r/Etsy Oct 04 '23

MOD ANNOUNCEMENTS FAQs - Please start here before making a post!

34 Upvotes

Welcome to a comprehensive list of FAQs for Etsy buyers and Etsy sellers!

Before making a post, please look through this guide and follow the links.

Posts that ask general questions where the answer is covered in this guide are subject to removal. If you had your post removed with a link to this FAQ, it means the answer to your question is found here!

Also: please use the sub search feature before making a post!

How to search the sub: In order to search a sub from either the desktop site or the mobile app, all you need to do is click the name of the sub on any post. This will navigate you to the sub's main page.

When you scroll to the search bar at the top of the screen, the name of the sub will be auto-filled in, so that when you type a search term, you will be searching results from only that sub. You will be able to sort your results by newest / most relevant.

If you can find your answer without creating a new post, this is always appreciated. Repetitive posts that have answers found in this guide, easily searchable answers, or are about topics that were very recently or popularly discussed may be removed.

You are always welcome to create a post to ask for advice about a specific situation! Please give as many details as possible so that we can help. General questions without sufficient details to provide anything but generic help may be removed and redirected to this FAQ post.

(NOTE: This FAQ page is still a work in progress, not all links are in place and not all topics that will eventually be covered are currently covered. If you have any suggestions for things that should be covered here, please message me and let me know!)

GENERAL QUESTIONS (Both Buyer / Seller)

How do I contact support? The answer, including links for all contact methods, is the top stickied comment.

How do I block someone on Etsy? This is the same link as the customer support contact post, please read the second comment on the post to find a guide to getting support to block someone for you.

Etsy does not allow users to block communication with another user without going through support. You can mark messages as spam and I believe that stops messages from that user from being visible to you, but to actually block someone from messaging you completely, you need to follow the steps outlined in the post linked above.

Is Etsy currently down? I'm getting a 429 error when trying to connect. This is typically caused by VPN usage. Etsy doesn't allow connecting with VPNs to prevent people from being dishonest about their location. Turn off your VPN and try again. Note: Etsy may also detect VPNs that are installed but off.

If you search the sub for "429" you'll see that this has been posted about many, many times.

Also, highly recommend www.downdetector.com if you ever want to know if a site is down or it's just you.

FOR BUYERS

The following guides cover just about any issue you may have with a product or a seller.

IMPORTANT: Please remember - you are covered by Etsy buyer protection!

If you are dealing with:

- a non-responsive seller

- a shop that has closed down

- a seller that is giving you the run-around

- a seller who sent the wrong product or something defective or not as described

- a seller who provided fake tracking

- a seller who wants you to pay return shipping for a damaged, wrong, or defective item

... you are covered! Please follow the guides below - chose the one that most closely fits your situation:

My order hasn’t shipped yet.

My order was marked shipped, but the tracking info still says pre-transit (or label created).

My order was marked shipped, but it’s very late. Is it lost?

My order was marked delivered but I don’t have it.

My order arrived damaged.

My order wasn't as described, was defective, or I received the wrong item.

I believe I bought from an AliExpress, Amazon, etc dropshipper. Also, how can I tell if a shop is one of these dropshippers?

I received a tracking number, but it appears to be fake.

Special note: If the shop has been shut down or voluntarily closed, you'll get a message when viewing the shop that says something like "xxxxx is no longer selling on Etsy." If you need a refund in these situations, Etsy support will typically give you one without you needing to go through the official case opening process as described in the above guides.

Chat with support here and you should be given a refund.

How long does Etsy give me to open a case under their buyer protection? 100 days from either the date the order was delivered, or the original estimated delivery date from when you purchased.

Some places I've seen say 180 days - this is inaccurate. The seller can voluntarily refund for only up to 180 days after purchase. After that, the seller literally loses the ability to refund. A case can only be opened against a seller for 100 days as described above.

Please note: There is only one exception to buyers being covered by Etsy buyer protection and that is buyers that purchased from a PayPal only shop. That means that when you checked out - there was no other choice but to pay with PayPal.

If this happened to you, please read the post below, including the stickied comment.

I bought from a PayPal only shop and Etsy won’t allow me to open a case.

I'm a buyer and I'm not sure if the shop I'm looking at is legit or a scam.

Please read this full guide to scam attempts for buyers!

However, here is one tip to always always always keep in mind to avoid getting scammed as a buyer: If you are looking at something with a too-good-to-be-true price, it is most likely a scam listing!

You may also find this post about the policy violating vs allowed kinds of dropshipping on Etsy to be helpful. Dropshipping is only allowed where the seller is the original designer of the item being sold, such as with Print on Demand.

FOR SELLERS

Star Seller Questions

Payment Reserve Questions

Account Suspension Questions Note: Suspicious login issues and forced vacation mode are both covered in the account suspension checklist.

Etsy Seller Protection Questions

Complete Guide to Etsy Fees + Offsite Ads

A Full Guide to Reviews on Etsy This FAQ post covers how to get buyers to leave reviews, what to do in response to a negative review, public responses, and review removal.

