International Buyers Paying Domestic Prices

[#1]

I have different domestic and international prices set up on multiple of my listings so I can provide free delivery. About a week ago, I noticed I had received two international orders where the buyer's had both paid the domestic price. This is a major issue for me as the domestic price doesn't even cover the cost of international postage let alone the cost of making the item and Etsy's fees. 

Only one of my listings seems to be affect as others with the same pricing are working as normal, not sure why this has happened and I don't just want to create a new listing as this item has previously sold as a best seller and has multiple reviews.

I contacted Etsy on the 24/h chat about this when I first noticed it and they said they would email me back in 24-48 hours. They did eventually email me back 4 days later (when the order was then already overdue) and said they would refer it to the engineering team. I replied asking what to do with the order as cancelling it could leave to a bad review (still have had no response 8 days later)

I had another incorrect order come in a few days later so went onto the 24/h chat again where I never got connected to a worker, another one came in today and I've currently been waiting on the 24/h chat (With a 1 min response time) for an hour, still not connected and I have refreshed it 3 times

Is anyone experiencing the same problem? I feel like cancelling all these orders is reducing the traffic to this listing too.

Thanks

[IrisDrawsStuff]

As a newer seller I'm adding my voice to this. My profit margins are already very slim since I'm starting out. I only decided to offer free shipping because the suggestion by Etsy kept appearing on my dashboard, and I thought "Well, it's a good idea" - and it's definitely brought more traffic in - but every time I have to update quantity in the listings (I operate with small batches so this is quite often) or even just open the listing edit it just reverts back to domestic price even after checking the prices and making sure it's all ok! It's happened so many times... I thought it was my fault, that I was missing something, but now upon checking the forum I see it's a bug, and I feel like it's a trap I haven't brought myself to cancel any orders because I don't want to lose buyers and I need good reviews so badly.

Today after yet another international buyer bought an item at domestic price I went and switched back to having one price for everything. All I had done beforehand was open the listing on the app. It just doesn't make sense. I might lose domestic sales but most of my sales are US/CA/Aus (the most expensive in terms of shipping costs) and I'm sick of losing money, it will probably be for the best in the long run.

A note: The old editor worked for a while. Until it didn't, recently. The app doesn't give an option for domestic pricing and it keeps happening. It's kind of gone nuts with the holiday sales.

[Zapoutti]

Hi all. Same thing here, I believe I was crazy, but no, it's Etsy... I've a product which is online for a long time (near 2 years), and it always work great, but I've decided to extend my shop and add some new things, and my bestseller have the problem, each time I send an item to inernational, wrong price... Etsy, do something, we pay for a service, we need a working service!

[AngrySpaceTriangles]

I've just started looking at Etsy to sell additional products to international customers - my first sale on a new item and it hit this bug.  The product is only worth a few pounds so being charged UK domestic rather than International prices eats up most of any profit.   

It seems this has been going on for ages and Etsy does nothing?   Man, I was hoping Etsy would be better than ebay for software quality but it seems that Etsy is also a buggy mess.  It's sad we have to pay in fees so much such poor quality software - you wouldn't get away with it in any other industry.    

[cindylouwho2]

Someone reported to me today that Etsy is issuing them refunds for at least some of these errors. 

I strongly recommend everyone be persistent with their complaints, and demand a refund. @MyQueerGifts 

[GaiaCrystalsBoutique]

Hi Cindy , I'm very curious where are they complaining to ?  I have been with the chat agent numerous times and they say they can forward request to tech team which leads nowhere.  Would you be able to share how they are complaining? Thanks! 

[cindylouwho2]

@GaiaCrystalsBoutique open an email ticket. Be as concise as possible. 

[Laser19]

Hello, I am a brand new seller on Etsy (less than a month) and I had this problem too. I wonder if some buyers use a VPN to be detected as a local buyer and get local prices? If this is the case it is very difficult to counter this

[ChristineAtterby]

Well as it stands Etsy now owe me £120 less applicable fees for this error.

This happened to me in June and 10 orders went out at the wrong price.  My international prices are £8 higher to account for the postage.

Someone suggested turning off the new listing format that seemed to be causing the issue, and for a long while that worked and thought that was the end of it.

I've just had another 5 orders this December priced wrongly despite showing the correct prices when you go to edit the listing.  FFS.

15 orders gone through at domestic pricing from international customers undersold at £8 each time.  When are Etsy going to own up and fix their error and stop expecting sellers to foot the bill for their faulty platform? I won't hold my breath we know how much Etsy cares about it's sellers - we make the products you sell!!!!

For now gone back to customers paying postage, cant keep footing the bill for a mistake that's been ongoing for so long without resolve.

[cindylouwho2]

@ChristineAtterby Demand Etsy refund you. Apparently some people have been getting refunds. 

[GlassyFields]

Just curious,

Is this issue specific to sellers in the UK?

I'm in the US use the Free Shipping Guarantee (shipping free to DOMESTIC buyers for purchases over $35)  and to the best of my knowledge, that works.

[cindylouwho2]

@GlassyFields only non-US sellers can use the domestic pricing tool.

[ObjectBook]

This is specific to sellers outside of US - possibly UK only, not sure. 

[ObjectBook]

I asked Etsy for a refund of charges this morning due to the bug causing international customers to be charged domestic pricing- I've spotted 29 orders with this problem in total - they refunded me straight away, so definitely keep a tally and ask for them to refund you! 

