Local Pickup: On-Time Shipping and Tracking rate penalized

[AssembleDesign]

Hi there. I am a new shop and I sold two items to local friends/ family who requested a local pickup rather than delivery. I completed the orders and marked them complete in a timely fashion. The issue is that when I look at my "star seller" status, it says that the shipping and tracking figure is reduced/ penalized due to these two local pickups not having tracking information. Is there a way to fix these for the record?

[JMOldeVintage · Accepted solution]

@AssembleDesign  - This topic recently discussed - link to another thread:

https://community.etsy.com/t5/All-About-Shipping/Figure-out-how-to-hand-deliver-without-being-penali...

Since you're in the US you can take advantage of the letter rate postage Etsy offers. While it won't help with the two orders you've mentioned, it's something to keep in mind for the future.

[AssembleDesign]

Thank you for that. It's a bit convoluted, but it seems that Etsy doesn't support local pick-up. I wish the interface would have made it more obvious when entering "complete order" without tracking that this status would be affected. At least it seems the status is recalculated after 3 months. Live and learn.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

Information on the star seller is a good read.

Local delivery will ding your star seller.  There is no way around it.

The option in the US of sending a receipt is not proof the item was delivered to the buyer.  It only proves a receipt was sent.

Etsy has information on doing local delivery if you want to pursue this.  Help is a good resource to take advantage of.

Tracking is proof of shipping for the US and since it is free to us, it is something Etsy has always encouraged. 

I understand your desire to do local delivery for friends and family.  What I do is remove the item from Etsy and sell the item to them with a local delivery.  I only do this for friends and family.

Also local delivery can lose your seller protection if there is an issue.  With family and friends not likely but with people you don't know quite possible.

[AssembleDesign]

Thank you for that insight JDTotesenDolls!

I hope to be able to serve a wider audience going forward, but as a new shop, naturally some local family and friends wanted to support me so they purchased via Etsy and I'm happy they did. I'll bear this in mind for the future.