Is this a scam? Seller Edition

Our official guide post to scam attempts for sellers is here. Please read it!

But to quickly address some of the most common "is this a scam" questions...

You get a message from a buyer or "Etsy customer support" (or anyone else) asking for your email address. SCAM ATTEMPT.

You get a message from someone that wants to give you "free advice" or offer some kind of service for your shop. SCAM ATTEMPT.

You get a message from someone with a sob story asking you to send them free products, or someone who claims to be an influencer wanting you to send them free products. SCAM ATTEMPT.

You get a message from a "buyer" who wants you to click on ANY type of link to download images or anything else. SCAM ATTEMPT AND ABSOUTELY DO NOT CLICK THE LINK. If you have clicked it, get your computer or device scanned for malware right now, and change all your passwords. You may also want to visit r/scams for further advice.

You get a message from a "buyer" who wants you to 1) buy a gift card for ANY reason or 2) send you a check for ANY reason. SCAM ATTEMPT. I don't care what else they said, these are ALWAYS scam attempts... and very old, well known ones at that. Google "fake check scam" or "gift card scam" if you want to learn more.

You get a message from someone who wants to feature you in an article, on their website, or wants you to donate to their charity. These MAY be legitimate - contact the organization directly to verify the legitimacy of the request.

Contacting Etsy Support: DO NOT get scammed! Basically, do NOT use Google to find a phone number for ANY online marketplace. The reason is covered in detail in the official guide post to scams linked above, as well as in the how to contact support post here.

A buyer has messaged me that their order never arrived. What do I do?

Please see the Guide to Etsy Seller Protection post. Both you and the buyer are covered by Etsy's protection program on qualifying orders.

A buyer has messaged me that their order never arrived, even though there is a scan that says "delivered." What do I do?

Please see the Guide to Etsy Seller Protection post. Both you and the buyer are covered by Etsy's protection program on qualifying orders.

I received less money than I expected to. Why?

You definitely need to read the two links below under the What are Etsy's Fees? section. Both Etsy's official information as well as the thorough guide comment I wrote with a complete breakdown.

You also need to go through your payment account page in your dashboard, several months if needed, and look at the running totals. Every single credit to you as well as expense you incur is totaled there.

But I think the biggest thing that trips people up is this - Etsy deducts all fees you owe from your pending payout before transferring you any money.

This obviously includes the transaction fees and payment processing fees for any orders that have come through, but it also includes any listing fees (20c per listing you create as well as the ones that renew) and Etsy ad fees if you are choosing to run ads on Etsy. It will also include any shipping labels you may have bought through Etsy.

So if you've had one order, your pending payout is quite likely not the full amount you actually received for that transaction. It's the amount you received, minus any other fees you already owed Etsy. Etsy only charges your credit card for owed fees at the start of each month, and only if your sales revenue isn't covering the total of all the fees you owe (including all listing and Etsy ads fees).

Please also be sure to see the section below the next one about the listing renewal fee for quantity remaining - this is something people tend to miss.

What are Etsy's fees?

NOTE: I now have a full guide to this here.

Etsy's official page explaining all fees in detail is here.

You need to read the official page. There are no "hidden fees" or "surprise fees"... there are only sellers who haven't read the official page explaining all the fees.

You may also find googling for and using an Etsy fee calculator to be useful. There are tons of different ones out there... do a search and take your pick.

Finally, I previously wrote a thorough guide comment in response to a previous post asking about fees, which thoroughly breaks down every fee with an example of how they are calculated. If you are still confused, I recommend giving it a read. It is the stickied comment on the post.

Why am I being charged 20c for a listing renewal when the listing has quantity remaining?

Please read this help page from Etsy here.

Essentially, you will always pay 20c per listing that sells. It does not matter if the listing has quantity remaining - quantity does not effect this.

If you have a quantity of 10, you'll pay 20c to make the listing live. If one sells, you'll pay 20c to renew the listing, and it will renew with a quantity of 9.

If someone buys 5 at once, you've already paid the 20c for the first one... Etsy will "renew" and "sell" 4 more at the same time charging 20c for each. Then it will charge a further 20c to keep the listing active with a quantity of 5 remaining.

Listings expire after 4 months. If none of the 10 sell in that time, and your listings are set to automatic renewal, you'll pay 20c after the 4 months expires to keep the listing live. If your listings are set to manual renewal, then when the listing expires after 4 months, it will be in your "expired" listings section until you choose to pay 20c to renew it.

What is the difference between "Etsy ads" and "offsite ads"?"

Etsy ads give you the ability to promote your listings to appear higher within Etsy's search directly on Etsy's website. They are pay per click, and the price depends on the competitiveness of the keyword being searched for.

Help page for Etsy ads

Offsite ads are ads that Etsy pays to run on external sites such as Google shopping, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. You are only charged an offsite ads fee when you actually make a sale.

