EtsyReviews 1,571

I adore this site as an online shopper. A good place for handmade gifts, particularly jewelry. It is also a good outlet for metaphysical supplies, which is something I previously struggled with. There are some things I believe shouldn't be sold (legally), and some items are just silly (as far as price goes). I'm a little surprised at the lack of restrictions. Like I said though, as a buyer, this site is handmade heaven.
As a seller, however, it is more complicated. I signed up not realizing the price. I have had a lot of trouble cancelling my store, and the payment plan is set up so that you are automatically charged everytime the site needs a payment. This, mixed with the difficulty I had cancelling the account, led more money than I would've liked being charged to my credit card. Even after "cancelling" it, the site continued to charge me.

I ordered fabric on Etsy. I did not receive the fabric. One would think that is a clear cut case. Etsy sided with the seller because the seller could prove that they shipped the fabric even though I never received it. The seller did not insure the package so I was out the money. This is not the way real businesses are run. Plus when you ship something, it is between the seller and USPS, not the buyer. I could not have filed a claim even if it was insured. The seller still refused to do anything. Etsy's response was that it is between the buyer and seller and Etsy is not legally responsible. Apparently you agree to these terms when you sign up for the site. I do not believe this as it was Etsy's rule that the seller used so that they could keep my money. Paypal also sided with the seller even though their own rules state if you don't receive the package, not if the seller can prove they shipped it. I do not recommend using Etsy or paypal. Stick to reputable businesses.

I love this site. It's so great for buying handmade and vintage. I've only been a member for a short time, but so far I have picked up some really beautiful jewelry and a lovely organic silk-screened tee. It's one of the best sites for shopping because you know you're going to get something unique that's been a complete labour of love. It's also a great community and a way to stumble onto new things you've never considered before. Plus there's the bonus of supporting local sellers. I can't believe how many shops are based where I live! I definitely recommend Etsy.

Don't buy from SWEET DIAPER CAKES the product you will receive is POOR the presentation EMBARRASSING this seller should be a shame of the poor work put into their gifts. And want to talk about price GOUGING this shop definitely dose that if you want to throw money away, then buy from this shop. If you want a great quality gift with nice presentation and worth your money DO NOT I SAY DO NOT buy from this shop! Beware of SWEET DIAPER CAKES the images of gifts in sellers shop are ok the product you will receive are more hideous then the photos. I actually bought from this seller because I felt sorry for this seller as I seen seller doesn't sell to often I SEE WHY. My own fault for trying to be nice..

I don't usually leave comments about anything that I order and I don't know about any of the other sellers on this site but I ordered a glass from braintees and was more than satisfied. Not only was the quality great and the glass exactly what I ordered but it came in a timely matter. Inside the larger shipping box was a smaller, form fitting box along with a nice "thank you for ordering note" and a bow to place on top when I was done wrapping. Great service with this person! I would definately order from her again.

I have order many times from this website and not run unto a problem until recently. I purchased a tea tree oil face soap and after 3 days I realized, I have not received a shipping confirmation. I contacted the seller, whom after two days contacted me back and stated that the paypal account was having issues. The money still was there but the seller had not taken the money out. The seller stated I would have to send a money order after they got the total. The soap cost $3.50 but there was no shipping cost. She tried to charge me $7.00 for shipping. That is doubled the price of item and I immediately canceled. The website is a handmade website (not all), the sellers are individuals and have a store front where they sell there unique items. You can also find vintage items on the website and very few commercial items but everything is one of a kind. Its a very reputable site.

I have had both good and bad buying experiences on etsy. But two of them have just put me over the top. Sellers are not being truthful about their shipping times. They agree to one thing and then either "forget", or "the package came back to me because of not enough shipping on the label"... I ordered a Halloween costume for "bellabowgirls" on etsy, and it was shipped late, even though she agreed in her communication to ship it by the date I needed. I ended up having to go with another coustume for my child for Halloween night, even though I placed the order 5 weeks before Halloween. I am not pleased obviously. Even though there is lots of cute stuff floating around on Etsy... buyer please beware that the shipping and communications, and lies do exsist. These are not big company's, but individuals trying to make a killing off of their marked up merchandise. I could make most of this stuff myself if I wanted.

The good: lots of unique handmade and vintage items
The bad: If you are not living in USA, you pay lots for shipping (many of the sellers are from USA). Many are handmade so they took a long time to make (beware if the items take too long you will no longer be covered by Paypal - 45 days after purchase rules). So if you never received your items or items are damaged or not as described and 45 days have gone by, you cannot file a complaint and can not get a refund. My advise is to file a non delivery to paypal if you have not received items after a month.
The ugly: Bought some items from etsy seller. 2 months gone by and no delivery (not knowing the 45 days rule of paypal). Sent conversation to the seller asking about the item and no reply. Waited a few more days and sent another email to seller. Finally told me she never got the email (which is weird since I sent through Etsy conversation box), and that items cannot be tracked because it's first class shipping (i did not know this since i am not from USA). That's her only explanation and no other communication after that. I was upset obviously. Especially because of her lack of response and her zero effort in rectifying the situation. After waiting for another week and still no communication and no delivery, I finally gave her a negative feedback stating the truth: Items did not arrive and lack of communication (which is normal if you buy through sellers via amazon or other online shops). Except with Etsy, the seller has the audacity to give me negative feedback stating that she is not responsible for missing items and that she has warned me that first class shipping is not trackable if lost! (no where in our conversation previously did she mention this to me). Besides, what professional merchant will literally give negative feedback and blaming customer for items that the customer has paid and never received? I did not even ask for refund. I felt insulted. Never in my whole life i had such a bad experience from a shop. There are other good sellers in Etsy but this one just upset me too much for me to want to come back to buy again. Stick with reputable shop that will not insult you if they do not deliver. Do not trust the positive feedback you see on etsy. Buyers tend to give positive feedback even if not good to avoid conflict like mine or they give neutral feedback instead. Also, sometimes seller can cheat and cancel the transaction so that they can avoid negative feedback. Beware!

