MADE TO ORDER showing as IN STOCK

[WillowSouvenir]

This has been an issue for my shop, and perhaps some other crfters who make some or all of their items to order.

Since joining Etsy, there has been and still is an option when setting up a listing to choose whether it is already in stock and when it was made, or it is made to order. And it used to be that items that are "made to order" were clearly labeled in prominent place (above item description) as such. For quite some time, maybe even a couple of years, there is no such thing anymore, and all items, whether in stock or made to order are shown as :In STOCK:. Which for my shop is not the case for majority of items. Hence, I have to put warnings/explanations in descriptions and several places in my shop as well as in the very first message I send to buyers to avoid any confusion, when items are made to order and have longer processing times, especially because lately there are more and more buyers expecting quick processing and delivery times, akin to Amazon and eBay, and who don't really spend much time reading policies, descriptions etc. They are small minority, but still it would be helpful that Etsy brings back clear or more prominent label for items made to order, or at least remove misleading description :IN STOCK:. I have even had a couple of customers who accused ME misleading them because it shows item is in stock, when it is not, but I don't have any other way to offer our products on Etsy.

So please Etsy, make communication and presentation of our products more truthful and bring back at least prominent labels, if not remove the misleading notification :In Stock:, or find some other more accurate solution for this problem... It is not a big problem, but still is somewhat part of maybe bigger issue of Etsy making changes only to increase profits for themselves, and not putting the same effort to fixing bugs, or to facilitating and/or making the platform better for sellers in things that matter to sellers themselvers (and there are many things that matter beside, and before profits, at least for me)...

[ChristmasIsLove]

You are asking Etsy to do something, but Etsy isn't here in Forums. You are addressing only other sellers when you post here. Write to Etsy directly if you have a request or suggestion: Dashboard, Community & Help, Contact Us.

[WillowSouvenir]

I did, for multiple issues I have had over the years, I have given feedback ,suggestions etc, through email, chats, and feedback system, but either my issues are niche or they don't care, but I never had success in changing anythign that way... (Apart from urgent issues like dealing with customers or payment issues...)

So yeah, I guess this is the way to share with other sellers who might have the same issue and might support the suggestion... If it amounts to nothing, I am ok with it, like I have been ok with everything else amounting to nothing when giving feedback to Etsy, at least I get to vent a bit...

Thank you for reading...

[GieseDeseiGns]

To list anything even made to order you have to have at least one tangible item showing, so that customer has something tangible to purchase.

[WillowSouvenir]

I don;t recall having read that in any Etsy rules or limitations when creating a listing? It would be helpful to know where to find that information...

[Octopunx]

@WillowSouvenir 

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024112614-What-Can-I-Sell-on-Etsy-?segment=selling

This is referring to Etsy's general terms of use that specifically forbids "service only" listings where the Buyer doesn't receive any physical items or digital file, for instance a "metaphysical service" like casting spells for people is forbidden unless you send them a physical object such as a gris-gris or at least a video of yourself doing it. That doesn't really answer your specific question. 

[WillowSouvenir]

It does not...as far as my reading comprehension goes...

[Octopunx]

The Buyer is responsible for understanding the price, shipping, and timing. It's all clearly displayed while ringing up. Part of being an adult is paying attention to what you're buying! However, it's a well established truth that people don't read. We get people buying something that has a processing time of 2 weeks plus estimated transit time of 5 bussiness days saying "why isn't it here yet?" 2 days after ordering like they think I'm Amazon Prime *this is an eyeroll emoji* 

Some sellers have resorted to putting the information into the picture slots and such. Also a drop down on one of the Variations saying to indicate yes or no if they read the description fully. I have things sometimes where I use the Personalization Field to have them "sign" that they understand the Item is As Is and I won't accept returns on that specific item for the damage listed in the disclosure. 

Your listings must show some kind of quantity to be published. Otherwise the listing will count as "sold out" and can't be shown to Buyers. Simply the way all selling platform sites work. Otherwise there would be a billion "sold out" items clogging up the site and Etsy would become unshoppable. Think of what happens when you browse by image on Google or Pinterest. Half the stuff that shows up either isn't an ad or is a cached version of something no longer available. 

