Etsy recently revealed that the company has made changes to its Purchase Protection Program to better protect and cover sellers. The changes include better coverage for more expensive orders, clearer eligibility requirements, increased human reviews, and a shorter window for buyers to open cases.
Etsy Makes New Changes to the Purchase Protection Program
The company announced these changes in a recent post on its website. The post explained that Etsy Purchase Protection is designed to help and support sellers when issues happen outside of their control, such as orders not arriving or arriving damaged, despite being packaged correctly.
Since the program made its debut in 2022, Etsy says it has supported around 294,000 sellers across over 1.4 million orders. As the platform evolves, the company has decided to make several changes to better meet seller and buyer needs. Specifically, Etsy made these changes in an effort to better support the sellers on the platform as they grow their businesses.
More Protection for High-Value Orders
The first change is that Etsy is expanding coverage for higher-value orders. In the past, Etsy Purchase Protection was only for orders that totalled $250 or less. Now, it’s changed so that all eligible orders are able to receive up to $250 in coverage, even if the total order value goes beyond that amount.
So if a $400 order is eligible and the buyer gets a refund for something outside of a seller’s control, Etsy now covers $250 of that refund, as opposed to not covering it at all like in the past.
Clearer Eligibility Requirements
Etsy says that its Purchase Protection Program is for sellers who provide great customer service, and the company has now made the eligibility requirements clearer. To qualify, you need to:
- Meet Etsy’s minimum customer service standards, which measure your performance over four areas: message response rate, on-time dispatch and tracking, average review rating, and case rate.
- Respond to Help with Order messages within 48 hours to work together with the buyer to resolve a dispute.
- Dispatch orders on time, which includes marking the order as dispatched, uploading valid tracking information or using a postage label purchased on Etsy, and sending items on time. However, Etsy notes that tracking may not be available in some cases, and as such, those cases don’t require tracking scans.
More Human Review
To ensure complex cases receive additional review, both for sellers and buyers alike, Etsy is doubling the number of people reviewing cases. High-value orders are always reviewed by humans, but this expanded review will help Etsy take additional care in certain situations where eligibility may not be straightforward.
However, this change doesn’t mean that every case is reviewed by a human. Automated reviews will still play a role, but Etsy says it has the goal to ensure that complex issues get the right amount of consideration and an additional review.
Updated Timelines to Speed Up Resolutions
Etsy also shortened the window for buyers to open cases, as they now only have 30 days after the estimated delivery date to open a case. This is in line with industry standards and helps make sure issues get resolved sooner, as opposed to dragging on.
While the changes are new, they address plenty of seller feedback and should be well-received by most sellers going forward. Etsy making these changes also shows the company is listening to users on the platform and is willing to make adjustments to improve the seller experience.
