Petition: Full Disclosure regarding currency
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This discussion is public.
Original Post
Did you know it's illegal in Australia, according to the Trade Practices Act, for an online seller not to clearly state the currency they're selling in?
A 5px high graphic beneath the price in a listing IS NOT enough!
Please add your name to this petition if you agree with the following:
- USD to be more prominently stated in each listing, so the buyer is no doubt how much they're paying
- USD to be prominently stated on the total in the shopping cart (if PayPal can manage that, why can't Etsy?)
- USD to be prominently stated on each invoice (invoices are currently useless for taxation purposes as the currency is not stated)
- the FAQ for buyers needs to be clearer. This is what it says:
"Is Etsy in USD? How do I handle currency conversions?
Right now you can only list items in United States Dollars (USD) on Etsy. PayPal (also used for credit card sales) will automatically convert your currency, but all other sales, such as money order and check, need to be calculated by you. We hope to offer built-in currency conversion in the future."
Here is my suggestion:
Right now, you can only order items in USD on Etsy, regardless of a seller's country of origin. PayPal (also used for credit card sales) will automatically convert your currency, unless you have a PayPal balance in USD. For all other payment methods, such as money order or cheque, the amount needs to be converted from your currency to USD, unless you have a prior arrangement with the seller to pay in another currency. You will need to contact the seller to agree to the conversion rate - many sellers use sites such as XE.com to calculate the current rate.
Or something like that. It should not be up to the buyer to calculate the conversion rate - they might get it wrong.
Posted at 9:22am Nov 3, 2008 EST
Responses
All we need is a "US" the same size as the "$" sign on all applicable pages--auto conversion from our own currency would be sweet, but clarity is essential.
Posted at 3:15am Jan 6, 2009 EST
I suspect they acting like the proverbial three wise monkeys on this one.
Posted at 3:33am Jan 6, 2009 EST
I convoed Maria weeks ago & got no response, so I'd say this topic seems to be totally unimportant.
Posted at 4:40am Jan 6, 2009 EST
GreenMamba says:
So, is this even on the Etsy radar?
................
Or in the pipeline?
Posted at 5:37am Jan 6, 2009 EST
Every time I see that word, "pipeline", the image of a half pipe pops into my mind's eye. Anybody know what I mean?
Posted at 5:53am Jan 6, 2009 EST
This topic is so important!!!
I may have lost a big sale because my buyer thought the prices were in Australian dollars, it is very upsetting and unfair to the international community.
Posted at 6:38am Jan 6, 2009 EST
I see there's been no word from Etsy.
Do they have actual contempt for us, or are they just really, really out to lunch?
Posted at 7:31am Jan 6, 2009 EST
dangerousmezzo, they have shown over and over that they really don't care what we think. I don't even believe that they view us as customers, because if they did they would surely take more notice of us and wouldn't leave us hanging.
If I treated my customers the way Etsy treats the sellers here I would expect to have 100% negative feeback. Hey maybe that's what Etsy needs to do, give us the opportunity to leave them feedback on the service they give their customers.Maybe that would give them the kick in the pants to up their customer services.
Even if they came into this thread and told us, "No we won't be putting a USD sign in front of every $ sign on the site, because...(insert reason here)" that would be better customer service than this endless ignoring us. At least then we would know the truth and make business decisions on that information.
Etsy has a lot of lessons still to learn about their business, mainly they need to learn that their business is customer service based and the main thing you need to do in a service based industry is to treat your customers with respect.
I hope this new employee has come from the customer service industry.
Posted at 7:50am Jan 6, 2009 EST
I am completely floored that this issue seems unimportant to Etsy. It isn't just international sellers that have to be clear about the currency. It is also American sellers that are selling to international customers that should be concerned about this as well.
Etsy might want to find out more about The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and their guidelines on internet business. The United States is a member Here is a snippet of interest:
"The Guidelines also stressed the importance of clearly identifying the applicable currency to your business sales. E-business should clearly inform whether their prices are on US dollars, Euros or any other particular currency. Further, e-businesses are urged to place links to sites that offer free currency conversion information so customers may easily assess the price of the goods or services offered."
www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?id=1658&s=latestnews
Posted at 1:57pm Jan 6, 2009 EST