Never notified I had an order

[NanasCreations35633]

I had an order placed in my shop on Sept 30th. But until I saw a deposit into my checking account today I never knew the order had been placed! I never got any emails or notifications from Etsy about an order being placed. I have tried to co tact someone about this to no avail! This is the only place I have found that even has a place for me to write anything about it! I click on customer service links and they just keep going in circles! I need to refund this order since clearly they bought from someone else but it doesn’t give any options where Etsy is the reason for the refund, because it never notified me that I had an order pending! So I not only lost out on my very first order but now I am out money and have to refund their full amount while Etsy gets to keep their fees and % of the deal! How is this even right?? Can anyone direct me to the actual customer service team? I need to know what to do about getting this lady her refund. 

[CryzalisMasksUK]

Click cancel and refund on the order and your fees will be returned to you.

You can not rely on notifications from the app or email, as a shop owner it is your responsibility to log into your dashboard at least once a day to double check everything. 

Go into the section Orders & delivery, on the right you will see 3 dots, click on this and select cancel, then select refund in full

[TheVintagePineapple]

Some sellers have reported not getting notifications.  But are you saying you haven't checked your shop for over 2 weeks?

You'll just have to check off one of the available refund reasons that comes close enough.  

[OmasFabricStash]

Even without a notification you should have been able to see the sale when you checked your shop. Did you not see the order or were you not checking your shop daily?  I would not trust someone else to let me know what is going on in my shop. It’s nice that Etsy usually lets you know you have a sale but it’s your shop and you should check it at least once a day to see if there are any sales or messages. 

[NanasCreations35633]

I actually had to dig to find the order. I only knew there was something there after money was deposited into my bank account. I have had the store open for sometime now and I wasn’t aware checking daily but no orders and this was my first one I didn’t know how this worked now I do and I will be checking back daily from this point forward 

[GieseDeseiGns]

Even when I am on vacation, I check in daily.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@NanasCreations35633: "Never notified I had an order" Undoubtedly Etsy's position will be that you did receive a notification - the order was on your Orders and Shipping page. There are lots and lots of threads in this forum about issues with app and eMail notifications. The consensus is that a seller needs to check their shop for messages and orders at least daily via a browser until these issues are resolved.

"... while Etsy gets to keep their fees and % of the deal" If you cancel (and therefore 100% refund) the order, all fees will be refunded to you.

"Can anyone direct me to the actual customer service team?" Try https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?segment=selling or https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?segment=selling#issue_sell_manage_listings-callback or you can open a support ticket through Dashboard > Community & Help > Contact Us

As an aside, you should complete your shop (location, about, policies) as an incomplete shop can be hurt in search.

[EDCCollective]

Have you tried to reach out to your customer to determine whether or not they have "clearly ordered from someone else"?

[NanasCreations35633]

Yes they already ordered from someone else as they should because the wedding is Nov 2nd I wouldn’t risk it myself if it was me to wait. I did offer fast shipping but she already got it done elsewhere. Live and learn.. 🤷🏼‍ just cost me a learning experience that was $68 

[VintageRescueSquad]

I see that you are very new, so it's very important to check your shop daily. Or at least install the app on your phone so you will see notifications.

It's highly unlikely that the customer "ordered from someone else". 

There is no need to contact customer service; just cancel and refund.

I stopped getting email notifications about sales back in January (!) so never rely on that mode of notification

[NanasCreations35633]

Thank you for being nice! and I will from now on check daily on the app that I just downloaded. I was faithful to check the website daily when it first opened but then after months with zero orders I did slack off and it cost me.. but I now have the app so I won’t have to be by my home PC to check anymore thank you for telling me 

[CuriousityShop]

I only get notifications on one of my two shops , so I have to check the order page on my other shop daily.

[TBQSC]

@NanasCreations35633 said ..."I need to refund this order since clearly they bought from someone else"

WHY do you say that?  The order is in YOUR shop, so clearly it's for an item that you listed for sale!  https://www.etsy.com/listing/1404472330/3-pc-couplefamily-unity-sand-set-for?show_sold_out_detail=1&...

"I not only lost out on my very first order but now I am out money and have to refund their full amount"

WHY can't you fulfill the order? 

[NanasCreations35633]

The wedding is on Nov 2nd and they had ordered on Sept 30th but I didn’t see it until the 16th of Oct and i immediately contacted the customer and they understood but said that they bought from someone else so they would have it. And I didn’t offer fast shipping but they said they had one now… I can’t blame them and I feel really bad but as I said it’s a loss I have to eat because after months probably close to 14 months by now of no orders I did get very lax in checking and until I saw a deposit from Etsy in my bank I had no clue then I had to search around just to find where the order was.. but it’s a lesson learned and I am checking it more often now.. thx ☺️ 

[NanasCreations35633]

Correction I DID offer fast shipping at my expense**

[taschekats]

You are not the only one, in September, I never received two notifications by email of sales, two shipping label purchases and a direct deposit notification. To date, only one sale notification has been resent to me after three weeks of asking and supplying order numbers, shipping label purchase numbers. 

[taschekats]

But I did see the sales in my shop so they were shipped right away.

[GreatStuff80]

Never trust any site to get notifications to you . Too many things can interfere. Power outages, server issues, site issues, all kinds of possible glitches, etc. etc. If you're selling, you need to be checking your account every day yourself. 

[ZenCatPottery]

@NanasCreations35633 It is your job to check your shop dashboard daily and be aware of shop activity.  This is your business.

[mommawhazelsquilts]

Etsy does not run our businesses for us.  I believe that the sales notifications are strictly a courtesy on Etsy's part (someone will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure) and Etsy is not always courteous.

I'm always amazed at people that open shops and then just ignore them.  Would they do the same to a b&m store?

Don 't ever depend on Etsy to take care of your business - they ain't gonna do it!

[ThePurplePuppy]

@mommawhazelsquilts 

I sort of liken this to having a B & M store and you have an "open" sign in the window but you don't unlock the door for 2 weeks.

I think the OP had to learn this lesson the hard way but now she knows!

@NanasCreations35633  So sorry you lost this sale but we all make mistakes-don't kick yourself over this. 

[NanasCreations35633]

Yes hard lesson learned and I now know about the app which makes it way easier to check in daily where I had 14 months of zero orders when I opened the shop and so I just stopped going to my PC and it cost me but praying from here on out things will stay on track 

[BootifulLabels]

Sorry, but this is a little like blaming your gas station owner for not warning you that you were low on gas.  It is your shop and your business and your responsibility to monitor it regularly.  Once every two weeks is not enough, check in daily, it only takes a minute or two, and you won't miss a thing.  Contact your buyer and apologise that you missed seeing their order as you are new to all this, ask them if they still want the item and if they do, ship it priority to make up for the delay.  If they no longer want it, do a full refund and Etsy will refund all your fees.  

[CoquetteBath]

If you aren't checking your shop daily, then start doing that. Etsy does send emails, but some of mine (weirdly) end up in my spam filter. Never mind, I check a few times a day (actually).

You have to take this responsibility. It is your business.

[TastefulArtisan]

Certainly check in at least once a day. For the first 4 years of selling here, I never once checked the email associated with my account. Email is unreliable. Didn't used to be so but spam filters and server level stops (meaning the spam is removed before you even see it, usually without your knowledge or consent). I only use email for family. Rarely for business.

Granted this is my full-time job so I'm on every platform I see on all day, every day 7 days a week in different tabs/browsers.

I agree with the above. Be humble and gracious to your buyer and ask what they would like you to do to rectify the situation. Who knows, you could end up with a customer for life if handled right.