walkonthemoon’s story:
Just wanted to let you know…. This actually happened to me around Christmas time. I had a customer request a Custom Order & then Subsequently change her mind. I refunded her payment & never marked the item as shipped. About 2 months later I got an email from Etsy saying I did not ship an item and the Customer was furnished with the FBI Cyber Crime thing & my account would be suspended if I did not respond. I responded to the email explaining that she changed her mind & the Payment was refunded. About 2 days later I got the same email & responded agian explaining what happened. I even contacted the buyer (nicely - & asked if she was unhappy in any way with the way the transaction had been concluded & to doublecheck that she had received her refund).She said she had received her refund promptly & was very satisfied since it was she who had backed out of the transaction. She said she had not reported the transaction to Etsy in any way. In fact, she had left me Pos. feedback previously.
FINALLY, I got a 3rd notice from Etsy staing the same as before & saying my account would be suspended within 24 hrs (or something like that) if I did not respond. I responded once agian, somewhat harshly…that I had responded to their emails on 2 previous occasions and was quite unhappy that I was continuing to receive these threatening emails when I had, infact done nothing wrong. My account was suspended! I sent an email directly to admin, explianing what had happened, that I was furious & what did I need to do to have my shop re-instated (offering to send the Paypal receipt from the refund). The next day I got an email from Admin saying something to the effect of ooops, we made a mistake, your shop had been re-activated. No explaination, no apology, nothing. I had no idea this was happening to so many others. Thanks for putting it all on the UEN! -Regina (walkonthemoon)
14 April 2007 1:12pm EDT
Note: As you read these accounts, please keep in mind that UEN only has access to one side of the story: the seller’s. We believe, however, that this is far too important an issue to go unmentioned.
April 15th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Someone voluntarily leaving because they’d rather do that than answer questions that result from having their items flagged is unfortunate, but not on the same scale as having one’s shop forcibly shut down.
April 15th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Elizabeth said,
April 15, 2007 @ 4:17 pm
Found another story here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/etsy_love/discuss/72157600035850897/
That seller appears to have left voluntarily though, they did receive some pretty ridiculous warnings (a naked mannequin? come on!) but I don’t see anything where she was suspended like these other 3 sellers. I can understand her leaving though after the experience she had.
April 15th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Wow. Disturbing.
If the buyer never complained, how did etsy even get involved in this transaction? Do they have some kind of bot which searches for transactions where the “shipped” box is not checked? Why would they threaten a seller with suspension without even contacting the buyer or looking at the feedback they left? What about “hearing both sides of the story”? In this case they didn’t hear ANY sides of the story- the buyer was never contacted and the sellers reply emails were never read.
All of these “oops” explanations by etsy just aren’t enough. (and not even an “oops, SORRY”, just an “oops”) They need to tell the sellers how the mistake occurred and that they are taking steps to make sure it never happens again.
April 15th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Walkonthemoon, I mentioned it in the thread we had about magicjelly’s suspension incident, but is there a chance you could invite your customer here? It sounds like she’s a reasonable person, and if we had her side of the story regarding your transaction and her experience with Etsy’s customer service department, we would have a better vision of the issue.
Basically, it seems like there are more than two sides to these stories we’re hearing.
The Seller’s side.
The Customer’s side.
Etsy’s side. (Which shouldn’t be a side, per se, if they are attempting to be mediators.)
April 15th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Found another story here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/etsy_love/discuss/72157600035850897/
*sigh*
April 15th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
How horrible for you and the others who have posted here, I can’t imagine closing a shop with such great feedback records as those posted here after any single incident.
I’m also surprised to hear that when contact through email fails, that the member isn’t then contacted by convo before action is taken. I wouldn’t even consider leaving bad feedback before trying to get in touch with a non-paying buyer/non-responsive seller through both of those options.
Someone please tell me that FBI Cyber Crime reports are not the first response to any issue about an unsuccessful transaction… please…
April 15th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I’m sorry to hear about your stressful ordeal. I hope it was not too much of a disruption to your business.
Can I ask: if the buyer did not file a complaint with Etsy, how did the problem begin? How did Etsy learn of the transaction? What prompted them to contact you?
April 15th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
seriously ooc.
April 15th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Oh wow…I really , really hope they’ve learned their lesson this time & actually do put new procedures in place to prevent this ever happening again! That’s what I was told would happen, & I really hope so! Sorry to hear about your experience Regina!
April 15th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
:-/