Etsy is an online marketplace where artists, collectors, and crafters globally come together to sell, buy, and collect different items like clothing, custom-made jewelry, home decor, toys, art, and more.
The platform supports independent sellers and creators by making the selling process easy and connecting global markets in a single place.
With shipping being a huge part of the platform, you might wonder how long the orders on Etsy take to ship.
Let us find out.
How Long Does Etsy Take To Ship?
With more than eight million sellers, Etsy generally takes three to seven business days to ship items and more than ten days for international shipments.
However, the time might increase if the customer demands any customizations for the order.
After confirming the order, the seller establishes a processing time, and the delivery time depends on this processing time of the product.
Shipping companies that deliver the product to your home are another major factor that influences the Etsy shipping time.
Several other factors determine Etsy’s shipping time, including the speed of delivery services and the seller’s creation speed.
Let’s discuss the top ten factors that influence Etsy shipment time in detail.
1. Approximate Delivery Date
To give consumers an idea of how long it will take to deliver their parcel, some sellers provide an estimate of the delivery date.
If the seller doesn’t display their delivery date estimate, the consumer is free to inquire about the estimated shipping time from the seller or Etsy’s customer support.
If the consumer receives their product faster than the specified processing time, Etsy quickly recomputes the estimated date of delivery for the consumer.
Multiple factors are involved in carrying out the calculations to show and calculate the estimated delivery date to shoppers.
This means the approximate delivery time depends on different factors.
The seller fills out mail class, processing time, and the shipment service companies on individual listings and creates delivery profiles for each of them to generate the estimated delivery date the customer sees.
2. Processing Time
The processing time is the time needed to create an order.
If the product is made to order, its creation is based on advance payments instead of cash on delivery.
Sometimes consumers demand customizations that require unique construction and features like color choice, logos, or text.
This adds time to production and shipping, and they must be aware that their product will likely not arrive before the expected date.
The seller’s processing time for the product will impact the time taken for the delivery of the purchased product.
The customer put aside the additional customization time and demands to get the product ready and handed over to the courier company.
The processing time averages between one and three days for most items that don’t need any customization.
The consumer can ask the vendor if they are unsure of how long it will take to deliver their customized product.
3. Carrier Transit Time
The carrier transit time is the time the courier companies take to ship your products from the seller to your doorstep.
The time for domestic delivery is two to three days which might go up to 10 days in many cases.
Most sellers also offer expedited courier services, which helps them to deliver their products in a shorter time.
However, these quick deliveries are more expensive.
Different shipping services provide different transit times.
Some shipping companies take time, while some of them deliver your parcel faster.
Etsy doesn’t have control over these timelines, which are the direct factors between the seller, consumers, and the shipping service companies.
The customer can ask the seller about the shipping service and can track them on Google about their delivery timing.
The other option is that if a consumer thinks that the delivery is taking a bit too long, they can ask the seller to change the shipping company.
4. Computing Delivery Time
Etsy shows an estimation of delivery dates to consumers as a collection of dates to mark on the calendars when their order is going to arrive.
The shorter period of creating products minimizes processing time which leads to the quickest and earliest expected delivery time.
Similarly, the longer it takes to create a product maximizes processing time, leading to the longest and delayed expected delivery time.
If the processing time for the order placed is three to five business days, and the delivery method transit time is two to four business days, then the total estimated time of delivery is five to nine business days from the purchase date.
5. Handmade Products
The world shifted to machines to make less expensive products, but they lack the quality that handmade products offer.
These handmade products are hard to find and not easily accessible in the traditional marketplace.
The products on Etsy are mostly handmade and are likely to be more expensive than the products from machine manufacturing.
This is because handmade products consume more time in production.
Based on customer demands, customization is also applied to the product, which further extends the product’s development time.
Handmade production takes time in design and planning, and lots of hard work to carefully craft the consumers’ products by hand.
Sometimes handmade products require some additional work before delivery, which might increase the delivery time.
Also, these products are shipped with care through special shipments.
7. International Shipping
Etsy offers international shipping as it is an international platform.
It can take several weeks to send items overseas, but the main issue often arises at customs.
Although it is pretty safe these days to shop online internationally, there’s a possibility of delayed parcel arrivals due to challenging customs processes.
The other factor that increases the shipment time in international orders is the shipment of bulky items such as furniture, home appliances, etc.
They take a longer time to ship due to their size.
There are limited options for sellers offering oversized items, which leads directly to a longer shipping time.
Etsy greatly encourages its sellers to provide free shipping on their orders.
This forces them to find the most economical way to deliver their products.
These economical services also lead to delays in delivery since they have fewer warehouses, and shipments take time to reach their destination.
8. No Mass Production
Etsy is the only platform that enables you to search for your desired handmade products.
However, these handmade products are not present on the platform in a larger quantity.
You will only find fewer quality products.
This becomes a major reason for delayed delivery.
Some sellers who mass produce reduce their prices for their products, but then a customization factor affects the delivery dates.
The expenses of the product tend to rise because of different factors like labor, materials, and the time needed to produce a few unique specific products.
The main factor affecting the delivery dates is that no such sellers can mass-produce the items.
However, some sellers have physical stores, but they still lack mass production and provide high pricing for their products.
9. Unique Contributions
Etsy holds an extensive range of unique products.
The product designs are unique.
It is the best place to order something you want to present as a gift to someone close.
They can be expensive, as it takes time to produce customized handmade products.
If a customer wants to order several products with certain customization, then they must be patient with the delivery dates.
10. Customs Delays
Customs delay is one of the significant factors that affect shipping time on Etsy.
Overseas shipments pass through customs, which sometimes causes unexpected delays since the ports are often backed up, especially during busy times of the year.
