Name: Oops, Decimal Point Error Causes Etsy to Massively Overcharge for Shipping Labels
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Oops, Decimal Point Error Causes Etsy to Massively Overcharge for Shipping Labels

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PCMag editors select and review products . If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.(Credit: Etsy)Decimals points are pretty important. Case in point: A glitch at e-commerce site Etsy briefly caused the company to overcharge for shipping labels by thousands of dollars.Etsy sellers to social media on Monday to notify the company about the problem. Apparently, the e-commerce site’s accounting system failed to notice the decimal point when charging for the total cost for shipping labels.&nbsp;As a result, one merchant who thought they were paying $11.64 for postage ended up being billed $1,164. In other cases, the glitch caused Etsy to accidentally empty bank accounts.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“I just lost $11k.&nbsp; Emptied my Etsy account, drained my bank account, maxxed out my overdraft protection, and maxxed out my credit card.... all for what should have been $110 in labels,” one seller.“Do not ship through Etsy,” another seller. “Right now they are charging you $350 for $3.50 shipping labels, their system is fucking up a decimal.”The glitch also caused many merchants to stop sending out packages with labels printed from Etsy, which has over 2.8 million active sellers. Fortunately, the company fixing the problem last night.“This issue has now been resolved and we have credited impacted sellers for the incorrect fees,” the company said in a customer support ticket. “Accurate charges are now reflected in affected sellers’ payment accounts. For the small group of sellers that were autobilled, we have refunded any resulting card charges.”Some affected merchants say they were also hit with overdraft fees due to Etsy withdrawing more money than was available in their bank accounts. A company spokesperson told PCMag: "Yes, we will reimburse sellers who let our support teams know that they were charged overdraft or related fees."Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning.This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our and . You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!AdvertisementEditors' Choice

PCMag editors select and review products . If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.(Credit: Etsy)Decimals points are pretty important. Case in point: A glitch at e-commerce site Etsy briefly caused the company to overcharge for shipping labels by thousands of dollars.Etsy sellers to social media on Monday to notify the company about the problem. Apparently, the e-commerce site’s accounting system failed to notice the decimal point when charging for the total cost for shipping labels.&nbsp;As a result, one merchant who thought they were...

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Michael has been a PCMag reporter since October 2017. He previously covered tech news in China from 2010 to 2015, before moving to San Francisco to write about cybersecurity. He covers a variety of tech news topics, including consumer devices, digital privacy issues, computer hacking, artificial intelligence, online communities and gaming. You can reach him at michael_kan@pcmag.com

Michael Kan

pcmag.com

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Oops, Decimal Point Error Causes Etsy to Massively Overcharge for Shipping Labels

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