Made to Order items have to have a quantity as well since you need to have materials on hand to make it and/or time available to create it. I can't sell a thing that doesn't show an example and have a processing time and price. Those need to be known quantities.

If you need to make custom items you don't yet know the cost/quantity/time that needs to be created as a Custom Order or Reserved Listing after you hash out the details with your Buyer through the messages system. 

[WillowSouvenir]

Yes, I understand all of this, and I also resort to different tricks to get buyers to read, the most succesful one has been simply directly messaging each and every customer after the purchase to nofity them of the processing/delivery times etc... and offering refund/cancel in case they were unaware and had different expectations/

 For this issue, I just specifically ask Etsy to bring back the label MADE TO ORDER prominently displayed on items made to order, so to make everyone's life a bit easier... Now it only shows in stock, without further info, etc... Bringing back prominent label could help customers who don't read beyond title and quiantity...or invent some other solution...

I am just tired of having to deal with all this little things by inventing tricks to bypass their technical bugs (that can be solved), and getting a reply just deal with it,., Isn't the job of their techical staff to fix bugs but also improve things that can be improved... (like recently for innacurate stats about star seller program, etc)

[9ElizabethStreet]

If most of your items are custom made and you only have a few items that are ready to ship, perhaps you should set up a "Ready to Ship" section for those few, even if they are mixed item types. If the opposite is true, set up "Custom Made XXX Item" sections. You could also move the processing (making) time to the top and put the Covid warning below that. Everyone is pretty much aware of the Covid shipping delays now.

Love seeing all the happy pets in their special baskets!

[WillowSouvenir]

Custom made and made to order are different things... Most are made to order, and most can be customized to, I have no issue with making custom listings for custom order when I get the requuest...

The issue is just making customers aware in some more obvious way the items are made to order, that are...by Etsy bringing back the label in prominent place or some other solution... I have good communication with customers, and I can function like this, I have been for the last 6+ years. This is me just proposing a solution that goes beyond me, but is implemented by Etsy platform...

[PillowDetails]

I'm not sure how that could even work - programming wise.  Are you able to list items as made-to-order but NOT "In-stock" anywhere else?

All you can do is your best to reiterate your processing time, anywhere you can think of.  Have you tried putting it in the note to Buyer that goes at the bottom of the transaction email Etsy sends as soon as a Buyer purchases?  Worth a try, if you haven't done this already.  Maybe something like "ATTENTION: You have just purchased a Made To Order item - please be sure to check the stated processing time for me to create your order."

[WillowSouvenir]

I now think that my communication skills are not that good afterall

Thank you for your proposed solutions, I have good communication with customers, and yes I message them all as soon as they make an order and have no problem functioning like this...

I made this thread simoly to propose technical solution by Etsy, that can be easily implemented, that is all...

But it is obvious that Etsy sellers are so used to solving all issues by implementing little tricks themseleves, because expecting Etsy to change something has become nearly impossible task, especially for niche concerns like this one...

[ThePurplePuppy]

@WillowSouvenir 

"But it is obvious that Etsy sellers are so used to solving all issues by implementing little tricks themseleves, because expecting Etsy to change something has become nearly impossible task, especially for niche concerns like this one..."

Right here is your answer.

I have the exact same problem as you--most all of my items are made to order. I do have a very few ready to ship in their own little section. I also do as you and notify each buyer when they purchase  what they turnaround time will be.  This is the only solution I have found that works almost all of the time.  Believe it or not in all of my sales I have only had ONE person mesage me and demand in no uncertain times wondering why the order had not been sent aft 2 days. I explained to him  and he calmed right down and was fine--even left me a nice review.

but you are correct--the only solution is to come to the forum and try , with the help of others, for a workaround. Trying to contact Etsy thru the forum does not work--you need to follow the breadcrumbs thru the dashboard to contact them and that rarely works either.,

[Amaradorn]

I hear you. Unfortunately this is a symptom of Etsy engineering the site to favour resellers (you know, the type that shouldn't be here). They keep trying to be Amazon, but forgetting their original core values and that handmade sellers, especially made to order have different requirements. 

