Archive for July, 2007
July 31, 2007 at 1:38 pm · Filed under Bills · By Lis
Etsy sellers are reporting more problems resulting from “the great bill charge of 2007” (see UEN’s coverage here and here), including double charges and overdraft fees.
Sellers should check their credit card/bank statement to make sure their Etsy bills were not charged twice (see forum threads here and here). If there are duplicate charges, email billing@etsy.com
Sellers should also check to make sure their Etsy account is not linked to a closed bank account/debit card, because this could result in massive overdraft fees (see forum thread here).
EDIT by Soap:
People are posting about replies they received from billing@etsy.com:
Missbluebirdandoscar says:
Well apparently admin doesn’t believe there is a problem, they emailed me back saying they only see one charge at their end. They tried to tell me that it was an authorization charge, which makes no sense because the first charge went through yesterday and today there is a second charge of the same amount.Why would there been an authorization charge after the first one was completed???? Arrghhhh…
[source]
and
SakinaNeedles says:
Billing told me that the problem was on the bank’s end, and I should talk to the bank. I called the bank, and it turned out Etsy sent through the authorization and the actual charge on two separate authorization numbers, which is why it showed up twice on my bank statement. The bank reversed the second set of charges and refunded the overdraft fees. But definately check your statements ASAP. With each month’s bill being charged separately, I got a $31 overdraft fee PER ETSY CHARGE. If the bank hadn’t reversed those I would be reeeeaaaally grumpy right now.
[source]
Read the rest of the thread - people are posting about what their banks and PayPal have told them.
EDIT by Soap : LATEST UPDATE
A couple days ago we began to collect unpaid bills from Etsy sellers. It had been several months since we ran auto-charges, owing to difficulties with our old merchant account. So, we finally got our new merchant setup and after a substantial amount of time testing everything, we began our bill collection.
As we collected bills, two issues came up:
1. Charges appeared twice on some people’s cards.
2. Your credit card company called you and asked about charges from Etsy made on your card, and if they were valid.
Let’s talk about each of these issues in turn.
1. Charges appearing twice
If you used a debit card (this included a PayPal card), the charges may have shown up twice. This is due to the way our new merchant provider processes debit card payments. They separate it into two halves: a request for funds and pulling the actual funds. Some banks show these as two separate transactions, deducting the amount twice (!) from your account. We’re working to figure out why on earth they did this.
We promise, we will not charge you twice. If we have to, we’ll walk over with cash in hand and pay you back.
2. A call from your credit card company
As we have just learned, if we attempt to run more than one charge on someone’s card in a single 24 hour span, the credit card company’s fraud alert system goes off. This means they call you and ask if the charges are OK to pay. Unfortunately they may have asked something like: “Did you make purchases with this card on Etsy yesterday?” And of course the charges on your card are not for purchases, but are the fees we charge for our service.
If you dispute the charge, it can end up in a chargeback, which is rather bad on our end. If your credit card company did call you, it would be a huge help if you could call them back and let them know that the charges are OK. (If you have any questions about the amounts, of course, please contact us first at billing@etsy.com.
What we are doing now
Because of the two issues, above, we have stopped running the auto-charge. We got about 1/2 the way through all sellers with unpaid bills before we stopped. If you look at your credit card statement and see no charges from Etsy, you were likely in the non-billed half.
It’s super important to us that we get this all sorted out, and every seller is treated fairly. We’ll get through this! We’re sorry for the confusion, and we now have a dedicated billing team to answer your questions. We’ll be providing phone support as well at (718) 855 7956. Please save phone calls for extra urgent support, because we only have 1 phone right now. We’ll be here from 10am - 6pm EST.
Love,
Etsy
ps. This blog post has been emailed to everyone whom we auto-billed.
(all bolding added by Soap)
July 30, 2007 at 1:28 pm · Filed under Bugs, Site Security · By quirke
Haim offers an update on the cookie login issue here.
