Creating custom order problem.

[#1]

The way we create custom orders from a customer message seems to have changed. Instead of being able to create a full listing I seem to just have a side bar to add basic details. I cannot add shipping profiles or an image to this. I have to go back into the listing once the order has been created to complete the details.

I'm hoping this is just a temporary glitch.

[TinLizziAntiques]

My thought as someone who has not needed to do custom orders on vintage merchandise is that Etsy doesn't want or like private custom orders. Etsy may be hoping everyone will return to doing "reserved for customer" listings which will show on public pages and can be used in Etsy marketing. It wouldn't be the first time for technical difficulties to be used as a means to change seller behavior.

[InnerMind]

Im having the same problem. Customer couldn't purchase or see the private listing I sent to her (no photo was possible neither) and I had to enlist the item into my shop and put RESERVED in the title. I much rather would be able to sent a private listing when a custom order is finished.

[BaubleShoppeBeads]

I have had two orders this week, custom requests, where I basically had to create them from scratch.  Those of you who've said the custom order page is a disaster are right! I hope Etsy will listen to those of us complaining about the glitch.  They should just change it back to the way it was!  It was so much easier!  

[BaubleShoppeBeads]

Okay guys, it is really rare that i need to contact Etsy for anything, and i want to contact them about the custom orders problem.  i don't see anywhere where I can contact them about this.  Can someone please post the link or tell me where I can go to put in my two cents about this?

[BaubleShoppeBeads]

Nevermind, I found a way to chat.  Go figure, I got a canned response, and I replied that it sounded like  a canned response. I hope my complaint gets forwarded, but I'm not holding my breath.  I love Etsy, but really, the customer service has really gone down hill for sellers.

[CalendulaHandmade]

There’s no excuse for how long it’s taking for this problem to be fixed. Maybe they haven’t heard from enough of us about how bad this is? I’ve already complained to Etsy but think I will do it again.

[TextileTrolley]

I've been having the same problem for months now.  Where did you you complain to?  Can you share the email or phone # please.

[CalendulaHandmade]

@TextileTrolley I f you go to Shop Manager and click on Community and Help, at the bottom you should see Contact Us and then Selling on Etsy. Keep clicking on any of the categories until you see ‘I Still Need Help” at the bottom and click on that. You should have the option to Chat or email them. Good Luck as sometimes you cannot get this far. Etsy sometimes likes to drive us crazy by making us go round and round in endless circles without being able to finally get through to them. I guess it depends on whether or not they feel like dealing with our problems and complaints on a given day.

[bespokeblinds]

I have been messaging Etsy for the past two months to fix this problem, why they had to change the old way of doing a custom listing I will never know. Had no luck or even a reply from Etsy.

[PerryLancasterWood]

This is awful - I'm having even more problems with this fiasco, now my customer is unable to complete the custom order I created, my customer sent a message asking if their payment had gone through, I checked the order and it showed up as "Sold Out" in my listings, but with no new order in my "Orders and Delivery", then after a few minutes the custom order I had created is back in "Active listings" but the link the customer received no longer works. I have viewed the listing, copied the URL and sent that to the customer, but it looks incredibly unprofessional to say the least. I'm still waiting to see if they are now able to complete their purchase.... Where are these new higher fees going ????

[CalendulaHandmade]

@PerryLancasterWood It sure is AWFUL! And an EMBARRASSMENT too. This has been going on for well over a month and despite our reporting it, nothing has been done. This is inexcusable and Etsy should be ashamed. It’s embarrassing  for me to have to explain to a custom order customer why I am posting their “reserved” order as a regular listing instead of using the custom order form. Not very good PR I should say.

[EssentialHerb]

Whatever Etsy did to custom orders, it is AWFUL.  It MAKES me enter a shipping amount and does not accept $0, it MAKES me enter which country I am shipping from (whaaat???) and I cannot create the listing as I should either.  I do not understand why Etsy changes things that are not broken, and makes them worse; it is SUCH a step down.

[GripperCardHolders]

I agree with everyone on the new side bar custom order process. Obviously, this is a good example of "If it works, let's fix it" type of thinking. The "old way" of creating a custom order was working quite well, allowing us sellers to input critical information such as a photo of the item, (or whatever the seller uses) processing time, and selecting a shipping process, whether free or otherwise letting the customer see what it is that is being purchased, rather than some weird photo generated by this side bar process.

So my question is this: is anyone at Etsy reading these? Does someone there even care anymore? It used to be if an Etsy member had an issue, an email could be sent and an answer would arrive shortly written by a real, caring person. Obviously, that has gone by the wayside also.

I've been a seller with Etsy for 7 years now, and have continued with Etsy because of the personal touch I've received each and every time I've asked for help. Now? I'm not sure if I'll stay.....I may look into my own website - we'll see.... (NOT Pattern by the way, as it's owned by Etsy).

[Daoire]

Why aren't they fixing this!? I have sent numerous messages to Esty support and I can't even get a reply other than a cookie cutter auto response. They literally won't even acknowledge the issue to me. Sellers used to be able to call and speak with a real person about problems, and now we can't even get a reply in an email? I'm so over this. I've been selling on Etsy 9 years this year and I make a ton of money for them. But if things don't change I will start working on moving my shop to another platform and my own website. This is absolutely ridiculous.

