Singapore dollar sellers beware! Etsy canceled and refunded already completed order

[#1]

Due to the recent May 8 2022 error which saw Singapore dollar sellers significantly overcharged in fees, Etsy has now started to cancel and fully refund orders. Even on Singapore dollar accounts with completed orders which were not affected!

I woke up today to find that Etsy canceled and fully refunded a SGD $231.21 order that had already been completed and shipped off to the buyer! So now the buyer has a free item and I have that outstanding amount in my payment account page!

Even the listing which originated the sale has been completely removed. It can no longer be found anywhere on my Shop Manager nor through search.

Additionally, the threads started here by other sellers related to this May 8 2022 issue have been locked.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@SecretLoveNotesTribe  @monoPLUS 

etsy did this to sellers in Denmark a few years ago,

people bought items for around $22000, but at the exchange rate was wrong, they only charged the customer around $100

customers were doing a  lot of buying, as the items were cheap,

etsy cancelled and refunded a lot of expensive orders, that were already sent

They eventually made the sellers right, but it took a long time, and hassling, for it to happen.

this is a thread discussing it, but the original bug thread has gone

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Providing-Great-Customer-Service/System-Fail-Stand-with-Danish-Sellers...

[monoPLUS]

Thank you @CraftyCornishMaids for making us aware of this similar previous incident.

[Spellbinderie]

I would stay on Etsy about this and tell them directly that it is not YOUR responsibility to fix this error and therefore you will NOT be contacting the buyer as it's unprofessional to ask a buyer to repurchase an already sent item that was refunded by ETSY.  Imagine getting such a message???  Instead you expect Etsy to make you whole on this transaction.  I believe they will take care of you but you will need to insist.

They have some nerve trying to scrape back money on this mistake.  Their payment processor screwed up, their payment processor takes the hit.  That's how it works.  

[monoPLUS]

In every email reply so far, it is clear that Etsy are absolving themselves of any and all responsibility for their actions.

Just take a look at the logic gymnastics of "We can guarantee you that you will not be charge to your account as this is a known issue."

BUT MY ACCOUNT HAS ALREADY BEEN CHARGED.

[Spellbinderie]

@monoPLUS 
I've been on Etsy for 11 years.  All sellers in the EU were being overcharged on our fees a few years back.  It was rectified eventually and we were refunded.  Plus the situation with the Denmark sellers -- all refunded.  I am confident it will be sorted out and you won't be charged -- but it will take time.  Keep after them.  Sorry you are going through this.

[Spellbinderie]

@monoPLUS 
As for Etsy's grammar gymnastics -- yeah they are the best at this kind of nonsense but I read that as it will eventually be resolved, either by the buyer repurchasing or Etsy covering it.

In other words, they will try to get the buyer to repay first and only if that doesn't work will they refund you from their money.  

So yes they are guaranteeing that you won't "remain" charged for the refund.  The question is how long before they give up on getting the buyer to repurchase. I'd ask them that. 

[monoPLUS]

Ah I see, I'll try asking. Thank you!

[SecretLoveNotesTribe]

Btw, I just noticed that Etsy has been marking all of my support requests to them - even those stating that the email that says we were "credited" but then we received no credit - even those support tickets have been marked as complete but no responses from them on the rectification and also the problem of the negative 5 figures is still persisting. But, all of these support requests are marked complete - with no response at all. 

[GalleryAntiques]

Etsy really is unbelievable, passing the buck to the seller for their errors is not on, especially when they will not rectify the mistakes on the affected seller's payment accounts! Keep fighting, the fact that an eCommerce news website picked up on this currency conversion error in the last few days, they may continue to monitor the situation and posts on the forum about it.

[SecretLoveNotesTribe]

Thank you for feeling us. May I know which eCommerce news website is that?

[GalleryAntiques]

@SecretLoveNotesTribe  Ecommercebytes They have a website, and Facebook page and are active on Twitter, which is where I first heard about the currency conversion error for Singapore sellers.