I'm a buyer on Etsy (i. E., not a seller or shop owner). I used to love Etsy and could spend hours there shopping all of the unique, high quality items for sale. I don't mean to be unkind, but there were always some untalented artisan sellers there. But you could just skim over their stuff. Now when I go there, it is almost impossible to find unique items that also get me excited. Everybody seems to just copy each others designs on there. Boring! Untalented. As a buyer, I'd rather look at quality mass production items than just some handmade beads strung together in an untalented manner. But if I'm going to do look at mass production, I'll go to retailer like Nordstrom.

And it bugs me I cannot search by "most viewed items" anymore. Etsy quit allowing that functionality early on. Here's a perspective from a buyer: when I search for earrings, I don't want to look at 1,000 pairs of earrings, I want to start with ones that other people have found extremely interesting. There's usualy a good reason a large group of buyers have found a specific item or seller extremely interesting on a site for handmade items: talent. I could tolerate the loss of "most viewed items" at first when it was only 1,000 earrings, now it's 10,000 earrings. Yuck.

I love this place, you can buy original hand craft goods of any kind. If someone has made it, it does exist out there on the internet! Etsy has a way to sign up and talk to the people who create a ton of artistic items such as paintings, jewelery and even clothing. If something is out of stock you have a way to get in contact with the creator/maker and see if they can make one specially for you. I've had a lot of amazing original pieces and jewelry from this site. I highly recommend it!

I have read some of the past reviews and I can only say that I'm lucky I haven't run into any disputes with sellers or buyers and haven't had to contact the Etsy staff for anything in my approximately 5 years or so of using it. HOWEVER, I did have words with one seller, who I was looking at the switchplates she decorated in her store (which I also had started making switchplates. I was a beginner so I was looking around Etsy to see what techniques other people used to make theirs)... I asked her what she used to seal her switchplates with. That's all. And she FLIPPED out on me... saying that she sees switchplates in m store and she knows I'm going to copy her, and shes reporting me to Etsy and all these horrible things. So I basically tore her a new one, to put it nicely. She apologized because she realized what an $#*!&*$% she was being, and told me she was having a bad day. Whatever. But that's the only problem I ever had. Other than that, the sellers and buyers have been friendly. I love this site because it's so incredibly inspiring, I could spend hours looking through the stores and items... and spending way too much money on stuff! I sell also. It's just a really fun, really unique website. I couldn't do without it.

August 2011
Etsy prides itself on specializing in hand crafted items and true vintage items but Etsy staff will just close down your store arbitrarily without reason.

I've been selling on Etsy for almost 2 years when all of sudden, they closed my shop without notice. Apparently, someone thought my items weren't vintage, but they are real vintage, and I have documents to prove so. But Etsy staff didn't ask me. They just closed my shop because one person thought differently. I don't know who that person is, whether Etsy member or an Etsy staff.

Regardless, I've talked to other Etsy sellers about this, and apparently it's very common. Etsy will abruptly close your shop without cause or notice. Extremely frustrating if you're a seller.

More frustrating is, there are tons of new items, be it designer handbags like Tory Burch or cheap made in China stuff that you see on eBay, but those sellers are allowed to stay (because those new items get sold quickly on Etsy in mass quantities, which means Etsy makes money off of them) while true vintage sellers get pushed to the side.

Where's the justice in that?

And good luck if you're a buyer and don't receive your items. Etsy doesn't want to get involved in buyer-seller disputes, so they make you duke it out with the seller directly. This means you can't call Etsy customer service to complain (phone number was un-listed for a long time and now that people know Etsy's phone number, they don't answer it). And you could email Etsy for help, but they don't respond. You just get the automated response..."we'll invesitgate this further." But nothing happens.

ETSY IS BAD FOR BOTH SELLER AND BUYERS

This site offers handmade and vintage products. It is set up somewhat like ebay except that everything is a buy it now product. I ordered a cute hand painted sewing basket and had no issues with the seller I purchased from. Again you have to be careful about who you buy from just as you do with ebay. Check feedback of sellers. It is fun to look at the vintage section on this site because you see alot of things that will remind you of when you were young. You can also set up an account to sell on this site and I believe the fees are cheaper than ebays. You can also order custom made items if offered by contacting the seller. You can usually find coupons for different stores on etsy at etsycouponcode.com.