Advice needed? - Uncommunicative seller

[litlionman.livejournal.com]

Hello, I don't quite know if this is an okay place to post this, but I'm a bit nervous and could really use some advice.

I purchased an item from a user on etsy a little over a week ago. They have decent feedback, save for one negative where the buyer said they didn't get their item. The rest of this artist's feedback was stellar, though, so I thought I'd purchase something from them and give it a go. I bought the item and paid immediately and just sort of waited to be notified of shipping. It's been about a week, and the invoice still says my item hasn't been shipped.

That's all well and good, I mean, I don't know if this person takes a while to make the necklaces or not, they don't really -say- in their shop or anything. So yesterday I popped a quick message to their etsy account with a link to the invoice asking about the shipping status, and asked for a tracking number if they could get me one, since it's coming from a good long distance. It's been a little over a day since I sent the message, with no response. I don't know if the artist has been online at all since, but it's sort of offputting to get absolutely no communication.

Artists_beware, am I being too impatient? I get that things come up in life, but I'd really appreciate some communication from the person I bought from - even a quick little "Some things have come up/I have to make this piece from scratch so it might take me a couple weeks" would put me at ease. The rest of their feedback really commends their fast shipping and quality of their jewelry, so I don't really want to panic and try to get a refund with it only being a week since I ordered from them.

Anyway, thank you for any advice you can offer me!

Comments

[rtydmartel.livejournal.com]

I'd say you give them five or so more days to contact you before trying anything more. Real life or some other issue might have kept them from replying or even checking their messages.

[litlionman.livejournal.com]

True, I'll give it some time then!

[breakspire.livejournal.com]

have you read through their policies and everything from the listing you bought? hopefully there should be some mention as to shipping times, and if items are already made vs made to order (and if so, how long that takes). also check their shop announcement at the top of the page.

as far as waiting for communication - most etsy shops are run by a single person, who may or may not also have a "day job". so it's best to give them a bit more time to answer.

I wouldn't freak out yet if I were you, just give them a few days to get back to you.

[litlionman.livejournal.com]

They don't really have any policies listed in their store or on their items, it's a bit odd, but I thought that since their feedback was pretty good, there'd be no issue.

I did find one feedback that mentioned it took two weeks from the purchase date to get their item, so maybe I'll just need to be more patient?

It's been a few days since I sent the message on May 9th, but again, they might have things going on. I'll give it til the end of the week and see what's up.

[aazhie.livejournal.com]

yeah, I sometimes don't check email for a week. It's bad but I'm often busy and I warn people I'm slow. 5 days is not bad, then send them another message that you will be taking action with paypal or etsy if you don't get a response. Be polite but firm and you can refer to the negative feedback. If you can contact the person that left the feedback sometime you can figure out what went wrong...

[litlionman.livejournal.com]

Alright, thank you!

[wolf-goat.livejournal.com]

If the person has a contact method other than Etsy - say, an email address, a deviantArt or such - give that a try in case the messaging system on Etsy is being crappy!

Also I don't know what you mean by "good long distance" (I am going to assume international here) but generally you won't be able to get a tracking number for international shipments without paying an added premium on top.

[kawaiipiepie.livejournal.com]

I second this, I few people in the forums have said they don't think their convos are going through, which is worrying.

[litlionman.livejournal.com]

Hm, this might be the case. Etsy's convo system has failed me as a seller in the past, so I normally email my customers with any information just in case the system eats the original message.

[buhiden.livejournal.com]

I would wait a couple more weeks before taking action. If the seller is say a student then now is probably the worse time to buy something as they are busy with exams and graduation, etc. Most sellers are hobbyists so I understand it may be hard to find time to make items to sell, especially if it's not premade and they have full time jobs/studies to tend to.

Find another contact such as another email, website, tumblr or deviantart and see if you get a response. If you don't get a response within a month or so, I would contact etsy/paypal for a possible refund.

[litlionman.livejournal.com]

I tried their deviantart to no avail, but they could just be busy! I'll give it a bit and see if they'll get back to me. Thanks!

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

There's also good odds they shipped the item and just forgot to check the box sayings its shipped. Etsy's layout is a bit of a pain so its really easy to forget to click the box saying its shipped, even after you've printed the invoice.

[litlionman.livejournal.com]

It is indeed possible, but I'd hope for a note telling me they shipped it so I can look out for it. D: Ah well, guess I'll just have to see!

[crssafox.livejournal.com]

I don't even use Etsy's invoice/shipping features. I keep my own database in Excel, and didn't even realize until recently that Etsy had the features to mark items as having been shipped and/or include the tracking/delivery confirmation information on it at all.

So it could be that they forgot to click the "shipped" box, or it could be that they simply don't use that method for tracking. Hopefully there is an e-mail address they listed that you can use to contact them and get a direct answer. :)

Edit to add: The main reason I don't track my orders using Etsy's immediate web site is that I sometimes get high volumes of orders, especially at certain times of the year, and I feel it takes more time to sift through Etsy's list and mark things as shipped or whatever, than it does to just work with the Excel spreadsheet. Since I use Priority shipping anyway, chances are the customer receives their item before they'd ever e-mail me asking for a delivery confirmation number in the first place.

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

If I recall correctly, one has to use PayPal on Etsy - has the transaction been picked up on the seller's end? That should be the indicator of where they're at, in shipping your item. If they've picked up the money, then the product should be on its way to you.

[breakspire.livejournal.com]

it doesn't work that way.. I get money instantly for purchases

also etsy started letting people use their direct check-out system instead of paypal as well