Etsy generated an order without customer completing checkout

[EquestrianCreations]

Very odd thing has happened, now twice! I am in the process of (hopefully) getting this resolved with Etsy, but in the meantime I wanted to see if this happened to anyone else and what was the explanation and result.

A month or so ago, I had 2 orders come through for the same customer, not exactly at the same time but within 24 hours of each other.  When I say that the 2 orders 'came through' I was viewing them not in Etsy but in the 3rd Party shipping software I used called ShippingEasy to capture all of my orders from the different marketplaces where I sell. 

The orders had almost exactly the same items in them. It struck me as a bit odd so I reached out to the customer and asked her if she intended to place both of those orders. She said that no, she only placed 1 of those orders. When I put each of the order numbers in Etsy (in the search bar in Orders & Shipping), only 1 of them came up as being a valid order number. Interestingly, the one that DID come up, was NOT the order that she said she placed. The order that had the items in it that she said she wanted was the order number that wasn't coming up. It was so weird. I reached out to Etsy and they weren't able to give me any explanation for why this happened, but did confirm that only 1 order was in fact placed so I could just disregard this "other one". 

Today, I received an email from a customer stating that she received an item from me that she never paid for! She said she looked all over but couldn't find a record that she actually paid for the item. She said she'd had it in her cart at one point, but then removed it. She never proceeded with the checkout process. Yet, I had an order number for her, I had her first and last name, her address, her email address...all of this was pushed out from Etsy to my shipping program. How else would I have gotten this information? Something about having the item in her cart and then removing it somehow triggered an order number and for Etsy to send all of her information to me...without her paying for anything. Naturally, when the order came in, I fulfilled it. So now, she has the item but I am out the money. The crazy thing is, the order number doesn't come up in Etsy at all. Not even as cancelled. It's as if it doesn't exist. When I reached out to Etsy today, the rep couldn't tell me anything; only that the order number doesn't exist in their system. Well then how did I get it? How did I get all of the customer's information? It is disturbing to say the least.

A follow-up message to me told me to have the customer open up a case with Etsy support. I am not satisfied with that, and believe that Etsy needs to resolve this with me directly. This customer (kind and sweet as she was to tell me what happened) was not at fault and I don't think she should be inconvenienced. I just think it would sound very unprofessional of me to ask her to open up some tech support case on my behalf because she received something in the mail that she didn't pay for. I have gone through all of my orders for the past 2 months (so far) and it seems these are the only 2 occurrences. But since it has happened more than once, there is definitely some bug and I can't have been the only seller it has affected. If anyone has experienced this I would love to hear the explanation and what Etsy ended up doing about it. I realize that this would probably only affect other people who were using 3rd party shipping services, unless you happened to check soon after the order was generated (before it "disappears") in Etsy.

[SewJoyfulandBlessed]

Wow! How odd!!!

Talk about crazy! Normally it's that Etsy has refunded money they shouldn't have and now they are generating orders that don't exist? That's almost invasive of privacy! 

[LoboGraphix]

I agree. Even with my own website, I don't see my customer's name/address/email unless they voluntarily give it to me for my newsletter OR if they place an order. For this reason I feel this is a serious bug that needs to be addressed.

[Adorabilities]

That's pretty weird. Had she placed any order on Etsy at all? Sometimes customers don't realize that they're checking out with multiple shops at a time.

Not sure if this is related, but I also used to use a program that synced orders from Etsy, and I found a bunch of orders (in a folder somewhere on that program) that had never existed on Etsy. I assumed that they were people who tried to order, and the orders were canceled by the payment processor before it showed up on Etsy.

Naturally, when the order came in, I fulfilled it. 
But it didn't come in as far as your Etsy account is concerned, right? I would be checking all your orders for a while, and only processing ones that showed up on Etsy first.

[EquestrianCreations]

I am not sure if she placed another order with someone else, though I do know what you mean though with the checkout with multiple shops...She just told me that she removed it from her cart.

And what you experienced with your shipping program might have a connection; maybe it has to do with the payment processor?

As far as whether the order ever came through on Etsy, I don't know. I have 5 different storefronts around the web so I generally don't view them on the individual marketplace sites. I cross referenced my orders for the past 2 months and just found those 2 orders so far where that happened. And until I get a satisfactory answer about why this happened I'll just have to check them all on Etsy as they come in to be sure they're valid.

[BootifulLabels]

I have seen something similar as a buyer before when paying with Paypal. I went to checkout and chose Paypal, then when the order came up I realised I missed something and backed out, then add the missed item and went back to checkout and followed through to complete the order.  The initial order had already gone through to Paypal but was never completed.  It eventually dropped off with no charge being made.  