I know if I add a link to their website, the moderators will either remove the link or my post altogether, but if you google the name Ecommercebytes you will find them (will probably be the first hit).

The title of the story about this on their website is: Etsy Currency Conversion Glitch Terrifies Sellers

[SecretLoveNotesTribe]

Thank you for that! I will check it out. Btw, I just noticed that Etsy has been marking all of my support requests to them - even those stating that the email that says we were "credited" but then we received no credit - even those support tickets have been marked as complete but no responses from them on the rectification and also the problem of the negative 5 figures is still persisting. But, all of these support requests are marked complete - with no response at all. What is that supposed to mean?

[GalleryAntiques]

Sounds like Etsy are ignoring you or ignoring further support requests, is one request still open? or have they closed them all?

[SecretLoveNotesTribe]

I just checked and the original one is still open and not marked as completed yet.

[SecretLoveNotesTribe]

But my new support requests was to state that the email we received was wrong and that we have not yet been credited. I'll probably add that as a comment to the original one.

[GalleryAntiques]

@SecretLoveNotesTribe  Stop opening new requests, and add details to the original one only.

[Spellbinderie]

@SecretLoveNotesTribe 

They are closing support the additional "repeat" support tickets that have to do with the original problem in order to consolidate everything and not have multiple tickets open which causes confusion.  Respond to the original message only, the one that is still open.  If a couple days go by without any reply, respond again -- in that same original message -- to let them know you are still waiting.  Sorry you are going thru this.

[howtobooksandmore]

Etsy is solely responsible for processing the credit cards for sellers.  The problem between etsy and the credit card processor is just that, a problem between etsy and the processor and it is an etsy problem to address this.  Sloughing it off on sellers is not financially responsible.  I would keep after etsy about this until they reimburse you and reopen all cases that say the problem is fixed.  In the meantime, I would start looking into which government agencies deal with credit card fraud, which this definitely is regardless of why it happened and how innocent etsy is.  By not dealing with the issue, etsy is at least complicit.

[monoPLUS]

Hello fellow sellers, I woke up a short while ago to good news! Etsy has updated my payments account with a full credit that corrects the error refund! It was listed as "Credit for sale(s) from currency conversion issue on 8 May".

An update via email conversation was also received from Etsy:

Good day! I'm one of the seller specialist on Etsy and thank you for reaching out to us explaining your thoughts and situation.

We started fixing the incorrect charges on impacted payment accounts. We have canceled and refunded any impacted orders placed during this time period. Sellers affected by this issue should see those sales and related fees corrected on their payment accounts. We also alerted buyers and encouraged them to re-order from the sellers. We also sent an email to impacted sellers letting them know that we had resolved the issue. We apologize for the confusion this email may have caused, we realize that some remaining fees that were not related to a sale were also charged during this time period. We’re actively working on resolving this issue for any remaining impacted accounts. Sellers should see these fees refunded and payment accounts corrected in the coming days. We appreciate your patience as we work through remediating this matter.

[DKVintageandBeyond]

Funny not funny that an Etsy rep can pop into forum when something they don't like occasionally yet not have support anywhere! They should be reported for this but where?

[SecretHelper]

Great news for me too! I woke up to find that Etsy has credited back the $13,000 and $900 they charged for auto-renew fees and VAT. They didn't refund any of the sales I made during that day (I checked but it didn't seem like it) and only credited the amounts to correct the mistake which I am very thankful

So happy that this issue is finally over! And I'm no longer $14,000 in debt too yay

[ChillwolfArt]

@SecretHelper   @monoPLUS 

Really glad to hear this; Thank You for the update.

[Spellbinderie]

Happy to hear that Etsy has made it right for you both.  Thanks for coming back with that update.

[SteampunkCreativeEng]

Phew!

until the next time…

[MonsterGallery]

I have my erroneous payment of $70k refunded yesterday too. However, even though I have a positive credit now, it is not being deposited. I normally have daily deposits.