Website is difficult to navigate, and very fragmented in approach. The sellers are all individual, which can be confusing. The checkout function can vary by seller. This checkout function is where my real problem surfaced. I had multiple items from multiple sellers in my "cart". At checkout, I completed all shipping & payment information for my items. However, one of the sellers was a "Paypal only" seller. So, I was redirected to Paypal to complete my payment. The seller then erroneously decided to ship to an old address on my Paypal account instead of the shipping info that I entered. The seller accepted no blame, and etsy.com left me out in the cold when I asked for help. So, it's definitely a "buyer beware" website. There is no buyer protection available.

I bought a scarf from one US store for $50 but then had to pay a further £8.83 in import vat and £13.50 clearance fee. The shop I bought from didn't respond when I queried why I had pay these additional charges when they knew that I was buying from the UK. There doesn't appear to be any redress. I also bought some jewellery, again from a US store and this time had to pay £45.88 in VAT and international handling fees. Again no reply from the store and no redress. Don't use this site - the customer service is non-existent.

HORRIBLE they banned you from etsy without reason just because they want,,,,another sellers set up a group to shut your shop down if you have a lot of sales and admin agree with them and shut down your shop for forever
STAY AWAY FROM ETSY SITE

etsy.com is fine as long as you don't run into any problems that need customer service. Customer service is nonexistence on etsy.com

Some sellers have "Custom Order" buttons, but I have not been able to get any custom order. The sellers refuse, take shortcuts that mess up the product or ignore/drop the request.

What a pile of rubbish! I brought a ring of etsy last month and when it arrived I was asked to pay £20 uk customs charge. In the online description the seller lists the item as being able to ship to the uk at no extra charge. When I challenged the seller she was nothing but rude and instead that this was my charge to pay. When I contacted Royal Mail they told me that it was the sellers responsibilities to pay this because they should of paid it in the first place. I requested the item was returned to her as it only cost £10 in the first place. She is now refusing to give me any form of refund after having it returned. It still of nothing but con artists who want to scam you out of your money.

Purchased item for Christmas gift, item fell to bits within a week. Seller no longer listed on Etsy. Very poor customer service and any attempts to complain fall on deaf ears. This is the worst website I have used. BUYER BEWARE. Will never use these people again.

I ordered 2 cell phone cases from seller Dealokshop on Etsy and only received one of the cases I ordered. The seller would not respond to 3 emails I sent (allowing for 48 hrs in between for seller to respond) until Etsy got involved. Unfortunately, Etsy blew me off about this issue as the seller had proof of delivery BUT there was only one item of the two I ordered AND PAID FOR in that delivery. After pointing that out to Etsy, both seller and Etsy will not return my communication.
I have used Etsy before with satisfaction but you only know how good a service really is when you have a problem and etsy failed there.
btw: The case I did receive was beautiful.

I currently have 2 shops open on Etsy, but I am considering cancelling them. Here is what bothers me. First, this is no longer a market place for the handmade. There are companies I have seen on eBay from China or Thailand that sell mass produced jewelry and they have Etsy shops because they list as selling supplies. There are companies that sell on an independent website, wholesale charms and other jewelry, and also have an Etsy shop. These factors are making it hard to open a supply shop on Etsy. You can't compete. It also makes it harder for those that are actually making handmade jewelry.

My next problem is with their featured treasury on the home page. These treasuries are supposedly created by Etsy users and the featured ones are randomly selected by Etsy staff. Problem here is I keep seeing the same shops featured over and over and over. The past week and a half, Carriage Oak Cottage has been featured more times than I have kept count on. Not that I expect to be featured this early in my Etsy career, but something seems fishy. It is the same when you search for items. It seems there is favoritism going on.

This site is so flooded that it is hard to be found and I think it doesn't offer enough menu options for buyers to narrow their search. I am going to start looking for other options and this is very disappointing to me. I had high hopes when I first found Etsy.

I've been selling on Etsy for about 2 and a half years now, and I really have no complaints. Yeah, they recently changed their policies so they could ignore resellers, their forums are a bit draconian and their fees are kind of steep, but it's been a great experience for me. If YOU offer good customer service and follow their guidelines, Etsy will be kind to you. And if you're a shopper, just know that you are usually working with individuals, not corporations, so service will be different than what you're used to--perhaps slower, definitely more handmade. But if you work with the right people, you can get some great custom items. And they offer great shipping discounts! I love Etsy.