[CalendulaHandmade]

So it’s been a month since I reported to Etsy about this. And so many of you have done the same. Yesterday I FINALLY was able to contact Etsy, AGAIN. (Isn’t it funny how they make it so difficult to actually get in touch with them? Some days it’s not too hard but other days it’s impossible). I was able to “chat” with someone named Mae. I told her how frustration is growing among sellers with how long it’s taking Etsy to fix the glitches in the new Custom order form. I asked IF anyone is actually looking into this and also HOW LONG we have to wait? And said she understands our frustration and assured me I would be getting an email response from someone on the team that is working on this. Well that’s what I was told a month ago when I first contacted them and I still haven’t heard back about that one. Has anyone gotten results from a “chat” with Etsy or am I being foolish to feel even a tiny bit optimistic?

[Daoire]

I've sent 3 separate support requests about this issue.

The first one, when I was asking if the change was permanent or a glitch, was replied to with only a cookie cutter copy and paste response that didn't even address what I wrote in about. And when I replied to that, all I got was another cookie cutter response saying "Your feedback is very important..... I assure you that all feedback is reviewed...." blah blah blah. And they didn't even mention anything about the custom order screen at all. And the support request was closed.

The second one I sent in was a long thought out detailed email about every single problem with the change to the order screen and why they were detrimental to sellers and customer service in general. That one was literally ignored and closed without a single reply. 

And the most recent one I  sent in, I just copied and pasted the previous message. Two days went by with no reply. So I followed up with "Not gonna lie. I'm really upset about this issue being ignored and getting zero real response from Etsy. There is a 3 page long thread with people upset about this same issue and nothing is being addressed." And linked this thread. To that this is what they said:

"Thank you for reaching out to us. I hope you and your family are safe in the midst of the pandemic and I'm sorry to hear that you are having an issue adding photos to your custom listing. I absolutely understand where you are coming from and this is certainly not the ideal experience we'd like you to have with Etsy.
 
For now, I'll take your feedback about bringing back the fully-featured custom order screen on Etsy. I do want to assure you that all of this feedback is being reviewed by our Product teams, which is then funneled up to our Executive team--and what we're hearing from sellers will be used to inform our decision-making moving forward.
 
I don't currently have a timeline for this change, but I recommend you keep an eye on the Announcements section of the Forums, which you can find by scrolling to the bottom of any Etsy page, selecting "Forums," and then going to the Announcements section.
 
Appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter as we are striving hard to improve our service to our members. Have a great day!"

They acknowledged part the actual problem this time. But it's about more than not being able to upload a picture lol. I am so beyond frustrated.

[CalendulaHandmade]

@DaoireWOW! I just got a response back this evening regarding my Chat yesterday and it was beyond pathetic. She wrote out the steps on how I need to enable the Custom Order form but that first I have to be on Etsy.com because it won’t work otherwise!!! REALLY? Then she mentioned the article in the handbook on how to write up a good custom order. I cannot believe how inept they are at listening to us. I asked that they PLEASE  ANSWER, A) If anyone at Etsy is actually working on this issue because there’s a growing number of unhappy, frustrated sellers regarding it and B) why not just go back to the old way which was working just fine? That if they need more information all they need to do is read the multiple threads in Forums about this new Custom Order Form.  I ended my response by saying PLEASE just ANSWER my questions and don’t bother responding if it’s going to be a generic answer pointing me to the sellers handbook. Now  I want to just give up on this issue but I do think we all need to keep badgering them about it. Oh, and by the way, I read today in Market Watch that Etsy.com is one of 21 “Large Cap stocks” that have “dropped at least 50% from their 52 week high”. Hmmmm

[NinniesHangers]

I just created a custom order for a customer who wanted Express shipping which will cost around $70.

The link took her to the original listing which had shipping at $39.

She made the purchase. 

So that will put me $30 out of pocket, WHAT IS GOING ON?

[MyOldWhiskeyWorkshop]

So glad that I found this older post and I'm not the only one.  We don't do custom very often but when I tried  to create two of them today, I got the same sidebar described by many here.  After hitting publish I had to go back and add photos and shipping information.  Did my buyers then also receive two messages on the order PLUS my additional message to them to finalize?  So unprofessional.

What a hot mess!

Elaine

[KristiStickySigns]

Hi! Yes, they do receive two notifications that you set up a listing for them! I have been arguing with Etsy for several months now about this issue. They said they are doing some testing and will let me know. 98% of my orders are custom. I do not get why I can't add a photo, yet they insert the generic photo icon when you view the listing. Makes absolutely no sense! Now, I go in a make a regular custom listing for every order so I can add photos before the customer gets a link to purchase the listing. Very aggravating!

[TheCoastalCushionCo]

Just to add my two cents - we are still finding the new Custom Order process very glitchy. I have to inform every customer that the custom order link might not work which is embarrassing and unprofessional.

[GripperCardHolders]

Inspiration Seeker, I've been so frustrated with the side bar custom order, that now I just create a "New Listing" making it into a custom order for my customer. That eliminates not only my frustration, but any questions that may arise from my customers. It may take me a minute or two to go that route, but at least my customer actually sees my normal Custom Order image, rather than some weird icon!

Too bad we sellers have to re-invent what used to be available to us!

[SkinnyDogArt]

Same here.  Instead of making custom listings for a buyer, I am creating a regular listing with quantity of one and sharing the link with my buyer.

Hope Etsy fixes this bug soon !!!  It worked before they changed it !

[KristiStickySigns]

It isn't a bug. It is intentional. I have been going back and forth with support for weeks. The last message I received said it was a permanent change in an effort to improve customer experience.

[ColieCo]

What was broken with the old custom order process:

- Only one custom order per conversation
- Literally nothing else

What has changed:

- A bunch of useful functionality has been removed

What has not changed:

- Still only one custom order per conversation

Why, oh why, would they mess with this? If the analysts and/or dev team have run out of features to work on, I'd be happy to remind them about any number of change requests we've had in for half a decade.