From the 1st of August, Etsy will be offering customers purchase protection as described under the updated Buyer Policy.
If a buyer cannot resolve their issue directly through the seller, Etsy will step in to support them. Buyers may receive a full refund for purchases that never arrive, arrive damaged, or do not match the listing description.
Sellers must meet the following buyer expectations:
- Items are delivered, and arrive when expected. They should be dispatched within the seller’s stated processing times, and delivered to the address provided by the buyer at the time of purchase on Etsy. Updates to processing times or delivery addresses through messages or other informal channels will not qualify. Please note that if an item was dispatched and has a tracking number, you may be able to open a delivery company claim by directly contacting the delivery company.
- Items arrive undamaged, and are packaged to withstand handling in transit.
- Items match the listing description. Items received should not be significantly different from the listing description or photos. We may ask the buyer to provide us with documentation to demonstrate that the item is significantly different. Here are a few examples of qualifying scenarios:
- The item received is a different colour, model, version, or size.
- The item has a different design or material.
- The seller failed to disclose that an item is damaged or is missing parts.
- The buyer received the incorrect quantity of items (e.g., the buyer purchased three items but only received two).
- The item was advertised as authentic but is not authentic.
- The condition of the item is misrepresented (e.g., the item is described as new but is used).
For sellers, we wanted to make running their business on Etsy more worry free–especially when something happens that is outside of their control. We’re excited to offer this benefit to our sellers at no additional cost to them. This is one of the many investments we’re making to support our Etsy community.
– Etsy in an email sent out to customers
Sellers did indeed call for more help from Etsy with support with certain issues, but are the buyer expectations going to do more damage than good? How far will Etsy go in favour of a buyer? Only time will tell.
