Wednesday, July 6, 2016

MAJOR DELAYS In Etsy's Third-Party Processing of Transactions



As shop-owners collect a pile of unresolved transactions in their query, customers may be wondering why there are major delays in shop-owners fulfilling their orders. 

Taken directly from the "Bugs" section of the Forums of Etsy (scroll to the bottom of their website, and you will find it there) Etsy provides explanation regarding the unresolved third-party processing glitches that are affecting both shop-owners, and customers, and certainly Etsy overall.

Below is a Q&A taken from the forum which responds to many questions people have:

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for all of your feedback. Etsy’s third-party payment processor continues to have a technical issue that is resulting in delays in payment processing. We are still working closely with them to resolve the delay in payment confirmation and we will continue to provide updates here as we work towards resolution. Below are answers to some of your questions from throughout this thread. 

Thanks again for your patience as our partner works to resolve this issue.
Bill

Q: Which orders are affected by this issue?

A: Because our third-party payment processor is still dealing with technical issues, new orders are still impacted by payment processing delays. As our processor deals with the backlog of payments, we are processing them on a rolling basis.

While an affected order is still being processed, it won't appear on your Orders page. Instead, you'll see a small note that says, "You have processing orders.” As our partner resolves their issue, your processing orders will become confirmed on a rolling basis. Once your order is confirmed, it will appear on your Orders page and buyers will receive an order confirmation.

No action is required from buyers or sellers, all orders will eventually be confirmed. 

Q: When should I ship my item?

A: We recommend that you wait until these orders are confirmed to ship your item. Rest assured, we’re processing orders on a rolling basis and you will receive a confirmation for your pending order as it is processed.

Q: How does this issue impact payments made via Paypal?

A: Both Integrated and Standalone Paypal are unaffected by this issue; orders placed with those payment methods will process as usual. Only credit card and gift card payments are currently impacted by the issue our third party service provider is experiencing. 

Q: My buyer is asking for a refund. Do I have to wait until the order processes to do that?

A: Yes, the order will need to be confirmed before you can issue a refund. If your buyer has further questions, please tell them to contact support@etsy.com.

Q: Is Etsy notifying buyers that there is an issue?

A: Buyers are receiving order pending emails. To ensure that buyers understand that delays are not related to the shop they’re purchasing from, we’ve updated the pending email notification to let buyers know that we’re experiencing delays with our payment processing and to expect to receive a confirmation email when processing is complete. 

Q: Will this issue affect payouts tomorrow?

A: We’re working hard to ensure that sellers receive funds from affected sales as soon as possible. For sellers that are expecting to receive payouts tomorrow, your payout will be reflected in your Shop Payment Account balance at 1 PM EST. In order to capture some of the affected payouts that are still processing, we plan to issue another round of payouts this evening. If you have funds included in the evening payouts, you may receive a second email letting you know that your funds are now on their way and you may also see two payments tomorrow in your bank account. 

Q: I sell digital downloads. What should I do while orders are processing? 

A: For sellers of digital goods, we understand the importance of speed of delivery for your shops. If buyers reach out to you, feel free to let them know that we’re experiencing payment processing delays and to please reach out to Etsy Support for additional assistance. Additionally, Etsy Support can assist you if a buyer affected by this issue mentions it in a review or contacts you directly. 

Most Updated Progress: (As of July 6, 2016 @ 12:20pm)

Hi Everyone,

We’re still working on resolving this issue with our payments processor. We hear your frustrations and appreciate all of your feedback. We’re all hands on deck, working to get this issue resolved as soon as possible, and to strengthen our platform to make it more resilient against issues like this in the future. 

As our partner works through their backlog, we are processing payments on a rolling basis. There is no action required from buyers or sellers at this time, and all orders will ultimately be confirmed.

As soon as we have more information to share, we’ll update you here. 

Thanks, 
Bill

Click on the link below that may help customers and shop owners who are wondering what is going on with a variety of transactions throughout the Etsy community:

Etsy Forums (Bugs)

For additional information, check out the link below:

https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/05/five-days-of-etsy-payment-processing-outages-have-merchants-flipping/




We hope that the Etsy issue gets resolved soon!