knee-deep in water under a pylon

Oh, this is going to get grim. This is the first thing that's made me actually grateful that I haven't bought the materials to start in making things for Etsy (because I was still facing sewing everything by hand, as ten-plus years after moving into this apartment building we still don't have the sewing machine set up), though I did check my bank account in a panic to verify I wasn't one of the people affected. (Spoiler: I'm not, but that may well be because while I have a storefront, it doesn't have product yet.)

According to this Etsy moderator, this wasn't a hack or a mathematical error, but a change to the site itself that caused certain storefronts to be massively overcharged. Which is fine, I suppose (it's not fine), I mean, we're all happy it's not a hack, but...Etsy creators who were hit by this change in code were not happy in general:

TheraClay:

"Etsy drafted $395 out of my checking today?

"WT heck is going on? Did Etsy draft this out of my account? It's showing as a positive balance? I really need a response here, Etsy"

lovestrucksoul:

"My bank just cancelled my card bc Etsy tried to take over $5000 this morning :( I’m standing in the store unable to make a purchase for a crying 5 year old, wth???"

StuffedBras:

"Me Too. Etsy just charge my CC for $344.46 and I already had a postive balance. Now my Balance is showing higher balance by adding what they just charged.

Why doesn't etsy have a email support or phone number to get answers?"

BedazzledWitchery:

"I agree. I find it pretty disgusting Etsy that you continue to charge sellers higher and higher fees for ZERO customer service. We as sellers should have an email support/customer service phone number/chat dialogue. I have been on Etsy for five years, but I am seriously thinking of closing my shop and going to another webhosting/online shop."

Starting to sound like Linden Lab, isn't it?

ApparelArtbyMare:

"Same here. $1266+ was taken. I am definitely concerned. Supposedly I will receive a deposit from them which I should use to pay the debt which is charged on my cc and pending. With banks being closed on Monday this creates a delay of an additional day for the weekend to make sure it is resolved. Very uneasy. I've had alot of success with Etsy for the past 10 years or so but this has truly made me hesitate and wonder what is going on."

Peaceofmindinc:

"Yes, almost 5k was taken out. They deposited the amount into the payment account."

VictoriaLynnBoutique:

"Over $7,200 from mine. Can you say BIG overdraft?? Sucks."

StampedGold:

"Please let us know if they will be refunding credit cards. I do not want to pay any interest or have any actual charges go through on the over $4000 they just charged my $3000 limit credit card!!"

lovestrucksoul again, later in the same thread:

"Suntrust said they tried to charge me over $5,400 10 times :("

That's unconscionable.

SansoneStationery:
"They charged my credit card a heart-stopping $1,634.68 through automatic card payment (even though my sales consistently cover my fees daily)."

SopersCoins:
"They hit me for $1695. They are not legally allowed to charge cards for no reason. They did this on this Friday because this is when people’s biweekly checks get direct deposited. SCAM"

DarolsDivineDesigns:

"Well, they drafted $788.00 out of my bank account today! Completely unacceptable!"

TlcCreatesVintage:

"My card was charged over 1,000 dollars!!! WTF......and now they are just going to deposit that back into our accounts which will take till Tuesday for me to actually have that money!!!!! Not acceptable. It's a three day weekend PEOPLE!! We won't see that money anytime soon"

And it goes on, complaint after complaint, panicked Etsy seller after panicked Etsy seller. Jumping to the end of the thread:

LeafLee:

"I was charged over 1300$ and etys sent it to my bank account after chargeing a fee. Ya'll know most of the people who work for you view even 500$ as alot of money right? I'm a disabled woman just struggling to live here and this is some garbage to deal with. The money should have been returned to my card not sent to my bank account! Etsy REALLY MESSING UP HERE! I HAVE BEEN A LOYAL SELLER FOR OVER A DECADE!!"

ThreadTreasuresEmbro:

"Can you tell me DOES ETSY TEST MODIFICATIONS BEFORE THEY ROLL THEM OUT ONTO PRODUCTION SERVERS? If not, shame on you. If Etsy does, then your testing procedures need to be reviewed.

"This is unacceptable. All sellers need to know EXACTLY what happened."

BlackberryDesigns:

"I am rather shocked, not that this happened, but that Etsy has not been pro-active in making sure we were updated on a hourly basis. Twitter being the best use for this and the forums. Yes you do take in lightly as, once again, we are left in the dark. I suspect this is going to morph into a PR nightmare for Etsy because of their lack of 'Transparency'."

That70sChickVintage:

"The only 'site change' that I can think of is the change in forums. Has there been a security breach or hack?

"How could a 'site change' arbitrarily charge various amounts to Etsy Seller accounts/credit/debit cards ranging in the hundreds to the thousands of dollars?

"There should be regular updates in the announcement section, pinned to the top until this issue is resolved.

"CEO needs to put out a statement as to what this 'site change' was that allowed this to happen.

"With all due respect, hundreds of thousands of dollars in charges made in error deserves more than a brief update in the 'bugs' section."

MinxouriVintage:

"What site changes?

"The ones on that page where they list experiments.

"Oh yeah, they removed that a week ago."

SavoyFaire:

"Not only did I have mid month charges on Friday that bounced but I have charges on Tuesday that will now bounce as well as late fees and my credit rating will be affected. We trust you with our cards. Why wasn't this immediately sent like that Paypal offers now funds hit within half an hour by end of day Friday. That team should have stayed until every one was made whole. Who would even just say oh well they can wait until Tuesday to hit Wednesday especially with a holiday weekend? Not handled right at all."

CARUSSDESIGNZ:

"This is very unprofessional esp with all the changed. And the fact that even the Forums have changed and you need 2 'sign in' is truly crazy. Etsy is becoming more like eBay and that was why eBay Sellers came 2 Etsy in the first place. Im NOT very happy. Very very unprofessional and WE the Sellers have 2 pay the price for it. ON top of that with yet another Holiday and weekend, another delay. Would YOU like 2 get paid late ?"

SimonsTreasures:

"I want to know how we're going to get in touch with Etsy to discuss the credit card charges or bank fees that they've promised to pay. They don't answer the phone. I've called an Etsy number they sent me and they don't answer. An automated message tells you how to receive a call back and then they never call. So, they are going to pay the fees incurred, but how do we tell them what the fees are?"

soulharborjewelry:

"As a seller, I'm extremely concerned about all of this. I received the email from Etsy that my deposit was returned to my payment account so my bank account won't be seeing any money from Etsy until later this week. I'm also concerned about this from a buyer's perspective. I've read posts on other social media sites about people not wanting to buy on Etsy because of this. If you think this isn't hurting ALL of us, you're dead wrong. I've had a pretty quiet weekend for sales and I'm worried that this has already impacted my income."

SweetEscapesbyDebbie:

"This is absolutely ridiculous. Etsy attempted an $18,900 charge which did not go through on my bank account but now my account is frozen on a holiday weekend. Absolutely inexcusable."

Absolutely, I agree. There is no conceivable coding situation I can envision for an e-commerce site that would deduct such high--and seemingly completely random--amounts from their clients, and worse, the fact that they're not simply returning them to the same accounts charged, but rather, putting the fund back to each Etsy seller's 'payments' account--which means each seller has to manually send those funds back to their banks--this is going to cause even more overdrafts, stress, and all manner of panic.

Etsy will suffer over this. People are already talking about moving over to Redbubble, Shopify, society6 and other e-commerce sites over this issue. This is dire. And Etsy is doing very, very little to reassure anyone.