Disappearing/Reappearing “Sale”

[Blakeswork]

This has been happening off and on for over a week.  I’ll see my daily sales go up by one additional sale and additional funds to that sale populate in the dashboard, then this one sale  disappears from the others.  Then the next day it reappears again.

Today is the first day I’ve screenshot this “mysterious sale” to see if it’s the same amount.  I’ll find out tomorrow I suppose if it is the same amount.  

[AnniebelloPaper]

it's likely someone is trying to purchase but Etsy is stopping the transaction, probably a security problem with the buyer's payment method. If it's the same item (if you can tell), perhaps deactivate it for a day and see if that stops them trying. If you're not getting any messages from frustrated buyers, consider it Etsy having your back with a problem.

[Blakeswork]

Interesting possibility.  I've had another/new phantom sale of $147 today.  Yesterday was $120 sale.

I mean, if a sale isn't going to be a sale.  I don't want to see it pending review at all, right?  Pretty frustrating to say "never mind" to $267 in sales IMO.

It ain't easy to keep watching these "sales" vaporize.  It makes me question all incoming sales and whether they will be real or not.

I shouldn't have to ponder...hmmmm, right?

Backend processing is on the backend for a reason.  It shouldn't be out on the front end for all to see.

[givemeacrown]

Is it the "Stats overview" on the shop manager Dashboard where you're seeing this issue? Those numbers jump around a bit - sometimes due to timezones, sometimes because of cache, sometimes it changes the timeframe on me (even though the dropdown menu doesn't change). 

I find it most reliable to go into Orders or "Finances > Payment Account" to see what the current situation is.

[Blakeswork]

It is in the Dashboard where I see this sudden order stat, yes.

I've been on etsy since 2006 and have never had this happen where I have to question whether the sales order stats I'm seeing are real or not.  

I have another phantom "sale" today, just now.

1 sale ---$147

Pretty exciting to see, right?  But nope.  Not a real order as far as I can determine.  I've screenshot the stat and am certain -give or take an hour -that stat will remove this particular "sale."

I agree, that Payment Account is the most reliable place to confirm sales and that is where I go for final confirmation.  Yet, all places where finances are being tabulated/documented/reported should be reliable places to identify sales right?  

[Blakeswork]

I apologize, I thought by posting in this technical issues forum that I was posting this technical issue to the support team.  It's probably been a decade since I've reported a bug and this was once one of the ways a bug could be reported (posting in the technical forum).  It looks like now, the technical forum is just a way for each of us to help each other with technical issues?  Perhaps an admin still monitors these and will investigate this bug?

I sure don't need fake sales in my shop stats!  Super bummer.  Now I feel like I will need to go back through all my sales this year and tabulate to ensure these phantom sales aren't somehow becoming legitimate appearing "sales" in my financial reports for yearend.  Sheesh!

[CostumeCoutureNaomi]

I think this is a new glitch.  I hope it is a result of Etsy trying to fix the current way of sending pending orders to the order page.

I had this happen recently with an order that never went through.

I received an order notification alert.

One order for a specific amount showed in my dashboard.  

The item priced at that amount disappeared from my shop.

The item did not appear in my sold out listings, active listings, orders, or payment log.  It just disappeared. 

After around 15 minutes, the orange alert went away, the order disappeared from the dashboard, and the item reappeared in my shop.

The whole thing was repeated a few minutes later. 

After the 3rd time, I was actively watching the item in my shop page.  I noticed that before disappearing from my shop,  the order displayed as "sold" then disappeared a few minutes later.

This cycle happened several times with the same order, then stopped.

Interestingly, the order never appeared as a "pending order" which is usually what happens when an order gets stuck in processing.

I suspect that Etsy is trying to fix pending orders getting accidentally sent by sellers, and that this repeating sale alert is either Etsy testing a fake order on whatever new system they are developing, or a buyer got caught up in some test and after multiple attempts at purchasing (at least 5) finally gave up.

This is something new and you are not the only store that recently experienced this update. 

[Blakeswork]

I agree with you that this seems to be a new glitch.  And what you're theorizing makes sense to me!  Thank you for sharing! I am going to be on the lookout.  The sale I saw yesterday that disappeared did in fact turn into a sale about 4 hours later (yay!).