Human Commerce?

[RetroFreedomShop]

I am a star seller with perfect 5.0 status although they claim 4.8 well if thats not bad enough I have a serious issue in my shop when giving a repeat customer a 10% refund discount, the page started having a spinning circle before I even hit the review button. So I just got out of the page & tried it again, it did the same thing. I have given refunds before & this has never happened. So when I went to my finance page, I see they issued the refund 2 times. So I try to get help, but the only help I can get is thru email. 

When I started on ETSY in 2018 I could call someone right away, then by 2023 if I was a star seller which I was I could get a call back, no longer able to call directly. Now at the end of 2024 I cant even get a call back as a seller, even a star seller. 

I am an ETSY customer as much as anyone else, after all the fees sure have gone up & they make money off the sellers, do they not. So actually the sellers are ETSYS customers, our customers are not there customers, yet they take priority over the sellers in chich there would be no money for ETSY without sellers. 

Is anyone else frustrated by the lie KEEP COMMERCE HUMAN? Its so far from human its unreal. I can understand not taking a call for every little thing but when it comes to money, we should be able to get help right away. I am so irritated & why on earth did it give a refund before I hit the review button? Thats messed up to. 

Well just venting, seeeing if anyone else relates to this & what on earth can we do about it?

[GlassyFields]

Seems like there are lots of blips lately. Might have something to do with a high volume traffic. I try again later.

Thank you for your post though. Most try later stuff are low impact. But with refunds, it's a problem. So I'm going to learn from you and make sure that if there are blips during a refund process, to back out and check my finances before doing anything else.

Frustrating, annoying, inefficient, inconvenient ... seems to be the season of Etsy blips.

[hopeandjoystudios]

I have seen that issue reported here. Try contacting chat and asking them to pass you on to the correct team.

[GieseDeseiGns]

Yes had one for shipping overage refund just spinning, so went to desktop and found it had been refunded, I was about to try again too.

[BagmakerSupply]

I think that we as sellers need to realistic as to how Etsy views sellers. For one, it seems that Etsy feels that they have enough sellers but they do not have enough buyers. And buyers are Etsy customers not ours until something is purchased from us. But most importantly, I think Etsy looks at fees differently than we sellers do. Excluding listing fees and on-site ads, I believe that Etsy's mindset is that it is buyers who in actuality pay the fees not sellers because unless and until there is a sale there are no fees to collect.

None of that, however, excuses things that do not work properly or a lack of meaningful communication.

[GroundZeroCreations]

I get what you're saying, but just because Etsy sees it that way doesn’t mean they’re necessarily right. If even 25% of sellers left Etsy tomorrow, the impact would be massive. The stock value would take a noticeable hit, shareholders would be in an uproar, and concerns about revenue stability would skyrocket. This kind of uncertainty would force shareholders to reconsider their investments.

That’s why Etsy needs to recognize that sellers and buyers are equally important. They should prioritize supporting both groups to ensure long-term success for everyone!

[Marpet3425]

@GroundZeroCreations 

At this point, the folks remaining in the C-suite have become so accustomed to talking out of both sides of their mouths...that I'm uncertain that anyone:  Buyers, Sellers and their Investors trust them at this point.

It's quite astounding really just how out-front they are in their hypocrisy.  Seems to be the main theme of their business plan.  How else can it be explained, with the exception that the only remaining skeleton crew is merely an unattended bot station.  Keep it hidden, more likely than human.

[BagmakerSupply]

@GroundZeroCreations: Completely agree with you, but sadly I suspect that the only way Etsy's mindset will change is if there is a massive shareholder revolt against the current business model as implemented in the corporate offices.

[Marpet3425]

My frustration can be succinctly described as their utter disrespect for their sellers in the form of overwhelming and not so hidden HYPOCRACY.

Robber barren's behavior has overtaken the site, and we the seller's have had our pockets fleeced repeatedly!  My heart goes out to you.

I've paused my account for the meantime to avoid being fleeced by late arriving orders and Etsy's overpromises of delivery on time.  At this point, I am wondering about how I reopen in the new year.  I have the feeling that the next wave of seller's getting off of Etsy's listing ship is to come.

@RetroFreedomShop , edited to add, I just love the fact that freedom is central to your shop's name...  Cheers to that my friend!

