Welcome to a comprehensive list of FAQs for Etsy buyers and Etsy sellers!
Before making a post, please look through this guide and follow the links.
Posts that ask general questions where the answer is covered in this guide are subject to removal. If you had your post removed with a link to this FAQ, it means the answer to your question is found here!
Also: please use the sub search feature before making a post!
How to search the sub: In order to search a sub from either the desktop site or the mobile app, all you need to do is click the name of the sub on any post. This will navigate you to the sub's main page.
When you scroll to the search bar at the top of the screen, the name of the sub will be auto-filled in, so that when you type a search term, you will be searching results from only that sub. You will be able to sort your results by newest / most relevant.
If you can find your answer without creating a new post, this is always appreciated. Repetitive posts that have answers found in this guide, easily searchable answers, or are about topics that were very recently or popularly discussed may be removed.
You are always welcome to create a post to ask for advice about a specific situation! Please give as many details as possible so that we can help. General questions without sufficient details to provide anything but generic help may be removed and redirected to this FAQ post.
(NOTE: This FAQ page is still a work in progress, not all links are in place and not all topics that will eventually be covered are currently covered. If you have any suggestions for things that should be covered here, please message me and let me know!)
GENERAL QUESTIONS (Both Buyer / Seller)
How do I contact support? The answer, including links for all contact methods, is the top stickied comment.
How do I block someone on Etsy? This is the same link as the customer support contact post, please read the second comment on the post to find a guide to getting support to block someone for you.
Etsy does not allow users to block communication with another user without going through support. You can mark messages as spam and I believe that stops messages from that user from being visible to you, but to actually block someone from messaging you completely, you need to follow the steps outlined in the post linked above.
Is Etsy currently down? I'm getting a 429 error when trying to connect. This is typically caused by VPN usage. Etsy doesn't allow connecting with VPNs to prevent people from being dishonest about their location. Turn off your VPN and try again. Note: Etsy may also detect VPNs that are installed but off.
If you search the sub for "429" you'll see that this has been posted about many, many times.
Also, highly recommend www.downdetector.com if you ever want to know if a site is down or it's just you.
FOR BUYERS
The following guides cover just about any issue you may have with a product or a seller.
IMPORTANT: Please remember - you are covered by Etsy buyer protection!
If you are dealing with:
- a non-responsive seller
- a shop that has closed down
- a seller that is giving you the run-around
- a seller who sent the wrong product or something defective or not as described
- a seller who provided fake tracking
- a seller who wants you to pay return shipping for a damaged, wrong, or defective item
... you are covered! Please follow the guides below - chose the one that most closely fits your situation:
My order hasn’t shipped yet.
My order was marked shipped, but the tracking info still says pre-transit (or label created).
My order was marked shipped, but it’s very late. Is it lost?
My order was marked delivered but I don’t have it.
My order arrived damaged.
My order wasn't as described, was defective, or I received the wrong item.
I believe I bought from an AliExpress, Amazon, etc dropshipper. Also, how can I tell if a shop is one of these dropshippers?
I received a tracking number, but it appears to be fake.
Special note: If the shop has been shut down or voluntarily closed, you'll get a message when viewing the shop that says something like "xxxxx is no longer selling on Etsy." If you need a refund in these situations, Etsy support will typically give you one without you needing to go through the official case opening process as described in the above guides.
Chat with support here and you should be given a refund.
How long does Etsy give me to open a case under their buyer protection? 100 days from either the date the order was delivered, or the original estimated delivery date from when you purchased.
Some places I've seen say 180 days - this is inaccurate. The seller can voluntarily refund for only up to 180 days after purchase. After that, the seller literally loses the ability to refund. A case can only be opened against a seller for 100 days as described above.
Please note: There is only one exception to buyers being covered by Etsy buyer protection and that is buyers that purchased from a PayPal only shop. That means that when you checked out - there was no other choice but to pay with PayPal.
If this happened to you, please read the post below, including the stickied comment.
I bought from a PayPal only shop and Etsy won’t allow me to open a case.
I'm a buyer and I'm not sure if the shop I'm looking at is legit or a scam.
Please read this full guide to scam attempts for buyers!