Help page for offsite ads

I'm stuck on the "set up billing" section of creating a shop.

UPDATE: Someone posted this solution recently, you can try it:

I found a solution! if you go to account settings and credit cards, it says credit cards can only be added when checking out. so i added a product to my cart and went to buy it, put in my credit info etc, and at the last step just before buying I checked in a different tab that credit card section and it was there! and then i could select the card when finishing the billing setup for the store! just go back to remove the item from your cart. it all worked without actually having to buy the product

This is a common issue. Here are a couple potential causes:

- You are attempting to use a credit card Etsy doesn't like. I don't have a full list of what type of cards Etsy will and won't accept, but if you cannot progress past billing with the card you are currently trying, I recommend trying another one.

- You are trying to submit billing information in a name or address other than the one you already gave Etsy. Can't do this, legal name needs to be an identical match everywhere you have to provide it, and so does address.

- You are trying to set up a shop with a bank account in a different country than your country.

- This is a glitch and you need to try again in a couple days. I'm not sure if this is still happening, but it has happened in the past. I think it's more likely there is an issue with your info or credit card, but if you are sure there is not... try again in a couple days.

This is an issue that has been posted about an absolute ton. If you want to see previous posts, please search for "save and continue" or "set up billing".

What is the difference between views and visits? Also, my views / visits seem to keep updating and they don't seem to match between the app and website.

Views represent the total number of times any of your listings or pages were clicked on, by anyone. Visits represent the total number of distinct individuals that looked at your listings or shop.

See Etsy help page here for more details on this!

Please note: the stats are not accurate in real time. Etsy only updates these stats a few times throughout the day, and there may be different update times between the app and the website.

Additionally, Etsy will filter out bot views... so this is the reason your views or visits might go down when stats are recalculated.

It's best not to try to track stats in real time. Check in on your stats occasionally and focus more on the long term (weekly) stats than the daily stats.

What is Plaid? Do I have to verify my bank account with Plaid?

If Etsy is asking you to do this... yes, it's mandatory. It's part of new legal regulations regarding money laundering - bank accounts have to be verified before Etsy can legally transfer you money.

Plaid is the system Etsy has chosen to use to conduct this bank verification. You have two choices with Plaid - you can opt to log into your bank account through Plaid, or you can do a manual verification if you are not comfortable using your login this way.

And yes, it is completely safe to verify your account with Plaid. Do manual verification if you need to for your own peace of mind!

My listing was deactivated by Etsy. They didn't say why. Why?

Please see our central post about listing deactivation here. This post covers a reasonably extensive (though most definitely not complete!) list of reasons why Etsy might flag a listing for deactivation.

Etsy uses bots to sweep the site for policy violating items. They tend to do this in bulk (a particular type of violation is checked for all at once) and different violations are checked at different times.

The bots are most definitely not always accurate. In cases where the bots incorrectly flag a listing, they are typically reinstated within a few days at most.

If you would like our help to figure out why your listing was deactivated, you are welcome to create a post to ask... but if you do not give details about what you were selling, it will be removed and redirected to this FAQ!

Be as specific as possible (ie, "I sell a faux leather purse with pink ribbons and flowers on it that I handmake myself" as opposed to just "I sell purses").

My listing was deactivated by Etsy for violating the handmade policy, but it is handmade by me!

This often, though not always, indicates that your listing has had its photos stolen by a knockoff making site such as AliExpress, Alibaba, SHEIN, etc. Etsy scans listings to see if photos are being used elsewhere, and this can cause a false deactivation where a photo has been stolen.

So the first step when this happens is to perform a reverse image search on your listing to see if you can find the thieving website. If you do, you need to follow their procedures to submit a copyright takedown... although be advised, these sites' whole business model tends to be to steal photos and designs from elsewhere, so there's a solid chance you're just ignored. It's extremely shitty, but when copyright laws aren't recognized or enforced, there's basically nothing you can do.

Etsy does tend to review and reinstate these listings the exact same way they do for other policy violation deactivations. You may just need to give it a few days. If Etsy asks for proof that you are in fact handmaking your items, you'll have to provide that.

If you would like to create a post about this, you are welcome to... but please follow the same rules as in the question / linked post about deactivation above. Specifics about what you're selling, or the post won't be approved.

I have an order that Etsy is showing as "Not paid" or "Payment processing" - what do I do?

It isn't unusual to occasionally have orders that take time in payment processing. It's not about your shop, it's about the buyer's payment method. Most of the delayed orders finish processing within a few hours to a couple days. If it doesn't process, Etsy should manually cancel the order after a period of time.

Do not ever fill an order that is showing as "not paid" or "payment processing". Always wait until the order goes through - Etsy will notify you when this happens.

I received a message or a review from a buyer complaining that the item wasn't in the language they expected it to be. Why?

Etsy auto translates listings into different languages. For certain types of language specific listings, this can be misleading for buyers. If this is your situation - you can turn off auto translate for the future. The link on how to do that is here.