To buy an ELECTRONIC gift card it took over 4 HOURS for them to email it to me and only after i emailed them about 4 times complaining. They also have no phone number to call. ANY OTHER STORE ONLINE ANYWHERE that sells online gift cards provides the link to print it INSTANTLY. 4 hours is absolutely absurd.

I ordered an infinity scarf from craftsbybeck and am very pleased. The scarf is beautifully made and arrived within a few days. I highly recommend craftsbybeck.

I have placed several jewelry orders with Etsy but, I am done with them because, I feel that it is too risky.

Many of the sellers have professional jewelry photos for their store and in this case the jewelry that they make rarely looks like the photos. They are using photos that are representing a similar product but, the photos don't depict the actual products that they are making, themselves. The stores that I have ordered from that have obviously, taken photos of the jewelry that they made, were fine.

I have also, received a silver ring when I had ordered a rose-gold ring. It wasn't worth it for me to send back because, they weren't a US-based store.

You can't trust that the metals used are of the composition advertised. KetiSorelyDesigns is very bad. I ordered what was suppose to be a "gold-filled" necklace and it was not! It was badly tarnished before it was even worn!!

I have a few orders that I was pleased with but, overall I find it way too risky. There is only one store I may order from, again as I was pleased with the products and she shows actual photos of the jewelry that she has made.

My fiance told me that rather than buy her jewelery/clothes I can just get her an ETSY GIFT Card.

I have only used this service once and it was to buy her a purse. But I decided to get her a gift card so she can get herself something nice (along with the stuff i got her).

I did this 6 hours before I left town as I assumed ETSY is a remotely proffesional organization and i would get my gift card confirmation (for printing so I can wrap it up in a box; because 1/2 the fun of getting a gift is opening it) within a few minutes. EVERY organization I have dealt with that uses online transaction from Amazon all the way down to local community theaters and businesses usually have a turnover time of a few minutes. 6 hours later with 100 things to do I am checking my inbox for the stupid ETSY GIFT Card; it is still in processing.

Since I am literally out the door in 10 minutes I am just assuming ETSY took my money and will write her a note explaining how unproffesional ETSY is and that I got her a gift card (I have the processing email) but ETSY is SO SLOW that i do not have the actual gift card (hopefully she understands).

Sadly she wanted to get some gifts for wedding guests via ETSY but I am going to make sure we do not deal with them; the last thing I need is to deal with this BUSH LEAGUE organization again for our wedding.

So yeah. Thanks ETSY for disapointing someone I love at Christmas. I will make sure you do not turn our wedding into a farce ! ! ! ! If you can not handle a simple Gift Card Transaction one only knows how awful it will be actually dealing with you trying to get physical gifts.

I would reccomend people buy gift cards from reputable businesses like Amazon or a local jewelry or vintage store as ETSY is a picture of UNPROFFESIONALISM and WEAK CUSTOMER SERVICE (that do not even have a phone contact).

Wonderful down home experience time after time. Etsy people are honest and from my experience professional and fast shipping. 5 stars on communication as well. I will never go to eBay again after finding Etsy

Order an item from Twinnsie shop, i paid an additional £20 for priority shipping which should have taken 3-4 days from US to UK.....item still not arrived over two weeks later . Terrible service ..... never use again!

HORRIBLE. I requested to cancel and item with no response. No customer service AT ALL! Very frusturating. I luckily got ahold of paypal and they are refunding my purchase in 10 days if the seller doesn't respond by them. I hope paypal sticks it to them and charges them extra. It's the best personalized jewelry shop. HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE!! Stay away from this site people. Don't be fooled by the fake "good" reviews. It's etsy bots, and etsy employees trying to make themselves look good under the guise of "reviewers".

I was a seller on Etsy for 4 years, 4000 sales and 100% feedback. They shut me down for "infringement" for using the words "inspired by". I did not use images but used colors similar to characters. This happened while my shop was on vacation and items were unavailable to view to the public. I was a sucker for paying hundreds in fees every month when all these 20 cent listings with high shipping are obvious fee avoidance. Not to mention all the blatant copyright listings Etsy is making money off of each time an item is listed and each time an item sells. When I asked what I could do to reopen my shop they told me they take this issue very seriously. I hope they didn't type that with a straight face. Search "Minnie mouse" on their site and 49,000+ items come up......very serious I see.......what a joke!