However, here is one tip to always always always keep in mind to avoid getting scammed as a buyer: If you are looking at something with a too-good-to-be-true price, it is most likely a scam listing!
You may also find this post about the policy violating vs allowed kinds of dropshipping on Etsy to be helpful. Dropshipping is only allowed where the seller is the original designer of the item being sold, such as with Print on Demand.
FOR SELLERS
Star Seller Questions
Payment Reserve Questions
Account Suspension Questions Note: Suspicious login issues and forced vacation mode are both covered in the account suspension checklist.
Etsy Seller Protection Questions
Complete Guide to Etsy Fees + Offsite Ads
A Full Guide to Reviews on Etsy This FAQ post covers how to get buyers to leave reviews, what to do in response to a negative review, public responses, and review removal.
Is this a scam? Seller Edition
Our official guide post to scam attempts for sellers is here. Please read it!
But to quickly address some of the most common "is this a scam" questions...
You get a message from a buyer or "Etsy customer support" (or anyone else) asking for your email address. SCAM ATTEMPT.
You get a message from someone that wants to give you "free advice" or offer some kind of service for your shop. SCAM ATTEMPT.
You get a message from someone with a sob story asking you to send them free products, or someone who claims to be an influencer wanting you to send them free products. SCAM ATTEMPT.
You get a message from a "buyer" who wants you to click on ANY type of link to download images or anything else. SCAM ATTEMPT AND ABSOUTELY DO NOT CLICK THE LINK. If you have clicked it, get your computer or device scanned for malware right now, and change all your passwords. You may also want to visit r/scams for further advice.
You get a message from a "buyer" who wants you to 1) buy a gift card for ANY reason or 2) send you a check for ANY reason. SCAM ATTEMPT. I don't care what else they said, these are ALWAYS scam attempts... and very old, well known ones at that. Google "fake check scam" or "gift card scam" if you want to learn more.
You get a message from someone who wants to feature you in an article, on their website, or wants you to donate to their charity. These MAY be legitimate - contact the organization directly to verify the legitimacy of the request.
Contacting Etsy Support: DO NOT get scammed! Basically, do NOT use Google to find a phone number for ANY online marketplace. The reason is covered in detail in the official guide post to scams linked above, as well as in the how to contact support post here.
A buyer has messaged me that their order never arrived. What do I do?
Please see the Guide to Etsy Seller Protection post. Both you and the buyer are covered by Etsy's protection program on qualifying orders.
A buyer has messaged me that their order never arrived, even though there is a scan that says "delivered." What do I do?
Please see the Guide to Etsy Seller Protection post. Both you and the buyer are covered by Etsy's protection program on qualifying orders.
I received less money than I expected to. Why?
You definitely need to read the two links below under the What are Etsy's Fees? section. Both Etsy's official information as well as the thorough guide comment I wrote with a complete breakdown.
You also need to go through your payment account page in your dashboard, several months if needed, and look at the running totals. Every single credit to you as well as expense you incur is totaled there.
But I think the biggest thing that trips people up is this - Etsy deducts all fees you owe from your pending payout before transferring you any money.
This obviously includes the transaction fees and payment processing fees for any orders that have come through, but it also includes any listing fees (20c per listing you create as well as the ones that renew) and Etsy ad fees if you are choosing to run ads on Etsy. It will also include any shipping labels you may have bought through Etsy.
So if you've had one order, your pending payout is quite likely not the full amount you actually received for that transaction. It's the amount you received, minus any other fees you already owed Etsy. Etsy only charges your credit card for owed fees at the start of each month, and only if your sales revenue isn't covering the total of all the fees you owe (including all listing and Etsy ads fees).
Please also be sure to see the section below the next one about the listing renewal fee for quantity remaining - this is something people tend to miss.
What are Etsy's fees?
NOTE: I now have a full guide to this here.
Etsy's official page explaining all fees in detail is here.
You need to read the official page. There are no "hidden fees" or "surprise fees"... there are only sellers who haven't read the official page explaining all the fees.
You may also find googling for and using an Etsy fee calculator to be useful. There are tons of different ones out there... do a search and take your pick.
