Help - Order I Didn't Make

[#1]

Hi there!

This morning, I woke up and received an email notification saying that my order had shipped, but I had not placed any order. The order is listed under my purchases and reviews, but my credit card was not used in the transaction. I changed my password, but now I don't know what to do. My credit card was not charged, but the purchase still shows up in my account. It says it was purchased on June 26, and it has now shipped. What should I do, and is there anyone who also had this? I did not order this item, it is going to someone else in the United States. The odd thing is how I am not financially hurt in any way. Please advise on what is going on and what I should do - I did change my password.

[BlackCatTheory]

Oh, could be a guest entered YOUR email address when they checked out and Etsy automatically linked it to your account. That makes sense. They were never IN your account, just something Etsy did. When I buy things, some times I enter a fake email address if I don't want the junk mail. Not so much any more because I have an email just for junk, but it is common. So when they entered a "fake email" it turned out to be yours.

[BlackCatTheory]

No, I think it was automatically linked because the emails matched. You have to "claim" when you are using an email that doesn't have an Etsy account.

[JMOldeVintage]

I've never purchased as a Guest on Etsy, but if for some reason the person who did make the purchase used the OP's email address, wouldn't the OP have received emails from Etsy confirming the order, the amount paid by XXX credit card? 

[BlockbyBlockAlaska]

That’s the other weird thing. I didn’t receive any other email except for the shipping notification.

[BlackCatTheory]

I would think they would.

[YarnShop4U]

If you don't empty your email often maybe there's an original transaction notification in there? Did you try doing a search in your email for the transaction number? 

[BlockbyBlockAlaska]

I did not, but I have a rule sent on my email that all Etsy emails go to the inbox. I will check again, though.

And there were no other emails after checking just now.

[JMOldeVintage]

When you contacted the Shop about this snafu, how did you do it?
Did you go thru the order shown under your account? If yes, did the messaging pop-up display as a Help Request?

Did you go to the shop's main page & then click on "contact xyz"? Did a regular message window open? Or did a "Help Request" display?

If both routes come up as a "Help Request" with select titles to choose from & the aside that the shop owner must reply in 48 hours or you can open a case, sadly this order may be seriously linked to you. Watch your credit card & bank statements.

[BlockbyBlockAlaska]

A regular messagewindow opened when I went to contact the shop. The help request option was there, but it was easier to just use the regular window. And like I said, the order was made on June 26, and it was not my credit card that was used. I don’t recognize the the last four digits of the card that was used.

[JMOldeVintage]

Yes, I love how the regular text box really is there, just sort of hidden, lol.

However, by going to the Shop & clicking on "contact" & the Help Request opened, it in a way confirms that the order is connected to you, your user name as well as your email address.

Stay on top of Etsy about this issue. Anymore, one cannot assume it was an innocent mistake by a buyer. It seems there are way too many dishonest people out there. You don't want you, your shop, becoming entangled into any fraudulent transactions.

And if it's an Etsy glitch, you definitely want to get it straightened out asap. Who knows where important emails or messages to your shop could end up.

Do keep monitoring all your bank accounts just to be safe. 

[BlockbyBlockAlaska]

Update - I received an email from Etsy saying that “Conversation unable to be sent:
To start or continue a conversation for this order please log into your account at Etsy.com.” 

and now there are all sorts of hiccups on the Etsy site, for example, not letting me access the help center because it ran into “Etsy had a hiccup” so now at the moment I cannot access my conversation with Etsy. Anyone else having these hiccups too or is it just me (and thus related to my problem?)

And it is now letting me see the help center, but my request about the order is not showing up under my help requests.

[JaysTaekwondo]

Deleted by user

[BlockbyBlockAlaska]

SOkay, I guess everything has been sorted out. The order was apparently canceled by Etsy and a refund was sent out. Although, since the card used in the transaction was not mine, the refund was sent to whoever the original buyer was, even though I received the email notifications about the refund. 

at this point, I don’t think there is anything further I can do on figuring out what on earth happened. I was not financially hurt and my information is now secured with a new password and two step verification. For anyone who is still really confused on what my problem was, here is a layout of what happened:

1. received email shipping notification for an order (made on June 26) that I did not order. 

2. Order shows up under my account, but the address is not mine and neither is the card that was used. My card was not used nor was my bank account compromised.
3. I contact Etsy (and you all) and the shop to ask what happened and inform the shop it may have been a scam order.
4. I change my password, check my card account, and make sure that nothing else is out of the ordinary. 

5. After checking security on my account, find that there were NO logins to my account on June 26, which is when the order was placed. 

6. receive email notifications from Etsy. One of them is that I have to reset my password again because they detected suspicious activity on my account. The second email is that they issued a refund for the order to the address and card that ordered the item originally (not me.)

7. now confused on what on earth happened!

[audreytherese]

Did you click on a link in the email to get to your account when they asked you to change your password again (#6)? If the person messing with you got the notice the transaction was cancelled, they may have sent you a phishing email. I do not click on any links in emails, no matter how legit they look. If I need to change my password, then I log into my account directly and change it. 

[Beadcomber]

sounds like a triangulation scam is what happened or was attempted. Maybe...?

[BlockbyBlockAlaska]

Okay, never mind! I am scared now. My shop is gone and I cannot access it at all. I contacted Etsy, but apparently this issue must have been bigger. Any advice? I’ve never been suspended or shut down before, and I don’t know what to do!

[DragoninKnots]

Have you accessed your Etsy account on a shared computer recently?

[BlockbyBlockAlaska]

No, I only use my personal devices to access Etsy:

[JMOldeVintage]

@BlockbyBlockAlaska - This is not good. If you can contact Etsy, maybe include a link to this thread? A number of good ideas posted & many good questions were raised here. 

I do hope this gets straightened out for you asap.

IMO this should be a lesson to anyone reading this thread. Be prepared business wise. Keep records, back-up files of listings, etc. Have frequent deposits made to your bank from your Etsy shop's account. One glitch in the system can wreak havoc. No one can predict what Etsy will eventually do nor how long it will take them to get your shop/account straightened out. 

[PillowDetails]

Really frightening that this could happen.  Great idea to have a back-up plan.  I hope we get updates from the OP.

[BlockbyBlockAlaska · Accepted solution]

Thank you all for your responses and support! Etsy reopened my shop and apologized. Apparently it must have been a security measure after the whole incident even though I was not at fault. My shop is now up and running again, and as far as I can tell, everything is back to normal. 

Like @JMOldeVintage said, keep records, know your stats and files, and stay on top of anything and everything. Something small can easily become something very big.

The other thread I started, Shop Closed Down by Etsy is gone. I guess threads can be deleted. 

[audreytherese]

A moderator made a note they were closing that thread because they don't like us to create multiple threads about the same issue. 

Congrats on getting your shop back

[TagTeams]

So happy to see you up & running again!  I'm now following your amazing shop.