Etsy Promised to Fix a Shipping Glitch 2 Weeks Ago

by: The End

Well I declare.....
If you're too damn lazy to use a separate shipping protocol.....
NEVER EVER NEVER use the offered shipping routine from a venue.
Because IT'S A VENUE.
Use Stamps.com or any of the other UN-associated shipping services.
People are just so STUPID.

by: Alaskabluecreations

I do use a different venue, Pirate Ship. Etsy made changes on the 12th, I know this because my orders weren't uploading to Pirate Ship. I contacted Pirate Ship (excellent customer service by the way) and they told me Etsy had made changes, to delete from integrations and re-install. It worked after that but orders now only show as Pre Transit, even those delivered.  

by: GetAGrip

Only two weeks. Fleecebay has glitches they have been promising to fix for years. Get over it. These platforms don't care.

by: Doggoneit

@The End:
This has nothing to do with people being stupid or lazy; there are many that don't use their labels, me included, and some of the affected shops have now been placed under a payment reserve, all because of this "glitch".
First it's a payment reserve, then a forced shop vacay, then shop closure. All for not complying with their "suggestions".
I have never used their labels. I go to the PO and buy my own and in 13 years I've never had any problems with doing it this way, whereas there are almost daily problems with Etsy labels. Why in the world would I want to use such a crappy "service"?
I have no intention to ever use their labels, and I've often said that this would make me close my shops if they forced this on everyone. There is currently no reason for me to believe they won't. So, if this happens, I'll have to decide between using a sub-standard system, or close up shop.
The fact that they forced it on sellers in India for their domestic shipments does not bode well, IMO.

by: Fruitylovesyou

I'm getting pretty worked up

by: gyanarthi

this pre-transit thing has been happening on and off for a long time... not just on ETSY orders...when I inquired, PirateShip told me it was a USPS glitch.

by: gyanarthi

this pre-transit thing has been happening on and off for a long time... not just on ETSY orders...when I inquired, PirateShip told me it was a USPS glitch.

by: BlueDenim

I use Pirate Ship for my Etsy labels and had this pre-transit issue. Once the item was marked delivered on the USPS website, I contacted Etsy support.

They were able to update the tracking from their side. It took 24 hours for everything to update from showing delivered to the star seller metrics reverting back to 100% on shipping.

by: Ophelia1

The whole thng about the shipping glitch brings a suspicious thought to mind: Etsy doing this on purpose so as to force sellers to use  only purchased from Etsy, instead of Pirateship, Stamps.com or whatever else sellers use.

by: Snapped

“… PirateShip told me it was a USPS glitch.”

Assuming the parcel is in USPS possession, and has been scanned accepted (a whole ‘nother argument), their database and all search returns (not dependent on a third party ‘translation’) have instant access to it, right down to the specific scanner, date, time, and physical location to within a couple paces.

On an infrequent basis, their one of many seamlessly integrated search aps (they really are) may be off-line, but this is always corrected within no more than a couple hours, usually minutes.  

Point is, the data is there.  But it’s not pushed.  Never has been. Inquiry required.

However, there are also the same bandwidth-jam periods based on uncontrollable excess of simultaneous requests that the web entire experiences as well, which can also impede processing on the input sides.  Like a glut of Pirate Ship ‘requests’ over a given noticeable period might do for example.  

But these are not the days long ‘inexplicable’ - and costly- delays each side of this information interface wants to blame on the other.

Given this latest ‘glitch’ is coincident with a change in Etsy processes, and noting the example offered above of what a ‘refresh’ now returns, Etsy’s ‘update’ data formatting and ordering may well have been shuffled around a bit, and now some of the other services (internal and external) that may have relatively delicate data retrieval routines have become ‘confused’.  

In the same way, Etsy retrieval of USPS data may now be reaching toward a virtual brick wall, instead of a connection node.

To treat this apparently chronic and recurring condition, someone will have to investigate and solve this from a ‘system of systems’ perspective.  First though, they must care to.

Despicable that they make their customers grovel for due financial recompense because they haven’t yet cared to, while ‘profiting’ from a statistically nice percentage who won’t.

And that doesn’t even touch upon the astounding apathy they seem to have for the expressed mass distrust for their shipping ‘services’ and resulting loss of current and potential subscribers.  But that’s just bad business.