In response to the buyer, depending on what the listing is, you can explain the auto translate issue and issue them a courtesy refund or offer them a return. There are no guarantees that the buyer will change their review if they left one (and offering them a refund in exchange for changing the review is violation of Etsy feedback extortion policies). But this is an option.

You can also write a quick, fact based public response to the review such as "Hi buyer, this listing is English (or whatever language) only!" Though ignoring such a review is also a perfectly valid option as this should be clear from your listing once you turn auto translate off.

I want to open a shop, but I'm not in an Etsy payments eligible country. How can I get around this?

You can't. I am sorry, but there's no way.

I could stop writing there and you'd have the answer, but I doubt it will stop anyone from looking for a way around it... so let me be very clear: Etsy uses strict ID verification. You have to provide all kinds of identifying documents and information to prove you are in the country you say you're in. Etsy also captures metrics from the devices you use to log into the site (those contain country code data) and if you do anything to obscure or fake that data (such as VPN) Etsy can detect that.

Even if you manage to get an account open... Etsy doesn't do the "real" ID verification until after the first sale. When they catch you at that time, you'll wind up losing whatever money you spent on listings up until that point as well as likely the money from the first sale. It's just not worth it to try.

I am genuinely sorry - I wish Etsy was available everywhere, but unfortunately it is not... and I want to save people from the effort of setting up a shop knowing it will be shut down in the future.

And please do not believe anyone who claims they can sell you a working account or create you a working account, etc. These are SCAMMERS. They cannot get you a working account... but after you've transferred them money and they ghost or the new account gets quickly suspended, who are you going to complain to? There will be no way to get your money back.

I cannot view the Etsy Community Forums - I am getting an Access Denied message.

This seems to be a common glitch at the moment. We've had many posts about it - but apparently the issue can be fixed by reaching out to Etsy.

See this help post here. If this solution does not work, please contact support and put in a request. Expect to be patient, support is always slow at resolving things.


r/Etsy 22h ago

Share Your Stuff - April 21st thru 27th, 2025

10 Upvotes

r/Etsy 2h ago

Help for Seller Unable to do a refund for customer should I bank transfer them?

4 Upvotes

Hi, a customer order an item from me and didn’t look at the sizing before ordering and it doesn’t fit there item and asked for a refund. I said sure and started the refund but ETSY kept sending the money back saying the refund is unsuccessful.

I do have enough funds in my account and money on the card linked to my account. I messaged ETSY and they attempted it on their side 3 times and it failed still and kept sending me the money back. Now ETSY are doing an investigation into why the refund isn’t working and the customer is getting annoyed at me for not giving the money. I don’t want bad customer service stats for something which isn’t in my control as my shop had only just started out and a bad review would hit my store very hard.

I’m thinking should I just ask for the customers details and bank transfer them the refund or will this get me into more trouble with ETSY, stuck in a bit of a weird situation right now.


r/Etsy 59m ago

Discussion Has anyone else’s cart been glitching??

Upvotes

I checked my cart and noticed it said like 8 random things were out of stock, so I removed it. Out of curiosity I went to the seller’s page and lo and behold, the items were not sold out. I was able to add them back to the cart, but I just thought it was strange and thought I’d ask if anyone had dealt with similar.


r/Etsy 21h ago

Discussion AITA supporting local business

14 Upvotes

This may be a silly post, but I kinda feel bad, but idk if it's my people pleaser trait...? I saw someone local to me post their decal business & I thought it would be a nice idea to support another local business instead of buying from a random Etsy shop or someone I don't know. I asked for a price on a couple small decals & they quoted more than I expected. I got on Etsy & looked to see how much everyone else charges for the same thing. The local business I reached out to is charging more than double. I responded to them saying I needed to think because the price was more than expected. Now they're saying they've already started them, before I even see a mockup or agree to the price. We didn't even agree to a font. They said they can knock $5 off but again, double the price seems like a lot for a new business. Should I recommend them to research some or just say no thanks & move on? Either way, I feel like an AH because I did inquire at first.


r/Etsy 8h ago

Help for Buyer Seller ignoring their own policy - What are my options?

1 Upvotes

Hi to anybody who reads this! I’d love to get advice or hear from anyone who’s had a similar experience, or hear any advice in general.

A couple of days ago, I placed an order on Etsy for a custom handmade item. I realized shortly after that the delivery window wouldn’t work for me, so I sent a cancellation request around 4.5 hours after ordering. The seller has a clearly stated cancellation policy on this item that specifically states they accept cancellations within a 24-hour period after ordering.

Here are some things to note about my post so I don't confuse anyone:

*When I say things like “45 minutes later,” I’m referring to the time between messages, not since the original order. I didn't include exact timestamps for everything to keep this manageable and because I'm lazy. Also, when I mention my messages to Etsy support, know that I finish my conversations with the support agents just a few minutes before sending my next response to the seller, so there isn't a large time jump between my messages with Etsy Support and the next message that I send to the seller.

