Star Seller Stats Affected by Restocking Fee Orders that Remain Open and Not Shipped

[thekeyofa]

Hi.  Long time seller here (January 0f 2009).  Looking for a solution. Tried contacting Etsy (Ha ha!), and they didn't understand my issue and after being passed back and forth for over 45 minutes, I just left the chat.   

So, my shop policies include restocking fees for certain orders that are cancelled.  I don't accept cancellations to begin with, but I do state that I will work with folks and listen to their issue on a one by one case basis.  If I decide to cancel the order, and depending on how it has affected our production time, labor and costs, I will take the stated restocking fee percentage and refund the customer the rest making them aware of this policy.  

Anyway, I currently have two orders that we had long since did partial refunds for, so they have remained for months (one over a year now) in an open status and of course still show as not shipped.  There is no way to get rid of them, but I have realized over time that this is why I miss out on the Star Seller badge every month, due to the shipping percentage never quite making it to the threshold.

Is there a solution to this or do I have to attempt to contact Etsy again???  I do wish Etsy was like it operated 14 years ago when I opened my shop! 

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Etsy won't do anything about that. They would see it working as intended. Why a restock fee? Your items seem not made to order? If a restock fee was penalizing me and I cared about SS I  would stop charging them. Your SS data is only on the last 3 months so this month is counting September October November  for next month's star. Year old  open orders should not be counted any more?

[dayspringcollectible]

The solution is to stop charging a restocking fee.  They are illegal in many locations anyway.

[PillowDetails]

Star Seller only accounts for the past 3 months, so if they were that long ago, it should be affecting your shop currently.  But yes, a restocking fee - not refunding in full and canceling, will show as an un-shipped order for the purposes of the  Star Seller shipping metric.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

You do not have restocking fees in your policies

etsy removed the ability to write your own policies a long time ago.

.....

Restocking fees are illegal in many countries you sell to, so you shouldn't have them in policies anyway, even if you could.

You sell to EU/UK so you also need 30 day return policies , for just change of mind, on all your listings

...

The solution is to refund in full and cancel, rather than trying to hold onto money you are not due

[NanaLetha]

I looked at your shop policies and there is nothing about a restocking fee!

[bradgoodell]

Drop the restocking fees.  They are a lose/lose for you.

1. They are unenforceable.  If you've managed to keep buyer's money before this, it has been a stroke of dumb luck.  All the buyer needs to do is file a dispute with Etsy or their payment processor and get 100% their funds back, because you haven't shipped anything.
2. You are leaving the window open for buyers to leave bad feedback on all those orders.  The review window is 6 months, which gives buyers plenty of time to decide your restocking fee sucks.
3. It's illegal in many states and countries
4. It is actually a huge turn-off to buyers
5. You are getting dinged by Star Seller for it.
6. Etsy also dings you for disputes
7. Etsy also dings for for bad feedback

In the long run, one restocking fee can ding you 3 times with Etsy, and your buyer can still get their money back with very little effort.  Every ding adds up, and you can find yourself encountering:

1. Reserves on your funds
2. Lowered in search
3. No seller protection if something goes wrong
4. Forced vacation mode because Etsy thinks you are too overwhelmed to complete your current workload.
5. Shop closed completely

Honestly, it simply is not worth it.  

Hope this helps.  

[BagmakerSupply]

@thekeyofa: Generally speaking, you may be allowed to charge a restocking fee if the order is not returned in the same condition that you delivered it to the buyer. Since you did not ship anything there is nothing to return.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

If it is not received in the same condition it is sent, you can hold back the exact in value,

so the difference between what you relist it for, and the original listing price,

That is not a restocking fee.

If the seller is challenged, they have to prove the exact loss in value that is claimed.

you can't just charge a fee.

And it has to be in your policies, and there is nowhere for anyone  (apart from EU/UK) to put a restocking fee ... and it's specifically illegal for us to charge one.

so re-stocking fees can't be charged here