Unnecessary Rudeness

Isn't it funny how, even though you've been told that the jewelry you make is so cute/pretty/fabulous/etc for four years, one little insult makes all those compliments seem to disappear?

Here's how it went down.

I've been selling on etsy (and buying every now and then) for three years now. I love etsy. Sometimes, it feels like the nicest place on the earth.

In the last year or so, I've fallen in love with chunky rings . . . big flowers, big fun designs, big funky, chunky rings. I love them. I don't go too overboard, but like them to be a little larger than my finger. They're just fun. So, I had a little money in my paypal account from some sales I'd had recently and I decided to shop for rings. Just for fun to see what was available. I found a cute daisy ring and then saw it was only $.20 so I clicked on it. Here's what it said: "*This ring is free with any purchase*"

Does that say to you, "You can't buy this ring unless you buy something else"? Because, it didn't say that to me. It said to me, "You can buy this ring OR get it free when you buy something else." So, I clicked and purchased it, thinking it was a little weird that it was only $.20 and no shipping, but maybe she was destashing or something.

The next morning, I get a message from her saying she is refunding my money because you can only get this ring if you buy something else. I messaged her back asking if I could just pay a bit more and still get the ring since I really didn't want anything else in her shop, but loved the ring. She said no, but gave me a link to another shop that sold a similar ring. I felt sort of "whatever" about the whole thing.

The other day I was on my etsy site looking at something else and noticed I needed to leave feedback for a couple of things so I went to that part of the site and saw that she was listed there as needing feedback. I left a neutral feedback because I really didn't mind that I didn't get the ring even though I liked it, but I felt she should have made her posting clearer. This is the message I got this morning:

"You are as pathetic as the ugly 'jewelry' you make. If you would learn to read you would save yourself the embarrassment of looking like a fool!"

Nice, no?

She also left me neutral feedback that said, "Person did not read the listing correctly or chose not to read it all. That is on her not me."

I'm getting mad all over again just thinking about it. And it's been bugging me all day. I'd love to send a message back to her saying something along the lines of "sorry I missed the line that you didn't put on your posting that said I couldn't buy this ring even though you posted it as an item for sale. From now on, I'll stay away from my shop and just visit shops that post items they are actually willing to sale. And, by the way, you're the only one who doesn't seem to like my 'jewelry.'"

Instead, I emailed the etsy people and asked if we could make this whole thing disappear. I just can't believe she'd email me that my jewelry is ugly (and put "jewelry" as if it wasn't real) just because I didn't give her a positive feedback. So rude. It's like my perfect image of etsy is ruined by one person. I'm hoping etsy will let me just get rid of the whole transaction, feedback included. And then I will avoid her shop like the plague, although I won't tell you who she is. No one else seems to have had problems with her. But you just don't treat people that way.