Online Petition Demands Action from Etsy

by: LDWCallsOut

I've had some contact with Support via email as a seller, and about one issue as simply a community member.  The response is friendly and prompt about matters that don't involve the published rules and procedures for sellers.  Stuff like re-opening a long-closed shop, or changing your shop's name a second time.  If a question does involve site policies and prohibitions, your question might likely be ignored, or else sent an email reply referencing what is published on the site -- which is often vague and always unevenly applied among shop owners.  If the published Handbook, or whatever, had the answer in it, you wouldn't need customer service!

Etsy can't improve its customer service until there are standard policies that apply evenly to all sellers on the site.  

by: Stone Cutter

Having spent time on the Etsy forum, I came to the conclusion that I would never want Etsy to expand their phone support due to the amount of sellers who complain that buyers are not making purchases. The main reasons why sellers see slow sales are always for the same reasons which are not Etsys responsibility..listed below.

1) Consumer spending has slowed.
2) There is more competition than ever.
3) Sellers computer tech is outdated
4) Buyers are not interested in outdated products.

I recently had 2 cases against sellers who never delivered my purchases and would not respond to my messages. Through a link through Etsy, Etsy promptly gave me refunds for both purchases. It costs a bunch of money to support a tech staff, and while most shop owners give Etsy very little in profits, (with average product prices at $25.00), a simple phone support call could be too expensive..(keeping a tech person on the phone for 10 minutes could be the cost of what a shop gives Etsy in profits for one month).  

by: Stone Cutter

Also, a petition only works if there is something to bargain with, otherwise, it's just a waste of time. Sellers have nothing to bargain with...Etsy is already spewing with too many shops and when sellers leave, more shops open...Etsy has nothing to lose here. This petition is actually a stupid idea without any logic behind it.  

by: Sierra

As a long-time Etsy seller, and one who has occasionally watched the number of Etsy shops increase (but rarely decline) over the years, I can assure you that more Etsy shops are being opened every hour and, from the looks of it, nearly every minute! So, even if this petition (or any other) caused 10,000 Etsy shops to close, chances are good there would be 10,000 NEW shops opened within a month ... and probably within a week!