Etsy To Invest $50 Million In Customer Support Following Online Petition

Etsy has announced that they are committed to investing over $50 Million in their customer support for the Etsy marketplace over the coming year. In a blog post posted on their website written by Brendan Mulryan who is the Vice President of Global Member Services, he outlines exactly what they aim to do with the $50 Million.

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I’m proud to share that we’re investing over $50 million to provide and improve customer support for the Etsy marketplace in the coming year. This will enable us to grow the size of our support team by more than 20% while investing in critical tools and resources to empower our community. When an issue arises, or a user has a question, we want to ensure they get support quickly and easily.

Brendan Mulryan, Vice President of Global Member Services, Etsy

Did Etsy Sellers Force The Investment?

One question exists around what has led to this investment commitment from Etsy. One theory comes back to a petition that was started on change.org by a seller called Asia Stuart. In the petition, she listed four key areas that she was calling for Etsy to change. The four things included:

“1. Multiple ways to contact support including Phone Support, Email Support, and Chat Support

2. Communication response to support requests timelines to be accurate. Currently, the Etsy support site says 1-2 business days for a reply. Provide an accurate time frame for request responses so sellers aren’t kept in the dark.

3. A Seller Support Department that provides Seller Advocates to help navigate major issues that may come up. A direct line for Sellers to call for assistance.

4. Quicker communication to sellers in regards to held funds, suspensions, and other issues. Additionally, having more customized information in a seller’s account in regards to the status of the seller’s shop.”

At the time of writing the petition currently has 22,405 signatures which could have been enough to get the attention of Etsy to spur a change.

The blog post published a holistic approach to addressing their customer service problems that you can see in the blog post linked above. The way that they address the various ways of communication combined with utilizing technology and the help center to make things better.

Ultimately this is great news for Etsy sellers and could show that the marketplace is paying attention to what their sellers are saying and do genuinely care enough to invest significant cash to address problems as they arrive.