Dinged for not shipping an order that doesn’t exist

[CatDesigns]

I was just checking my “Star Seller” stats and found that my “On-time shipping and tracking” went from 100% to 90% because of an order that doesn’t even exist.

At the beginning of March, I had a customer contact me with a “request for help” regarding some strange issues in her account.  She said that her account was showing that she had purchased 2 items from me…. which she did not.  She said she tried to cancel the item which she DID NOT purchase and received the message “Service Not Available”.

I told her I would check my account.  There were NO new orders from her, which I relayed to her.  The next day I prepared her original order for shipping and found that down on the lower right corner it was showing that there were 2 orders.  So, I clicked on the bogus order and received the same message she had… “Service Not Available”

I shipped her order, received a 5-star review and didn’t think about it again until today when I checked my stats.  It’s still there floating in my account.  It was never paid for, never shipped and neither the buyer or myself can cancel it.

I got dinged by Etsy for not shipping AND for no tracking information.

Has anyone else had this type of problem?

Now I understand why everyone is ticked off about the “Star Seller” metrics.  

[Thedinkydoodlestudio]

Well that is just crazy.  Now you must waste precious time trying to kill a ghost!

[ChillwolfArt]

@Thedinkydoodlestudio 

I agree; that definitely sounds like a glitch.  I know there were quite a few instances where Etsy cancelled Orders (many of which had shipped).  But I don't know if this had anything to do with that situation. Cripe.

[CatDesigns]

I thought about contacting Etsy to resolve the problem and decided, considering their track record, they would probably cancel the REAL order and refund.... Etsy's customer service profile needs work....

[SpinTilYurDizzy]

I got dinged for 'missing tracking information', when in fact the buyer and I amicably agree to cancel the order. So the tracking info was missing because the order never shipped. Sheesh.