I would recommend making a nice graphic (2000px x 2000px) that fits your shop branding and says 'This item is MADE TO ORDER' and then upload that to one of your photo slots. It could even state the production time in smaller text underneath. You can reuse it in your listings as required. Hopefully that will help a little for those who do not read the description. If you don't have graphics software then maybe commission one of the lovely designers on Etsy to make one for you.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

I would put MADE TO ORDER in all caps at the very top of your descriptions. I looked at two of your listings and the beginning of the descriptions have asterisks and all lower case text, something that a buyer may just skim over.

[SunflowersAndStrings]

I understand what you are saying. I started two years ago and was never given the option to list just as "made to order" and not have existing stock present. I don't really understand why Etsy can't just on their side list it as in stock but on the customer side just say "made to order, how many would you like to purchase?"

[AKMysticMoose]

After reading this entire thread I sure do understand your frustration, and your communication skills are just fine. Half of my shop is made to order. I make an item and it is ready to ship. When it is sold I update the listing to Made to Order. If I didn't do it that way, I would always be making the same things and there would never be time for anything new. It is frustrating that you have the tic down box that allows you to choose made to order but it still shows in stock. All of my made to order items start with a description explaining it is made to order... huge waste of description space since so little of the description is now shown. Another thing I have done is set up a shipping profile specifically for made to order so that people can clearly see the longer estimated shipping time. I have a Shopify store also and it clearly shows Made to Order as just that and not In Stock. My question is, why does Etsy bother with allowing you to mark an item as Made to Order but then not show it that way on the listing page? You are so correct that just showing it Made to Order rather than in stock would be such a simple thing to do. I suspect it has a lot to do with listing fees and their core system. If we list that none are in stock then they can't get their fee, simple as that I think. Right now 0 in stock means sold out. Seems they need to attach the Made to Order to the 0 in stock so that they can still get their listing fee. Something they need to fix on their end. The entire idea of Etsy was to allow a place for artisans to sell their unique work, much of which was made to order. As Etsy has become more and more like Amazon, the platform seems to more and more leave small artisans out of the loop. It is a small thing but an easy thing to fix. I hope they do something soon. I also have suggested it many times when I have had a reason to contact them about other things. Your baskets are lovely!

[TacticalEdgeBlades]

I completely understand your frustration. I have talked with Etsy about this, and even the person I communicated with was surprised to see the problem with made to order items having "so many in stock." He/she said they would offer a suggestion for changing it. Of course, nothing happened with it. The suggestions people have offered here are great. However, in our case, we make custom made knives. We also have a Shopify website that offers three variation options. Etsy only offers two.  I loved the suggestion on making one of those variations an "agreement" of sort that the customer has to choose the yes variation that this is a made to order product. However, we need both variations. I also love the suggestion of using one of the pictures to show that this is a made to order product. We rarely have enough picture slots available to show detailed pictures of the knives, as well as pictures of blade finishes and handle material choices. Also, although I have changed to indicate at the very beginning of the description that these require 8 to 12 weeks, when a potential customer only sees this first line in an Google search, for instance, where Etsy advertises, it's not a great selling point to just see that rather than the actual description. I'm in agreement with you that it seems it would be much easier that they would change their programming. These past couple of weeks, we've had two customers who say they are very confused about seeing so many in stock, yet it says 8 to 12 weeks completion time.  I'm sorry if I sound like I'm complaining, but I guess that is what I'm doing. I just don't see Etsy trying to do anything to correct the problem. If you think of any other solution or "trick," I'd be happy to know about it! 

[Rikkis7]

I wanted to know if I need to put a number of available items even when I list them and I found my answer. Thank you.

When I write a convo to the buyers thanking them for choosing 'this unique item', I tell them the day when I plan to ship it. I also write 'I look forward to hearing from you when it arrives safely', but buyers rarely do. Those who do always tell me that they are happy with the purchase.

Oh well, I guess that if they were not pleased they would let me know...