Etsy — Local services in New York

Horror story to follow. I originally was going to give one star, but there some some redemption by the end of my situation so they've earned another star. I bought an item from someone that was not custom made. It was listed as a size S/M, and I specifically told the seller that it was for an event I was attending on a Saturday (to verify whether I'd receive it before then). I was confused by the sizing, but the seller assured me that if I wear a size small or even an XS, this item would fit me. The seller had a shop policy of allowing returns on premade items (like mine) if they are contacted within three days of receiving the item, listed plain as day. When I received the item, beads immediately fell off of it upon opening, and when I tried it on, it was huge. The measurements were actually a bit odd, and it seemed like it was designed to fit a size large at the top. I contacted them immediately the day I received the item on a Thursday, asking for help. Rather than help me, the seller accused me of wearing the item to an event that day, and refused to refund me should I want a refund, telling me that they will fight any claim I make against them to keep my money. I was shocked and devastated. I worked up the courage to contact Etsy after that horrible encounter, and they told me to open a case. I did so, and Etsy did nothing. This seller faced no consequences for refusing to honor their shop policy and for treating me so horribly. They refused to review the case despite all the evidence and all the abuse I was subject to by the seller in the case log for simply providing proof of her prior abuse, the damage to the item upon arrival, her shop policies, the inaccurate sizing etc. This refusal was on the grounds that they "didn't have enough information" and therefore decided not to review my case at all and would not discuss the matter with me further. They showed no sympathy whatsoever for my situation, only apathy by shutting me down when I tried to communicate with them. I eventually got refunded outside of Etsy, but there was still the principle of shop policies being clearly violated, receiving a damaged and inaccurate item that I could not and did not wear to my event, a seller treating me horribly before I even had the chance to ask for a refund, and Etsy not showing the slightest sympathy. An Etsy representative later reached out, finally showing the sympathy my situation deserved, which made me feel better... but I believe this only happened because I filed a complaint with the BBB (in which Etsy continued to dismiss me and fail to properly read and address my complaint in the case log). They gave me a credit on my account, which I used to buy a cute item I had wanted from Etsy for a long time. Unfortunately, after this entire horrible experience, I believe that purchase was my last from Etsy. I remain shocked about what I had to go through to get human decency and a refund from this company and seller. I will never recommend Etsy to anyone ever again, despite having discovered and used Etsy years prior. I will only recommend small artists I've had good experiences with from now on, such as the person I got the cute item from, who hopefully sell outside the Etsy platform as well. I appreciated the gesture Etsy made after it was already too late, but it sadly wasn't enough to give me the confidence I need to shop there again. Beware of this site, and know that you as a buyer will NOT necessarily be protected by shop policies, Etsy will not care how a seller treats you, Etsy will not help you until they later realize they don't want more complaints or to lose your money forever, and you will have to fight elsewhere to get your own money back should you have an awful experience. Also be advised that they don't even have real customer service. None of their phone lines work-- you get disconnected or met with a brief robo-message if you even manage to find a phone number and try to call it. Their chat service takes dedication to unearth from their labyrinth of a help center. Emails or FAQs are the only...

With Etsy's change from selling handmade and vintage items to mass produced items there has been an explosion of new vendors including those who sell jewelry. Unfortunately, Etsy has not revised and updated policies to protect the consumer. Some of these shops will have a statement on their homepage about having a location in a US state which would cause the customer to think the goods are being sent from a US business where it is quality control checked prior to being sent to you but it is not. Instead it is being sent directly from the manufacturer in another country.

Unfortunately, along with these changes I feel that Etsy is failing to closely regulate these shops and how they describe their goods. This is a particular problem when it comes to gold jewelry. Shops are advertising in their title that jewelry is gold when it is only gold plated. They hide relevant information that should appear boldly in the title or the top of the sales description page which introduces the item rather than being hidden behind additional information you have to click on at least twice to reach, and you have to scroll to the very end of long text at the bottom of the page just to find out that a piece of gold jewelry is hollow instead of solid. More often than not there is no transparency or disclosure to the customer located in easily seen places and early in their sales pitch and description.

