Complaint Review: Etsy

The American consumer needs to be very careful about dealing with the website etsy.com. Etsy has fashioned itself as an online platform where people come together to buy and sell goods. However, the piece that the folks who run Etsy are missing and do not seem to care is the safety and protection of buyers from unscrupulous sellers who deliberately pass their fake merchandise off as real.

I made a purchase 6 months ago from a seller with fake merchandise and a fake name to go along with his Etsy profile. Essentially, the guy used Etsy in order to pull off his scam knowing that the website had no way of vetting him as a seller. More than likely, the seller had been a long time Craigslist scammer and troll, and was caught by law enforcement. Now, he is using other online trading websites such as Etsy to rob people.

Matters went from bad to worse when the lying, stealing and cheating Etsy employees with the Donald Trump mentality sided with the scammer and refused to refund my money. Etsy accepted the fact that the seller was a fraud, however the company is so money hungry, it would tolerate any form of criminal activity just to stay afloat. Etsy's written policy requires a buyer to send back merchandise that is defective or damaged but not fake. If it's fake and you buy it, too bad. I sent back the fake jewelry to the seller with the fake name (Alexander Shayevich) of Flushing, New York to the same UPS Store box number which was on the original shipping label. This is when things became twisted.

Etsy did what they do which was to claim that the jewelry had never been returned or received by the so-called seller and therefore no refund could be issued to me, the buyer of the fake jewelry. Essentially, Etsy took the word of a lying, piece of trash, low-life Russian criminal that he never received the jewelry, over an honest, upstanding member of my community and society. As I stated, it has been more than six months of fighting with Etsy which is akin to trying to rehabilitate a sex offender.

Impossible!

So, please take my story as a cautionary tale about buying from someone on Etsy. If you feel the need to deal with this website, read the reviews very carefully, first. From all appearances, Etsy screws both buyers as well as legitimate sellers out of money. However, the New York State Attorney General has racked up a large number of complaints about Etsy and encourages victims to file complaints with their office. It is also a good idea to contact a local consumer reporter in your city as well as post your negative experience with Etsy online via social media. This spreads the word that Etsy cannot be trusted and that consumers should steer clear of the website.

Etsy is the new craigslist and there is nothing good that could be said about craigslist. If you do not believe me, call your local police department and ask to speak to someone in their Internet crimes division.