There are several factors involved in clearing customs that lead to the delay of packages.
Let’s discuss them briefly.
A. Incomplete Information
One of the common reasons for late deliveries is improper documentation.
You must fill out all the information correctly to avoid any issues during business hours.
Most customs delays occur due to incomplete or missing data or poor product descriptions.
Also, the incomplete address or consignee name delays the product delivery.
B. Poor Product Descriptions
The courier service generates a report to the CBP to identify the faulty and improper descriptions of the imported products.
The customs clearance officer will hold up the product descriptions that aren’t accurate or clear.
More relevant descriptions lead to less delay in clearance.
C. Incorrect Product Quantity
Sometimes sellers mention less quantity to avoid fees or duties.
Things get held up when the parcel is caught with wrong values, leading to a delay in clearance.
D. Customs Duties
Courier service companies sometimes avoid taxes and fees or don’t pay them promptly, which also leads to parcels being held up in customs.
Sometimes a broker is needed to deal with the shipments of higher values.
The broker ensures deliveries get released easily and takes care of the duties.
Several things can get out of control.
Just follow the safety parameters to ensure safe and timely product delivery without getting into further trouble.
Surprisingly, all the factors that influence the delivery timing are influenced by the sellers.
For this reason, it is important to purchase products from trusted sellers to get your order on time.
How Does Order Fulfillment Work on Etsy?
Most of Etsy’s sellers keep a huge inventory of products that are ready to ship on hand.
Some sellers carry out production work after the buyer places the order since they produce goods via hand.
Therefore, Etsy provides its buyers with a delivery time of one to three days to make them aware of the delivery time.
These details are mentioned in the seller’s description, which allows the consumers to verify the time needed for processing before purchasing an Etsy product.
How Should Customers Make A Purchase On Etsy?
If a consumer orders a product for delivery to happen as soon as possible, they must first keep their eye on the delivery time mentioned by the seller.
After making a customizable purchase, most customers get angry and upset when they look at the delivery time of seven days.
Customers don’t realize that sometimes sellers have to order specific raw materials, then create the product using those materials.
This directly adds to the delivery time.
If you’re looking for quick delivery, make sure to check the estimated delivery time that seller mentions.
What Leads To Order Cancellation On Etsy?
After the buyer places the order, the seller contacts the designer to create a customized design as per the customer’s need.
Sometimes sellers have to obtain further information from the customer to make sure the correct product is delivered to the buyer.
All of this consumes time and plays an important role in increasing delivery time.
Later, consumers ask for the delivery time and irritate the sellers with continuous messages, and follow-ups.
They sometimes also contact Etsy customer support and complain about mismanagement from seller ends.
This results in order cancellation on most occasions.
Sellers also sometimes fail to keep their promises by delaying order delivery.
In this case, Etsy’s customer support cancels the order automatically without any prior notice.
What To Do If An Etsy Order Is Late
Packages do get delayed, unfortunately, due to the failure of courier services.
In this case, the consumer must reach out to the seller if the parcel is delayed for days beyond its expected delivery date.
However, if the seller is unresponsive, it is better to reach out to Etsy’s customer support.
They will contact the seller from their end, and you might get an updated delivery date estimate.
In most cases, late deliveries lead to cancellation.
You should be aware of that and must deal with the support accordingly.
Why Does Etsy Take Too Long To Ship Orders?
Etsy doesn’t have a dedicated network like Amazon, eBay, or Walmart.
It also doesn’t have warehouses or fulfillment centers for fast shipments.
Etsy is a dedicated marketplace for handmade and vintage products.
These products generally require a longer shipping time, which results in late delivery.
There is an estimated delivery date mentioned for each seller.
Still, it can sometimes vary due to the production time, or sometimes importing raw materials for the production of customized products.
Due to this, you will find most Etsy sellers clearly mentioning late deliveries in their product descriptions.
Also, most buyers who shop on Etsy are aware of these issues, and still prefer Etsy because of the availability of customized products.
What Are the Mistakes That Lead To Customs Delays?
Different factors lead to delays in delivery of the product apart from improper documentation, poor product descriptions, and duties.
Let’s have a look at some of them.
- Incomplete and incorrect pages, values, and quantities.
- Incorrect product code.
- Use of incorrect harmonized tariff code.
- Missing receipt of the commercial invoice, which is a legal document between supplier and client.
- Non-specific currency.
- Missing paperwork required for customs clearance.
When placing orders, always focus on fulfilling all the seller’s requirements to avoid late delivery issues.
The following documents are necessary to avoid customs charges and have a hassle-free selling experience on Etsy.
- Buyers’ PO.
- Airway Bill, which carrier issues for the shipper to receive.
- Packing List, which holds the number of items in the shipment.
- Certificate of Origin. Exporter issues this certificate to confirm a product’s origin country.
These are some of the mistakes that the seller, courier service, and the receiver must avoid to prevent delays in the delivery.
If you still face late delivery issues even after fulfilling all the seller requirements, it is better to contact customer support and discuss the matter.
You should also discuss the issue with your courier service providers to solve it as early as possible.
Conclusion
Etsy provides unique and handmade items that aren’t usually available elsewhere.
However, it is not a huge marketplace and does not operate through large-scale warehouses.
Instead, the entire company operates through private shipping.
This means sellers utilize courier services as per their own preferences.
Typically, Etsy offers three to seven days for domestic shipments and more than ten days for international shipments.
However, this is an estimated shipment time that most sellers provide.
Some sellers who are selling customized products might offer you a delivery time of more than seven days.
Also, the delivery time for international shipments might go up to 30 days.
The products Etsy sellers offer are incomparable to the products available on other marketplaces.
You can never compare the delivery time as well.
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