Return / exchange policy not showing on sold listings

[InVintageHeaven]

Hi there -  All of my listings have this same policy of exchanges within 7 days of notifying me.  However, on sold listings that policy is missing from it.  As a result, I have customers who want to do refunds vs exchanges.  As my items are vintage and one of a kind, I list all measurements, weights and photos, so they know exactly what they are buying.

HELP!

[Former_Member]

Horrible isn't it? When Etsy switched over the new 'clicky box' policy we have to attach at every listing, all the policies we had before were wiped. Which means anything that sold before that came in (October 1st?) has no policy attached. They day I realised that I knew it was another feather in the hat for scammers.

If you still have the transaction email Etsy sends out, there should be a copy of what the policies were at the time on that. The buyer can sometimes access them by going to Purchases and Reviews and clicking on 'view receipt' but it looks like these days it just says 'contact the seller' which I believe is a link to open a 'help', which is the 48 hour kickoff to Etsy taking your money reviewing cases. I assume their own email confirmation of their order would have the polices on it too but someone else might need to check that, it's been a while since I ordered something here so I have no emails for that.

Editing to add - go to your shop manager and look in the side bar for the 'Return & exchange policies' filter. It will show you how many listings you have without a policy attached.

[MarioTreasureChest]

I notice that a while ago, so I added my policies at the end of the description of each listing. Was a pain in the … but I wanted to be cover since I don’t accept return or exchange

[Former_Member]

Unfortunately that's not likely to help you in the event a customer wants a refund. Etsy seems to be taking the 'no returns' to mean you don't want your goods back, and refunding buyers anyway.

There's no such thing as 'no refunds' on Etsy any more.

[InVintageHeaven]

I will do that on my new listings.  But I have over 1200 listings so updating each one would be a nightmare!

[JMOldeVintage]

I went to my Purchases & Reviews pages. The order receipts do not show the shops' policies. All I see is "Contact the seller if you have any problems with your order." This is under "Returns & Exchanges". On some I see the cancellation policy, on others I don't.
While all of my orders are well past any return possibility I would have thought these would still be shown. 

Adding that I looked & was surprised to see I had saved an actual Etsy order confirmation email on a purchase. Definitely not something I normally do, but anyway, the email did include the shop's policies - returns, exchanges, cancellations. 

@MarioTreasureChest  - This is the link to setting up policies - https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014372467-How-to-Set-Up-Your-Shop-Policies?segment=sellin...

I know you probably don't need this, but maybe future readers here will.

As BriarMoonBeads stated, since the changes policies need to be attached to each listing. You can bulk edit any listings missing policies. I'm not sure if "policies" added to each item's description would stand up to scrutiny. If a case is ever opened many have posted that it appears Etsy is using Bots to review & magically close cases. I would not rely on these bots being programmed to read an item description. They may only be looking at the Policy section attached to each listing.

[InVintageHeaven]

I don't get the purchase notification e-mail that is sent to my customers to see exactly what is on it.  I tried to find where I can change it so I can get them but can't find it?!

[MarioTreasureChest]

@JMOldeVintage 

I do have policies set up, but I just add it as a double on each listing since Etsy don’t show them on sold listing. I tried to edit a few times my policies but It is not working, maybe because I’m on a mobile device with Safari? 

[JMOldeVintage · Accepted solution]

@MarioTreasureChest  - The article states "Policies can’t be added or edited from the Sell on Etsy app. Please use the mobile web or desktop versions of Etsy to update your policies."

Then there have been many threads on various issues when using Safari. So if you are having problems but you're not trying to use the app, then possibly try a different browser. 

[InVintageHeaven]

I just on some order that I had purchased.  All they show is "contact the seller" and no return or exchange policy.

One seller did have a section that is "frequently asked questions" which covered in detail their exchange policy.  Great idea.... if I could only find where the heck that is to add it!  Any one know?

So what I did for now is add the exchange policy onto the note that goes out to the buyer when they purchase and item.  But I would really like to see what that actually looks like on the customers end.  Does anyone know how I can activate that? 

[InVintageHeaven]

Sorry for my grammar errors!  Hard to type with my 2 year old granddaughter climbing on my lap!

[JMOldeVintage]

@InVintageHeaven  - I dug further & found a second confirmation of purchase email from Etsy. The differences on the two messages:

Order I'd mentioned above - I see the shop's policies in the email. This shop did not include a personalized note/message to the buyer.

The second one I found - the shop owner did include a personalized note/message to the buyer. I do not see the shop's returns/exchanges policies in the email.

The FAQ's section you mention - I wonder if they added this into the note/message they have set up to go to all buyers?

FAQ's can help, if the buyer ever does visit your shop's main page. However, they are not considered legal policies. Etsy will only take into consideration what is in the 'real' policy section attached to the listing. 

To set up FAQ's - go to the shop manager - sales channels, your shop - click on edit shop. Some page sections may have their own "edit" button & always remember to click "save". 

As for your listings, there is a way to add policies to them thru bulk edit. If I can find the thread where someone posted great instructions on how to do this I'll come back to include the link to the thread. 

[InVintageHeaven]

Their FAQ is under the shop policy that Etsy has on your pages. (The bottom right of your listing) and it showed up on my order I purchased.  But when I look to find it to add it to my page, it is no where to be found.

I did find the bulk editing to add the exchange policy to all of my listings.  It is under "Shop Manager", "listings", click on the box then choose "editing options" and "edit descriptions".  Thanks for that suggestion!

[InVintageHeaven]

I found the FAQ section - it is on the main page of your shop, top left hand pencil to "edit shop".  That sure was well hidden.  I will break down my exchange policy there also.  Hope this helps someone else too!