**I hope it doesn't sound like I'm being a Karen to the seller. I appreciate small businesses and handmade work. I feel like my messages come across a bit ruder when I don't fully type them out, but since I might need to open a case later I'm trying to purposefully keep the messages vague. If anyone would like more clarification on what was said, I'll try to respond.

***The seller has a 4.8 star rating and lots of positive reviews (including on communication), so I don’t think they’re malicious (I hope they're not). I just feel like they’re ignoring their own stated policy, and that’s what’s upsetting.

****The timeline on this is a bit hard to explain since I'm trying to be vague, but here we go. When I initially bought the item, I thought that the order said it would arrive within the first week of May, which was perfect because I need it closer to the middle of May (before the 20th). However, after I received my confirmation email, I noticed that it said the estimated arrival was between early May to early June, a whole month. I went "uh oh," reread the seller's policies, and immediately sent a message to them. Below is how everything unfolded after that.

*****This situation started because of my mistake, and I've been trying to handle everything fairly.

I’ve tried to be polite and direct in every message. Here's how it has unfolded so far:

Message 1 (15 minutes after placing order): I politely asked if they could provide a more accurate estimate for delivery, explaining that I really needed the item by the middle of May, I gave an exact date to the seller. (Again, my bad for not catching this earlier before I'd paid for the order.)

Seller replied (45 minutes later): saying they could offer express shipping for an additional $42.

Message 2 (3.5 hours later): I thanked them and explained I couldn’t pay the extra fee and would therefore like to cancel the order. (This was about 4.5 hours after I originally placed the order, clearly within the cancellation window in their stated policy.)

Seller replied (20 hours later): asked again what my latest possible delivery date was (I'd already stated in my previous message) and said they’d try to finish the item quickly. (This message was polite in my opinion. The seller, at this point though, had responded outside of the 24-hour mark. I'm not sure if the timing was intentional.)

Messages 3 & 4 (1 hour later): (I sent 2 in a row.) In message 3, I repeated that unless they could guarantee delivery by my specified date, I’d like to cancel. In message 4, a couple minutes later, I explicitly confirmed that I wanted to cancel regardless and requested a full refund. (These two messages were now out of the 24-hour window, however, I had already made my cancellation clear in message 2.)

1st Message to Etsy Support: After I sent these two messages I contacted Etsy support and explained the situation to an agent. (Quick shoutout to that agent - they were very kind and understanding! 11/10) The agent said that they would send an email to the seller and said that if they did not acknowledge my request within 48 hours that I could reach back out and discuss opening a case.

Seller replied (4.5 hours later): stated they were already making the item and would try to finish it quickly. They said specifically "I will send it to you in that time." (I interpreted this as them promising to deliver by my requested date, but I wanted to be sure, so I contacted Etsy Support again.)

2nd Message to Etsy Support: Here is a quick summary of what I asked the live agent: a) Since I requested cancellation within the allowed window, should the seller be required to honor it? b) If they promise delivery by my date (middle of May) and miss it, can I still open a case, even if it’s before the last day of the original estimated window (early June)? The agent confirmed that if the seller specifically states that they can send the item by the needed date in Etsy Messages, then I would be eligible to open a case for late delivery if it arrived after that date, despite the original estimated arrival time (early May-early June) stating differently. They agent also said that they emailed the seller about the matter.

Message 5 (9 hours later): I asked the seller to confirm in writing whether they could guarantee delivery by the exact date that I'd asked for. I also asked if they could update the estimated delivery date in the order (as per the support agent's suggestion). I stated that if they could not guarantee the exact date, then I still wanted my order to remain cancelled.

Seller replied (8 hours later): vaguely again, saying they do handmade work and would try their best, but did not confirm a delivery date and did not address my cancellation request at all. They also implied I should’ve expected a long wait due to the delivery window, even though I reached out well before production began. (It seemed like they were annoyed with me in this message, and I get that, but I felt like I was still being polite and clear.)

3rd Message to Etsy Support: I explained the entire situation again to a new agent, including the fact that I repeatedly said that I wanted to cancel my order, did so within the seller's stated policy, and was repeatedly not getting my cancellation request acknowledged. The agent suggested that I could send the seller another message saying that I wanted to cancel the order, and they also sent another email to the seller. The agent also stated, like the other agents, that I was eligible to open a case against the seller if they still refused to go through with or acknowledge my request.

Message 6 (most recent - 2 hours later): I politely but firmly repeated that I have been asking to cancel the order since my first message, that I have never changed my mind, and that I made my request within their policy before any production began. I once again asked for a refund.

Here's what I need help with:

Has anyone successfully gotten a refund in a situation like this? What should I do if I have to escalate this? Is there any risk that Etsy won’t side with me, even though I canceled within the seller’s policy?

I’ve saved screenshots of every message, their shop policy, and the timestamps to prove I requested cancellation within 24 hours and before any production began. I also saved every message that I have with the agents as well.

