International (non-Australian) Processing Fees being charged incorrectly

[#1]

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.

[FunkyKoala]

Just had another domestic order with 4% not 3%.

[ValleyEmporiumFinds]

I've also had two orders in the last couple of days with 4%, I don't post internationally. Seems quite random, I have two 4% with a 3% inbetween 

[FunkyKoala]

@ValleyEmporiumFinds 

If you can get into Etsy chat to tell them you are having the same issue as some of us it will help alerting that this is indeed an issue. Thanks!

[FunkyKoala]

@cindylouwho2 
Agree with you there. Of course they don't care about us little silly Aussies. Just have had several 4% domestic sales today. Thank you for all you do for us. I did see someone in UK was it that didn't get you actually help us! xx

[cindylouwho2]

@FunkyKoala Thank you! I've seen a few people lately thinking I work for Etsy and fully support everything Etsy does LOL I don't get it, but whatever

[cindylouwho2]

I tweeted this thread to try and warn people, but I probably do not have too many Aussie followers on Twitter. Please everyone, help get the word out to folks. 

[FunkyKoala]

@cindylouwho2 

Your help and knowledge has never gone unnoticed by most of us. Especially me. I would have quit Etsy a long time ago without your support/knowledge. It's not whatever to me. It is very much grateful. Thank you!

[cindylouwho2]

@FunkyKoala aww, thank you so much! 

I am far from perfect, but I try really hard to help. 

[ThePoshTeaLady]

I still haven't heard anything back from support since I spoke to them two nights ago. Got another three orders last night, all 4%. Wonder if we will get refunds.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

I would hopre so,

when we had a similar issue, with all non-usa sellers being charged 5.2% instead of 5%, it took about 8 months before they admitted it, then refunded each sale, bit by bit - hundreds and hundreds of lines on our statements for a few pennies of the shipping charge, and a few pennies of the item cost, and the vat on each too - a complete dogs breakfast!

[KlaassyArtsFinest]

I would think a " glitch " would mean we get charged 4% for all domestic orders, but being random ( some domestic at 3% some at 4% ) could it be what our customers are paying with that is causing the difference ~ bank cards versus credit cards or payment instalments. Could the visa or payment instalment companies be based overseas and therefore we get charged 4% ! 

Just a thought ~ Sorry if it sounds stupid. It is late at night and I am sleep deprived lol 

[FunkyKoala]

@C20Ceramics 
Have you been charged 4% on domestic orders instead of 3%?

[C20Ceramics]

@FunkyKoala I just checked and the last domestic order I was charged 4.0% of the order total plus $0.25, and transaction fee of 6.5% of item total....Ive given up trying to work out what the fees and gst should be....the gst I think is charged incorrectly and always has been by etsy. 

[C20Ceramics]

@FunkyKoala next time during the week when etsy chat box appears on my screen I will ask them what is going on.....although Im still waiting for a response from a query 3 months ago on another fault. 

[FunkyKoala]

@C20Ceramics 

Yes I don't hold much hope in getting a resolution anytime soon but thank you for taking the time!

[CostumePatternTrim]

Just checked mine - I was also charged 4% on a couple of sales around the middle of the month too ...

[givemeacrown]

I've been focussing efforts elsewhere so I only have a handful of domestic Australian sales in June/July and oddly they have been charged the correct 3% rate.

[DollHeaven]

This thread has made me check and my sale in July was charged 4% as well. Thank you for the warning.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

I have read here before that some of the big banks in Australia, treat Etsy as a foreign transaction, and charge their customers extra for it, when people pay with credit cards

I am wondering if this is part of the problem ?

[givemeacrown]

@CraftyCornishMaids In those situations the buyer pays the foreign transaction fee to the bank/credit card provider.  Etsy has no knowledge that the buyer has been hit by the fee because the bank/credit card provider is the one deciding what kind of transaction it is.

So unfortunately it's unrelated to this issue where Etsy is randomly using the incorrect fee rate for some domestic orders.  

[CraftyCornishMaids]

If the bank decides it's a foreign transaction, couldn't etsy's payment provider decide the same thing?

There must be something that triggers the bank to say the transaction is not domestic, could the same thing trigger Etsy's payment processor?

[givemeacrown]

@CraftyCornishMaids As far as I understand it Etsy processes AUD purchases overseas in AUD currency. Some Australian banks don't care that the transaction is in AUD currency, just that the payment is processed overseas, they call it a foreign transaction and add their foreign transaction fees ontop of the payment in the same way they would if the purchase had been made in USD or GBP etc.

This new incorrect fee issue is within Etsy Payments.  Etsy's payment processor receives the payment from the buyer and it's just sitting in Etsy Payments so there should be nothing different going on. They still receive the same amount from the buyer in AUD as they always have. If the buyer's bank has treated it as a foreign transaction then it's irrelevant because the buyer would have paid that to the bank, it's not deducted from the transaction value that Etsy receives.

But of course it's possible that something has indeed changed in the back systems in the past few months that Etsy hasn't been made aware of, and they haven't made Australian sellers aware of.  

Hopefully they either fix the fee for domestic sales, or update their fee structure to say it's sometimes 3% and sometimes 4% for domestic orders (though I'm guessing they'd just make it a flat 4% so they always cover their costs and sometimes make a bit extra ontop).

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@givemeacrown 

If some are 3%, and some are 4%, it's going to be the way the payment/transaction is made

Etsy may have changed it's payment processor, or bank, which has caused it to look at some transactions differently .... they did a lot of changes after the banking issues earlier.

however, if they say it's 3% for local , it should be.

I'm just trying to think about why etsy's in a mucking fuddle

[FunkyKoala]

How come I have domestic repeat buyers who have bought on different occasions in the last two months and have been charged some at 3% and some at 4%? I'm sure Etsy will just up it to 4% in their fees, however, what is happening regardless of a bug or not this is not right. Still no word from Etsy about the request I made last week.

[C20Ceramics]

I have just chatted at length (well, 30 mins)  to Etsy support online.....and Yes I am being charged an international fee for domestic orders, but they cant not see why this is happening....but they can clearly see it is incorrect..... It has been referred to a "specialist team" to look into why it is happening.

I wonder if in the Etsy back end system our most of shops are still located in some random U.S. State, (the problem we had from a month or 2 ago) and they have just papered over the problem so it appears corrected, rather than fix it.....because it sounds like this is about the time it started happening??