I have posted this BBC news item because my granddaughter is one of the Etsy victims. Etsy currently owes her several hundreds of pounds, and she is the sole earner in her household.
BBC News – Etsy accused of ‘destroying’ sellers by withholding money https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66201042
My granddaughter is running a small baked goods business. How is she supposed to stay in business while she pays up front for the ingredients, packaging, and postal / courier services, but Etsy withholds the money from her customers for 45 days.
Not only do they withhold the money, but when they do release the money, they drip feed the payments in the same order that the original customer orders were made.
Let’s also not forget that Etsy charges a transaction fee of 6.5% per sale. Compared to around 3% as charged by Amazon.
Those cynics amongst us might think that Etsy are in financial difficulties if, as has been reported, they have no good reason for withholding payments and are holding onto sellers money ???
Through their actions, many people are struggling to survive, while presumably Etsy are reaping the benefits of interest earned on those withheld payments.