Low Sales? Check how your shop is being display on the orange buyers' app!!

[AnniebelloPaper]

Some of you may be aware of the current issue with the orange buyers' app showing the shipping location of shops outside the US as a location inside the US ... we think it's linked to shops in countries where they have postcodes that only use numbers. For example, I'm in Australia with a postcode starting with 6. On the orange buyers' app, I'm being shown as shipping from Illinois - a US state with postcodes starting with 6. 

To add to the confusion, if you are in a country that is not affected, it looks like the correct shipping location is being seen. Obviously for those of us living in far-flung places like Australia, this is severely affecting our local sales. Sellers in the same situation have the same problem.

This is only on the orange buyers' app. Not a problem if you're looking at a website view or the new blue sellers' app. As most buyers use that app to purchase, not having the correct shipping location could be why buyers aren't purchasing from you. 

If this is affecting you, please please please contact Etsy via chat,email or phone if you can. You might need to mention over and over that it's the orange buyers' app that has the problem and only for some viewers depending on location. Send them screenshots and don't give up. 

These are the threads I've found so far with the same problem if you need more information.

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Etsy-app-showing-the-wrong-dispatch-location-under-It...

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Australian-Sellers-Serious-Bug-with-your-Location-Man...

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Gleiche-Postleitzahlen-Bei-deutschen-Shops-wird-Versa...

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@AnniebelloPaper I have been following this discussion / issue in recent days. I do not use the APP, but one other thing I have noticed recently is that, on a Laptop / Browser view, if I try to Order something, Etsy is now asking me to enter a "Postal Code" when I set the Listings "Ships To" location to Australia. This is very new and, as far as I can tell, is not required for most other locations apart from US and Canada. Not really sure why it is required for Australia either as we do not have calculated Shipping. And, it is not possible to proceed to Checkout without entering a Postcode.

[AnniebelloPaper]

@CarpetCollectionAU the postcode thing has been a thing for a while. I see your shop on the app as shipping from Turkey so I'm assuming that's something you have set up and not part of this problem. All the incorrect locations being shown are in the US.

Another seller on the big thread mentioned that Etsy tested 'hiding' the overseas location of shops for US buyers. A particularly stupid test but that might be the problem. 

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@AnniebelloPaper Yes. My details are OK. Thanks for checking:)

However, I cannot see why the Australian Postcide is necessary when not one other Country (apart fron US/Canada) has this set up?

As for the "hiding" the "overseas" location from US Buyers, I think this was just part of a wider "test" where a "Ships From" location was hidden from all Buyers, no matter where they were.

I recall a furore in Forums about this at the time and, hey presto, the "Ships From" location just crept back.

I am pretty sure the issue is a "coding"/"programming" error which is associated somehow with / resulted in the requirement for Australian Postcode on Orders.

But how and why this error is occuring is beyond me!

[AnniebelloPaper]

@CarpetCollectionAU interestingly, I have changed the profile for one listing by adding 2 zeroes to the front of my actual postcode. This listing shows as shipping from Australia to selected countries. All my other physical listings show Illinois.

It's definitely a programming issue.

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@AnniebelloPaper Just to add ... we really do not know how long the incorrect "Ships From" location has been an issue as who really looks that closely at their own Listings every day? It could just be that some programming error is reading the Postcode on the Shipping Profile incorrectly as being a US Postcode. Hence, when a Buyer filters for "Australia" as a delivery Location, the Postcode is required as it would be for a US Location?

Something is driving the appearance of that Postcode Box when it is not necessary as we do not have the ability to alter shipping costs by location within Australia.

Which Listing did you change to 00XXXX? Is the Postcode Box still showing on that Listing?

[AnniebelloPaper]

@CarpetCollectionAU the altered postcode listing is my cat lover notebooks. I just had another look after reading @C20Ceramics possible solution. I have 'other' as the postal service for domestic as all the options are parcel-post and I rarely use parcels. I changed it for a parcel option and put the postcode back to what it should be ... and it's back to shipping from Illinois. I've put it back to the altered postcode and 'other' for domestic shipping.

I don't know what's going on but I'd getting pretty tired of Etsy tinkering when there are so many other things they need to fix.

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@AnniebelloPaper IDK!!! Your Cat Lover Notebook is showing to me as shipping from Australia. And, I have to enter my deliver location Postcode.

[C20Ceramics]

I might have found what the glitch causing this is ....have posted onto this thread https://community.etsy.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Australian-Sellers-Serious-Bug-with-your-Location-Man...

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@C20Ceramics You may be correct. But I tend to think it is something else which is causing the system to decide a Shop is in the US. This would then impact Free Shipping over $ 35 Guarantee application.

I now see you meant just Free Domestic Shipping and have disproved this. You sem to have found one "workaroung" @AnniebelloPaper has found another "workaround". So I still think the issue is related to the whole "Postcode" programming which seems to have changed recently. After all, Australian (and other) Sellers have only a Country and not a State option in Shipping Profiles. Perhaps it is something to do with "State"? But that does not explain the German etc Sellers reporting the same issue?

