer day before yesterday... she was quite happy to know that I would be shipping out her order..... just another Etsy hiccup that is annoying for both buyers and sellers!

[NaturesHeavenlyArt]

We were actually able to talk to Etsy Support directly via phone. She said she had no inclination as to what the problem was....not a test or something they have recently changed. She did find that some others are having the same problem and she is going to pass it along to technical support to look into. They will email us when they find the problem and solution. So hopefully some answers soon.

[beadmask]

Have they followed up with you about this yet?

[GemPassionBeads]

I wrote them an email 3 days ago about it and have not heard back. In my case, the customer placed a second order from a different listing with a similar item, because she thought the item would not come with the first order. She claimed it was my error and demanded a free return and full refund for the duplicate item, so I was out all the shipping costs. 

[SmudgePlant]

Can't think of a single logical reason for sending anyone an "this item is sold out" email.

Does the email end with "You snooze you lose." ?

[2di4jewelryoriginals]

This sounds like a mess for one of a kind shops like me. Ugh. 

[JiltedJournalCompany]

Thank you for posting this! I had a customer buy a listing with quantity 1 and then messaged me that they received an email the item was sold out so they purchased something else (from somewhere else). Thankfully, they still wanted to receive their order and I didn't have to cancel!

[Amaradorn]

One of my customers just contacted me saying they had also received an email from Etsy that their order (from yesterday) was sold out and how could they get their money back. The item in question is currently sold out now but that happened when they ordered the last one. I have explained that everything is okay and it must be a bug (and apologised for the confusion caused). Thanks for reporting these things on the forum, it's very helpful.

[SeasideRoseCreations]

Absurd and inept, par for the course.

[CoastalKreatives]

I am also having this happened. I’ve had multiple people order candles and then a few hours later e-mail me wondering if they will get a refund for their order. Extremely frustrating and have luckily had very understanding customers that have kept their orders.

[CaseyofAvalon]

The exact same thing happened to me a few days ago, the buyer sent me a message wondering if it was out of stock or not.....very confusing for buyers!

[Amaradorn]

Apparently this is still happening. I received an order today at about 4.30pm and then an angry email from the buyer saying that it was sold out but the money had been taken from their account and they wanted a refund. I have again reassured the buyer that the item is reserved for them and apologised.

I wonder (my wild guess) if there is a delay in the processing of orders so that by the time it has completed the item shows as sold out. I can't understand how else this is happening. There really should be no need for a 'sold out' email - if the item is sold out it will say so on the listing.

[Amaradorn]

p.s. this is the second time it's happened to me (my buyers) in the last few days.