Thanks for this important post, Customer Support Team!

Excellent resolution!

I feel that this is a great way to handle this kind of problem... well done

Thanks for writing this, so many questions about it in the forums!

Thanks so much for writing this. Not an issue I have, but one I see come up in the forums a lot!

While this is a great tip, I would not consider sending a convo asking them not to purchase from you again "blocking" them -- it's simply a request.

We need to be able to block them.
period.

I'd rather have someone blocked who isn't great for the community than be able to simply block them from dealing with me.

Thank You for this article. It has come in handy for me today. I only hope I never have to block someone so extreme.

Thank you for addressing this issue. However I think, that convoing someone and requesting that they don't buy from you again is difficult to do.
It would be better if we could block buyers who are harassing us or being very difficult to deal with, who leave negative feedback when not reasonable etc.
I hope I will never have to use such a thing, most buyers are a pleasure to do business with, but once in a while you get buyers who are not.

I agree, I would like a tool that blocks specific buyers that have purchased from you in the past and have not paid. It prevents them from doing it again. It also prevents a waste of time for sellers having to report items, and etsy personel having to process reported items.

The new rules state that the only "acceptable" reasons for canceling a transction are for non-payment or non-delivery.

So did the ability to refuse to sell to someone who harasses you in the Forums, etc. just go out the window???

When owning a B&M store, you can ask an offending customer to leave and let them know they are not welcome in your shop again. You can choose who you do business with.
If a buyer is using your merchandise in a way that is unethical or against your business practices, how do you keep them from aquiring your product?
I would like to know how to say "You're not welcome here" in my etsy shop.
How is this done on Etsy?

I think its great to be all nice with everybody! I love the vibe on Etsy.

However

There are sometimes very difficult unpleasant people who appear to enjoy giving you trouble. I only have 1, maybe I'm lucky, but I would really like to simply stop her from buying from me. Just make it impossible to play the power trip some people seem to enjoy by no longer allowing to buy. I am fed up of waiting 3 weeks to be paid for items, which then get sent back, because she has seen something she likes more, then changing her mind again, then buying something else and not paying, and the cycle continues. I dont want to change my customer friendly policies because 1 person abuses them. I just want to stop selling to that one customer!!

Hear hear!

Open communication is good, even if it's about unpleasant things. As long as that communication is proactive rather than pointless.

This is a wonderful thought. Though .. I wish each seller had a blocking list of people they choose to not let buy/look at their store. I've had some problems in the past when people just won't stop until they are kicked off. Which doesn't really help, because most of them just make another name and sign up again. Blocking any and all names would be the best...I also agree with kimsjewels. It would save etsy personnel and sellers time since they wouldn't be processing so many canceled transactions. It would also save us some energy while in situations like that. ( It would have been great in my situation!)

Blocking buyers is the only solution. Not only is it the only solution for the sellers, it will lighten the load for Etsy Admin and make a nicer shopping atmosphere for the buyers.

If a buyer is blocked by enough sellers then Etsy Admin should be able to see that this person is a problem and block them from the site. We know this can be done because I can name at least 2 other sites that already do this...

Why let a few bad buyers make the shop policies strict and not as friendly for the good customers? By not letting shop owners block problem buyers, they have to implement harsh policies that cause hardship and possible loss of sales to potential good clients.

This is a no-brainer. It is better for the buyer all around, and that is what customer service is, making the purchase as easy and pleasant as possible for your customers.

I strongly agree there should be a block feature so we can block or unblock immediately. Myself and another soapmaker had our items sabotaged for several days by a new buyer and til this day we don't know the motive but we both communicated with one another and had to raise allot of hell and it finally stopped...I wish I could alert other sellers to be on the lookout for that particular buyer.

At anyrate being pleasant and professional is key from the buyer and seller in my opinion. You all bring up good points....

I would love the feature of being able to block a customer who is just having fun toying with us. It is one thing to honestly have to cancel a transaction, but to order, and not make a payment and then leave immediate negative feedback is wrong, and something should have been done about that ASAP! I am only lucky that the customer listened to my requests of taking off the negative feedback, left for absulutely no reason. Also a customer who repeatedly puts in an order, then cancels, only to do it over again, should be blocked from ordering. It is upsetting to say the least, and we should not have to put up with this nonsense. It might be very hard for some of us to explain to a customer, for whatever reason,that we cannot sell to them, so a system which allows us to block a harassing customer without the need to contact them over and over, and to involve the staff of etsy, would be great! It would be a way for us to take control of our own shops when we need to. Not to say that convo's and being polite doesn't work; that is my first way to solve the problem, but in the most extreme situations, it would be most helpful!

I just had a customer bought the things from me almost 10 items today for 2 times.
Since she done the first buying. I send her a convo about i will send the item when i got the payment and now she buy more but not pay yet and no reply from convo.
Anyway i know i gotta wait. But i think it would be great if you able to block some buyer who just wanna aply with your shop.
Cos I will waste my time to relist it again T_T
and I dont think anybody like it :(
Thanks

grrrrrrrr

I wish there was a way that we could take into consideration someones buyer feedback before deciding if we wanted to sell to that person or not (not agreeing to a sale which we may not be paid for). Maybe ETSY could do this for buyers whose feedback falls below a certain percentage?