“The most likely people to be been effected by this are users using university, school, or work computers.”
More info in these threads:
http://etsynews.com/296/a-fix-in-the-works-for-security-issues/
http://etsynews.com/292/updates-on-viewing-other-user-pages-images-bill-page-errors/
http://etsynews.com/273/hey-thats-not-my-user-name/
edit by JB to add links
July 30, 2007 at 10:23 am · Filed under Copyright / Branding, Laws & Regs, The Future · By starrydesigns
SarahSays says:
The name Etsy, and other Etsy graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and service names are registered trademarks, trademarks or trade dress of Etsy, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The truth is if Etsy allows anyone to use marks similar to Etsy’s Marks in any way, without permission, Etsy could lose its trademark rights.
Therefore, Etsy will be implementing a program where individuals will fill out an application specifying aspects of the requested use of Etsy’s Marks. Etsy will review the application and in many circumstances Etsy will grant limited permission to use the approved Marks, for free. Etsy loves your creative uses of Etsy’s Marks, and Etsy is not trying to put a damper on your creativity or your expression.
So…please stay tuned.
Thanks,
Sarah
Posted at 10:14 am, July 30 2007 EST
Further explanation can be seen here.
Even though Etsy has mentioned in April 2007 that they have a simple release form to use their logo, it seems like the idea has been scraped. Etsy is currently working on implementing a new program, as SarahSays mentioned above.
Meanwhile, to avoid breaking rules, feel free to use resources provided here for your marketing efforts.
EDIT by starrydesigns
For people who are currently selling products with the Etsy logo, please read:
SarahSays says:
… For items you are already selling with an Etsy mark in the item, yes, you’ll need to get permission. You’ll need to fill out the application (once it’s available) then Etsy will grant permission for certain uses. We will examine each request and determine whether or not to grant permission.
So long as your use complies with Etsy’s policies, this should be a minor hurdle. If you want to make a mass-produced environmentally unfriendly un-Etsylike item, it’s unlikely we’ll grant you permission to use Etsy’s mark…
July 29, 2007 at 10:37 am · Filed under Miscellaneous, Site Use · By starrydesigns
Read about the exciting news and what Rokali has to say here.
July 29, 2007 at 12:22 am · Filed under Events, Treasury · By starrydesigns
If you are curious what the Etsy Teasury Poster Challenge is about, read the original post here.
There are only 3 days remaining for the Etsy Treasury Poster Challenge. So far Etsy has received more than 1,000 entries (with 40% coming from Treasury, and 60% coming from the Poster sketch tool).
If you are still interested, submit your entry soon (before Aug 1)! Instructions are here.
With regards to the finished prints, here is Jared’s response:
There has been discussion about selling these prints. For this contest, we really just want to give them away. There has also been talk about creating a coffee table book with all the entries. Both of these are wonderful ideas, although unfortunately they are probably outside the scope of our abilities at this time. We’ll keep the possibility open for the near future.
Read the official update here.
July 28, 2007 at 7:54 pm · Filed under Bills · By JB
Be aware that etsy is finally running their past due bills, and this may be up to 7 charges on your credit card if you have not paid your bills manually. This may set off alarms at your bank or credit card company for fraud. It’s not fraud.
In this thread
mommyzlilmonsterz got a call from her bank alerting her to fraud, when it appears the charges were the 7 months of etsy autocharges. However she also says the amounts charged to not match her paid bills in her bills section, so there might be some bug or accounting error.
In this thread,
t8designs says:
..but i did get a call from my credit card company this afternoon to verify that the charges were valid. they thought there was fraudulent activity taking place on my account because of them and until i confirmed the charges they were putting a hold on the account.
In this thread,
thepearlgirl says:
I am on hold with the bank right now. I just checked my statement online and saw 5 etsy transactions that I never placed!!How is this happening???What does the bank do???
