In May of last year, Etsy’s Chief Financial Officer Rachel Glaser told Wall Street that it was developing a new program to reassure shoppers that it “had buyers’ backs” on non-delivery and not-as-described claims, which she called part of Etsy’s trusted brand concept.
One month later, Etsy launched a program that has proven controversial among sellers, so much so that many have grown leery of selling items priced over $250, as we blogged about in January.
Sometimes Etsy foots the bill for refunds, sometimes sellers do. As we reported in the January 31st blog post, ecommerce consultant and Etsy expert Cindy Baldassi (known as cindylouwho2 on the Etsy discussion boards) had begun collecting reports about sellers’ experience with the new policy.
On Thursday, she published her findings and dispelled some misconceptions. There’s some good news in her report, but there’s also some grim news for sellers of expensive goods who are concerned about bad buyers.
The report begins with the following introduction:
“When Etsy announced its revamped Purchase Protection Program (PPP) starting August 1, 2022, quite a few sellers appeared to assume it would mostly work like the previous policy, with just a few new twists. Specifically, some thought that buyers would not get refunds for items marked as delivered, that “not as described” (NAD) and late orders would need to be returned prior to the refund, and that sellers would get a chance to post comments and evidence in the case files on Etsy.
“All of that has turned out to be incorrect at least some of the time, and a small number of shop owners have now lost large sums of money (some more than $2000) on cases that would have been decided in their favour in the past.
“While Etsy does refund many cases out of their company funds as the program promises, there are much bigger gaps in seller protection than a lot of members realized. I’ve written this blog post to try to separate facts from rumours and wrong assumptions, and to lay out some of the ways our microbusinesses can protect themselves from these forced refunds. I have verified as many of these claim stories as possible, including screenshots of correspondence from Etsy.”
Among the good news, Baldassi wrote: “Contrary to some reports, Etsy does seem to be covering most of the cases out of Etsy’s own money.”
Among the bad news, she wrote: “As stated earlier, orders over $250 USD (including tax and shipping charges) do not qualify for Etsy Seller Protection. This means that sales of expensive items, and orders of multiple less expensive items, now put the average business owner at some risk. There are no exceptions.”
Sellers who study Baldassi’s report will come away with valuable information, including the lesson that it’s best to act with speed to avoid claims or once claims arise. For instance: “Do not ship late, ever”; “Answer buyer help requests as soon as possible, well before the 48 hours is up”; and, “Once a case is opened, reply in the case log as quickly as possible.”
Baldassi also included a section, “Lobby Etsy for changes,” with a dozen suggestions for the company, including: “On orders larger than $250, insist the buyer return the item/s before any refunds can be issued.”
And she included a link to a survey Etsy is conducting where it asks for sellers’ general impression of the new Etsy Purchase Protection Program and asks if sellers think the program is good for sellers and if it’s good for buyers.
The best shot at getting an update from Etsy about the program is if executives brief sellers during its first-quarter conference call at the end of the month (or in early May).
I feel like I’m doing business among rank amateurs.
It’s like a senior college student operating among kindergartners.
Buyers must sense this…
They don’t pull any punches with me.
Is buyers backs the same as ebays never get effD again?
Oh how does she know stay foots most of this?
I’ve had this happen to me, twice in the recent past.
Last April when Josh Silverman screwed all us sellers with an exorbitant fee increase and mandatory participation in paid advertising I sent him a letter stating that I would no long list new items and in fact, would let my items sell one by one until gone and then I would close my store.
Naturally, his lackies had nothing to say in response, not even a form letter….
And THAT is why I coined the term: “etsbay”!
I’ve been fortunate to have never experienced any of the forced refunds reported in this blog post but I have read countless reports in FB groups and on Etsy Forums from sellers describing incidents where buyers have opened a case for NAD or non-delivery when neither have been true and the case was closed within minutes of being opened (obviously by a bot) with the buyer refunded from the seller’s account. No return was required prior to the refund remittance and no recourse offered from Etsy. This appears to be happening with far more frequency than reported in Baldassi’s blog.
Dear Goliath-
late delivery and item not received (though scanned delivered) are issues between the carrier and the buyer- sellers have little control over the former and none over the latter.
AND ‘changed my mind’ or ‘found another one somewhere else for less’ are NOT INAD
(furthermore 100’s of good feedbacks for an item must mean the description was pretty good, no?)
@The End- lol good one
Wasn’t meant to be funny Steve.
But people constantly tell me that… if I could only convert it to cash….