Update!
So, after I initiated a chargeback with my credit card, a couple of things happened...
1. The shirt showed up a week later. A lot of other people had this experience... it seems when you actually try and get your money back, all of a sudden the supply issues are cleared up.
2. After some discussion with drevilbones I cancelled the chargeback, so dipcannon got paid.
3. The seller left me retaliatory negative feedback. To wit:
"Our policies are not a secret and have been posted for years. On Etsy since day one. We were very specific about it all actually. Many didn't follow directions when ordering and others failed to follow directions for following up during the holiday chaos. We worked through the holidays and did our best and do not apologize for standing our ground on issues out of our control. All those who did follow the simple instructions were contacted without delay."
The "policies" mentioned just is a statement that backordering on the supply side might cause a delay: "If an item is on backorder production and shipping schedules may be delayed." It seems that he's talking about the blank t-shirts. Any responsible seller would model the business so as to minimize problems of this type. For example, muttsywonder creates silk-screened shirts on American Apparel blanks (the same supplier Reckon) uses. Compare and contrast. Reckon had nearly 150-200 listings for shirts with various designs, of any size or color. It really looks like he only ever ordered shirt blanks after an order for that particular size and color had been placed. The more responsible way of handling it, and the way I think muttsy does it, is to order a quantity of a certain style and color of shirt in multiple sizes, then lists one of that color/style in a particular design, and you pick the size. But not only does Reckon pass on any possible delays in supply ordering to you, but it does not warrant any kind of warning, contact, or ETA from him. Through it all, he kept throwing up listings for shirts, and the backlog kept growing and the negative feedback kept piling up. He kept accepting new orders while crying on the front page of the shop that people were being so unreasonable, given the small size of the business. I don't consider any of this an issue out of the seller's control, and even if you're a total moron when it comes to running a business and you trainwreck, it's your responsibility to contact your customers and make it right, not flame them when they finally get fed up and contact you. My negative and nearly every other one on there could have been avoided if he'd just had some respect for the people who ordered in good faith. A blanket disclaimer does not give you the right to just let a paid-in-full order sit for months without contact.
Anyway, it's going to be resolved. The Etsy support people are going to remove the retaliatory feedback left for me, and their e-mail indicated they'd look to see if he'd done this to other people who left him negatives (and since the retaliatory feedback looked like boilerplate, the odds of that are excellent). All of his listings have been removed, and they said he's not allowed to do any more business until his backlog is cleared. The thing that really pissed me off the most was that, even at the time I initiated my chargeback, he was still putting up new lots and taking in new orders as fast as people who were too dense to read the feedback would buy them. I'm so happy he's finally been cut off.
Again, folks, don't let this scare you off of Etsy purchases. Nearly every other seller on the site has an amazing amount of regard for their customers, and even the few bad apples pale in comparison to this one.
1. The shirt showed up a week later. A lot of other people had this experience... it seems when you actually try and get your money back, all of a sudden the supply issues are cleared up.
2. After some discussion with drevilbones I cancelled the chargeback, so dipcannon got paid.
3. The seller left me retaliatory negative feedback. To wit:
"Our policies are not a secret and have been posted for years. On Etsy since day one. We were very specific about it all actually. Many didn't follow directions when ordering and others failed to follow directions for following up during the holiday chaos. We worked through the holidays and did our best and do not apologize for standing our ground on issues out of our control. All those who did follow the simple instructions were contacted without delay."
The "policies" mentioned just is a statement that backordering on the supply side might cause a delay: "If an item is on backorder production and shipping schedules may be delayed." It seems that he's talking about the blank t-shirts. Any responsible seller would model the business so as to minimize problems of this type. For example, muttsywonder creates silk-screened shirts on American Apparel blanks (the same supplier Reckon) uses. Compare and contrast. Reckon had nearly 150-200 listings for shirts with various designs, of any size or color. It really looks like he only ever ordered shirt blanks after an order for that particular size and color had been placed. The more responsible way of handling it, and the way I think muttsy does it, is to order a quantity of a certain style and color of shirt in multiple sizes, then lists one of that color/style in a particular design, and you pick the size. But not only does Reckon pass on any possible delays in supply ordering to you, but it does not warrant any kind of warning, contact, or ETA from him. Through it all, he kept throwing up listings for shirts, and the backlog kept growing and the negative feedback kept piling up. He kept accepting new orders while crying on the front page of the shop that people were being so unreasonable, given the small size of the business. I don't consider any of this an issue out of the seller's control, and even if you're a total moron when it comes to running a business and you trainwreck, it's your responsibility to contact your customers and make it right, not flame them when they finally get fed up and contact you. My negative and nearly every other one on there could have been avoided if he'd just had some respect for the people who ordered in good faith. A blanket disclaimer does not give you the right to just let a paid-in-full order sit for months without contact.
Anyway, it's going to be resolved. The Etsy support people are going to remove the retaliatory feedback left for me, and their e-mail indicated they'd look to see if he'd done this to other people who left him negatives (and since the retaliatory feedback looked like boilerplate, the odds of that are excellent). All of his listings have been removed, and they said he's not allowed to do any more business until his backlog is cleared. The thing that really pissed me off the most was that, even at the time I initiated my chargeback, he was still putting up new lots and taking in new orders as fast as people who were too dense to read the feedback would buy them. I'm so happy he's finally been cut off.
Again, folks, don't let this scare you off of Etsy purchases. Nearly every other seller on the site has an amazing amount of regard for their customers, and even the few bad apples pale in comparison to this one.