If you get a fraud alert or phone call, do not panic. Compare the amounts to your etsy bills, especially if the bills form Jan-July 2007 are now in the paid section. If the name on the credit card charge is etsy, this is most likely your bill being charged. It’s NOT someone making etsy purchases, because those will be listed as paypal or the seller’s shop name on your statement, they will not list etsy at all.
see also this previous discussion of billing and autocharges
Thanks to thedreamygiraffe for the tip!
EDIT by starrydesigns:
If you need help with regards to this issue and billing, please send an email billing [!at] etsy.com. Refer to Rokali’s official response here.
Also, here is Rokali’s response with regards to the bills that show less than $2:
Rokali says:
… They will *not* be auto-charged right now. Our billing system needs to be smarter in this regard, as we should be adding them up and running them as a single charge. Until we have this in place, we won’t auto-charge these smaller bills.
Posted at 4:47 pm, July 28 2007 EST
EDIT by Soap: See new thread for ongoing coverage
July 28, 2007 at 1:51 pm · Filed under Laws & Regs, Site Use · By www.bathinginluxury.com aka Soap
The issue of recalled products was discussed in a recent thread. When asked about Etsy’s general policy in handling such items and listings, SarahSays (and Etsy lawyer) said:
Every situation is different. Etsy may be contacted or the seller may be contacted. It really all depends on the situation. Etsy will contact the seller and try to work out the issue and request the seller remove the item. We allow for sufficient time to make the adjustments. Etsy will only remove a listing when it is absolutely necessary.
Also, Etsy is usually not privy to communications between an Etsy member and an outside party.
She also posted about a recent recall:
The Consumer Product Safety Commission notified the sellers and the sellers were asked to comply with certain guidelines. Once Etsy became aware of the issue the items were immediately pulled from Etsy.
July 27, 2007 at 5:16 pm · Filed under Bills, Bugs, Miscellaneous, Payments · By Kate Black
Etsy just announced that they will begin “The great bill charge of 2007,” beginning tonight. They expect it to take 72 hours to complete.
This is in conflict with users’ Etsy Bill page, which states that unpaid bills will be autocharged between 08.15.2007 and 08.27.2007.
[ source ]
EDIT by Soap: See new thread for ongoing coverage
July 27, 2007 at 2:58 am · Filed under Front Page, Images, Treasury · By starrydesigns
Do you have watermarks on your pictures? If you want to be on the front page, think twice about the watermark or place it in a less prominent area of the picture.
To learn how to place watermark in a less prominent area, read about what HeyMichelle has to say in the 2nd paragraph of her forum post.
HeyMichelle says:
Hi there guys…
Just to clear up the watermark issue: there is no rule against watermarks on the front page. However, we do like to keep the front page looking clean, so items with watermarks that show on the front page do not usually make it to the front page.
So, what to do if you want to use a watermark? Upload a photo that is longer than the allotted size, and put the watermark at the top of the photo. The photo will be cropped in treasury and gallery thumbnails. Give it a test run by switching the view in your shop to “gallery view” (click “gallery”, which is right above “price” near the top of your shop). Voila! Now the watermark is still there, but hidden.
Oh, yes, and welcome to Etsy, NaturalHistorie! Oh, and about your question…if you do decide to use watermarks, you will want to make them as non-distracting as possible. If your main concern is people printing your work out, I have heard (don’t quote me on this- very “word on the streets”) that if you make the resolution 72dpi, then it will still look good on the computer but be useless in a printout. Maybe try experimenting with this?
Posted at 1:55 am, July 27 2007 EST
(bolding added by editor)
Under the Selling FAQ,
Are watermarks acceptable on my Photos?
We’re not very fond of them but you’re welcome to use them.
Thank you, Ren, for the tip!
July 26, 2007 at 9:27 pm · Filed under Meta · By Serena
We’re working to make UEN the best it can be, and so we’re once again very happy to announce additions to our team.
Welcome to JB and quirke!
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