Moving along slowly and Etsy seller issues

I haven't been in a stitching mood lately. In the past week, I've only stitched two days on Harry Potter Bookshelf. I slept through most of Saturday, and when I did finally get up, I ended up putting together a 3-D puzzle. Anyone guess what it is?

I did stitch almost a full day on Sunday, but I did have a lot of distractions. I left off on HP here last time:

I fully finished page 1 along with most of page 2 (and technically book 2 cover). Per Markup XP, it's 5.5% of work total, 6723 stitches out of 121,975 and I've got 29.9 hrs total involved in this project (and I don't use Markup XP for time, I use an app called Hours Tracker and have for YEARS), so not a lot for two weeks. Here is where I'm leaving off:

Before I quit entirely Sunday night, I got Evil Queen is all ready to go as my next start:

If you remember, I mentioned back at the end of January that I bought a bunch of new needle minders. One bunch from Mad For Minders, which I have bought from numerous times before, and another bunch from another creator that I've never bought from before. Both were bought on the same day, both were shipped out the same day, but each were shipped from opposite sides of the country. As of now, neither have arrived. The tracking information from Mad For Minders show it never left Cali with an estimated delivery date of Feb 7th (today is the 26th). The tracking information for the new seller said it made it all the way from NY to Memphis (which the last stop to here, and an hour away), but it's been sitting there since Feburary 6th, the estimated delivery date, and it now just says "delayed, estimated delivery date Feb 6th", same as the original.

This weekend, I reached out to both sellers and got two VERY different responses. I reached out to the new seller first (we'll call her seller #1 for now), and since I used Etsy to do it, I had to either choose "refund" or "replace". I chose "replace" because I still wanted the minders, but I added a comment with the caveat that I wasn't requesting official replacement, I just wondered if she could see something on her end that I couldn't see that maybe could explain why I hadn't received the items because I did actually still want them and was worried because I hadn't received them. Sometimes, I've had sellers not actually ship things to me even though there is tracking information. Or, at the very least, she could check the shipping information on her end since the seller has more "rights" than the receiver. It's not the postal service of old and they make a lot of mistakes these days. This seller told me, short and pointed, that I needed to file a claim with Etsy and I could just reorder the items and she would expedite the shipping on the new ones. This may be the response a store is supposed to give, but it's not a response I've ever gotten before. It struck me as odd, but not strange until she started sending me messages about reordering the items, along with discounts on shipping and coupons, one after the other. So I just answered back with a "well, I've never had to file a claim before, so", kind of answer, because I really didn't know what to say about the pressure of reordering (and I definitely felt pressured). Then, when I tried to file the stupid claim, Etsy told me I had to wait 48 hours from when I started messaging her, so more delays, and it just made me madder. I messaged her back about the delay, but she just responded she could do nothing about that. We're leaving it at dead air for now. At that point, I didn't mention reorder and neither did she. I think, had she asked again, I would have lost it.

She wasn't rude per se, but there was definitely no "sorry" in any part of her messages. Maybe she was pushing for a reorder because I had initially stated that I still wanted the items, although I did make it clear I wasn't requesting a replacement, but if I have to file the claim myself, I don't have a fountain of money in my living room, it has to come from somewhere, so I would need the refund first before reorder, right? It just made me uber paranoid (like I need any help), all the pressure to reorder the items before I even got approved for a refund. I read on Etsy's website that the seller isn't punished if a claim is made, so does that mean she would get double money if I ordered them again? If they genuinely got lost in shipping, then she should get paid for her work, and if Etsy is willing to eat that than the US Postal Service, then that is between them. But, because of the pressure, I'm questioning if they were genuinely initally shipped at all. I ordered like 6 or 7 and they were only $30, which is REALLY cheap, maybe she couldn't take the hit? If I reordered them now, they would cost more, even with the discounts she sent. And, I probably wouldn't order them all again, so I wouldn't meet the minimum for free shipping (although that also might have been a coupon she sent), so I may have to take another punch on that as well. All of that hypothethical stuff doesn't matter, I'm NOT reordering them, but still, my mind is spinning with thoughts, none of them good.

When I reached out to Mad For Minders, the second seller, I made sure I messaged her privately first since we've been in contact before and she has always been amazing in the past. She immediately processed a new order for reshipment without any issue or even mentioning an Etsy claim. I did explain what the other seller did and asked if I needed to do that for her, but Mad for Minders said, "no problem, I'm SO sorry about all of that, new order already processed on my end!". I've had a few Etsy orders go missing over the years, and this response has ALWAYS been the typical response I'm used to from all my sellers. Never, have I ever been required to file a claim. This seller has gone above and beyond to solve the problem. If, by some miracle I do receive the original order, I'll just pay her again (and, in all of history, that has only ever happened to me once, months after the resend, and I did just that).