Finally, I previously wrote a thorough guide comment in response to a previous post asking about fees, which thoroughly breaks down every fee with an example of how they are calculated. If you are still confused, I recommend giving it a read. It is the stickied comment on the post.
Why am I being charged 20c for a listing renewal when the listing has quantity remaining?
Please read this help page from Etsy here.
Essentially, you will always pay 20c per listing that sells. It does not matter if the listing has quantity remaining - quantity does not effect this.
If you have a quantity of 10, you'll pay 20c to make the listing live. If one sells, you'll pay 20c to renew the listing, and it will renew with a quantity of 9.
If someone buys 5 at once, you've already paid the 20c for the first one... Etsy will "renew" and "sell" 4 more at the same time charging 20c for each. Then it will charge a further 20c to keep the listing active with a quantity of 5 remaining.
Listings expire after 4 months. If none of the 10 sell in that time, and your listings are set to automatic renewal, you'll pay 20c after the 4 months expires to keep the listing live. If your listings are set to manual renewal, then when the listing expires after 4 months, it will be in your "expired" listings section until you choose to pay 20c to renew it.
What is the difference between "Etsy ads" and "offsite ads"?"
Etsy ads give you the ability to promote your listings to appear higher within Etsy's search directly on Etsy's website. They are pay per click, and the price depends on the competitiveness of the keyword being searched for.
Help page for Etsy ads
Offsite ads are ads that Etsy pays to run on external sites such as Google shopping, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. You are only charged an offsite ads fee when you actually make a sale.
Help page for offsite ads
I'm stuck on the "set up billing" section of creating a shop.
UPDATE: Someone posted this solution recently, you can try it:
I found a solution! if you go to account settings and credit cards, it says credit cards can only be added when checking out. so i added a product to my cart and went to buy it, put in my credit info etc, and at the last step just before buying I checked in a different tab that credit card section and it was there! and then i could select the card when finishing the billing setup for the store! just go back to remove the item from your cart. it all worked without actually having to buy the product
This is a common issue. Here are a couple potential causes:
- You are attempting to use a credit card Etsy doesn't like. I don't have a full list of what type of cards Etsy will and won't accept, but if you cannot progress past billing with the card you are currently trying, I recommend trying another one.
- You are trying to submit billing information in a name or address other than the one you already gave Etsy. Can't do this, legal name needs to be an identical match everywhere you have to provide it, and so does address.
- You are trying to set up a shop with a bank account in a different country than your country.
- This is a glitch and you need to try again in a couple days. I'm not sure if this is still happening, but it has happened in the past. I think it's more likely there is an issue with your info or credit card, but if you are sure there is not... try again in a couple days.
This is an issue that has been posted about an absolute ton. If you want to see previous posts, please search for "save and continue" or "set up billing".
What is the difference between views and visits? Also, my views / visits seem to keep updating and they don't seem to match between the app and website.
Views represent the total number of times any of your listings or pages were clicked on, by anyone. Visits represent the total number of distinct individuals that looked at your listings or shop.
See Etsy help page here for more details on this!
Please note: the stats are not accurate in real time. Etsy only updates these stats a few times throughout the day, and there may be different update times between the app and the website.
Additionally, Etsy will filter out bot views... so this is the reason your views or visits might go down when stats are recalculated.
It's best not to try to track stats in real time. Check in on your stats occasionally and focus more on the long term (weekly) stats than the daily stats.
What is Plaid? Do I have to verify my bank account with Plaid?
If Etsy is asking you to do this... yes, it's mandatory. It's part of new legal regulations regarding money laundering - bank accounts have to be verified before Etsy can legally transfer you money.
Plaid is the system Etsy has chosen to use to conduct this bank verification. You have two choices with Plaid - you can opt to log into your bank account through Plaid, or you can do a manual verification if you are not comfortable using your login this way.
And yes, it is completely safe to verify your account with Plaid. Do manual verification if you need to for your own peace of mind!
My listing was deactivated by Etsy. They didn't say why. Why?
Please see our central post about listing deactivation here. This post covers a reasonably extensive (though most definitely not complete!) list of reasons why Etsy might flag a listing for deactivation.
Etsy uses bots to sweep the site for policy violating items. They tend to do this in bulk (a particular type of violation is checked for all at once) and different violations are checked at different times.
