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 16th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
If you only knew the countless discussions I’ve attempted, only be be met with a semantic/vocabulary dismissal because I dared to used the word “manager”, or “business”, or “professional”, or “PR”. Hippie was the only word I could think to describe it too.
I can’t say positively that there weren’t any managers, but at the time I was involved with them I didn’t see any evidence of it. And I can’t say I’ve seen information since to indicate there are now. I mean, there is some sense of hierarchy, obviously, because you have the founders driving some decisions. But it seems that they key person(s) is willfully opposed to actually acknowledging that these structures naturally form and are critical, so “shhh. don’t say it! that’s bad!”. It’s pretty maddening to me.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
well said.
I feel that way about much of the forums, policies and checkout process. part of intelligence is being resourceful and utilizing past information.
There are 3rd party forum packages that already exist, are more robust than Etsy’s, with more user features than Etsy’s, and better meet internet user standards than Etsy’s. Packages that already offer options for sticky posts, bookmarking, editing, reporting, searching, archiving, announcements, post history.
I’ve never understood why a from-scratch and inferior interface needed to be developed, as opposed to skinning or modifying an existing structure: cheaper, faster, uses less resources, more effective. I would have rather have seen development time been spent on the checkout process and search features than on the Etsy forum design and a from-scratch build. I say that and I’m a DESIGNER. I break out in a rash when I see things that aren’t visually appealing. ;)
April 16th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
“When I contracted for Etsy and asked who’d I be reporting to I was told that I wouldn’t be reporting to anyone, and got the sense that was the case for everyone.”
sorry about the mess, my head just exploded. I’ll get the mop….
seriously wtf? You GOTS to have managers! I don’t just say this because I am one, LOL. When I was the one being managed I felt the same way. The times I haven’t had a good manager, and was left to sink or swim on my own, have been some of the worst jobs. The jobs where I knew someone was keeping me informed, was acting on my input, was there for me to refer difficult cases to, have been the best jobs.
It’s not about one person being “above” someone else or ordering them what to do. If etsy are so hippie they can’t stand the word ‘manager’, then call it a CS coordinator or something. But whatever you call it, you gots to have it!
April 16th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
JB said,
I have suggested it on the forums multiple times, and either Rob or RD replied (I forget which) and said they don’t like to use third party software, they like to build everything in-house. He gave some reasons for this, all of which I could shoot a million holes in, but I just gave up and held my tongue. (fingers?) I made the suggestion, he rejected it, and I didn’t want to continue to nag about it. It seemed their #1 reason against it was he didn’t like how third party apps look, they aren’t cool enough looking. (insert rolly-eyed emoticon here)
You know, part of genius is to recognize if/when a wheel should be recreated. Wasn’t this the same reason for not having a site map, why they are being resistant to an announcement board? Features that not only are pretty much the norm but also serve a useful purpose (which is the reason those features didn’t go the way of the dinosaur).
April 16th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
*cough*cough* :)
I feel you’re correct on all points there. :)
I don’t really know who does what or who reports to who. I’d guess contact Emily and cc Rob?
When I contracted for Etsy and asked who’d I be reporting to I was told that I wouldn’t be reporting to anyone, and got the sense that was the case for everyone. Which not only makes it very difficult when you are trying to do a job, but is the cause of many problems I see. Without managers there cannot be accountability. Without accountability, it is not clear what should be done nor who should do it.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
BTW, does anyone know who their CS manager is? Is it Emily? On their about page it doesn’t list department managers or titles or anything, it just says “I do customer support for etsy”. Maybe they want to be so indie and cuddly that no one has titles and they don’t have “managers”? That could be part of the problem right there. Someone has to manage it, especially when some of the staff are working remotely, you have to have a manager/coordinator to keep everyone organized and in the loop. Anyway if it is Emily then I really have a lot of empathy for her.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
“You sound like you’re familiar with the types of software. You should email Etsy and provide them with brand names and suggestions.”
I have suggested it on the forums multiple times, and either Rob or RD replied (I forget which) and said they don’t like to use third party software, they like to build everything in-house. He gave some reasons for this, all of which I could shoot a million holes in, but I just gave up and held my tongue. (fingers?) I made the suggestion, he rejected it, and I didn’t want to continue to nag about it. It seemed their #1 reason against it was he didn’t like how third party apps look, they aren’t cool enough looking. (insert rolly-eyed emoticon here)
The reasons for not building it yourself greatly outweigh the reasons for building it yourself from scratch, the most important reason being COST. You can get a really good third party helpdesk solution for a couple hundred dollars, and only about $40 year after that for the liscence. It would cost 100x more to build it yourself with the going rates of developer time. And it will take months to build it yourself whereas a third party solution can be up and running in one day. Plus, don’t we want etsy developers making etsy itself work better, advanced search and stats and other things to help us buy and sell? Why should they be wasting their time making CRM software? It’s frustrating when they stubbornly reject things which could make their lives so much easier, like the admin announcements forum.
Mostly the reason I suggested it was pity and solidarity for their CS staff because I cannot IMAGINE trying to do all their CS through email. It’s just so inefficient, they could hire and train ten more staff to keep up with the backlog or they can spend $400 and increase each existing staffer’s productivity by three-fold, at least. My work has a larger userbase than etsy and fewer CS staff than etsy, but we still have a faster response time than etsy because we have the right tools to do the job.
April 16th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
It seems odd to me that some stores are being shut down with almost no warning and for no cause, and then, there are other stores that have tons of negative feedback, neutral feedback, in some cases there appears to be shilling going on, and some of the stores are selling items so cheaply and in such quantity that it is highly unlikely that they are actual “handmade” items, but even when everyone flags them, they stay open. What gives?
April 16th, 2007 at 8:36 am
I think JB hit the nail on the head.
The fact is that Etsy is infamous for their lack of communication with Etsy members, not to mention the several public instances of lack of communication between themselves. I have my doubts that they were forward thinking enough to setup a helpdesk interface.
If you don’t send the email JB, I’d be more than happy to.
April 16th, 2007 at 7:54 am
JB, perhaps they don’t know this?
You sound like you’re familiar with the types of software. You should email Etsy and provide them with brand names and suggestions.