I have also had customers who swear they ordered and I have no order on file.  It turns out they didn't complete the final step of the order when they were returned to Etsy after the Paypal payment screen (or guest checkout CC payment screen), so it was never processed.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

This isn't an etsy problem, it's a ShippingEasy problem, you need to contact them,
they need to look at how they integrate with etsy, and why it's not working.... they are the ones that charge you for the integration service, they need to investigate why it's not working - they will have a contract/support contacts with etsy

only ever do what it shows on etsy, don't trust third party integrations 

etsy can't discus a customers orders and finances with you, it can only be done with the customer

[EquestrianCreations]

I did speak with ShippingEasy and I don't believe it is a ShippingEasy problem. I say this because SE doesn't generate order numbers for Etsy; only Etsy does. ShippingEasy only pulls in orders after the payment is made. Also when I spoke to the SE rep he gave me an "internal" Order ID # that was linked to this particular transaction (or non-transaction) in question, which is different from the "external" Order ID (this is what we recognize as the Etsy order number). Etsy also is the one to generate this internal Order ID #. Why are these order numbers being generated if payment has not been completed?

And technically speaking, the person who received my item is not a "customer" of mine since she didn't place an order with me. Since this is a glitch that happened on the Etsy side, I believe they should handle it with me by reimbursement.

[BagmakerSupply]

@EquestrianCreations: I think that the confusion arises because Etsy creates a "Shop Receipt" (what we might call the order number) when the customer attempts to check out not when the checkout is complete and successful. So a failed order will still have a receipt number.

[FallenAngelBrass]

I'm curious what the purpose of these third party apps might be. Can someone explain the advantage in involving a third party for Etsy sales? Why wouldn't just purchasing on Etsy work? 

[BrickHouseFabrics]

@FallenAngelBrass Do you mean buying a label from another site?

[Adorabilities]

The apps have different purposes, but one benefit of order syncing would be to bring all of your Etsy orders/stats into Shopify, so you can get decent reports for sales in one place. Another type of app would be used to sync inventory across multiple venues.

They are absolutely great when they work correctly.

[BrickHouseFabrics]

I use shipstation... it pulls all orders from all platforms we sell on except 1.... I would not want to be without it. 

[GlassyFields]

the op is using to look at orders from multiple platforms in one place ... the service is an integration service. If selling on just one platform it wouldn't have a benefit.

[EquestrianCreations]

The 3rd party app I am using is primarily for purchasing shipping labels. It has other functionality too, like marketing and reporting and such. But the main reason I use a 3rd party app for my shipping is because I have 5 different storefronts on the web and it's a lot more efficient to have all the orders from the different sites pulled into one location where I can print the packing slips all at once and purchase the shipping labels with a few clicks.

[FallenAngelBrass]

Thanks, all.

Yes, I understand the shipping labels thing - was just curious about the need for a third party sales app.  I think that a third party sales app is what the OP is talking about.  Thanks for the responses. 

[digitaldoodlebug]

You can ship all your orders from one place. I use shipstation and the automation and time saving features it has is uncomparible. 

[Spellbinderie]

Definitely sounds like a 3rd party issue.  Some "orders" never finish processing and so fail. An order number is generated but when payment doesn't complete, the order disappears on Etsy.  My guess is that the 3rd party you are using is failing to pick up on failed orders.  

[EquestrianCreations]

But in this case, the customer told me she removed the item from her cart and did not attempt checkout.

[CarpetCollectionAU]

Customers sometimes do not understand the Etsy Checkout system as well as we do. They often "think" they have done something when, in fact, they have not. In addition, customers do not, sometimes, use the same terminology as we do so we "think" we know what has happened, but have only the words used by the Customer to make these conclusions.

And yes, this is a Third Party integration issue, not an Etsy one.

Integration programs are great when they work but, personally, I would always double check with the actual sales site rather than rely on the integration.

[TheVioletGoat]

@EquestrianCreations It sounds like maybe she started the checkout process and then backed out and removed the item from her cart before completing it (in her mind she "never checked out"). 

That would match with the other explanation of an order number being generated before payment is complete.

Sounds like SE needs to change their programming about what constitutes an actual order as it seems to be picking up orders that have been started but not paid for and completed. So sorry you're dealing with that.

P.S. Just noticed we are "neighbors"! Hi from Santa Fe, NM!

[EquestrianCreations]

@TheVioletGoat Oh Hi!! Thanks for your input, I appreciate it

[AAANativeArts]

Perhaps it is  your shipping software creating the problem instead of Etsy. I use similar software but I still check Etsy to be sure the order is marked Paid.

[JDTotesnDolls]

I think you need to research the orders as had on Etsy and with what happens with SE.  It's a problem between both.  It could be Etsy doesn't really work with your 3rd party or whatever.  It just sounds like information needs to be researched from both sides to see why the problem is being generated.  

[MinxouriVintage]

Print your invoices from Etsy.  If you dont have an invoice, don’t ship. 

And yes it’s a third party problem.