Maria says "Etsy messed up"

After the billing debacle this weekend, Maria has apologized in the Dorque.

She has asked billing to roll back policies until all sellers are emailed about the changes though sellers can still use Paypal and can still pay bills less than $1. She has also taken full responsibility for the poor communication and inappropriate overdue notices.

She even says...wait, are you sitting down? Because you're likely going to fall over in shock:

Over the weekend, Etsy messed up

No shit, but thanks for saying so. That in itself is a step forward - someone other than Matt having to apologize for the screw-ups. You know how you solve this problem don't you? Get rid of the morons still left in the Gold Street offices. Sure, mistakes happen - but at Etsy they're the norm, and there must be common denominators that can be corrected to change this.

We've heard "we'll do better" a number of times now - it's starting to get old. Actions speak for themselves. Speaking of which - did that apology get sent to everyone who were emailed an overdue notice? Oh, but then everyone would see it and know what happened, unlike hiding it in the Dorque.

There's an urge to give Maria a cookie, but the idea of communication is still lip service so we're just going to eat the cookies ourselves.

Etsy apologizes but still Fails

It's a landmark moment, Etsy has publicly (via Twitter) apologized for erroneously closing a thread. (BTW, it's Anda that does most of the Etsy twitters, but Mary was the one who closed the thread)

But what did it take to get there...lots of @Etsy tweets from some on the spot Etsians helping one another when admin were being lazy and not fully assessing a situation. Despite Mary being told that she was wrong, it was 24 hours later that things were somewhat rectified (Hey, Etsy always wanted a 'community'. Bet they never figured it would work against them).

What situation? you ask. Well you see, the great gift certificate push Etsy has been doing is actually new. So new in fact that about a year ago, gift certificates were considered 'illegal' on Etsy.

This old closed thread was being discussed in regards to the recent Storque feature on GCs. A seller quoted the admin's post and then got in trouble because admin thought it was a 'private convo'.

Stupid admin. If you would only learn to read...and make up your fucking minds about what is allowed and not allowed. Supposedly, GC's have been alright since just a few months after that thread because they wrote another how-to on them last Holiday season. Did anyone get the email about this when it was changed in the TOU? Oh wait, Etsy doesn't send out emails!

As for the not-so-naughty comment. It was an exact copy and paste quote of admin's OP in 2007:

Etsy Admin
Chillionaire says:
Hi forum folks! So I'm gearing up to send out convos to any sellers who have gift certificate listings in their shop. I know this issue will end up in the forum, so I figured I'd be the one to start it. I will be sending the same convo out to everyone, stating that gift cert. listings need to be removed, and I figured I would just let the message be public. Sorry if you read this thread and then have to deal with one in your inbox, but I know that not all sellers read the forum. I'll try to check back on this thread, but I can't guarantee how much time I'll have to respond. Anywho, I hope no one takes offense, this is just how it goes!
xo
LoriForty

Here's the convo:

Hi there!
Thank you for being part of the Etsy community and sharing your crafts with the world! You may not be aware, but we ask that sellers not feature gift certificate listings in their shop. We appreciate the ingenuity, but gift certificates often lead to buyer/seller disputes and they violate our Terms of Use. If you will kindly remove the listing(s) from your shop, we will be glad to refund your listing fee. Please visit the Forums or email support [!at] etsy.com if you have any questions.
Happy crafting,
Lori

For your listing fee refund: Email support [!at] etsy.com with your user name and the listing number of the gift certificate listing. Make sure to take down the listing number before you remove the listing!

Stop fucking your customers Etsy. Or at least use a little lube.