After 14 years on Etsy, I know to shut down my shop at least 2 weeks before Christmas so that I don't get complaints from customers when neither Etsy nor USPS can give accurate delivery dates. Plus, it gives me time to get ready for Christmas with my family.
@@AquilaRose6430 No, you can put your shop on vacation mode and it will be fine when you come back as long as you make an effort to send traffic to get sales going again. Run some ads, send a sale to your email list, etc.
Part of the problem this year was Etsy but USPS completely dropped the ball. I had over 180 packages that I mailed on the 9th, 10th and 11th that took forever to deliver. I still have about 10 packages from the 9th that still has not been delivered. Ohio, Florida and the hub Indianapolis was an absolute dumpster fire. I have been selling on Etsy since 2012 and have never seen USPS backed-up like this year, not even 2020. Etsy did remove five 1 star reviews I reported this week that did not mention USPS, they mostly said "Shipping took forever, I am so disappointed I did not receive this on time, etc...". I was surprised they removed them.
And I have just change my processing time from 3-5 days to 7-10 days in my shop. Danish postal “service” will be changing their conditions for me to ship the cheapest way. I have to send in bulk of min 10 packages so I have to give myself more days to collect them. It’s annoying but the only other option is for me to tripple the cost of shipping to ship in another category and that’s worse. I’ll see how it goes. It’s not so difficult here in January, usually, but come February, march and the summer that’s another story
For me, this started about a year ago. I got a message from someone saying Etsy says my package should've arrived yesterday but I don't have it. I checked and this woman had ordered 5 days prior to sending the message. I was very confused because I have a 2 week handling time and then you have to take in account the shipping time, so how was she being told her package would get there in less than 1 week? Since then I have had numerous buyers message me saying the same thing. The first time it happened, I reached out to support and was told it's an issue that was being worked on but that was a year ago and it's still a problem. 🙄I've fortunately not gotten any negative reviews for it although a few people have mentioned the shipping was slower than they expected.
I message/email my buyers as to the correct estimate of delivery now that Etsy has started this. Totally a pain and completely unnecessary by regular standards. Wanted to give a shout out to EBay for very cool commercial specifically for “VINTAGE”! Starting in January I will be moving some of my listing to eBay and learning how that platform works as I have never listing with anyone except Etsy. I’m just sorta done with all the crap from Etsy.
Just be careful with ebay. They allow customers to return items 60 days later whether u like it or not. I had a customer by a dress she wanted for a party. She wore it then wanted her money back. Let's just say it didn't come back in original condition. Another time what i got back was not what i sold her. Keep that in mind when pricing to be able to absorb those loses. As 4 etsy being a shit platform...i listed an item on etsy, listed the exact same thing on ebay. Got absolutely no response from ebay for months, not even a click. So keep both platforms & experiment.
@@AquilaRose6430 Nothing is guaranteed, for sure. We used to have loads f people do the buy-wear-return thing when I worked at a large department store 30 years ago. They also treat wedding products like that, they'll buy things like wedding decor then return them after the event.
When I was buying shipping labels in December, it said that all of my US orders would arrive late! So frustrating as they just seem to be making it up.
I hope that it's a temporary thing while they're trying to get people to buy more during Christmas, but there's no way to know. I would keep checking in to see what they're telling people to be on the safe side.
@KaraBuntinTutorials OK thanks. I won't be back on Etsy till they set it up to exclude NI from the UK because I can't afford the GSPR thing... So could be a while 😑 shocking that Etsy isn't even sorting that when it's in place already...
@@the.toxic.phoenix Oops, I answered this but I thought it was a different video! They've actually said that they have something in the works to handle the GPSR that they're going to either roll out or announce to people on Dec 31, so it might not be too long! Sorry about that.
What Etsy could do would be to divide up the reviews like Audible does, in that case Overall, Performance, and Story. Etsy could have Quality, Customer Service, and Delivery. And they could stop penalizing shops for bad reviews related specifically to delivery.