Then there is the whole rating thing. I can't give seller #1 a good rating because I never received the items. I'm not really happy with her response either, because she didn't respond to the problem, she just sent me a link to deal with the problem myself and then started pitching for more business (that might be a bit harsh, but I'm not a happy camper right now). Even if she was only following protocol, I'm the one doing all the legwork to get my money back (that I'm not guaranteed to get) and she expects me to just repurchase from her again with no guarantee it will arrive a second time, she's got another thing coming. If they do magically appear in the mail this week, I wouldn't recommend her to anyone else, nor would I purchase from her again, so that's another ding in the rating. At minimum, 1 star, and that's not very helpful for her business. Better to not leave one at all.

I HATE giving negative ratings. A lot of the time, I just don't rate them to keep from it, which isn't good for other people who might buy from that seller in the future, but I hate dealing with the confrontation (maybe it's from the old eBay days when the sellers could rate you back and, if you gave a negative rating, you could guarantee you would get one back, deserved or not, usually not). Even now, you'll notice I haven't used seller #1's store name in this post. I'm still holding out hope the package will eventually arrive (I haven't filed the claim even though the 48 hours is up) and I can just forget she exists. Part of me is even debating letting it go and take the financial hit (these were the minders for Evil Queen, Blue Marble, OUAT Bookshelf and several upcoming future projects, but it was only about $30, like I said, not terrible, but still, money).

Seller #2, Mad For Minders, on the other hand, I have mentioned several times in this blog and would recommend highly. She has always gotten 5 stars and will get 5 stars this time as well, even with the issue, because she handled it well and I will most certainly buy from her again.

On the Etsy plus side though this week, I did decide to get grime guards for both OUAT Bookshelf and Blue Marble since they are in their own q-snaps and not sharing like I initially planned (and I ended up also getting extenders, so now both are 11x20, which feels more like scroll rods and left less hanging fabric). I tried those magnet hoop things to hold the fabric, but I don't like them and I need something to hold the fabric in better and protect it more. I have one grime guard, but it's 11x17 and doesn't fit. The issue I had was that no one carried grime guards for 11x20 q-snaps. So, I reached out to a seller that I've again never dealt with before on Friday night (I try not to buy from new sellers, because of problems like the above, but I have only ever bought the one grime guard in my life, so I had to make an exception), Susebiees, and, since she had a question box for custom orders, I took a chance and point-blank asked her if she could make an 11x20 grime guard. She was very nice and instantly agreed to give it a shot. She didn't have the fabric choices I picked out, but she was savy enough to notice that they were both in the purple family and immediately gave me three other purple choices, two of which were easily just as pleasing (I really liked that she noticed that). She walked me through every step, she put her q-snap together with extenders to figure out sizing, made them over the weekend and poof, instant grime guards with a MORE than fair price! She even shipped them out first this morning!

Now, I actually haven't received these yet obviously (so I may be getting excited too soon), and I explained to her why I'm a bit leery of Etsy right now, but she assured me she has never had issues with shipping, although she did just have a project bag take 3 weeks to get to its destination (hence my williness to give more time before I file the Etsy claim on the first group of needle minders). Time will tell when or if I get these, but she is a really great seller if anyone is looking for grime guards. Like I said, she also makes project bags, but I have no need of those. As a matter of fact, those cheap ones I bought on Amazon have no use now, unless I end up using them for something else in the house. They are just cluttering up my kitchen table now.

Am I being too harsh about the first needle minder seller? Should I just file the claim and be done with it or should I give it more time? Etsy says I have until May to file it. I'm probably not going to order replacements from one of my usual sellers unless I find something special to go with those projects...I'll just use something I already have. And I'm definitely not leaving any feedback of any kind until I calm down a bit (if I ever do for seller 1). Whatever I decide in the end, I will eventually give you her store name and tell you the outcome so you can decide whether or not she's worth buying from. My experience may not be yours, but it won't be a recommendation from me. Mad For Minders is the exception, not the rule, I'm aware, but it's kind of the rule I'm used to from my sellers and it's why I use the sellers I do and why they are the only sellers I would recommend to you guys. Because Susebiees was already so amazing, even though I haven't gotten the grime guards yet, I already feel comfortable recommending her.

There are several "rules" with ordering from Etsy I try to follow:

*Don't order from new sellers (per the reasons from seller #1, but there are rare exceptions, as in Susebiees)

*I personally can't order anything from Canada or Australia because I'll never get it. They ALWAYS get stuck in customs and never get released for me. Not sure why. This rule also applies for eBay.

*Never order t-shirts outside of the USA because of sizing issues.

*Always pay with PayPal or ApplePay or any third party payer. Never pay directly and never agree to pay outside of Etsy (this rule came about because of eBay).

All in all though, I think I'm burned out on Etsy for a while, which is a REALLY good thing!