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1.8

I placed an order from The Celtic Hand Etsy shop for a stretch velvet pouch with an embroidered emblem. The Seller did not identify this item as being defective.

The Seller stated she would ship the item on a particular date, but she did not ship it until a week later. She had also stated she would carefully wrap/package the item, but it was just folded loose into a bubble envelope.

Upon receipt it was obvious that the item was seriously defective, in that the embroidered emblem was over 1 inch off-center, which looked terrible, obviously, and prevented me from using the item for a gift as I had planned. Further, the item was not made of stretch velvet, but the cheapest imaginable "velvet" that was tissue-thin and scratchy; definitely not a suitable choice for a pouch, which is usually intended to help protect the contents one puts into it.

I requested a refund. Seller refused, but then offered to exchange. However, Seller refused to exchange with one of the pouches she already had completed, up for sale on her site, and ready to ship. For some reason, she insisted on making another one from scratch, and not to match what I'd ordered. I'm assuming she hoped to use up some junk materials as her "solution" to her fraudulent sale problem.

Still, in the hopes of just resolving my dealings with this questionable Seller, I agreed. Not surprisingly, after several days, Seller contacted me to announce that she didn't know when she could do the exchange, due to family illness. She made it sound like it could be months. Based on her already bad track record, I said I was willing to wait but I wanted to file an Etsy complaint, to be sure I preserved my rights to exchange deadline, so she couldn't just wait until such a deadline had passed and then refuse to ever fulfill her obligation.

When I did this, Seller flipped out and then stated she would never either refund or exchange (apparently to punish me for attempting to preserve my rights against a fraudulent Seller).

Etsy instructed me to initiate a case with PayPal, which I did, while Etsy began it's review. Note that PayPal has a two-level system; the initial case review, where PayPal attempts to resolve the matter between Seller and Buyer; and then an escalated claim, where PayPal has the right to forcibly remove funds from Seller's account to refund, if it determines that is appropriate.

Seller was so angry that I followed Etsy's instructions in regard to notifying PayPal, that she actually escalated the PayPal case against herself to the claim level; I didn't do that. I think she thought in doing so I would suffer some kind of financial cost, but obviously I'd already paid her, so it was simply an irrational move on her part.

Etsy then contacted me requesting photos of the defective item with copies of the Seller's shop pages showing description etc. I thought that was odd since obviously Etsy already has access to that information; but I went ahead and did it. I sent in very clear photos, dated and identified per Etsy's instructions, and with a tape measure showing the defect. I also sent in screenshots of the shop site pages showing the item not identified as defective, and described as being made of stretch velvet.

I was surprised when Etsy concluded that it did not have sufficient evidence to determine either way about the matter, and thus it closed the case without even giving me a chance to respond. The evidence surely was blatantly obvious.

I am thus filing this "Pissed Consumer" complaint not only about the individual shop, The Celtic Hand, but about Etsy's handling of the matter. I actually decided to close my Etsy account because I feel that, if Etsy chooses not to back up shoppers who are ripped off in such a blatant way, then I certainly don't want to take another chance on their website. There are far too many great shopping options online I can use instead.

So, if you intend to shop on Etsy, you may have some good luck, as I did with several buyers; but the time you get burned, Etsy may not want to bother to rectify the matter, so be aware of that.

Reason of review: Poor customer service; received late; defective; not as described; inappropriate resolution by Etsy..

Monetary Loss: $9.

Preferred solution: Full refund.

Etsy Cons: Didnt bother re seller fraud, Lazy re fixing problem, Provided proof etsy ignored, Etsy sided with fraud seller.

Location: North Fort Myers, Florida

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