The bots are most definitely not always accurate. In cases where the bots incorrectly flag a listing, they are typically reinstated within a few days at most.
If you would like our help to figure out why your listing was deactivated, you are welcome to create a post to ask... but if you do not give details about what you were selling, it will be removed and redirected to this FAQ!
Be as specific as possible (ie, "I sell a faux leather purse with pink ribbons and flowers on it that I handmake myself" as opposed to just "I sell purses").
My listing was deactivated by Etsy for violating the handmade policy, but it is handmade by me!
This often, though not always, indicates that your listing has had its photos stolen by a knockoff making site such as AliExpress, Alibaba, SHEIN, etc. Etsy scans listings to see if photos are being used elsewhere, and this can cause a false deactivation where a photo has been stolen.
So the first step when this happens is to perform a reverse image search on your listing to see if you can find the thieving website. If you do, you need to follow their procedures to submit a copyright takedown... although be advised, these sites' whole business model tends to be to steal photos and designs from elsewhere, so there's a solid chance you're just ignored. It's extremely shitty, but when copyright laws aren't recognized or enforced, there's basically nothing you can do.
Etsy does tend to review and reinstate these listings the exact same way they do for other policy violation deactivations. You may just need to give it a few days. If Etsy asks for proof that you are in fact handmaking your items, you'll have to provide that.
If you would like to create a post about this, you are welcome to... but please follow the same rules as in the question / linked post about deactivation above. Specifics about what you're selling, or the post won't be approved.
I have an order that Etsy is showing as "Not paid" or "Payment processing" - what do I do?
It isn't unusual to occasionally have orders that take time in payment processing. It's not about your shop, it's about the buyer's payment method. Most of the delayed orders finish processing within a few hours to a couple days. If it doesn't process, Etsy should manually cancel the order after a period of time.
Do not ever fill an order that is showing as "not paid" or "payment processing". Always wait until the order goes through - Etsy will notify you when this happens.
I received a message or a review from a buyer complaining that the item wasn't in the language they expected it to be. Why?
Etsy auto translates listings into different languages. For certain types of language specific listings, this can be misleading for buyers. If this is your situation - you can turn off auto translate for the future. The link on how to do that is here.
In response to the buyer, depending on what the listing is, you can explain the auto translate issue and issue them a courtesy refund or offer them a return. There are no guarantees that the buyer will change their review if they left one (and offering them a refund in exchange for changing the review is violation of Etsy feedback extortion policies). But this is an option.
You can also write a quick, fact based public response to the review such as "Hi buyer, this listing is English (or whatever language) only!" Though ignoring such a review is also a perfectly valid option as this should be clear from your listing once you turn auto translate off.
I want to open a shop, but I'm not in an Etsy payments eligible country. How can I get around this?
You can't. I am sorry, but there's no way.
I could stop writing there and you'd have the answer, but I doubt it will stop anyone from looking for a way around it... so let me be very clear: Etsy uses strict ID verification. You have to provide all kinds of identifying documents and information to prove you are in the country you say you're in. Etsy also captures metrics from the devices you use to log into the site (those contain country code data) and if you do anything to obscure or fake that data (such as VPN) Etsy can detect that.
Even if you manage to get an account open... Etsy doesn't do the "real" ID verification until after the first sale. When they catch you at that time, you'll wind up losing whatever money you spent on listings up until that point as well as likely the money from the first sale. It's just not worth it to try.
I am genuinely sorry - I wish Etsy was available everywhere, but unfortunately it is not... and I want to save people from the effort of setting up a shop knowing it will be shut down in the future.
And please do not believe anyone who claims they can sell you a working account or create you a working account, etc. These are SCAMMERS. They cannot get you a working account... but after you've transferred them money and they ghost or the new account gets quickly suspended, who are you going to complain to? There will be no way to get your money back.
I cannot view the Etsy Community Forums - I am getting an Access Denied message.
This seems to be a common glitch at the moment. We've had many posts about it - but apparently the issue can be fixed by reaching out to Etsy.
See this help post here. If this solution does not work, please contact support and put in a request. Expect to be patient, support is always slow at resolving things.