[cindylouwho2]

@ObjectBook Thank you for confirming Etsy is refunding this money! Sellers just need to press them - annoying, but not costing more than time, at least

[KipekeeFinds]

Oh Great!  Now I can request that on my 5 sales affected by the "glitch"

[KipekeeFinds]

I first noticed this "glitch" in July 2023.  As Etsy encourages sellers to ship to US for free on orders over $35, and tell you to factor in the shipping cost into your price, as a Canadian seller, I do this for my US customers.  So, I have a domestic price plus shipping for Canadians, and a higher price for US shoppers with shipping factored-in.  July was the first time I noticed a US order sold at my lower price for Canadians.  With free shipping, I certainly didn't earn as much on that item as I should have.  I contacted Etsy support and provided screenshots of the listings thumbnail showing domestic and international prices, as well as the prices now, in error, being identical once you click into the listing to view/edit it.  I was told they are aware of it and are working on it.  I asked if I was going to be compensated the lost revenue due to their "glitch".  That question of course was conveniently left unaddressed.  I quickly noticed the issue was wide spread and affected most of my older listings.  I adjusted my domestic price to include shipping.  This resulted in a significant drop in views as the price appears higher, without the customer reading the listing to see shipping is included.  I resorted back to the two-price system.  As this pricing issue continued to occur periodically over the past 5 months on US sales, I would send reminders.  I was told to "be patient".  I thought waiting over 5 months for a fix was being patient.  I've recently come to the conclusion that this isn't a "glitch" at all, hence why I put that word in quotes.  I strongly believe this is an underhanded attempt by Josh and Raina to sell-off older merchandise and still earn their commissions.  Come on!  I'm no programmer but it can't take half a year or more to fix what seems to be an easy enough glitch to correct.  The key to this realisation is that all of these glitchy sales were on listings older than a year.  Here's the conundrum-I've sold about 5 of these older listings, which I'm grateful for, but frankly, is it worth it at a reduced revenue that doesn't fairly compensate for my time and expense?  Can you imagine if one of these older listings is sold with the extortionist marketing fee attached?  Don't get me started on that.  And don't get me started on Raina's brag email from a few months ago that's total hogwash.  Or Josh's lies re the 34% fee increase would go towards improved customer service (NOT!  Still wait over a week for responses) and Advertising (still haven't seen an Etsy commercial on Canadian TV).

[MyQueerGifts]

@KipekeeFinds  I can’t believe how long this has been going on for now. Especially as when I sent the email to Etsy they said they were already aware of the issue so who knows how long it has even been a problem!
I do find it a bit strange that they haven’t been advertising in Canada but have in the UK. Almost every ad break on normal TV there is an advert for Etsy and I’m even seeing their Ads more frequently on YouTube. The main reason I find that so strange is that the UK is in financial crisis at the moment and barely anyone has the spare cash for splurging. I don’t know the current situation in Canada but it doesn’t make sense why they are advertising so much in the UK and not at all in Canada?

I mean I do love Etsy as I don’t think I could traffic as many people to my own website however this isn’t the service any of us pay for. I’m considering my own website, and spending as much on Google Ads as I pay in Etsy fees monthly! 

[cindylouwho2]

@MyQueerGifts I am doing pretty well with the free Google Ads, set up manually. My website always outsells Etsy now (although I am reducing my shop here, so that should be expected)

[KipekeeFinds]

@MyQueerGifts Things are just as bad in Canada.  We recently set a 60 year or so record for people leaving the country!  And just to make a correction, since others said we can receive a refund of fees for these glitch sales, I went over my sales and they were more than double what I initially thought!  So far I've found 11 sales that priced international orders at the lower domestic price.

[KipekeeFinds]

Just another update.  Just sold a Christmas clearance item that was impacted by the "glitch".  This is a listing that was still within the first 4 months, so not a stale listing at all.  And my first sale affected was in June, not July.  Considering Etsy said they were already aware of it, we're now going on over 6 months of this fiasco.

[KipekeeFinds]

So it's been 17 days since I first contacted Etsy Support re getting refunds for their fees for my sales affected by their pricing glitch.  Followed-up a week ago.  Still no response.  Support service is BRUTAL, that I know, but bordering on 3 weeks is ridiculous.  I think they're avoiding responding in hopes I'll drop the issue.  Other sellers have said they received refunds of the fees so the only reason I can think that they're avoiding me is that the # of my sales impacted are in double digits.  Any advice?  I've heard there's a chat support function.  Can someone lead me to the path?

[BlueLilyCrafts]

I took a look at the path I used to take to reach the live chat function and it's been replaced with an "Email Us" form. If there's a new way to find the live chat I've yet to find it.

I used to find it at the help centre here https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?segment=selling and then clicking through Selling on Etsy -> Shipping -> Shipping a Buyer's Order -> I Still Need Help .

My guess is that they might have been flooded with people needing help over the Christmas period, with more sales going on and probably more problems to go with it.

[cindylouwho2]

@KipekeeFinds in fairness, there were 2-3 mandated holidays in the past 3 weeks, depending on where staff are based. I am sure they have a backlog now. 

Chat is only easily accessible for Star Sellers, at certain times of day only. For everyone else, the availability of chat depends on the topic and how busy Support is. 

You can check the status of your ticket here: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb/requests?segment=selling

[BlueLilyCrafts]

It looks like the chat and phone callback functions are available again in the path I posted earlier and the email option disappeared. It might change depending on the time of the day or whenever Etsy wants to, so it might be something we need to keep an eye out for.

[KipekeeFinds]

@cindylouwho2 @BlueLilyCrafts  Thanks for the suggestions and links!  Luckily there's other things to keep me distracted for a while longer