[RetroFreedomShop]

Within 2 days I have had "customers" want to cancel there order. 1 person said she was hacked & did not order. THe thing is right when I seen the order, I sent a message letting her know the package would be out the very next day & thanks, then Im told she did not order, I investigated, try to get ETSY help, Im visually Impaired & need a little help finding things at times, but there is none, I refunded the girl, then 2 days later & the lady gave me her phone number, I called right away, she said she could not see the add, on her phone, but really she just didnt read the ad. So I agree to refund, but she also asked ETSY for help & so now since then I have no traffic to my shop, I lost a star & still ETSY just sends the same email, because a robot cannot understand these things, its pathetic. I work so hard, finally get a 5 star status & just like that its ruined because of a bad customer. There is no protection against customers. Its not the first time. If I make an error I pay for it but customers can do whatever they want, so wrong. Whoever took over ETSY your talking about is not a good human, so sad.

[CanningCrafts]

They should've ditched the keeping commerce human blurb long ago. It's insulting. There are some pretty big issues sellers face, like hacked accounts, falsely suspended shops, etc that should require immediate help. 

As for the spinning wheel refund issue, that has been going on for a while now. It happens every time I issue a refund. What I've found though is that once you get the spinning wheel on the refund page, just go back to your orders page & it instantly shows the refund.

[RetroFreedomShop]

Yes I know now the problem with the spinning wheel is that I didnt even hit the button to confirm the refund, its there system yet I suppose the billions of dollars in profit isnt enough to fix a glitch like this. WELL IM NOT GIVING INTO THE ROBOTS & THE SYSTEM. I AM GOING TO KEEP IT HUMAN WITH MY CUSTOMERS!! EVERYONE PROCLAIM IN YOUR SHOPS TO DO BUSINESS WITH YOU A HUMAN & TO KEEP ETSYS "HELP" OUT OF IT, BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HELP ANY LONGER!! Hang in there sellers

[DigTheDesign]

Having reached the point of early retirement I mentor underprivileged teens who aspire to jobs in the City of London. If I didn’t do the tutoring I wouldn’t still be on Etsy - I added Ebay to my selling routes around a year ago as a second string and it is already 5 times the size of Etsy, simply because it is better at what it does. The reason I stay on Etsy?  Etsy is so terrible it makes a fantastic teaching aid. Students cannot believe how a company could be run so badly and survive - and I tell them that if it was run properly Etsy would still have all my business - and all of many other shops who have diversified - and it would be many times bigger. Instead it lies under a constant cloud of problems, the latest being suspending tons of shops just before Christmas because Etsy cant keep their tax records straight and that Etsy are trading illegally in Europe  at the moment and on digital downloads because they failed to take any action on GPSR - something they have known about for well over a year and did literally nothing about.

I wouldn’t try to change Etsy or expect them to change, I would protect yourself by diversifying away.

[ChantillyAvenue]

I'm not sure buyers are getting good customer service either.  I mean, they may think it's good if they get refunded at the drop of a hat, but that can be done by bots, and doesn't require any effort from Etsy at all.  I personally have thought the lights were on but nobody (or very few) was home for a while now.

[Marpet3425]

4Q earnings were already not looking so bright for the season.  But, they probably guesstimated that anyway, given they've let this taxation/id issue go way past due.

Yep, didn't even use my $5 off $30 incentive go.  Always thought that was aimed at seller's spending anyway.  

Will anticipate the 4Q meeting w/low expectations.

[RetroFreedomShop]

Yes bots are doing horrible things I think, obviously programmed possibly to boot out those who do not make them enough money so there is more concentration on those who do, I do not know, its sad & annoying. I have had 2 more things happen since then, again no me, but customers who can do anything, no accountability at all & no ETSY help, But I am proclaiming in my shop that I am human, do business with me, not the ETSY help, trying to proclaim keeping it human. Customers need to know what is happening to the shops also. We cant give into this kind of takeover, whats going to happen next. 

[DougsVintageStore]

Months ago I had posted that I had heard a couple of people at a local toy show that were saying that they had left Etsy because of the lousy condition of the site. This was early last year when the search engine code went thru its first screw up.

I was selling here then and knew what they meant. Since then Ive just been doing all I can to make sales here. Now to the present. 2 days ago I'm in a local antique mall and I hear almost the same thing word for word from sellers who have left here. Seems nothing has changed.

best of luck to all.