Wrongful Case

[JJSHandCraftedDecor]

How and why is a seller affected by faulty cases brought upon their shop? 

Etsy admin is NOT fully reviewing the case. Customer opens a case asking for a replacement on a damaged item and Etsy admin refunds customer within 2 mins of case being opened. Now customer will not respond or return item. 

Another case- Customer says item not received and Etsy admin refunds within 2 mins of case being opened. Never bothered to check that the item WAS in transit. 

Then I get an email saying my shop can be put on pause due to too many cases being opened. They have also slowed my visibility on Etsy so I am not getting sales or favorites. I don't understand.

[TheVintagePineapple]

Quite a few of your reviews mention shipping delays.  

Maybe consider increasing the Processing time?

[Adorabilities]

It looks like you have had many more than two complaints/cases with late shipments, according to your reviews. Buyers seem to be implying that you're printing your labels many days before actually shipping, which is against Etsy's service standards. 

Etsy will refund for late delivery (or non-delivery.) They aren't concerned with the tracking information. If the customer says they didn't get the package, they're given a refund. 

So those are not faulty cases -- that's how cases are handled here now. The customer does have to contact you 48 hours before they open a case though. Are the items still in transit when they contact you? Some may be willing to wait longer, but they are entitled to a refund if the package arrives late, according to Etsy policy. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

A customer has to contact you first, through help request,

you then have 48 hours to sort it out with them, before hey can open a case.

If you don't, then they are due a refund in full for late or damaged. And etsy does not require a return for the refund.
They cannot open a case, unless it is already past it's latest delivery date, so if it is still in transit, etsy will refund.

Whether etsy recoups from you, depends on you fulfilling all 9 seller protection criteria, one is comply with etsy policies, so if you did not reply to their messages in time, etsy will recoup from you.

[JMOldeVintage]

@JJSHandCraftedDecor  - The listings I looked at all show an estimated delivery date of Feb. 16th - Feb. 23rd. Carting an item I see free shipping via USPS Priority mail. (You might use UPS or FedEx for larger items, this was for a small size.) 
I'm in Florida, you're in California, so will be the first to admit that it's extremely doubtful I'd receive my order in two days.
However, you must have a very short processing time on your listings which will cause Etsy to show these rosier estimated delivery dates.

Your descriptions state the items are "custom" made, the buyer does need to choose a size & stain color, so to meet what appears to be a short processing time you must actually have these ready-to-ship?
If everything is made-to-order you definitely should change your processing times. If you have been printing labels prior to items actually being ready to ship, both Etsy & buyers will not appreciate this. 

In the cases you mentioned, the buyers were required to send you a Help Request message prior to opening a case. These messages kept separate from any other message thread you may have had. You would have had 48 hours to respond to the buyer's help request, advising them what you could/would do regarding their problem.

For the damaged item, if you wanted the damaged item back - whether you offered a discount, free replacement, etc. is irrelevant - you should have sent a pre-paid shipping label to the buyer. No buyer should have to pay to return a damaged item.
If you and this buyer couldn't agree on a solution, yes, they could open a case. No, you will never be able to please 100% of buyers out there, no matter what you do.

For the one that was in transit, there can be two sides to this story. Yes, Etsy is treating "estimated delivery dates" as "guaranteed delivery dates" though this is a topic all its own. Shop owners cannot control shippers' problems, control mother nature etc. But if you are printing labels & then delaying the actual shipping of orders, packages are continuously arriving late, Etsy is not going to look at that in a positive light. Though you can have some control over this sort of "situation" by having accurate processing times.  

[GlassyFields · Accepted solution]

I took a look at your store. Great reviews, great items. Makes dog crates look good in a home.

There seems to be a pattern of shipping delays. And hints that these are due to extenuating circumstances.

But Etsy has no tolerance for shipping late.

I'd extend my processing time - building in contingency for all the things that can go wrong.

If you need more time you can change the ship date one time - as long as you do it before the actual ship date.

You have the Smooth Shipping Badge so it looks like once you do ship things go well.

I hope I'm right and that this is something you can manage - and avoid more cases.

Good luck.