Case in point I recently purchased a gold chain thinking it was solid because none of the wording of the title or the description on the next page to click on stated it was hollow. To get that information I would have had to click again and scroll through another long group of text to the bottom of the page. When the title says the item is gold that is where the "hollow" or "solid" should appear, not buried under pages that require several clicks. When I received the chain I had Covid and could not return it in time. In another case I paid nearly $900 for a 14k gold pendant from a company that had listed a US location but in reality there was no availability to that location for quality control checks or returns. The jewelry was beautiful but when I discovered the company did not provide a gold purity or karat stamp on the jewelry I was shocked because here in the US new jewelry always has a stamp. Their reason as told to me after I received it was that they don't stamp gold jewelry because they have a problem getting it through customs. They said if you want a stamp you have to specifically request it yet there was no disclosure or transparency on their Esty pages regarding that. Not only is this a consumer protection issue to not have a gold purity or karat stamp, even according to the FTC, but it as well is needed if you want to resell the jewelry down the road without having to get an expensive appraisal. An offer to exchange the piece was made to me if I returned the pendant to Hong Kong, which in itself is a nerve racking thought because who knows what might happen during the lengthy process of sending and then returning to me that might make matters worse. I did have my jeweler test the piece and it was 14 k gold so decided to keep it as it was a very nice piece, although I feel it is lacking a valuable component of verification as to gold purity that a consumer in the US expects.

I hope Etsy works toward revising its policies for its shop owners and requires easy to see disclosures and complete transparency early on either in the title or bullet points before the description of the goods and the truthfulness that the customer will be dealing with a manufacturer in another country when having to do returns rather than a business which does the quality control checking for you and adheres to the standards that US consumers expect, such as having a gold purity stamp on gold jewelry.

Due to numerous complaints about account hacking on Etsy of both buyer and seller accounts I removed my credit card information from my Etsy account and if I purchase again will only do so through shops that...

I shop at Etsy.com all the time! I usually have no problem Whatsoever when I purchase from vendors at the site! However on April 2 of this year I purchased a custom made ring from a vendor Helen LaCumiseta, who runs Unique History Shop on Etsy.com! This ring was supposed to be my husband‘s wedding band on April 17. This ring was absolutely beautiful, not to mention most of her products were absolutely beautiful! We specifically asked if we could get the order by April 17 due to the fact that we were getting married. She said the ring would be done by April 10 and if we purchased express shipping that it would be there by April 17. We were thrilled!So of course we purchased the extra shipping! Well April 17 came and went no ring! Of course I complained, she apologize, she gave us an option for return of our money or a replacement ring! My husband really wanted the ring so we took the choice of the replacement! She said she was already working on it! Well it took twice as long for her to make it this time and she told me on April 30 that she was done with the ring and that she was shipping it out express through DHL that same day and she will send me the tracking number. Well I received no tracking number and try to contact her again and again only to get the message that she was sorry she was on vacation and it was it generated message to like everyone! Now I had try to open a case with Etsy after the first ring came up missing when FedEx received it! Fed ex received an empty box when they picked it up which seems funny to me because FedEx doesn’t usually stop business with someone for just received an empty box one time but that’s what happened so they don’t use her anymore. Etsy.com made me wait until the date they seem to fit for me to open a case! So here it is a month since my original purchase of the ring itself and the $29 plus tax 3 to 7 day shipping I have no ring, and I have no three today shipping! My problem is that etsy.com should handle things right away when a customer needs something done and they fail to do so! They should look into the problem right away not when it suits Them! You are a website that actually employees these vendors they are selling services to customers off of your website that means you are responsible for what comes off your website! You don’t just sweep it under the rug! Now I want to give credit where credit is due, the agent that is helping me on the etsy.com website is excellent! He is going out of his way to try and get in touch with this woman who is probably avoiding him the way she is avoiding me! So I do think him for his effort! And I know there are rules he must follow he is not the owner so I do understand! I am just saying Etsy should have a better procedure when handling cases...