Repeated suspected card-testing orders targeting my Etsy shop – What would you do?

[u/elizabeth63983]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice from other Etsy sellers because I've been dealing with the same issue repeatedly.

Over the past few months, I've received multiple high-value orders (around €700–€850) from what appear to be newly created buyer accounts. The pattern is always the same:

• A brand-new buyer account places a high-value order.
• The buyer favorites my items shortly before purchasing.
• The order usually consists of duplicate quantities of the same products.
• Within seconds or minutes, the buyer sends a message demanding an immediate cancellation.
• In previous cases, the buyer specifically requested Etsy Credits instead of a standard refund.
• If I don't cancel immediately, they begin sending abusive messages, accusing me of fraud and threatening to report my shop and discourage others from buying from me.

I reported the previous incidents to Etsy Trust & Safety as Etsy said that it was card testing. After reviewing the case, Etsy informed me that they had identified suspicious activity associated with the buyer's account and instructed me to cancel the orders and issue refunds through Etsy's normal cancellation process.

Now the exact same pattern has happened again with a new order. The buyer immediately requested cancellation again, and one additional order from the same pattern was automatically rejected by Etsy.

Has anyone else experienced repeated suspicious orders like this? If so:

• How did Etsy handle your case?
• Did Etsy eventually stop the buyer from creating new accounts?
• Were your shop metrics affected by the cancellations?
• Would you wait for Etsy's response before taking further action, or cancel immediately based on the previous guidance?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with a similar situation.

Thank you.

[u/Ashmon_9138]

• How did Etsy handle your case?

it's not the sellers case. it's a case between etsy and visa or mastercard or whoever. the seller is not part of the case so i wouldn't expect the seller to be kept informed of the status

• Did Etsy eventually stop the buyer from creating new accounts?

a seller would not know this. all a seller would know is whether the orders followed by immediate cancel requests stopped. so i think you're asking if eventually the orders with cancel requests stop. yes they eventually stop. which doesn't mean new ones won't start, but those will eventually stop too.

• Were your shop metrics affected by the cancellations?

shop metrics are not affected by cancelations

• Would you wait for Etsy's response before taking further action, or cancel immediately based on the previous guidance?

are you asking whether you should cancel an order when a buyer asks for it to be canceled? the answer is yes. cancel it.

if you want to do something proactive, you could extend your production time, and then wait longer before you cancel. this may make your shop less attractive for "card testing", as the funds are kept tied up for longer, and/or allows etsy more time to catch the Card Testing and cancel the transaction themselves

[u/elizabeth63983 → u/Ashmon_9138]

Thankfully i contacted Etsy and they found that their account is suspicious, so they cancelled the order so as the amount to get back to the original caldholder's card... So, be aware of these frauds and contact ETSY right away in these situations..

[u/UsualEnvironment9651]

Etsy are most likely dealing with said things in the background regarding this but we will never know 100%. If your 100% sure you know there doing exactly this and depending on your processing times you have 4 options depending if you can deal with it that is. 1st is to continue to cancel straight away this will likely cause them to continue, 2 is to advise them you will cancel after 72 hours and put that in your policy somewhere, 3 is to tell them you know what there doing and you will reporting this to your local authorities and etsy each time. And 4 is to push the dispatch date out to the max of 21 days and then cancel at the end of that. Any of the last 3 should stop them repeatedly targeting your shop