EtsyReviews 1,566

I had been looking for a small round coffee table for a long time and found an Etsy vendor who had a few things that met my needs so I communicated with the owner of the shop about a custom order to a particular size, with a distressed wood top and industrial legs. I went to Home Depot and got the color of the stain to use and the Rustoleum spray paint for the base. When he sent me a picture of the top, it was waaaaay too much stain. He said it was the color I'd picked. But it didn't look distressed, it looked stained. He said he fixed it, then shipped it before sending me another picture. When I got it it looked like it had in the picture. Waaaaay too much color. I contacted him and asked him to find out what I might do to make it better. It took him two weeks of excuses about grandkids and waiting for information on what to do. I contacted him again and he said he'd used the color I asked, and he would only charge me $100 to fix it if I'd send it back to him (I'd pay for shipping). It took me another few weeks to get up the nerve to just put the thing together, and when I opened up the box of the pedestal, it was the wrong color. I messaged him again just now; he sent me a picture of a Rustoleum can; I sent him a picture of the pedestal pieces which looked nothing like the top of the Rustoleum can. That can of paint had nothing to do with my table base. Some people lie as an excuse for their inability to admit they're wrong. And he keeps telling me he only did what I asked him to.

I ordered invitations and thank you cards for my daughters birthday from a seller. The seller advertises that the file would be sent to me with in 24 hours. Four days later and several emails from me to the seller and nothing. I filed a complaint with Etsy and the seller did write me back saying her computer broke and she would send me the file the next day. Again, I heard nothing. I am still waiting on her. I have a complaint to receive my money back. I then order the invitations from another seller and again, I hear nothing from them. So two orders and no product. They both have my money though. I will NEVER purchase another thing from Etsy again. Such a horrible service.

I was in the process of asking questions about a chair I was buying from Chateau Chicago. First I asked about layaway. Then I asked them to hold it for 100$ for only a week. They didn't want to, so I scraped and worked it out and got the money together within 3 days. I then asked if there were any stains or anything I should know about. They cut off communication and jacked the price up. I didn't do anything outside the norm. I ask questions about everything I buy, especially furniture. I buy everything from etsy! It hurt to be treated like that because of 4 questions. If you don't have the patience to answer questions then don't sell on etsy.

Etsy gets a lot of negative reviews for the way it treats buyers, but the way is treats its sellers is even worse. If you have stuff to sell, sell it on eBay or any of the other sites, Etsy is run by a horrible man who has a very child-throwing-a-tantrum method of dealing with sellers who express concerns. There's no mystery as to why this company hasn't turned a profit in years, their customer service and seller support are a joke, SHOP AND SELL ELSEWHERE.

I've been selling on Etsy for sometime now. I have had only good experiences with my sales, feedback and customers. I follow the rules, make sure my orders are out within 24 hours of purchase and follow up and make sure those packages have been delivered.

Many of the complaints I have read about Etsy and shops being closed is because the shop owners did not following Etsy's policies or are not selling authentic handmade.

As a buyer either on Etsy, eBay or Amazon, I research the seller first for red flags. If they have bad feedback or no sales, I don't purchase from them.

All in all, there a many, many reputable sellers on Etsy that sell wonderful, authentic handmade items.

I'm sorry to all those shoppers that had a bad experience with a bad shop owner.

Hopefully more of those bad shops will be closed soon so that they will no longer smear the reputation of good and responsible shop owners on Etsy.

I opened my Etsy store, Vintage Vixen's Attic years ago. I had used the name in the early 1990s in some brick and mortar stores in NJ. Last week I got a email from the owner of Vintage Vixen Clothing complaining I was infringing on her trademark, which dates from what I saw from 2015, well after my usage began. She rudely claimed I had one week to change MY name. The 2 names are not the SAME, do not show up in the same google search of each name and no reviews have been posted claiming anyone has been confused between the 2 names. Her store has 4k listings, mine hd 30. Hers is a typical retail vintage store, where mine PLAINLY states mine is to sell off the estate of my aunt, who was a Broadway actress in the 1920's. Really, anyone confused here? When I told her that I felt her demand was out of line and wrong and refused, plus informed her that due to being elderly and dealing with an illness that I was closing my shop in 2 weeks at the end of the month, she insisted she had the right to demand I change it in a week. I refused, as this would make it impossible for my customers to find me. She decided to act like a bully and complain to Etsy. Etsy sent me a notice saying there had been a complaint and I had one week to change my shop name. Seems they don't care who is right, only who complains first. I asked their legal dept to look into this to insure this person had a valid claim and was told they do not do this and can't give any legal opinion, just act on the complaint regardless of merit. Guess when you are paying fees on 4k plus listings, you have a lot more rights then when you have 30.