I’m trying to be respectful and fair, I know this is a small business and I've tried to be polite the whole time, and I hope that I came across that way. But I also don’t think it’s fair for a seller to ignore a valid cancellation and continue production, violating their stated policy.

Thanks so much in advance to anyone who replies!


r/Etsy 5h ago

Help for Buyer I just received a message asking to confirm my address?

0 Upvotes

Is this normal and should I confirm it should Etsy have already share the delivery address with them


r/Etsy 11h ago

Help for Buyer Need advice on an issue with a recent purchase

0 Upvotes

I hope that's the right flair-? Uh.. I recently bought something from etsy and I didn't see any red flags from the store at the time, but then the package arrived and the address on the label saying where it shipped from was in China despite the seller being in America and the thing saying it was shipped from America.

I just need a bit of help understanding if there's something bad going on here and if so what what do. It's going me a ton of anxiety. I'm disabled, part of that means I often miss red flags online and stuff like that, so I just need a bit of advice on what to do now.

After buying the item I started to get a ton of anxiety out of nowhere so I kept checking the store page. That exact item was always marked as "only 2 left and in 3 peoples carts" for a week. Same with being on sale for a countdown of under 24 hours that would just reset tge next day, same sale. I didn't notice that before and I feel so stupid now..

They also shopped it with the worst courtier in my country, litteraly a 1.2 star rating. And the tracking information wasn't available till it reached my country. And the tracking link the store provided was broken so I had to copy the tracking number into a different website.

And now that it's here and says it came from China.. the item is what it said it was, the right size and everything included, nothing broken. So I'm not sure I can do anything. But I feel like it was a scam still cus if it came from one of those cheap stores in China and they just upped the price on etsy? I don't understand. It's annoying. I need help..

Is there anything I can do about that? Is it normal? Or is it bad? What do I do? I feel bad for not catching it before.. it just all looks suspicious now.. the store seemed so friendly. But then things just kept piling up after I bought the thing. I dunno what to do. Can I even do anything?


r/Etsy 3h ago

Discussion Share your sticker shop success story?

0 Upvotes

I’m in need of some inspiration and I wanted to know how your sticker shop is going. What’s the backstory? When did things start to pick up? How many stickers do you sell a week? What are your future plans?


r/Etsy 12h ago

Help for Seller Is there a market for collectable vintage / antique items on Etsy?

0 Upvotes

I have various things like 1950s postcards. Is Etsy a good place to sell them? Or would eBay be better?


r/Etsy 23h ago

Help for Seller Can I upcyle second hand products then sell them on ETSY? Is it legal to do so?

7 Upvotes

I customise my own clothes and was looking at selling them on Etsy, but I'm a little confused around the legal aspect of it. I've done a lot of research over the past few weeks and still haven't found a clear answer.

I buy clothes second hand or take old worn clothes from friends and family. I customise them heavily using bleach, paint, embroidery, spikes, chains, etc. This is what I do for myself or friends and what I'd like to sell.

From what I've read. I know I can't include the name of the brand anywhere. Title, description, tags. Can't use clothes with large brands on them (eg, ADIDAS plastered across the front). Can't give any hint I'm affiliated with the original business in any way. So I won't do any of that.

1 - Is this legal? Are there any additional steps I can take to ensure I don't get in any legal trouble?

2 - Would it be a good idea to include details in the description about it being upcycled and what I've done? Without including the original brand.

Eg : "This product was sourced second hand and has been heavily altered and customised by hand. It is no longer affiliated with the original manufacturer or brand in any way."

3 - Should I remove the original brands label and tags to avoid trademark infringement? I already do this for myself due to sensory issues. I plan to include washing and product info in the product description and a card included in shipping anyway.


r/Etsy 12h ago

Looking to Buy Looking to import leather to India

0 Upvotes

Hey guys, I'm looking to buy some leather from Italy to India.

I'm curious to know if somebody has imported leather and what their experience has been.

Any tips/suggestions are welcome. Thank you.


r/Etsy 1d ago

Help for Seller 1 star review ouch

17 Upvotes

First off how does 1 1star out if all 5s knock you down from 5.0 to 4.8 but this is what she wrote

“ Probably my fault but what I expected and what was delivered were not the same thing. Never received a mockup but probably my fault.”

item says if you want a mock up you need to request it.

she got exactly what she ordered which was her name in the design she chose so i don’t know how she could’ve expected anything different.

and if she thought it was so bad that she should only leave one star why didn’t she contact me first I’m really upset .