It's interesting , they already do have that in the app, but it's just extra reviews, it doesn't figure into the star rating average. They definitely need to adjust something because the number of shipping-related reviews that aren't the seller's fault are ridiculous.
im lucky that my local post office is open 6am to 10pm [UK] im there with my package within an hour or 2 of sale.Not had any probs with Etsy /Post office in 4 yrs
I would never do that because I have had Etsy cancelling orders after they came through (not payment pending). I have had one cancelled more than a day after I shipped it. I was so mad. I eventually got my money back from Etsy, as it was an expensive item. Hopefully you will not have these. Kara has had them too.
@@tinaindina7032 would you recommend delaying the shipping case they cancel?how long for? i have had a couple of cancels but they cancelled minutes after the sale
I hope they don't. What r u selling? Is it a product a million others have? R ur photos good? Maybe u have a product no one wants? The state of the economy ?U can't blame Etsy for everything u might be doing wrong.
@@AquilaRose6430 The problem is that it's not. They allow so much crap on there now people are noticing. I've had two people I know recently say that Etsy has turned into a bunch of cheap junk from Alibaba. IT's getting a bad reputation.
After 14 years on Etsy, I know to shut down my shop at least 2 weeks before Christmas so that I don't get complaints from customers when neither Etsy nor USPS can give accurate delivery dates. Plus, it gives me time to get ready for Christmas with my family.
That's a good idea for everyone, to be honest.
Doesn't that penalize ur shop ? Wouldn't it be better to post say a xma s picture & explain shipping could be delayed?
@@AquilaRose6430 No, you can put your shop on vacation mode and it will be fine when you come back as long as you make an effort to send traffic to get sales going again. Run some ads, send a sale to your email list, etc.
Yep, they always have done this. It's infuriating.
Heard of a case today that the order is being delivered before it's even been shipped!!
Part of the problem this year was Etsy but USPS completely dropped the ball. I had over 180 packages that I mailed on the 9th, 10th and 11th that took forever to deliver. I still have about 10 packages from the 9th that still has not been delivered. Ohio, Florida and the hub Indianapolis was an absolute dumpster fire. I have been selling on Etsy since 2012 and have never seen USPS backed-up like this year, not even 2020. Etsy did remove five 1 star reviews I reported this week that did not mention USPS, they mostly said "Shipping took forever, I am so disappointed I did not receive this on time, etc...". I was surprised they removed them.
And I have just change my processing time from 3-5 days to 7-10 days in my shop. Danish postal “service” will be changing their conditions for me to ship the cheapest way. I have to send in bulk of min 10 packages so I have to give myself more days to collect them. It’s annoying but the only other option is for me to tripple the cost of shipping to ship in another category and that’s worse. I’ll see how it goes. It’s not so difficult here in January, usually, but come February, march and the summer that’s another story
There were also Etsy commercials that said if items don’t arrive on time the customer can get a full refund. That surprised me.
They did that last year too, but last year they weren't messing with the shipping times so aggressively.
For me, this started about a year ago. I got a message from someone saying Etsy says my package should've arrived yesterday but I don't have it. I checked and this woman had ordered 5 days prior to sending the message. I was very confused because I have a 2 week handling time and then you have to take in account the shipping time, so how was she being told her package would get there in less than 1 week?
Since then I have had numerous buyers message me saying the same thing. The first time it happened, I reached out to support and was told it's an issue that was being worked on but that was a year ago and it's still a problem. 🙄I've fortunately not gotten any negative reviews for it although a few people have mentioned the shipping was slower than they expected.
I doubt they're working on anything other than trying to figure out how to blame us for their bad estimates!
I put an announcement on my processing time in my product listing photos. Like: my processing time is 2 to 3 days.
That's smart. Anything to tell people they need to be reasonable!