The etsy store "FromAppalacia" has a terrible seller named Jen who lacks any common curtesy and will not make any attempt to fix her mistakes. She was creating wine charms with personalized gift tags for a wedding shower that I was hosting and they came in after the wedding shower took place. She then dropped all communication until I opened up a claim and then she was extremely rude and refused to refund my money, even with me offering to ship the charms back to her. Do not buy from this etsy store. Save yourself the trouble.

I have sold on Etsy for almost 2 years and have built my business up to doing over 100 large ticket items per month and still growing. They have shut my store down numerous times for false allegations. Everytime I would prove that we were in the clear and they would reopen the store. Each time they did this they re charged me the fees and I had to repost items. They just recently closed my shops permanently because they said they had to many allegations against us in the past year (even though we had proven that we were ok each time) I had over 250 5 star reviews and took great pride in my craftsmanship. When Etsy shut us down they of course took all the fees(over $600) out of my account and cut off access to my open orders! I had over 100 open orders with no access to my shop to know what orders I needed to make, when they were due to ship or where the orders were going! Talk about a complete cluster! I basically had to wait till customers complained in order to contact them to ask all the information so I could produce and ship their order. I contacted Etsy numerous times to just give me access to my open orders so that I can complete them for all of my customers but they failed to respond. They also dont offer any phone support AT ALL!. My belief is that Etsy is ran by a guy in his garage. My suggestion for all sellers out there is to find another site for handmade items. There are bunches of them and they are better platforms, less fees, and they HAVE customer service.

When you do discover a legit artist, who creates their own wares and is ultimately professional in all their endeveaours, Etsy is truly an amazing craft marketplace. Topnotch service, hassle free sales & purchases, quick & efficient help from Etsy staff should transactions turn sour...

However Etsy lately has been inundated with mass-produced Chinese re-sellers, counterfeits, art thieves, copy-cats, and the cherry on top are the otherwise real artists who will fight tooth & nail to NOT issue you your entitled refund as per Etsy & Paypal's policies. They will drag it out for weeks to escape handing out refunds or replacements should an item not arrive, arrive damaged, or incomplete.

I have had a lot of Etsy sellers start off sweet and friendly, only to become quite hostile, once I have patiently waited for a missing order to arrive after eight weeks. Or if it were not at all what I had purchased.

Etsians have sent me threats, looked up my prior buyer history with other sellers, accuse me of cutting up/damaging my own purchase to receive a petty refund, track me across the internet, and make threats against my own family members, all because I had opened a Paypal and Etsy dispute once refund negotiations had failed. Etsy staff did not take kindly to their illegal activities, suffice to say, but it is an ongoing, growing problem in the Etsy community.

Buyer beware: not all Etsians are calm, professional, and mature. Quite a number are juvenile, have meltdowns if you have any issue with your orders, and threaten you if you do not accept their refusal to send a refund despite their own store's policies, Paypal's, and Etsy's. Thankfully I have resolved these issues with the help of Etsy and Paypal stepping in to shake a fist at the Etsian for violating their ToS.

We were working more than a year with etsy and build up a solid reputation with many returning customers and 5 star reviews. From one night to another they shut down the whole shop with many thousands of hours put into and of course a lot of passion. They said that a customer did not recieve an order. I sent the item tracked and signed and provided all papers and prove to them. They did not respond to any of my mails and letters not once. Instead they charged my credit card that I used for buying items at etsy as a customer - not a shop owner - WITHOUT ANY GIVEN PERMISSION! I reported them to the fraud department of the credit card company and they did not even respond to them. Etsy is criminal and does not care for anybody - STAY away before they steal your money!

My Etsy shop was closed after a week because I was reselling items. I chose Etsy because most of the shoppers are women and I sell beauty products. It was actually doing very well in I made $150 in a week. Nonetheless after I received the email I understood I violated the guidelines. This is my complaint... when they shut you down they still expect you to fulfill orders but the snatch everything from you. I could not print out receipts for the customer or my file, and I was happy I had extra money so I could ship the items out. Everything is literally gone so you better back up as you go. I think maybe they should look into blocking store sells but still allowing you to finish orders like normal. Also I'm actually happy it was closed after reading so many awful reviews about fake feedback. I just received a 1 star and granted my shop is closed but still I don't want an unhappy customer. So I went to review the order and he stated the item ripped. The best part about that feedback was the item hasn't even been delivered yet. I smell a scam about to happen and I'm just waiting for that refund email. I have already screenshot the feedback and USPS tracking. At least with places like Ebay you can't leave feedback until after the estimated delivery date. First off the item hasn't been delivered and the item will be delivered 4 days before estimated. I don't know Etsy just seems a little shady and honestly I'd recommend people going elsewhere.