Some sellers say they were going from strength to strength, but now they have been left unable to pay their bills, with their only source of income coming from Etsy sales.
Some sellers say they were going from strength to strength, but now they have been left unable to pay their bills, with their only source of income coming from Etsy sales.
Tracking can be cost prohibitive. Within the same country is usually fine, but what if you’re shipping overseas?
Your options then become “eat the cost” cutting into a likely already thin margin, or “charge to the customer” which discourages buyers.
It seems to me that, given the bespoke nature of so much stuff on Etsy, they should absolutely have a pay-up-front option for items that are being manufactured to order. In any other kind of bespoke trade, putting down a large deposit or even full prepayment would not be considered unusual at all.
Sure, there would be risks associated with doing this as a buyer, but I bet a lot of people would do it for a reputable and trusted vendor. Especially if the alternative is seeing large additional fees added to the order.