AIBU about refund from Etsy?

[JoanneCofton]

Just need some advice really!

I use Etsy ALL the time, I get the majority of gifts/things for my house from there and always use a uk seller. I do this because a) Etsy promote supporting uk sellers and b) Delivery times are quicker (usually).

So I ordered an item on the 17th January. The shop stated it was uk seller and was based it London. The item is quite large and cost 60 quid. The delivery time was set from the 1st-3rd Feb, all good and ordered. It was dispatched on the 18th.

So the 3rd came and went a no sign of my item. As it’s quite a large item I had to provide my number so the delivery company could contact me to arrange a delivery date. Once it didn’t arrive I contacted the seller who was very nice and said he would look into it. He then messaged again saying the item was stuck in customs. I was very confused so asked for the tracking number which stated the item was coming from Italy!!! I obviously queried this with him and he explained HE is based in London and therefore the business is a Uk business but the actual product is made in Italy and that this is made clear on his Etsy page. I had another look at the Etsy page and found that right down at the bottom, under all the reviews, delivery dates etc, it mentions the dispatcher in Italy. BUT that is right at the bottom, I’ve never scrolled that far down and plus it is stated twice at the top of the page that it is a uk seller. Anyway so I asked for a refund and he’s said it clearly states in his terms & conditions that he is no responsible for delays with customs.

The tracking states it has been with customs for days but was finally released yesterday but I have checked again this morning and now it says AGAIN that it’s delayed at customs .

So aibu asking for a refund?

@olderadult Report it directly to Disney if you can, they tend to be pretty brutal when it comes to defending their intellectual property rights.

@CaptainSirTomMooreismyhero the listing actually says ‘dispatched from the uk’ and nowhere on any of the pages I see between clicking on the order to
Paying actually say it’s coming from Italy.

No i would rather have the item but it’s been stuck at customs for over a week, the transit info keeps changing to say it’s on its ways then suddenly it says it’s arrived back at customs. I asked for a refund because it hasn’t arrived on time and I need the money to buy an alternative gift. If the tracking said it was on its way to me or out for delivery there would be no problem at all, but it doesn’t. It now says it’s back with customs. So I’m not too sure what else to do, there’s no mention in the listing at all that’s it coming from Italy apart from on the seller info page that says distribution partner, it’s doesn’t specify ANYWHERE on 22 listings that the item is coming from
Italy. It literally says dispatched from the uk

I’m with you OP. I also use Etsy and I also only search for UK based sellers - I’ll be looking more closely from now on!

Take screenshots of everything with the view to complain to Etsy or opening a PayPal/bank dispute

I think if you don’t pay the customs fees, the parcel automatically gets returned to sender? So you’d end up with a full refund

Does anyone know how id know if I have custom fees to pay? I haven’t had anything through the post or anything?

So surely you have 2 options:

1. Rescind the contract on the basis of misrepresentation or
2. Claim a refund under distance selling regulations.

I had this problem with a play house from my son I ordered on eBay. It was late and I was worried it wasn't going to arrive on time, so I checked to reviews and realised they were all in Italian! Not happy, considering they gave a village name in they neighbouring county as their address. It was dishonest as I wouldn't have ordered had I known they were overseas. Long story short, I rang ebay and complained but they didn't want to know and would only step in if it didn't come by such and such, over a week after son's birthday. As it happened, it can the day before, but I'm left with a pretty poor view of both eBay and the seller. If you're buying from an overseas seller, it should say so - it's just dishonest.

Who’s the courier?

You should have a letter from customs telling you how much to pay, which you can do online.
Dependant upon value its approx. £12.00 admin fee and 20% vat on value of order, including postage paid.
If you want a refund, just message the seller on Etsy and ask for a full refund. Or just open a case, Etsy is not really too different to Ebay in respect that its geared towards the customer being right.

I

I think it’s misleading and I would report to Etsy too. I reported a seller to Etsy a few months ago for selling brand new Emma Bridgwater stuff and listing it as vintage. They really need to control the platform better now that it’s expanded.

[quote TitusPullo]@olderadult Report it directly to Disney if you can, they tend to be pretty brutal when it comes to defending their intellectual property rights.[/quote]
I did twice! But last time I looked it was still there. Joke

@Embarrasedaf TNT

@JoanneCofton

Does anyone know how id know if I have custom fees to pay? I haven’t had anything through the post or anything?

When I had a delivery recently from TNT they delivered the item and then I got an invoice a month later for the VAT and customs charges. So you wouldn't necessarily know prior to the delivery.

That is so misleading!

@olderadult oh that’s a pisser. I do try to buy from individual UK sellers but as OP has shown it’s really hard to tell!

@JoanneCofton

He has replied and said that items that are not personalised are sent from the UK but orders that are personalised (which I’d imagine is 99.9% of the orders due to the nature of it) are sent from Italy but Etsy does not allow for more than one dispatch location to be set.

That is true about the “dispatched from” section (I sell on Etsy) but he should then either make it clear in the description of the product that personalised items will be sent from Italy, and possibly be subject to extra delays and charges OR create 2 listings, one of the personalised in Italy products and one for the U.K. based products.

It sounds like bollocks anyway to me since he stated
HE is based in London and therefore the business is a Uk business but the actual product is made in Italy
Why would the item as standard be dispatched from the U.K. if they’re made in Italy? Does he store them then post them? Seems inconvenient for a large item when the creator in Italy posts directly to the customer they could easily do that for the non personalised items. None of it makes sense to me.

Unfortunately you’re a bit fucked then. TNT/FedEx pay the customs fees on your behalf and deliver the parcel immediately as per:

www.tnt.com/express/en_gb/site/how-to/clear-customs/custom-charges.html

So you will owe the customs fees to them, and won’t have the chance to reject the delivery.

How much did the item cost? You can use that to work out the potential fees

To be fair that link hasn’t been updated since Brexit as it still refers to the UK being in the EU, so maybe you won’t be charged anything. Or perhaps you can call the courier and ask them to return the parcel to sender.

You will have to pay customs for delivery. For that alone I would demand a refund from him. It isn't just that it is going to take more time, it will also cost you considerably more.

As an aside, for the Etsy lovers out there, take yourself to Aliexpress and have a look for your item before you buy from Etsy because a bloody good portion of what's on there comes in at pennies from China.

Not on the High Street are the same. A necklace they had for £17 plus P&P I found on Ali for £1.50 delivered.

I paid £59.30 for the item. I think he’s making it up about none personalised being dispatched from the UK as I can’t see why anyone would buy it none personalised as you can buy this (none personalised) item from loads of places for much cheaper, the personalised part is what makes it cost extra. I’m really pissed off with it now so I’m going to message him again

I think the seller is not being transparent.

Whilst Italy is on his listing, sounds like he has tried to put this in an area that is not obvious.

So whilst I believe yanbu, I'll be surprised if you get a refund.

I found a lampshade I bought from Argos sold on Etsy for over twice as much so I was a bit careful with it but after reading this I'm going to have to read every single bit of a listing. Disappointing.

I think he’s making it up about none personalised being dispatched from the UK as I can’t see why anyone would buy it none personalised as you can buy this (none personalised) item from loads of places for much cheaper, the personalised part is what makes it cost extra.

That's his way of technically complying with the very outer limits of the law. The same way that a certain famous discount sofa shop has one store (in Basildon, IIRC), that has their sofas on sale at their 'normal full' price, to enable them to legally claim that their goods have indeed previously been on sale for the 'original' price in at least one of their stores. I'm guessing they don't expect much footfall at that particular branch, but maintaining it enables them to technically offer permanent discounts at all of their hundreds of others.