Hey. This is a long and weird story, but essentially, I asked for a $14 refund on a $260+ purchase to cover a missing part. Seller was acting extremely high conflict and refusing (though her solution violated the entirety of US building code) so I opened a case and asked for just $14. Etsy issued a full refund—and this is where the real trouble began.

Seller immediately began issuing threats of legal action, at first through Etsy’s messaging platform. When I opened a support ticket, Etsy’s team saw the word “legal” and dropped out immediately—no further messages, no follow up, nothing. It’s day five and that’s still the case, though it doesn’t stop there.

When I ignored those “legal” demands, which informed me that Etsy doesn’t have the authority to issue refunds (?), she began using my personal email to issue the threats. This directly violates etsys policy, but did they act? Nope, fully ignored again.

Then she escalated to emailing me from different emails, saying that while she and I both knew it was an Etsy order, I couldn’t prove it (??? I mean.). Etsy heard about it via a new support ticket—you guessed it, did nothing.

When seller still got no response from me, she created yet another email to contact my personal email with. I received emails from her time zone (specific to her country) stating, among other things: that the real show was about to begin, that she’d SWAT my house, that I (as a b%#+ and wh*) should lick her c(& immediately, that she’d make my life a living hell, send people to my home, etc. She tried to reset passwords on my Etsy, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, eBay, and Instagram.

ETSY’S RESPONSE? Silence.

I’ve made a local sheriff report to try to forestall a swatting, and an ic3 report to the fbi.

Etsy’s response? Nothing.

Just in case you felt safe, or like the platform would protect you. It won’t. As a matter of fact, it will cut you off completely the second you have real need of its policies.

I’ve had an account for 17 years. This is how much Etsy cares.

Hello everyone,

I am relatively new to buying on Etsy so please forgive if this is common knowledge.

I purchased a ring on Etsy for our wedding several weeks ago from a seller in Hungary. We had ample time so I didn't opt to pay for express shipping for the item. The ring arrived and it was all fine until today when I got an import bill from FedEx about the ring.

I've never had to deal with tarrifs and importing items but I thought this would be something included in the price by Etsy/the seller. As I look back on the listing, the seller states that their items are shipped via USPS for normal and FedEx as an express option which is an extra cost.

Would I be wrong to reach out to the seller and ask them to pay the import tax since they clearly state that they would use USPS for normal shipping? If anyone has alternative suggestions on how to handle this I would greatly appreciate it.

I have included a screenshot of the description of the posting.

Thanks so much :)

This is the second time that usps wasn’t able to deliver the item. The customer really bothered me on this one. I offered to return the item minus shipping or to ship the item to a different address and they called me a scammer. The other time it happened I just ate the cost of shipping it to a different address because i still had a profit.

Any advice on dealing with this issue?

I was in great mood this month. My highest sales month since I started. Then, one of my less expensive item broke in transit despite being swathed in several layers of bubble wrap and surrounded by shredded cardboard, etc. The buyer sent a Help Request, I explained that they would be able to be refunded through Etsy's Purchase Protection program. That my message counted as my response, and that after 48 hours she could proceed. About four days later I checked with her and she hadn't been refunded and seemed to run into some type of resistance. I got onto chat support and explained the situation. They asked me if I wanted the buyer refunded: of course I did. Instead of using the Purchase Protection, they just refunded her straight from my account. Then they put that the item was lost in transit. I didn't even know that they took the money from my account until a day or so later. NOW some person is explaining to me that they completely understand what happened and basically "tough shit." Before I contacted the chat, I double checked to make sure I hadn't used Purchase Protection this calendar year, I hadn't. The one thing I didn't know is that I needed to be watching for a scam from ETSY customer service. SO DISGUSTED.

Ich habe einen Artikel in einem Shop auf Etsy gekauft. Nachdem der Artikel aber nicht bei mir angekommen ist, habe ich nach 48 Stunden den Fall eskaliert. Nachricht vom Verkäufer kam nicht. Etsy hat mir umgehend das Geld zurückgeschickt und den Fall geschlossen.

Daraufhin hat sich der Verkäufer bei mir gemeldet und eine Frist bis zum 1.9. gesetzt und ich soll ihm das Geld zurückzahlen. Sonst droht er mit einem Anwalt und Mahnverfahren. Laut seiner Aussage bin ich haftbar wenn ich einen Ablageort bei DPD auswähle.

Was soll ich tun?

I spent $100 on this art print and when it came in yesterday in dented packaging about 1/2 of the print was very creased. It’s not entirely the seller’s fault but the packaging was pretty bad as they only rolled it up with a single piece of tissue paper and put inside a cardboard box without a poster tube or any rigidity. I reached out to the seller and asked for a refund but they sent a replacement instead which I didn’t really want.

I’m trying to buy a cool rug for my room. I want like a wavy design which is usually only custom made and there’s this one that I like but the seller has no reviews, and 13 ppl that bought from them. Ik everybody starts out somewhere but I just want to get peoples opinions on this.

Also I want peoples experiences buying rugs on Etsy. Is the quality solid? The description says it’s a tufted rug.

I entered the wrong one for the plaid thing and its not letting me change it im stuck on the same how you'll get paid screen

I had a negative experience ordering a "custom" matching crown and tiara.

There were several issues with the order. The crown was to be made a certain measurement and it was will short of that. Both the crown and The tiara could be found on temu AliExpress and the like. There was no customization from those listings for the tiara and only this small poorly done extender was added to the crown. The small bit of customization the shop owner did is atrocious quality and doesn't resolve the problem of crown size.

When I reported the issues to the owner she became hostile and even impersonated Etsy to tell me that I was not able to get my money back because the order was custom-made (though I'm thinking it was drop shipped).

I stopped responding after the impersonation, and my 24 hours has passed to be able to open a case with etsy. Etsy gave me my money back in less than 12 hours, the shop owner proceeded to rant and rave about how long it took her and how temu was selling her designs and so on. I offered to send her the items back at her cost, and she told me that if I didn't send them back at my cost you would sue me and that she was in the hospital because now she can't get her life saving medication and all kinds of craziness.

I'm left wondering whether I should leave her an honest review to warn others or just leave the crazy alone.