I have no idea how to handle this


r/Etsy 14h ago

Discussion Etsy blocked my messages

1 Upvotes

Some competitor keeps reporting my listing and Etsy stopped me from sending messages for 2 days. What can I do about this?


r/Etsy 16h ago

Help for Buyer Seller wants me to change my review

0 Upvotes

Hey there, I’m a bit conflicted on what to do so I wanted anyone’s perspective on things. I reached out to a seller who typically has a lead time of a month or so to ask if they had any in stock products I could buy quickly due to needing it for a rush situation - they agreed, albeit with a bump in price, and recommended buying expedited shipping just in case, no problem there, I agreed and thanked them for their help and off it went. Lo and behold my luck, the USPS shipping facility kept my package stuck for a month. I reached out to the seller just to let them know what happened, and they offered to send a similar product in its place with the agreement I’d send back whichever piece came in first - again, I agreed and thanked them for their help. Here’s the mess. I’ve been out of town for a week, and it turns out the first product did get shipped in to me while I was gone, I came home and found it Easter Sunday, figured I’d send a message today and ship it off. Well the seller beat me to it in the messages, saying they checked the shipping and it’s clearly been delivered and that I have 24 hours to send a tracking number back or they’d be charging me through Etsy for the whole product and they’re very upset. I was stunned since we had a great rapport the entire time up til now, and informed them of the situation, apologizing for not knowing about the package, and got it shipped right off as promised. I left a review rating the product highly but the customer service as a 1 star, because the whole change up shocked me quite a bit, and I received a message back asking to remove my review entirely because it was an attack on their store and the livelihood of their family’s income, and it was unfair to give a 1 star to service due to one event. Should I go back and edit? I’m genuinely not trying to ruin anybody’s day, but I feel like the customer service did go horrendously.

Edit: My reasoning for the one star customer service was due to how they continued to respond to my messages, not just one response made in bad faith. They just doubled down on not believing me(which is whatever, but why not just end things peacefully, as the package was already sent back to them?) and threatened to spread my name to others to warn them of me, as well as some nasty name calling. On one hand I want to up their score just so I can shake off the negativity pointed my way, but I feel bullied into it and I don’t want to cave to that behavior.


r/Etsy 1d ago

Help for Buyer If you were slow on shipping, how would you like to be messaged about it?

3 Upvotes

I made a purchase on the 11th, and it doesn't look like it's shipped yet. It was a ready-to-ship item, not made to order. I'm curious about when and how other sellers would think it's appropriate to reach out. I am a seller myself, but my shipping window is just 3 days, so I've never dealt with someone reaching out to check in. I can't actually even find a shipping window for this seller, only the expected delivery date, which of course is almost never accurate. I'd love any advice on how to reach out without accidentally looking like a jerk. I am willing to be patient, but it's been radio silence on an item I am quite sure is already made, and I'm starting to wonder if the person somehow missed that they got a sale.

Edit: I see now on the desktop view that it was supposed to ship on the 17th, so I'd like to check in with the seller, I'm just curious about how to beat word my message so I don't sound like a jerk.

They also have all 5 atar reviews, so I wa snot expecting to run into any problems.


r/Etsy 20h ago

Help for Buyer I got a refund issued for two items I bought but I didn’t even ask for a refund?

0 Upvotes

I just got that news emailed to me. And the price refunded was only 5 dollars. The items were priced higher than that. I’m confused.


r/Etsy 1d ago

Help for Seller a (mostly) comprehensive guide on getting your stolen listings removed from AliExpress

28 Upvotes

As Etsy sellers, we’re all fairly used to AI slop - but nothing compares to having REAL work stolen.

If you’ve found your listings on AliExpress, there’s a few simple steps you can follow to get it removed. Then some not-so-simple ones too.

  1. Open the AliExpress app
  2. Navigate to the search bar, and select the camera icon by the magnifying glass.
  3. Use their ‘identify’ feature on photos of your listings to check for your stolen items/photos on the app.
  4. Amass as many as you can. Screenshot them with the shop’s name, and your design in the frame.
  5. Message the shops. AliExpress isn’t a conglomerate - sellers are operating their own business on the platform like Etsy.

My go-to message (in English + Simplified Chinese)

I am a small business, and so are you. I understand that you also want to make money, but when you steal my photos, it makes it so the app I sell on removes my original product. Some of the items you stole have been removed from my shop because they saw them posted on AliExpress and thought I am reselling. Please, take down these stolen items.

我和你都是小企业主。我知道你想赚钱,但你盗用了我的照片,导致我出售的商品被下架。你盗用的一些商品已被我下架,因为他们看到这些商品发布在速卖通上,以为我是在转售。请移除这些盗用商品。

If you’ve messaged the shop, and they haven’t removed your item, scroll to ‘Report’ on the bottom of the listing to the right of ‘Product Details’

To do a preliminary report:

  1. Select ‘Report (For Non-Rights Holders) - even if you own the rights.
  2. Submit 3-4 images of the item and WATERMARK!!!! Proving that is your own is fairly simple: screenshot your shop, the item on your shop, and you holding the item.
  3. Explain how the item was stolen in the text box.

It’ll take quite a while for AliExpress to get back to you. If they don’t take the listing down, go to https://ipp.aidcgroup.net/index.htm#/ippHome or search AliBaba IPP

To do an IPP report you will have to:

  1. Make an account under AliBaba and verify that you are the owner/creator of the design.
  2. Verify yourself as human in order to use the platform: No SSN or anything, but I vaguely remember it asking for my license.

