Etsy reviews

I have been selling on etsy since early '09. It was pretty great at that time, and a decent alternative to ebay. It always bothered me that it was limited in what you are allowed to sell there. For example, I sold high end couture and vintage fashion on ebay, but on etsy, the site rules prevented me from selling anything newer than 20 years old. This has always been a drawback. They should allow the high end couture items, because they are relatively unique pieces and it is recycled fashion, it is always good to reuse and reduce waste, and these pieces are not mass-produced, which is what etsy is about. This rule still exists today, but now, mass produced items are allowed and resale items younger than 20 years old, still not allowed. Etsy has slowly changed in the way sellers are treated too. Fees are still pretty low, but sellers cannot leave feedback for buyers, not even positive feedback. And buyers can't leave feedback for sellers until weeks after they buy the item. By this time, most forget about feedback and move on. Most sales never receive feedback. They also keep aimlessly changing the look of the item pages, and it's never for the better. It seems like they waste a lot of effort/money/time "improving" things on the site that don't need improvement while other things are never even considered for improvement but do need it. The forums are also highly censored. That part is only getting worse. And the punishments are handed down pretty arbitrarily. The threads used to be pretty fun to participate in, even though it sometimes became heated, at least it was real. They've really taken the reality out of it. Also, you have the regular forum visitors that are in constant defense of etsy's unnecessary and lame changes. It just seems like the whole vibe there is going toward censorship, corporatocracy, cookie cutter and plain lameness. Also, the site is now over saturated thanks to the influx of sellers offering mass-produced items, and views have really plummeted, causing sales to plummet as well. Selling used to be relatively easy. You just listed and the item sold a few days later usually. Now, because of a relevancy-based search instead of a chronological one, you can't just relist your item to return it to a higher place in search. You have to constantly re-tweak your SEO to remain relevant. It's so much work for literally a few dollars in profit. The revenue etsy generates for the average seller is a fraction of what you'd receive at an easy part time minimum wage job. The amount of work the maintenance required to sell a $12 item in an etsy shop turns out to pay the seller a few cents per hour. It really has just become overall not worth bothering with for most people. It probably works well for the people who are always featured and re-featured on the main page, i.e., the favorites, which is a whole additional issue. A lot of little things adding up with this site, I'm sure I failed to mention some. If you want to open a shop there, just have low expectations.

Terrible website. I was selling my eliquid line thats used in electronic cigarettes. Before making my shop, I read through all the items you are not supposed to sell, and nothing about vapors is on there. We were one of the first shops selling liquids. After selling multiple orders, etsy shuts down my shop claiming that I was selling drug paraphernalia. I mean....what. I know its a big deal in the news and polictics right now, but claiming I'm selling drugs? There is nothing in these that you wouldn't find in the baked goods or candies that are being sold on etsy. Keep in mind, if you search for "glass pipes" there are over 8000 listings that have been up for months. When i brought this up to jessica, she says its up to etsy if its considered a drug paraphernalia item or not, and the marajuana leaf decorated glass pipe is not considered to be one, After going back and fourth with Jessica, watching her copy and paste their banned selling items, and adding vapors into it, when its not listed on the actual banned items list, I'm refusing to pay my shop fees. I informed her if she doesn't return my money, going to take legal action. Yes...legal action over ten dollars. The fact that shes changing their terms and conditions in an email to make her argument valid is insane. So anyone that is planning on opening a shop on etsy, be aware that they can unofficially change their terms and conditions through emails.

Etsy shut down my account and won't let me BUY because I used gift cards that I had purchased myself. Why is this not ok?
There is no customer service and no phone number. IT makes no sense to me.

I do love etsy, but while looking around at different products, I have begun to see the same reviews on different products. It makes me wary to buy anything if the reviews are fake :(

This is a fairly large site for buying and selling original, handmade items. I am a seller on etsy and have sold a few of my Twilight-inspired jewelry items. I have always received instant payment from the buyers. It costs a small amount to list & sell items, but items listed here will sell for more than they would on ebay.

I agree that there is no customer service. If you run into problems you are on your own. And that is a problem when you are buying on line from sellers nation or worldwide.

Etsy is a GREAT place. Sometimes some sellers suck, but thats why you read their reviews on their own shop first. It's kinda like eBay without the bidding. I love it as a buyer, AND seller. :) Never had a problem really. eBay is more of a problem with all their stock photos. Etsy is for vintage or handmade items only however, which is what makes Etsy so awesome and different.

Etsy closed my shop after have 100% reviews with lots of repeat happy customers with NO warning or way to even contact them to speak about it. If you are a newcomer to Etsy WATCH OUT. There are sellers on there who love to attack new people. They will flag your items and get them pulled out of your shop. The fact that they let all this drama go down and give us innocent, minding our own business sellers the cold shoulder makes me sick!! I'm a single mom who finally found a great way to make income doing what I love and now it is ruined because of jealous, vindictive women. If anyone else knows where I can go to sell digital images (instant download) please let me know. Besides Etsy rakes you through the coals with their fees. Everything has a fee attached.

Literally if I could I wouldn't even give it one star, it's the worst site. I ordered a gift over 3 weeks ago, STILL nothing has come in and good luck with customer service communication, the girl said it would be shipped the next day (that was a week ago). The biggest rip off, even if it does come in any time soon I will still be upset by the amount of time it even took to come in..... DON'T SHOP ETSY

I've had nothing but good experiences on Etsy, both as a seller and buyer. I'm very confused by most of the reviews here. They seemed to be left primarily by (1) sellers whose shops did poorly, and (2) buyers who aren't accustomed to shopping online. Compared to Ebay, where I've been scammed more times than I can count with no redress, Etsy is 1000 times more trustworthy, offers better service, and better products.

Etsy is like Communism...If you don't agree with it, do not expect a response.
They choose shops they like, my guess is they are actual stores that pay them off, so etsy receives much revenue, so they FEATURE them.

My little shop. No Way! I just posted this comment when asked what me, a seller thinks of etsy, "POLITICS, PLAIN AND SIMPLE" and somehow the website knew to get rid of me and it, and all of a sudden I was out of etsy, where I pay for a shop and on a random internet site.

"It was very weird how they knew exactly what I said when I typed it. They must get a LOT of negative reviews!"

My shop was suspended without any warning or preliminary messages. But guess what? it happened right after I received a few orders. The orders were delivered in a very timely manner, and the buyers were happy. My shop was suspended, but there were a bunch of other shops, selling the same product, claiming to have the same effect, for way longer than me. I feel discriminated against. And it is not fair - why my shop? how is my shop different from all the others that are selling the same product? Etsy "integrity team" - does that mean that they consider me a liar? - haven't given me a chance to present my corrected listing. After multiple emails, going back and forth they told me that I cannot sell here and neither should I try to create a new shop. I am appalled! I have never encountered such lack of customer service! Sellers stay away from Etsy.com . You will be treated unfairly, you will be discriminated against, they will allow other sellers gang up on you, and take out the competition, and the worst part - Etsy will support the coup. Stay away and save yourself a headache. STAY AWAY from this site, it's lacking customer service, integrity.

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.