sometimes I miss ebay and Amazon.

soolin

I've joined a few specialist forums and sites and have been using etsy and recently bought a few bits and pieces. The difference between ebay/Amazon and most of these smaller sites is very noticeable, some things I bought last week from ebay were delivered this morning , allowing for the bank holidays that was around a 3 working day delivery time. However I am waiting for something from etsy that despatched allegedly within 3 working days - over 2 weeks ago and according to the seller she marks everything sent but actually only goes to the PO once a week - but the 'despatch' notice was merely to indicate that item has been packed and labelled.

As for some of the specialist forums waiting 3 weeks to send something is apparently completely normal, the reason I posted this whinge is because I've just chased a few things up and one seller has come back to me to say she is on holiday until this coming Saturday and has been away for 2 weeks and didn't send anything before she left- even though I had paid 10 days or so before that.

I know we sellers get frustrated with ebay expecting us to send virtually the second buyer pays- but holding a seller accountable for posting promptly is perhaps a good thing , I'm not planning to buy again from some of these specialist sites - I will continue to sell and ship quickly , and I'm not going to over react and open a paypal case- but it is very frustrating. I am buying blind, there's no feedback system in place or any way of knowing whether someone ships twice a week or just once a month- you just hope that you get lucky and see your purchases at some unspecified time in the future. 

MalMonroe

Etsy is a different kettle of fish altogether, operates under different policies and all the sellers are independents trying to make a buck or two. Although some are businesses, they're not big ones.

One of my friends, an artist, sells her work on there and enjoys great success with it. She does acknowledge all orders and sends the items out promptly but I guess you have to understand that sellers like her also have other life events - she has two young sons who are home schooled and she's a single parent through no fault of her own so yes, she does visit the post office a couple of times a week. Any wait for her work is worth it, though.

I think if you are wanting goods immediately then you are better off using eBay and amazon but sometimes it's nice to support the independents who don't make much profit. I recently bought two cushion covers from someone who makes them herself. She gave me an idea of the date I'd receive them and I received them a day early. But if I'd have had to wait I wouldn't have minded because they are of excellent quality and were very reasonably priced. 

Just depends what you're looking for, I guess. Sometimes if you look at an item on amazon or eBay the delivery dates can be a month or two hence too. In which case, you can look for another seller. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

I find Etsy expensive, over time higher prices will draw competition, reduce prices and push service levels higher.

Sad thing about Etsy is they don't enforce their ideals of things being made by the seller, I'm guessing counterfeit N64 games for example don't sit with their original vision. They'll slowly turn into a clone of eBay, service will pick up and so will the level of tat. 

forgotmyname

I thought Etsy was already full of tat?  Maybe it was just the categories that I searched in?

Had an item for sale on Ebay a long time ago, the buyer was slow paying so I actually took the item on holiday
with me and posted it once payment had cleared.  OK that would be difficult if abroad but a seller should inform
you or post before they went or arrange for someone else to post them.

soolin

forgotmyname said:

I thought Etsy was already full of tat?  Maybe it was just the categories that I searched in?

Had an item for sale on Ebay a long time ago, the buyer was slow paying so I actually took the item on holiday
with me and posted it once payment had cleared.  OK that would be difficult if abroad but a seller should inform
you or post before they went or arrange for someone else to post them.

That is a different scenario and I've done the same as you when an NPB case took around 7 days to open and close. I spent a happy week driving round the lake district with a large vase (packed and labelled) in the back of the car waiting for an NPB to close, and buyer actually paid the day before the case closed and I posted it while I was away. In the instance in my OP, I bought and paid for an item, then 10 days later, without posting it the seller went on holiday and is still away (and made no attempt to contact me until I asked them where my item was) . That means the seller will not be posting my item until a month after I paid for it.