I paid for an item in the 7th November it was dispatched on the 21st and still not received it. I have sent various emails to them and they have ignored my messages. This present was for my daughters birthday.

I am a frequent buyer on Etsy, and also a seller. Much of what is shared in the way of reviews here and on other such review sites is the result of an organized group of disgruntled sellers who shout they are leaving to Zibbet if Etsy doesn't make changes. Of course, they go to Zibbet where it is 'friendly', and then realize they are making no sales. Then they bash Zibbet, and return to Etsy. It's all just a bit ridiculous.

I ordered something on October 25. Says it was shipped on the 19th, but still hasn't arrived. I paid for 2 day shiiping service.

Ive ordered several things from several different stores and individuals on etsy. I LOVE IT. Ive never had any issues

BUYER BEWARE! lots of fake metals on etsy! some of the more thriving sellers falsely misrepresent their jewelry as being "copper", "silver", "gold" etc. when in fact it is only a zinc alloy or other fake that is the same color of the genuine metals. This isn't ok with etsy nor with the laws.
there is a Materials section on each listing, and they are supposed to tell what the actual metal or materials are. over the years I have seen MANY instances or whole shops that are full of the fake descriptions. yet these shops have high volumes and i can only surmise that it is because their buyers think they are getting real metals instead of worthless alloy.
I know whereof I speak as i am very familiar with the jewelry parts that are commonly on the market for designers to use, and i have easily identified or even bought some of them on etsy.
It isn't fair for honest sellers that disclose their real material, to have to compete with the dishonest liars who falsely state their materials. it makes a lot of difference as to whether someone will buy or not. The liars know this apparently and deception is their tool for more sales and high profit margin. The fake alloys are super cheap to obtain for parts. the real deal is not. The buyer will often not know the difference by sight. Some of the biggest offenders are "bronze", or "antique" metal colors. They are very often not the genuine metals at all but zinc alloys with fake colored outer layer.
So it's best to always send a convo to the seller to find out directly from them what the real actual metal is. If you pin them down they may sometimes tell you the truth. You might need to test your jewelry metals after you buy them too.

I have had mostly great purchases on this site. The format is user-friendly. The only drawback is that there is way too much on the site. A bit overwhelming.

I'm pulling my store after 3 great years. I just had the worst buyer experience, Etsy has overturned my policies, and is confusing and upsetting the buyer.

Do not offer custom orders, there are no non refundable policies, only no returns sort of

Do not offer payment plans, there are no non refundable deposits and those paying late are so inexperienced at ordering they can't comprehend how this effects their deadlines

Do not give overt time and personal attention during customer service, Etsy does not factor it into disputes.

Sad that according to these disgruntled buyers, they are running into shady sellers. Sellers are running into shady buyers. It's neither fun for clients, nor worth it for sellers anymore. Let Etsy turn into a buyers direct version of Alibaba.com

Etsy sellers are untrustworthy and etsy does nothing to patrol them. I bought handmade baby blankets for my new baby by MyWoobyandMe. Beware Buyers! The seller Chris didn't follow up after payment and then said she was behind on orders when she finally returned my emails. She then'sent' the blankets - but the shipping number was a fake. Because I was polite and waited I had missed the cut-off to complain. I saw in her feedback similar recent issues but i was shut out of leaving feedback. i left a message with Etsy as i feel its a systemic issue with the seller taking buyers money and not delivering products - but have never had a response from etsy. There is no recourse for the seller who took my money and got away with it! Others will be ripped off too if they are polite and waited like I did.

Worst site. Next to no customer service. Sellers take your money than take their sweet time shipping. One seller managed to mess up my verified address. The item was being returned to sender. Seller Never responded to inquiries about the trouble with shipping. I had to open a case with Etsy to have my order refunded.

I am currently waiting 7 days for a seller to ship an item. I thought id give them one last try. This is it. I will stick to Amazon. Etsy needs to do a better job of holding these sellers to a higher business standard. I will blast this site everywhere I can until they change.

