Etsy warned sellers on Monday of shipping delays and advised them to “Get those holiday orders in the mail.” The message was added as an update to a Seller Handbook article on shipping deadlines. “Due to United States shipping carrier delays, holiday delivery timelines may be a few days longer than expected,” the message continued.
It also said Etsy was letting shoppers in the US know “some orders may be delayed.” It added the update to the top of the article, which continues to show shipping cutoff times that were published by carriers earlier in the fall that now seem optimistic.
Adding to sellers’ concerns this week was whether Etsy was showing up-to-date scanning information to buyers. A seller who shipped 16 orders on December 9th said the next day many were still showing “pre-transit” and wondered how long it took for shipping status to be changed. “I know the post office is overwhelmed I have had shipments lost, and super late deliveries “arriving late” messages in the USPS tracking status,” she wrote a week ago on this thread on the Etsy boards.
“Often I will click through to the actual USPS site and more tracking shows up then what Etsy has,” a seller replied.
But other sellers said in many cases lately the USPS itself wasn’t scanning all packages upon acceptance. On December 15, a seller responding on the thread said, “I started noticing this about a week ago and about 10 packages I sent out all said pre transit for several days then they suddenly showed that they were in transit then delivered. Another round of several is now showing the same thing, pre transit for days.”
One seller wrote today that they dropped off several packages at the UPS Store and watched them get scanned, “but some are showing pre-transit which makes me nervous because I’m a new Etsy seller.”
Fearing bad reviews, the seller emailed customers to explain. The seller also called USPS and said it emailed them a generic message saying due to COVID they were really behind. “I wish they would at least show “in transit” so my customers won’t think I never dropped them off.”
On another thread, some sellers said today that Etsy is providing messaging to advise buyers of the shipping delays.
At the top of Etsy’s pages, it now reads, “Packages might be delayed. Etsy gift cards? Super speedy” and links to an order form where shoppers can purchase a gift card.
While sellers might appreciate the notification about shipping delays, some of them may not be pleased that Etsy is directing shoppers away from their listings – on they other hand, some sellers may be thrilled.
Update 12/19/2020: Etsy published a post on Friday with more information about shipping delays and actions it was taking.
And WE are warning Etsy of the pending Government Intervention.
Grind Etsy into a fine powder…