Warning: Organized scam on Etsy using fake tracking numbers
I wish I had seen a post like this before I placed my orders.
I ordered three pieces of furniture from three different Etsy vendors based in Morocco and Turkey. All three shops looked established, had reviews, and the sellers were responsive before purchase. They answered my questions, the pricing seemed reasonable — not suspiciously cheap, but still a good deal — and the main reason I felt comfortable taking the leap was that the transactions were supposedly protected by Etsy.
few days after purchasing, I received tracking numbers for two of the orders. I immediately noticed that both parcels were going to completely different destination countries. I raised this with Etsy support straight away, and they reassured me that it was probably a mistake and suggested I resolve it directly with the sellers.
That was when the sellers started ghosting me.
Soon after, the shops disappeared from Etsy, along with the product listings and details.
After multiple frustrating chats with Etsy support, I was told I had to wait around 30 days before my money could be refunded — even though, from my perspective, the scam was already obvious.
For the third order, I sent the seller multiple messages asking for a tracking number and received no clear response. Eventually, I opened a case with Etsy. Strangely, Etsy support seemed very protective of the seller and advised me to be patient. The seller then provided a tracking number to my destination suburb, and Etsy forcibly closed my case.
By this point, I had completely lost trust, so I contacted the courier company directly using the tracking number. That is when I found out the parcel had been sent to a made-up name, made-up address, and made-up phone number. Even more ridiculous, the item was supposed to be a heavy piece of furniture, but according to the courier website, the parcel weighed only 200 grams.
Long story short, I eventually got refunded, but the process was long, stressful, and incredibly frustrating. My money was locked up for four weeks during a time-sensitive renovation, while Etsy’s process seemed to accommodate the scammers and give them more time to maintain the appearance of a valid transaction.
I still do not fully understand how this scam works if buyers are eventually refunded. Maybe Etsy absorbs the loss, maybe the sellers are buying time, or maybe fake tracking numbers help them delay disputes long enough to cash out. I do not know.
I am sure there are genuine and excellent sellers on Etsy, but after this experience I personally will never buy anything from Etsy again. I feel Etsy as a marketplace failed badly here both in protecting buyers and not having done any due diligence on vendors.
FYI, the 200gr parcel was literally just a piece of cardboard with a handwritten address on it :(