I;m a seller on Etsy and an artist that sells some original works of art as well as custom made crafts. I had my account suspended twice for selling what they called endangered animal jewelry (even though it wasn't on their list) , I tried to explain this but they suspended my account until the item was removed. Long story short , the item I was made to remove is still being blatantly sold by other sellers. When I asked about this , I was told they'd look into it and nothing was ever done to the other sellers. I was also told I could "snitch" on the other sellers if I wanted to , but what am I the Etsy police ? They banned my item and couldn't do anything to anyone else for the same thing. Shady site and as soon as the New Year comes in , I'm closing my shop there. Not a good experience, more stress than anything else and not from customers but from Etsy itself.

CONSUMERS BEWARE! The last two purchases I've made on this site were never shipped. I spent so much time communicating with ETSY and Paypal just to get a refund. I'm still trying to get a refund for an item that was never shipped in which I paid for. I've decided this site isn't worth it. Consumers should not have to deal with poor service over and over again at this unprofessional and incompetent site.

I bought a $1100.00 dresses custom made from texas, the etsy store went out of business next day after I paid, contacted etsy and they did nothing other then telling me to open a case but were not responsible for the furniture store!Called my CC and open a dispute,
btw, the etsy invoice says shipped on sunday 11/3 and etsy tells me to wait 5 weekdays , contactes the seller several times never got back to me,
Scammmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Etsy has everything and everything you could ever need. Their sellers are very polite, and get back to you as soon as you need them to. They have the greatest items for gifts, decor, outfits, absolutely EVERYTHING! :) I would recommend Etsy to anyone and everyone. There are so many original pieces of work out there to purchase, I can't believe that this website isn't more popular!

COMPLETE DISAPPOINTMENT!!! I will never purchase from their website again. I purchased 4 items from a seller - my acct info said they shipped, but I never received them. I gave it sometime because I live in Hawaii. I sent 3 messages to the seller via the Etsy website and never received a response. I then discovered that the seller's page NO LONGER EXISTS! I emailed Etsy, and they responded A WEEK later saying that my option to open a case has expired. So, they are doing NOTHING about it other than "noting this matter in the seller’s account and investigating their practices further". But I get no refund. Wow. Sorry, but that's completely unacceptable.

Still not quite there in terms of customer service and providing the information a customer needs when making a purchase.

they closed my shop down before I even opened my shop. I had barely made an account and they just shut it down. I have emailed them 5 times and not a single time have I received a response. this website sucks!!

Horrible. They close your shop for no reason instead of focusing their attention on the resellers. They make so much money and consider themselves "professional" yet they don't even have a contact number. Artfire and other handmade sites are WAY better. Also, I suggest making your own website.

I contacted this shop on Etsy to have custom made earrings. They would have been exactly like ones shown but smaller. I did not here anything back so I wrote again and was extremely nice saying I understand if something unusual was going on & maybe that is why she did not get back to me. I received a reply that the seller had written me but never sent her response and she apologized so I gave her my business. We agreed on the size, stones, & the color of the silver. I would have gladly paid in advance but she did not ask for me to as she did not know how much she was going to charge yet because of the amount of supplies she would need. She never contacted me back & I was patient. I had explained that they were to be a birthday gift & I needed them by a certain date but because she forgot to send the original message I could give them for Christmas. I sent one last message canceling my order & told her that that was no way to do business. Not one word back! After reading what some sellers & buyers are saying on this forum I am not as excited about there products any more. I will definitely check out Ebay before I buy anything again. I am working with someone new who has been great so far but I still don't have my earrings nor have I seen what this new person has come up with so fingers crossed she is going to come through.

Etsy is a great site when it works, but be warned: it filters out bad reviews. And good luck finding any justice when things go wrong.

When I bought from a seller (etsy/shop/phunkyfresh), they promised to ship by a certain date and deliver by a certain date. After missing both deadlines, I emailed but got an automated "Vacation" response. They charged my credit card, didn't ship, and refused to respond to my emails until I opened a "case" with etsy. This case process sends your complaint to the seller and it's the next step after emailing doesn't work. Immediately I was given a refund by the seller. I guess they weren't on vacation. But still no message about what happened.

Here's the problem.

There's no way to review the seller if you cancel an order after having a bad experience. So if you get treated like dirt, good luck letting other users know about the seller.

Gee, I wonder why my seller has 5 stars. Could it be because Etsy doesn't allow negative reviews on cancelled orders.

