Source: this Storque article
Etsy has added a printer-friendly link at the top of every Etsy invoice page.
The printer-friendly invoice is a stripped-down version of the invoice we’re all familiar with, it basically removes the Etsy sidebar and other unrelated stuff from the page.
The Storque article is closed to comments but if you have questions or comments there is a forum thread for the topic.
UPDATE by quirke 06-15-08
The accused shop, Ulljasbeads.etsy.com, is no longer active on Etsy.
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UEN has received an outline from Etsy seller Abeadisborn detailing an apparent case of fraud on Etsy, alleging that another Etsy seller has been purchasing and re-selling lampwork beads from other artists under the claim that she had made the beads herself. The following information has been published with permission of the author.
On April 19th, 2008, I received an email from a fellow glass-bead maker on Ebay. She had asked if I was aware of someone purchasing my handmade lampwork beads through Ebay, and selling them in her own Etsy store, claiming to have made the beads herself. I was quite shocked, and had to investigate further. This link: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200215772276&category=34070 shows my Ebay auction, won by the alleged IP offender, gerbera28, aka Ullja/Melek Kuntze. By request, I made this auction available as a “buy it now” for the customer, because she said she was in need of the beads very quickly. The beads were mailed to: Melek Kuntze [address removed], with a delivery confirmation of 9101 7850 9140 1537 7553 85, which were delivered to the home at 5:24 PM on April 22, 2008 in [location removed].
After investigating further, I found this indeed was true. This link: http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=8440928 is the link to the altered by Etsy sale information, of my beads. Sold by Ullja Kuntze, gerbera28. The attachment with this email is the original sold information page, screen printed, BEFORE Etsy made alterations to the description. Also attached, is the PDF file of the documents I faxed to Etsy, on May 27th 2008, pertaining to this matter.
After contacting other fellow lampworkers about this occurance, many beadmakers like myself, found evidence of this happening to them as well. It became a very big issue, and more complaints were sent to Etsy.
I followed Etsy’s Intellectual Property Right claim guidelines, by faxing them all the pertinent information pointing to this Etsy seller, and provided them with the proof, showing her fraudulent activity on Etsy. Etsy’s attorney, Sarah Feingold, called me to confirm that she had gotten the fax information, and the matter was being looked into. Shortly after, I noticed about 72 sale listings at Ulljasbeads.etsy.com, disappeared. Those listings were of the same nature as mine. They were handmade lampwork beads, made by people other than her, and she knew she was caught. I have a PDF file of all Ulljas Etsy listing pages, before they were removed. If you need them, please let me know so I can send you a copy.
To date, Ulljasbeads.etsy.com is still an active selling member of Etsy. She is still advertising other people’s handmade lampwork beads on her website, located at http://yhst-59139618684516.stores.yahoo.net/ - if you follow this link, the blue encased floral bead featured on her front page, is still being displayed, whos copyright belongs to someone other than her, who has also filed an IPC complaint on her.
In case the screenshot linked to is unclear, the text that was removed from the sold listing reads “All my beads are made by me in my private glass studio in Milan Italy… kiln annealed overnight for durabilityand strenght and Dremel cleaned for you”.
The listing that Abeadisborn refers to as being altered by Etsy may be one of the listings that Etsy has admitted to altering (see our previous coverage here).
From Etsy’s Copyright Policy:
B. Once Proper Bona Fide Infringement Notification is Received by the Designated Agent, it is Etsy’s policy:
1. To remove or disable access to the material infringing upon the intellectual property;
2. To notify the user that Etsy has removed or disabled access to the material; and
3. That repeat offenders will have their infringing material removed from the system and that Etsy will terminate such users’ access to the service.
In this Storque article, Matt provides a summary of Monday’s discussion on Etsy’s policies and practices.
There is a direct link to the meeting minutes here.
edit by JB:
The posted minutes only contains the written portion of the chat and not Matt’s voice comments.
This past Monday I invited members of the Etsy community to join me in the Virtual Labs to share their comments and concerns. My intention was to give the community an opportunity to speak directly and candidly to us here at Etsy.
We were there to listen, and listen we did.
Over the past couple of weeks, we clearly made some missteps in the forums and customer support. We are sorry for anyone who was affected by our mistakes, and we’ve been reaching out directly to the people involved.
Our aim now is to take action by formulating clear and consistent policies and practices to make sure our community, and our company, will continue to be healthy, helpful, and supportive as we grow.
Here are the key issues raised during Monday’s meetings:
Issue 1: Buyer /Seller Disputes- What Role should Etsy play? What is a venue?
Issue 2: Shop Closures:- What are Etsy’s policies? What due diligence measures are being taken to make sure that mistakes are not made?
Issue 3: Relationship between Etsy’s Policies and a seller’s.
Issue 4: Feedback System - improvements and limitations.
Issue 5: Improving policy documentation: TOU, Dos and Don’ts.
Issue 6: Forum: Policies and environment. Muted sellers.
Issue 7: Admin tone, behavior, and accountability.
The entire Community & Support team is in NYC this week and we’re discussing the these issues. I invite you to email me directly at matt@etsy.com if there are other issues regarding customer support and forum policies that are important to you that weren’t discussed.One quick note:
Monday’s discussion was rather spur of the moment. I realize how important it is to make sure everyone’s voice is heard, and I apologize to all who did not learn of Monday’s talk in time. I do assure you, however, that they were just the start of what will be regularly occurring conversations.
FYI: The comments as currently posted accidentally repeat the minutes from the morning meeting twice. The minutes for the second session start approximately three-quarters of the way down the page.
After many, many requests in the forums, admin has added “USD” underneath the item price in listings!
You can chime in on this Storque article, or this forum thread.
From the Storque article:
Published on January 8, 2008 in Etsy News
We have added “USD” to the item listing pages. Enjoy!
We will be considering adding this change to other pages of Etsy in the coming months.
Thanks for your patience while we have been working on this change!
If you edit an item while it is in your customer’s shopping cart, when your customer tries to checkout, they will get this error message:
Error: You have a listing in your cart with a quantity of zero. This can happen when the seller edits the listing while it’s still in your cart. Click here to revise your quantity.
According to RD in this thread, when this happens, “the buyer must remove the listing from their cart and add it again.”
Unfortunately, after the buyer deletes your item from their cart, if they click the “keep shopping” button, it will take them to the Etsy.com homepage, not back to your shop.
Holy wordy title, batman!
In this thread in the forums, I asked about the possibility of a dedicated customer service line for Etsy users. It’s been brought up on previous occasions, with admin input - here’s the latest, from RevolvingDork:
RevolvingDork says:
Yes, there is no Etsy phone support, and there will likely not be any in the near future. It would be a *massive* undertaking!
