HELP, customer service insists Mother's Day sales event is not covered by Etsy?

[CorvidCreationsShop]

Ok, so when I first got the option to opt-in to Etsy's Mother's Day sale on my dashboard, it said Etsy would cover the discount. The sale has been running in my shop successfully since April 1st, and everything was going well, but now a recent $120 sale I got only deposited $95 into my payment account (and that was BEFORE taking out all of Etsy's fees/tax).

When I noticed something was off on my account statement, I contacted customer service, and the agent insists that the discount code used (MOTHERSDAY24) was NOT an official Etsy sale, and therefore was not covered by Etsy. He told me that I had set up this sale and discount code separately, but I definitely did not; the ONLY sale I have running is the Etsy one I opted into!!! Also, the previous orders I've gotten during the sale HAVE been covered, so why would those have been covered by Etsy if it wasn't their discount?

I seriously feel like I'm being gaslit by this customer service dude, and he's asking for a screenshot or other "proof" that I opted into this mother's day sale event, which of course I don't have because I didn't think anything like this would happen. How do I proceed from here?

[NanaLetha]

I have never known Etsy to cover a sale for special events. They do, however, cover coupon codes during these events. You might want to read the terms again 

[LastCentury]

exactly, like the etsyget5, or etsyget10 promos a while back (or whatever they were called)

[LastCentury]

Um, I'd love to see the screen shot of that Etsy offer.

If that were the case, EVERYONE would have signed on to do the sale.

edited to add: the only hinky thing I remember about signing in to do the Mother's day sale was the fact that it would be running longer than 30 days... if you do your own sale, it doesn't allow you to set it up longer than 30 days.

[nineteen27]

@LastCentury 

i would have been.

the first one to sign up!

and then.

i would be in the forum...

screaming that etsy is covering our discounts from the sale prices.

so have a 99% off sale immediately!

[CorvidCreationsShop]

Ok, so there is definitely something funky going on then, because if we aren't able to set up our own sales to go longer than 30 days, then the customer service guy I chatted with is definitely wrong in his claim that I set up this sale myself! 

I didn't take a screenshot of the offer when I opted in, as I didn't foresee having any issues with it, but now I wish I had. It was definitely covered in one of my recent orders. Her order total was $104, and $103.97 was deposited into my payment account (before fees and taxes). I even confirmed this with the customer service agent.

Whereas it did NOT cover an order 2 days later for $120, and only $95 was deposited into my payment account. I'm so confused now x.x

[nineteen27]

the previous orders I've gotten during the sale HAVE been covered, so why would those have been covered by Etsy if it wasn't their discount?

that is just...impossible.

etsy does not cover our sale prices.

you need to go back and take a look.

at your finances.

[CorvidCreationsShop]

Ok, I'm very confused then, because it was definitely covered one of my recent sales, and I have screenshots of it that I sent to the customer service agent I chatted with yesterday, and he confirmed the amount that was deposited into my payment account. Her order total was $104, and she did use the discount code, and $103.97 was put into my payment account. 

Whereas an order I got 2 days later, the item sold for $120, with the SAME discount code, and only $95 was deposited (BEFORE fees and tax were taken out). So I'm super confused why they covered it for one order but not the other!

[nineteen27]

my brain does not like math.

that does not make sense.

you need to go through it line by line.

and if you look at the first customers invoice.

do you see any discounts besides the mothers day one.

sometimes etsy sends out coupons that they pay for.

[ElementalMagicks]

When Etsy sends out coupon codes themselves or Etsy offers like for example 5 dollars off 30 dollar orders they do not take the money from you.  She is saying she didn't set up this sale that it was an Etsy sale.  But some they pay for some they don't.  

[nineteen27]

@ElementalMagicks 

she did set up the sale though.

[hopeandjoystudios]

That deposit could have included an amount from the sale of another item or that was an undeposited balance in your account.  The deposit and the singular sale mean little.  You should be able to view your csv files for orders and see what the discounted amounts were. Settings >options>download data tab> scroll to the mid page csv area and click your month and year and pick orders. Download that and read it.

[NanaLetha]

Check to see if the buyer used a coupon code because you have at least one active in your shop 

[CorvidCreationsShop]

They did; they both used the discount code: MOTHERSDAY24, which was from the Mother's Day sales event. One was covered by Etsy and one was not; I explained the details in other replies on this post. 

As another commenter said, I could not have set up this sale myself, because it runs longer than 30 days (from April 1st to May 12th)! 

[LastCentury]

Yes, the Mother's day sale is longer than 30 days, BUT YOU still needed to click on that "set up the Mother's day sale" link to finish setting up that sale. Just like I did when I saw it on my dashboard. 

In my other shop, I was too late to take activate that sale and I was only allowed to do the normal 30 days.

[nineteen27]

https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/me/sales-discounts?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

when you scroll down.

do you see any sales.

or promo codes?

promo codes last longer than 30 days.

[CorvidCreationsShop]

Yes, there is 1 sale, not a promo code. Here is exactly what it says:

Sale

MOTHERSDAY24

Active

Your offer

Discount: 25% off

Duration: Apr 1, 2024 12:00 AM—May 13, 2024 12:00 AM

[GrandmaSeedsandGifts]

Can't really trust ETsy anymore. Sorry to say!

[NanaLetha]

I just reread the Etsy announcement. It says opt in for a chance to be featured but nothing even implies they will pay for it.

[LeLightFantastique]

As already explained above, Etsy does not cover the discount for sales events, they only set up the sale parameters for sellers to use or choose not to participate in.  You DID set up the sale yourself by opting into the pre-set-by-Etsy sale duration with their pre-set code, hence the fact that the sale is able to run longer than the usual maximum 30 days.

Did the first sale also have high shipping fees added in which bumped up the amount deposited to your account?  You need to look at all the elements of that sale by checking through your payment account.  Nobody here can tell you what is going on without seeing that information.

[CorvidCreationsShop]

Ok, that part about the Etsy sale just being their preset duration does make sense, but all my listings are free shipping and they always have been, so there wouldn't be any shipping fees that altered the amount. 

I just got an email from Etsy customer service about a completely unrelated subject that I didn't even contact them about... lol. I'm thinking at this point they don't seem to know what they're doing, and I'll probably just have to eat the $30 loss and move on rather than dealing with the endless customer service circle x.x (and end the 'sale' ASAP, lol)

[ElementalMagicks · Accepted solution]

Go to your sales and promo section and end the sale.  Etsy does send out promo codes like 5 dollars off 30 dollars for example.  But not 25% off because that could be alot of money.  If you don't want to sell the piece for the sale price you can write to the customer and explain that the sale was a mistake and cancel the order.  However if you're not losing any money you might want to go through with the sale since you only have 10 sales and this sale will help you to get more sales.  Does it cost you more than you receive from the sale to make the item? 

[CorvidCreationsShop]

Yeah, I just went in and ended it lol. The piece is already shipped and the order completed, so I can't really cancel it; I'm just going to have to eat the loss. And like you said it will be beneficial to keep it since I don't have many sales to begin with. 

The main cost of the piece was time and labor, so I didn't technically lose money on it, but I did have a specific plan for the money from that sale. Oh well, lesson learned I guess lol.

[ElementalMagicks]

So you received 95 dollars for the 120 dollar sale.  That's what you would recieve for a 120 sale approximately.  

[CorvidCreationsShop]

After fees and tax, yes -- but the $95 was BEFORE they took those out. So they then proceeded to take out those fees and left me with $68. That's a pretty insane 50% cut! 

But yes, ordinarily, 95 is a reasonable number to expect from a 120 sale -- AFTER fees and tax.