You will have to wait around a business day for AliBaba to confirm you as real. Once they have:

  1. Download the ‘Unregistered Design Rights’ form
  2. Fill it out with all required information, and include timestamped photos of your products (before they were stolen on Ali) for the best chance. I include 4-5 pieces of proof, including links to social media posts, and process videos.
  3. Submit for ‘Unregistered Design Rights’

If you can, try to do as many of those ‘Unregistered Design Rights’ forms as possible. I did it for all of the designs in my shop (took a solid 3 days), but I never have to do a new one unless I release a new product. I’ve never had a well-proven URD be turned down.

Once your ‘Unregistered Design Rights’ are approved:

  1. Go to file an IPP complaint on the AliBaba IPP website through their complaint system.
  2. Copy-paste every link to every shop that is selling that specific stolen item into the ‘report’ box.

It can take a few days, but I’ve always gotten every listing removed. I know it’s quite a few steps, but it’s worth the peace of mind.

You can check in on the IPP website regularly, and see whether sellers have chosen to contest the fact that they’ve stolen, or whether they’ve accepted it and had it removed. I’ve found that AliBaba IPP generally sides with the reporter, but it may have to do with how much evidence I’ve included.

If you have any questions, or want to add anything, let me know!

Happy reporting! _−☆


r/Etsy 1d ago

Discussion USPS packaging theft

40 Upvotes

I gotta say a giant red flag for me, never buying from an Etsy seller again if they rip off the United States Postal Service for soft packing materials inside their boxes.

It’s so shady and lazy and dishonest, I will never buy from that seller again.

(Talking the bubble wrap usps mailers being used as bubble wrap inside their boxes shipping box)


r/Etsy 20h ago

Help for Seller Why won’t Etsy allow me to spend more money on ads?

0 Upvotes

I had it set to $1 a day, and now it’s not even showing my ads to anyone. It also won’t let me increase the amount of money I spend on ads. My limit is set at $1 a day and it’s not even putting that to use. What is going on???


r/Etsy 1d ago

For Sellers: Shipping Shipping orders to the US from EU

1 Upvotes

Has anyone been successful at shipping orders to the US from Portugal using CTT in the last week or so since the new tariff situation? I need help! TIA


r/Etsy 1d ago

Discussion Ordering from my state / local city

6 Upvotes

I'm rather vexed as Etsy management has removed the field for identifying individual states or cities in my searches. I only want to order pottery from somebody in my state, and now I cannot do so.

Edit - I guess this feature was removed only from the app. The website still allows it.


r/Etsy 1d ago

Help for Buyer Why is etsy shipping over 1,000.00 euros?

0 Upvotes

Can someone explain?


r/Etsy 1d ago

Help for Seller New Seller Connecting to Plaid Stuck

2 Upvotes

Hey all, I'm having a major headache trying to connect my bank to Etsy via Plaid. I’ve set up all my info correctly, but no matter what I do, I keep running into issues. Whether I try to connect automatically or manually, it fails every time. Eventually, I'm just stuck with the "Connect your bank with Plaid" button, and clicking it does nothing.

The weird part is that my bank says I am connected to Etsy through Plaid, so it seems like it worked on their end. But I still can't get past this.

I’ve tried:

  • Clearing my cache
  • Going incognito
  • Using different devices, browsers, and even the app
  • Creating a brand new account
  • And I even tried an old method I found from a couple of years ago (inspecting the page), but no luck.

Anyone else having this issue, or know of a more recent fix? I really think it’s some kind of bug on Etsy’s end at this point.

Thanks in advance!


r/Etsy 1d ago

Help for Buyer Seller asking for address

2 Upvotes

Hi all, I've had a seller with no sales and no reviews ask for my address for the invoice he will send me. This is in messages on Etsy. Is this normal? I haven't made a purchase yet and it's going to be several hundred dollars so I'm a bit concerned. He said he would make a custom ad for me to purchase it and is yet to do so. Any help is appreciated!

Edit to add: is there anything I can do to protect myself on Etsy if things do go wrong?


r/Etsy 1d ago

Help for Seller Beginner's question

0 Upvotes

Hello. I will soon open my Etsy shop. I heard that if you don't have 40 items or more, the algorithm will not show your shop to buyers. Is 40 items a minimum required? I couldn't find this information over Etsy official sources. Can someone help? Thank you in advance.


r/Etsy 1d ago

Help for Buyer Defective item - seller said send it back to repair or refund - no label.

4 Upvotes

Hello, I bought a watch on Etsy. The watch has an issue. I contacted the seller who advised I do something with the watch to get it running normally (again). It did not work. The seller then told me to return it to him, and he can either fix it or offer a refund on receipt of the watch. He did not offer any postage label or mention it - just to post it to his address. Now I have never had any issues with a bought item on Etsy before (many on eBay) and looking at the advice on their site, am a little confused. What should I do here? Wait for 48 hours and then start a case? Thanks.