I love this app. It's where I get a majority of my patterns. I just wish it was easier on the sellers. They get bad reviews because people think (or pretend) that they're ordering a physical product. When checking out, it always asks me to verify the address where I want it to be shipped. Ordering a digital item should trigger it to confirm an email address for shipping instead. I don't know how easy that would be to do, but it would save pattern sellers a lot of headaches.
Reviews for Etsy: A Special Marketplace
I have noticed that some items are listed with free shipping, but I am being charged for shipping during checkout. Additionally, in certain cases, the advertised shipping costs are significantly higher at checkout than initially indicated. This inconsistency is concerning and has resulted in unexpected additional charges. Also, I am no longer able to see the applicable sales tax for each order, nor is the shipping cost itemized per shop. Completely unacceptable! What are you hiding?
The most recent update has made browsing obnoxious. The listings are huge and are no longer in a grid format. Prior to this update (& something that hasn't been fixed), is that for the items in my shopping cart, they all mistakenly say free shipping. It is only when checking out for each store that I can see the actual shipping cost. I've also noticed that for listings, sometimes the shipping rate is shown immediately below the images and other times I need to scroll further down. Inconsistent.
With the latest update to the app, pictures no longer load properly and are tiny. You can't even zoom in to see details because they are so low quality. And if you scroll through photos and then click on them to enlarge it starts back over at the first picture instead of the picture you clicked. Update: after downloading the even newer update since yesterday, I can't even log in to my account, so the app is useless.
clunky and not typically functioning properly: The app is full of problems that the website does not have but then there are problems the web cannot have as there is no access to certain things from the site but then the app never functions properly for anyway. For instance the tracking is always a problem, which is a major problem is you cannot see the tracking at all....
The app lies about the shipping being free until the last page of the order process! In the cart screen it clear states "FREE SHIPPING" then when you get to the final screen where you hit confirm purchase the shipping suddenly jumps up $30+! I don't mind a shipping fee, but don't blatantly lie, then try to sneak it in at the last second!
Even though it's a great place to shop with loads of unique items, the prices are deceptive from what is under the photo. When I find an item that I am interested in purchasing, I use the scroll down bar menu and the prices increase and with shipping prices and tax added to that, it makes the items I want too expensive for my budget.
Is there a way to see honest prices when browsing? Each time I search, I see what appear to be great prices, but when I look to add it to my cart, the cost displayed was a lie. The true cost is triple (at minimum) the displayed amount. Truthfully, because of this constant issue, I have sought my gifts and decor from other vendors who are at least honest with what I can expect to pay for their products and services. I would love to learn of similar platforms with better business practices.
The app itself is easy enough to use and navigate the problem I've noticed as the ETSY store grows as the app seems to suggest more and more of exactly the same item you are already looking at. Basically finding the item you are looking for is pretty easy if you know ahead of time exactly what you are looking for but if you are browsing for general ideas or gift the related item suggestions are pretty poor and make for a frustrating experience.
The app is fine but I wish they had a way to REMOVE a material from search results. As someone with skin sensitivities it's really frustrating that no matter what combination of search results I try; Sterling Silver will always show up. Even if I have the search results only for obscure non-metal options. Also the platform has definitely been taken over by AI brands that are just taking more rip-off amazon products and heat pressing them onto tee-shirts, and that goes completely unchecked.