[C20Ceramics]

I agree @CarpetCollectionAU it seems to be something to do with postcode ....but who knows what. I do notice however when I go to my newest store that the Etsy seller view, layout and function is very different to the one on my older store (I don't mean the new listing tool). It appears different sellers are shown different versions of the website. 

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@C20Ceramics On that Ihave to agree!. I work on 5 Shops each day and I have often had cause to think "Have I seen that before?" when something changes / moves in one and not the others.

[AnniebelloPaper]

It's definitely a postcode thing.

My postcode starts the same as Illinois. When our friendly German seller told me about adding a zero to the postcode (they have 5 digit postcodes in Germany just like the US), I added it to the end ... but that didn't change my US location. When I changed it to one zero at the front, my shipping location changed from Illinois to Connecticut. When I put 2 zeros in front, changing from a 5-digit postcode to a 6-digit, my shipping location went back to Australia.

I googled how US postcodes work ... the first number is the national area, the next two are the section centre or large city PO and the last two are the associate PO or delivery area. 

Somewhere Etsy has decided that all postcodes that are 5-digits or less are now in the US. It doesn't appear to affect postcodes with a mix of letters and numbers, and those with more than 5 numbers. My altered 6-digit postcode shows Australia. 

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@AnniebelloPaper " My altered 6-digit postcode shows Australia." Yes, that confused the system BUT it is still a problem because a 6 digit postcode is not a valid Australian Postcode. No system should accept it. Your Listing will always say Australia because, in Australia, that is as specific as we can get. The Ships From will never say "Perth" or "Kilmore", even though those are the Postcodes we are entering. Ships From will always be Australia.

However, it is different for the US where the Postcode allows Buyers to see the actual State in the US the item is shipping from.

[AnniebelloPaper]

@CarpetCollectionAU yep those 6-digits have confused it which is why I don't want to swap them all over.

I think the website and sellers' app takes the shipping location from what you set as the shipping location on that listing or shipping profile. Maybe the buyers' app takes it from the postcode on the shipping profile and nothing else ... because in the US, those postcodes show the actual location for buyers?? Maybe that's the problem.

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@AnniebelloPaper I think something like what you are suggesting is happening. And... I would be willing to put my money on the fact that the issue would have arisen from something that changed around the time we began to see the requirement for Australian Buyers to enter an Australian Postcode in order to move to Checkout. 

Somehow, Buyers are being shown US States which have to come from the Postcode, not the Location, on the Shipping Profile. For Buyers, at least, The Country "Shipped From" is being overridden by the Postcode on the Shipping Profile. Again, I feel that this has something to do with the "tests" which removed all "Ships From" information from Listings. I think that whoever turned this function back on has made a big mistake!

[SVGRox]

Etsy should have fixed this by now as they do monitor the forums, Suggests this is a mistake and they are not sure how to fix it yet

[AnniebelloPaper]

@SVGRox considering this has probably been a problem for more than a week, it's definitely something they broke and can't figure out how to undo it.

[AnniebelloPaper · Accepted solution]

This is still a thing and more countries are coming to light with the same problem.

Australia, New Zealand, The Philipines, Germany, Poland.... 

If your shipping postcode is only numbers (no letters) and is 5 digits or less, please please please check out your shop on the orange buyers' app. On browser view and the blue sellers' app, the shipping location is supposedly showing correct. On the buyers' app where most are just buyers, it will show a US location that matches the first digitals of your postcode. It's also not visible everywhere. It looks like you see the correct view if your country is not affected by the problem. That's a big problem for domestic orders and especially for those that don't sell outside their own country.

The current work around is to alter your postcode to another one close to you that doesn't match a US location or to add one or two zeroes to the front of your current postcode. To make this even more clear or if you don't want to change your shipping profiles, put wording at the top of all your physical listings to alert buyers to the problem. To make it easier to change back if/when Etsy decides to address and fix the problem, just make a new shipping profile with the altered postcode and change your listings over. Keep the original to change back to ... eventually.

If you are affected, please contact Etsy asap, keep trying as they are inundated with so many other problems and it's the weekend. Spread the word to every seller you know. I'm checking anyone who is posting in the forums about low sales.

If you're wondering what it looks like, I have one listing with my real postcode (cat lover notebooks) that shows I'm shipping from Illinois. I have all my other listings on the altered postcode and they should show shipping from Australia. 

[CoastYarns]

Hey AnnieBello, thanks so much for your reply. Much appreciated.  Very interesting on the postcode situation. However, what I have noticed is that it looks like those two  packages defaulted to Fedex  as my delivery option when I always use Australia Post. Guessing 'the bots' didn't recognise the numbers so assumed no tracking. Everything is so US centric. Ridiculous. 

[AnniebelloPaper]

@CoastYarns I had that happen once. I think we can edit the tracking/carrier for a short while after marking shipped/complete. I didn't notice mine until nearly a week later. I did get Etsy to mark it delivered when I chatted and sent them the actual tracking number and screenshot of the delivered confirmation from AusPost tracking.

The postcode problem appears to be fixed... took them two weeks and still no acknowledgement or updates of any kind. Still, fixed is fixed until next time of course.