I message/email my buyers as to the correct estimate of delivery now that Etsy has started this. Totally a pain and completely unnecessary by regular standards. Wanted to give a shout out to EBay for very cool commercial specifically for “VINTAGE”! Starting in January I will be moving some of my listing to eBay and learning how that platform works as I have never listing with anyone except Etsy. I’m just sorta done with all the crap from Etsy.
I’m definitely with you on that ha ha
Just be careful with ebay. They allow customers to return items 60 days later whether u like it or not. I had a customer by a dress she wanted for a party. She wore it then wanted her money back. Let's just say it didn't come back in original condition. Another time what i got back was not what i sold her. Keep that in mind when pricing to be able to absorb those loses. As 4 etsy being a shit platform...i listed an item on etsy, listed the exact same thing on ebay. Got absolutely no response from ebay for months, not even a click. So keep both platforms & experiment.
That's exactly what i do. PIA for sure but so worth it in terms of customer happiness. They like it when u personally contact them.
@@AquilaRose6430 Nothing is guaranteed, for sure. We used to have loads f people do the buy-wear-return thing when I worked at a large department store 30 years ago. They also treat wedding products like that, they'll buy things like wedding decor then return them after the event.
When I was buying shipping labels in December, it said that all of my US orders would arrive late! So frustrating as they just seem to be making it up.
I think they are making it up!
Is this a temporary issue or something more long term?
Together with this and the GSPR stuff, I can't see how any small biz can continue on Etsy...
I hope that it's a temporary thing while they're trying to get people to buy more during Christmas, but there's no way to know. I would keep checking in to see what they're telling people to be on the safe side.
@KaraBuntinTutorials OK thanks. I won't be back on Etsy till they set it up to exclude NI from the UK because I can't afford the GSPR thing... So could be a while 😑 shocking that Etsy isn't even sorting that when it's in place already...
@@the.toxic.phoenix Oops, I answered this but I thought it was a different video! They've actually said that they have something in the works to handle the GPSR that they're going to either roll out or announce to people on Dec 31, so it might not be too long! Sorry about that.
What Etsy could do would be to divide up the reviews like Audible does, in that case Overall, Performance, and Story. Etsy could have Quality, Customer Service, and Delivery. And they could stop penalizing shops for bad reviews related specifically to delivery.
It's interesting , they already do have that in the app, but it's just extra reviews, it doesn't figure into the star rating average. They definitely need to adjust something because the number of shipping-related reviews that aren't the seller's fault are ridiculous.
I've a had a 'failed to arrive' 1 star review a few weeks back. Very demoralising.
There are SO MANY of these on Etsy that re being received right now, it's incredible.
im lucky that my local post office is open 6am to 10pm [UK] im there with my package within an hour or 2 of sale.Not had any probs with Etsy /Post office in 4 yrs
Better knock on wood after saying that! :)
I would never do that because I have had Etsy cancelling orders after they came through (not payment pending). I have had one cancelled more than a day after I shipped it. I was so mad. I eventually got my money back from Etsy, as it was an expensive item. Hopefully you will not have these. Kara has had them too.
@@tinaindina7032 would you recommend delaying the shipping case they cancel?how long for? i have had a couple of cancels but they cancelled minutes after the sale
@@tinaindina7032 I have! They seem to have slowed down on doing that recently but it still happens.
Hope etsy permanently closes. Sick of the shit platform. I have had a shop since 2009 and get one sale a year!
It’s not going to close, they’ll just keep changing things until it’s a mini Amazon
I hope they don't. What r u selling? Is it a product a million others have? R ur photos good? Maybe u have a product no one wants? The state of the economy ?U can't blame Etsy for everything u might be doing wrong.
@@KaraBuntinTutorialsthat's fine by me if it's a mini amazon of quality products.
@@AquilaRose6430 The problem is that it's not. They allow so much crap on there now people are noticing. I've had two people I know recently say that Etsy has turned into a bunch of cheap junk from Alibaba. IT's getting a bad reputation.