Etsy Rant: I want my money back!

I'm sorry this happened. Can I suggest that you direct your rant at the specific seller rather Etsy as a whole, though?

I'm sorry! it says your wedding is Nov 5... it def can be here by next Saturday but I understand how stressful that would be waiting. I do hope it gets here in time

Etsy is really good about it. If you don't hear from the seller within the week, they will refund you and fight for the money back.

Sorry to hear though. I would leave a review on them

I'm sorry - this would suck! Ordering from China can be very tricky due to custom rules! Been there done that! I ordered ours from Etsy as well and knowing from experience didn't want to take a chance with anyone in China. I rolled the dice on a vendor in Turkey and praise God it was delivered in less than a week via FedEx.

For what it's worth the shipping status on things coming from China isn't always updated "real time", especially if the shipper is DHL! I can't tell you how many times tracking will show awaiting custom clearance or something like that and DHL shows up at my door. If they are willing to use a different shipper I will pay the extra cost for UPS.

Check to see if they are shipping via DHL, and if so there's a possibility you might still get it on time.

I had our halloween costumes ordered through Etsy, and it got stuck in pre-shipment notification. Which means that a label was created but not scanned in/accepted at the post office. After a week of being in that status, I contacted the seller who said the post office must have lost it because she dropped it off, and sent me a new one right away. I don't think it is unreasonable to ask the seller for a refund. You never got your end product and it is their responsibility to handle shipping to you. Same with Amazon, if a package gets lost, they ship another one or refund.

Good luck with getting your money back!

ETA: That doesn't mean he just loses his money. He is supposed to make a claim with the post office. But as the receiver you can't do that.

I'm sorry. I like Etsy, but I have learned to always build in extra time for shipping, especially internationally. I hope that your claim is processed quickly.

I had the same problem and filed a claim bc the seller kept promising the item would get to me 3 different times. I got fed up. Etsy contacted me directly and the seller was made to reimburse me 100%. It only took them 2 days to respond.

I didn't order it on Etsy, but I did buy a bra from a website and its been almost 2 months and I haven't gotten it yet. Same situation - came from China and they used DHL. And they aren't responding to my emails asking for an update/refund. I hope you get it soon!

Man that really does suck.

I'm sorry it may not get to you in time. But as an etsy seller myself, I can tell you that the processing time they give you in their listing is the time it takes BEFORE shipping. That DOES NOT include the amount of time it will take to get to you. So unfortunately, as long as the seller marked the item shipped by the end of their processing time, Etsy will side with the seller. Especially if the seller has provided tracking. Because once the item has shipped, it is out of the sellers hands and the seller has no control of how long it will take to get to you.

@Brooke, the seller not only mentions the processing time frame but also the shipping time frame as well. He clearly specified different shipping arrival timelines based on the destination country in his shipping policy. So at the absolute latest, including both processing and shipping, the item should have arrived by today. I even went back and re-read his shipping policies to make sure I did not misread it and NOPE it's pretty clear. He also did not dispute this either. That's why I don't understand why he would not refund the item. It wouldn't be so bad if the cake topper was somewhere in the US. But it is still in China in pre-shipment status.

@Sarah, even if the postal service messed up, it is not my fault and does not mean that I should not only be out of my money and without the item but also have to spend additional funds on another cake topper. As a vendor, you should not penalize your client for a postal service error. And see how he never got back to me after saying he would contact the postal office and it has been 12 hours? If it was indeed a postal service error, as @brieliz mentioned, the seller should file a claim with the shipping service used.

@Em, I'm pretty sure my rant made it clear it was against the Etsy seller and not Etsy as a whole. I have ordered 2 other items off Etsy in the past few months and both came as advertised within the timeline listed in their shipping policy section.

Hi LanaKane. What does the topper look like? Maybe someone here has seen one similar for sale somewhere that you could get before the wedding.

Ouch, that sucks. I'm sorry that happened, but Etsy is pretty good about getting your money back. I had to do something similar for an item that never shipped too and Etsy took care of it quickly for me.

@LanaKane - Do you know who the shipper is?

What was the cake topper?

This is why I never buy from overseas ya just never know . I do shop on etsy alot though and they are very good focong stuff

I and FH ordered gifts for BMs and GMs from Etsy. I am currently waiting on the tote bags (Monogrammed, NOT with MOH or BM on it). They're supposedly in transit from NY to VA. Hopefully they get here today (as USPS says) or next week. But I was cutting it close by ordering Oct 5th with the shop saying 3-4 weeks plus 3-5 days shipping.

Hope you get your money back or the cake topper on time!!

I ordered a dress from eshakti and onceit was made, it took a surprisingly short time to come from India. Praying it reaches you in time.

There is a chance you might get it on time if they used a service like DHL. I have gotten packages within three days of being shipped from China to us in NYC. I hope this will be the case for you, as well. My wedding bands shipped from Australia on the 20th and arrived on the 23rd. Insanely impressive! Keep us updated!

I prefer to shop US vendors on Etsy. I feel that I have a better chance for a refund if stateside. Especially if you aren't satisfied with the product. It's very costly to send back overseas.

Lanakane, for his response time, you need to take into account the time difference. He can't reply if it's 2am and he's sleeping... I understand you're frustrated, but the time difference will cause a delay in response.

I'm in Eastern time zone, and China is 12 hours ahead of me.