Not a big fan~! Etsy is getting way to large to even navigate. Kinda discouraged and confused by the whole thing really.

Poorpoorpoor. I recently want a decoration ring. I googled and I went to etay. Bad experience with that! The customer service even did not want to talk to me. When I asked, "Do you have other pics of the ring from different angles?" She said yes. And then I waited, waited and waited. She did reply. Then I asked," Could you please show me ??!" Then she gave me one pic. eh.... I then asked again when I did not know how to make my payment," How shall I make my payment?"(I am the kind with no much online shopping experience) Shen then said, "Steps are clearly posted on our site." ... What have I done to deserve this? I just want a ring! This is ultra contrast to what I have experienced at Persundresses.com. They treated me like a respected guests. Custom services were so considerate. I thought I will never come back again, no matter how fabulous the products are. So depressed. Damn!

I am an artist Myself and all I do only original painting, honest and true art, never repeat the same painting second time and do not complain at all! Etsy is a great place tosell real art and I agree there are many "fake:" artists,,, You just need to read more about artist, can write emails... If you buy art you will never buy factory garbage... There is a real art too for people who knows how to find art.
Mys tore name is OriginalOnly
Best,
Suren

I am a Top Rated Seller on Ebay with 100% positive feedback on over 800 sales. However, Etsy closed my shop erroneously and will not allow me to reopen it, even though I had 100% positive feedback. My craft is whole some. yet a member of their staff has a smut nudity shop on Etsy. How can they justify this? I hope they go bankrupt. I won't buy anything on Etsy and will never recommend it.

Store name: Pinataville.

This lady is a scam artist. She doesn't meet her ship deadlines, then when buyers leave her negative reviews on Etsy, she has them removed. She lies to customers - period. Do not buy a pinata from this woman, no matter what she promises.

I've been working with Etsy for awhile now and not doing too bad. Last month I needed to send a box to London. (I'm in the US)I needed to add $$ to my account to purchase the shipping labels ($154.00) After 3 attemps (2 were mistakes) I finally did it correct on the 3rd try. I then cancelled the 2 mistaken shipping labels, knowing that I would eventually receive my money back.
Well USPS returned my moneys to Etsy, But Etsy will not return it to me.
They are KEEPING my $154.00 and said it will be put on my credit.
I don't know what else so do.

As a former seller on etsy, I am vehemently protesting their corporate decision to allow mass manufacturers on the site. Unbelievably, they have decided to change the definition of "independent handmade" to include items designed and put together in a far-away factory that has not been vetted for child labor/sweatshop conditions. There are other sites that support independent artisans and have some ethics -- BOYCOTT ETSY.

Too many changes and rules now apply after Etsy used sellers to build their site, NOW, they want to eliminate most of their sellers who are trying to make it. It reminds me of Obama himself trying to do his best destroying this country and trying to take over the world. Well, I guess Etsy made enough money that they dont need most of their sellers anymore. The woman who has only been selling on Etsy for only 2 years who made that video I think she's trying to take over but, I know Etsy will lose many sales over this but, that's up to the CEO. That's OK because one day the rich will fall and I guess that lands Etsy in that category too.

If there was a place where I can leave only 1/8 of a star rating, that's the rating I'd leave for Etsy.

In a word, dire. Of late they've resorted to allowing the sale of mass produced goods. It's lost its way and is a shadow of itself several years ago. Constant changes to the interface and procedures leave sellers and buyers alike confused and frustrated. We're closing our very successful store after the latest announcement and will not be returning. The current CEO wishes to take the site down what the vast majority of sellers (those who haven't been institutionalized) believe to be a very stony road. Hand made? Don't sell here, you're a bit late for boom time.

Worst ever experience with etsy , they closed my shop , I am a craft-man i design and make bags originally but without any info Etsy closed my shop and they are not responding to me
Worst ever business tricks they use

I hear everyone disliking Etsy, but as a buyer I was fairly pleased. Shipping time varies and sometimes it's a little pricey, but that's what we pay for custom jobs. I have bought several things from several different people and I have been more than satisfied with each one. There was even one that caught an error of a tank top they made me before they even shipped it and just sent me both for no extra charge. It's really a matter of reading the reviews of the seller first rather than the website.

Overpriced MADE IN CHINA, be smart there are millions of websites selling online same items cheaper price.