International (non-Australian) Processing Fees being charged incorrectly

[KHDStickers]

Hi - I'm Australian-based, and so are most of my customers. 

For sellers in Australia, Domestic processing is meant to be 3% + 0.25 AUD.   International is 4% + 0.25AUD.

At the moment, domestic (Australian customers) are being flagged as International, and the fee is incorrectly being charged 4%.  Other fees are correct.

[BagmakerSupply]

@KHDStickers: Just want to make sure you are aware that this is a seller peer to peer forum, and should not be considered a way to contact Etsy  if that is your hope (although Etsy does sometimes read and reply to posts) even if Etsy Support or the Help Pages sent you here.

[KlaassyArtsFinest]

I actually didn't notice this, but it looks like it went from 3% in May to 4% in June/ July. I didn't read anything about a fee increase ! 

[KlaassyArtsFinest]

My increase started on the 27th June for a domestic sale 

Sorry, this was suppose to nest under my original comment 

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@KHDStickers 

You are right! In checking my monthly statements, I found that the payment processing fee for my domestic Australian orders was 3% + 0.25 AUD up until July 15, then on my next domestic order dated July 17 it had changed to 4% + 0.25 AUD, and Etsy continued to charge the higher rate from that date onwards.

I have to believe this is a bug because the current Hep Article What are Payment Processing Fees for Selling on Etsy still states

Location of Bank Account	Fees for Etsy Payments (% of total sale price + flat fee per order)
Australia (domestic orders)	3% + 0.25 AUD
Australia (international orders)	4% + 0.25 AUD

I will do my darndest to contact Etsy and complain about this. I hope that you and any other Aussie sellers who see this will do the same.

[CappuccinoLace]

Canadian sellers brought this up when the payment account changed again at the beginning of the year.

They also have different domestic/international processing fees.

The fee charged (if you manually calculate it) is correct, it just displays the wrong description.

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@CappuccinoLace 

That is not the case here. I calculated my payment processing fees in Excel and the amount I was charged on domestic orders increased to 4% + 0.25 post July 15.

That is in addition to the description changing from "3.0% of the order total plus $0.25 " on July 15 to "4.0% of the order total plus $0.25" on July 17 & onwards.

[CappuccinoLace]

Good to know you've calculated it. Just wanted to put that out there in case it was the same issue of wrong wording. We know what etsy's like.

Bad to know it's actually changed without any word from Etsy.

Gonna get @cindylouwho2 tagged into this. ; )

[cindylouwho2]

@CappuccinoLace thank you! Thank you also to @DaysofYoreTreasures for emailing me

[MEMStudioAU]

I'm Australian based, and fortunate enough to get a sale today - which was to a buyer in Victoria. 

Processing fee was 3.0% of the order total plus $0.25. With a transaction fee on item and postage of 6.5% of item/postage total.

Then the regular GST fees on transaction, shipping and processing.

I hadn't picked up it was 4.0% for international orders so will need to account for that.

[onedaysgracenz]

Are you sure the buyer was the holder of an Australian Etsy account?

I've had that happen when the item ordered is to be delivered domestically, so the details entered into the order form were domestic - but the buyer themselves was in fact using an international credit card and made the payment from O/seas.

Especially if it was a guest buyer who entered shipping etc details in the name of the recipient (in your country) rather than their own details (from another coluntry).

If that happens, the transaction is processed as an international sale, even though the shop and the recipient are in the same country (but the buyer is not).

Maybe that's why in your case if it was just one sale?

But if it's a regular occurrence, then probably not.

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@onedaysgracenz 

Thanks for sharing! I wasn't aware of that. I was not expecting to see a 4% fee at all because I only sell domestically. I will check my orders again.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

You probably won't be able to find out about the buyers card issue location, unless you ask them.

all you get is the ship-to address, and their e-mail.

my e-mail is on btinternet.com, so probably would alert people it's British, but if they have a gmail.com email address, or something similar, it  won't help

.....

I buy from Canadian shops and ship to my brother in Canada, and do the same from USA shops to friends in USA,
you are only limiting the countries you ship to, not the countries people buy from

I do buy in £, so the packing slip could help

[FunkyKoala]

I've just gone back through the July statement. It seems that since 13 July I also have domestic sales with the "4.0% of the order total plus $0.25" description and it is calculated at 4% not 3%. I also have a repeat domestic buyer who bought on several occasions this month and got charged 3% for some orders but more recently 4%. I will have to see if I can get Etsy help - last time I tried I got nowhere.

[FunkyKoala]

@KHDStickers 
Thank you for letting us know!

[FunkyKoala]

I've been on chat and they do believe that I have been over charged. I've had several domestic orders lately with the 4% as well as the repeat domestic buyer who was charged 3% earlier this month and this week 4%. I hope it gets sorted - if it is happening to most Australian sellers that is extra $ for Etsy.

[ThePoshTeaLady]

I had noticed the 4% last week and just thought the fees had gone up and that I'd missed an email. Just went through July statement. I have seven orders over charged. I am in Sydney and only ship domestically. It seems to be completely random though. Two orders on 14/7, one charged at 3% and one at 4% and some over charged are relating to repeat customers. Three orders are where I also got hit with offsite ad fees as well. Nice. I will try to contact one of the bots and see if I can speak to a real person. 

[AnniebelloPaper]

I've just checked my orders ... domestic have been charged at 3%, the international one at 4%. I think the issue might be where the buyer is, or how they paid? If the transaction comes 'from' overseas, Etsy's system is likely to see it as an international transaction.

[ThePoshTeaLady]

No, I only send domestic and I had a regular customer who lives in Victoria place an order last week, got charged at 4%.

[FunkyKoala]

@ThePoshTeaLady 

Same! A repeat buyer two weeks apart from NSW - and the chat person confirmed that I had definitely been overcharged. Not to mention someone from my own state. lol.

[ThePoshTeaLady]

I just got off the chat with customer service. They wanted all my order numbers affected and said they will escalate it and to wait for an email. I told them many others reporting the same issue.

[FunkyKoala]

@ampersay 
I did try to get help via chat and was told to wait for an email. Any chance of an escalation on this bug? Thank you.

[cindylouwho2]

There have been a lot of country specific bugs this year. Makes me wonder what they are up to. 

***pulls on tinfoil hat

[FunkyKoala]

@cindylouwho2  Maybe they are going to do GST on top of GST. Oh wait... hah. Yes they seem to be wanting to maybe do etsy.com.au or etsy.co.uk perhaps?

[cindylouwho2]

@FunkyKoala I've been expecting them to divide Etsy into separate domains for a few years now, at least since 2019 IIRC.