I got a message from a buyer this morning who was trying to purchase 2 items in my shop! Everytime she tried it wouldn't let her go thru! It just told her that there was a error! This was a good sale for my shop & I probably lost those 2 orderds because of Etsy's problem online! I also tried to Chat with someone & all they show me is: Choose a Catogory from the following choices! My choice was not there! So I tried the same thing & the same thing happened! I had to go to the doctor's, so I couldn't stick around to try to get this situation taken care of! I'm back now & checking in & still have no message from Etsy concerning this problem! Debbie Chase, The Antique Chasers PLEASE REPLY! P.S. Etsy needs to do better by having ways than just look up the problem & get a list of options to choose from! My sister has a shop on Etsy also & the other night she tried to get hold of Etsy in one shape or form & nothing!
Debra Chase
The Antique Chasers on Etsy
P.S. Again! Just now I chose from the labels below & the only one that I could choose was Orders! There is no way to contact Etsy for my main problem!
Have the buyer contact etsy herself and state she's having issues. They respond much quicker to them.
This a forum of other sellers, NOT Etsy support. Very seldom does anyone from Etsy support come to the forums. You do need to keep trying to contact them from Shop Manager, Help, Contact Us.
For what it's worth, I tried adding one of your items to my cart and proceeded to checkout. It looked like it would have gone through.
Hopefully the "buyer" wasn't just a scammer trying to get you to take the sale off Etsy.
There is a scam here and on other online platforms that starts this way and i've attached the latest information regarding scams below.
Due to data protection Etsy will not discuss financial with anyone other than the card holder themselves. You need to refer the potential customer ( or possible scammer ) to Etsy to resolve their purchasing issues, as they wont discuss it with you.
Please read these threads:
Etsy Announcement: New “From Etsy” section in Messages
https://community.etsy.com/t5/Announcements/New-From-Etsy-section-in-Messages/m-p/143722497
Etsy Announcement: Protect Your Account From Scammers
https://community.etsy.com/t5/Announcements/Protect-Your-Account-From-Scammers/m-p/143158945
How to Spot a Scam - No a Buyer Doesn't Need Your Email Address. How to Avoid Scammers
Etsy Help Centre Articles:
How to Handle Scams and Suspicious Messages
https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000343128-How-to-Handle-Scams-and-Suspicious-Messages
What to Do After You Sell an Item
If their purchases keep getting declined that's likely because Etsy is protecting you from fraud. Tell them that you can't help them with this issue (because you can't even if they are legit) and tell them to contact Etsy.
This is the beginning of a scam. Either they are trying to get you to move the sale off a platform where you have protections or they're trying to use a card Etsy's payment processors are blocking. It's good that you lost that sale.
This is a scam! We all want sales but don't be so eager for them that you fall for a scam. Etsy sellers are targets and need to learn how to discern when they are about to be "taken for a ride".
I had that same thing happen about a year ago. Even as paranoid as I am it never struck me as a scam because he didn't try and take the sale off Etsy, they just kept "declining the sale", I assumed for a bad credit card. Play it safe and stay polite to the customer and just explain there's nothing you can do on your end. It won't hurt anything, and might even create some good PR in the long run.
As sellers have no access to the payment part of the sale, all you can do is direct the buyer to Etsy. As mentioned above, Etsy will react faster to a buyer's 'can't buy' message than anything from a seller. If it's legit, sounds like a c/card problem which again, we will have no control over. Etsy won't discuss issues with sellers due to privacy rules. If it's the start of a scam, directing them to Etsy and then not engaging is the way to go. If they continue to message (even if they are legit), just repeat that you cannot help them with payment issues and to contact Etsy. Mark as spam if it goes on too long ... just in case it's a scammer.
Scammers try to make us think it's urgent!
This..or appeal to our not wanting to lose 2 sales.
On the off chance it wasn't a scammer (but it is) I'd tell them to try a different card, different device, different browser and to contact Etsy and/or their card company to see if there was an issue. If I had a card that didn't work I'd try another card. (but this is a scam) Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES take it off Etsy or fall for any other excuses.
@TheAntiqueChasers: Presuming that the sales were legitimate and not a scam / phishing attempt, you need to keep in mind that there are many reasons that a transaction can be declined. While the obvious is always that the card is lost or stolen card, or has insufficient funds or credit limit exceeded, or is an expired card, or incorrect CVC or address information was provided, payment processors also run fraud trigger algorithms on transactions.
"This was a good sale for my shop & I probably lost those 2 orderds because of Etsy's problem online!" Perhaps, but equally Etsy may have saved you from a chargeback situation where you would lose both the merchandise and the money if the transaction was fraudulent.