A Little Rant

I am a buyer as well as a seller on Etsy. In reality I probably buy more than I sell ~ ha! I have a little pet peeve that I’ve kept quiet about . . . until now. I just have to vent about it, but I won’t call out any particular sellers, because I don’t want to offend anyone. I just hope that if you’re one of the guilty ones, this post might help you. This is really important “Customer Service 101”.

Scenario: I make a purchase from "Shop A". A few days go by, and nada. No convo, no email, no communication WHATSOEVER. I go into “Purchases” and it says “Payment received”, which really tells me nothing. Has this seller even checked their Etsy account lately?? Are they aware of the sale??

I’m a very patient person, so I wait . . . sometimes a few days, and in those rare instances, a few weeks. However, I am very, very anxious to receive said thing-a-ma-bob. In my haste, I check the seller’s shop. Sure enough, it appears to be updated, which is a good sign that they haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.

Finally, the blessed package shows up in my mailbox. I open that trusty yellow manila bubble mailer to find that thing-a-ma-bob, but . . . there’s no message scribbled on a piece of scrap paper, no handwritten card, no thank you of any sort.

Yikes, that’s a big turn off, folks.

So I check my Feedback to see if "Seller A" decided to leave me positive feedback thanking me for my stellar transaction.

Bummer . . . no feedback either.

I’m a stickler for customer service. I suppose this comes from having worked retail in a past life. As a seller, I aim to make all of my customers feel special. For me, it is all about the personal connection. I want them to know that there is a living, breathing human being behind all of this. So, I guess I just do not understand the lack of personal service on the part of some sellers. Are you that busy? I’m not saying you need to jump through hoops. Just a quick convo to acknowledge the sale would be nice. Really it is just common courtesy. I do realize there is that little section where you can look to check the status of your purchase, but not everyone who uses Etsy knows this. Plus, I think most people appreciate it when you go the extra mile, at least my customers have told me so.

I’m not saying that you have to bend over and kiss my behind for buying from you. A nice handwritten message inside the package will win you brownie points, though. It shows that you care, and that this was not just another sale to you.

Am I completely off base here? I hope I never get to the point where I am too busy to convo my customers to personally thank them, or to add that nice extra touch to my packages. I am so humbled by every sale that comes my way that I seriously doubt this will happen.

I’ve purchased from many Etsy sellers and I am glad to say that most of them have given me the warm and fuzzy feeling when I’ve ordered from them. Trust me, it matters just as much as the items that you sell. In fact, it might make a difference in whether or not I return to your shop.