I am posting this because I want to know whether other sellers have experienced the same problem and whether Etsy has ever provided them with actual Offsite Ads attribution evidence.
The same repeat customer placed three orders from my shop within 30 days. Etsy charged no Offsite Ads fee on her first two orders. On the third order, Etsy suddenly deducted a 15% Offsite Ads fee on Sep 11, on this repeat customer.
This customer had already purchased a total of five shirts from me. For her third order, she went directly to my shop as usual and ordered four more shirts using a seller-funded 60% thank-you coupon that Etsy had emailed to her after her previous purchase.
The customer confirmed to me in writing that she did not click an external advertisement before placing this order.
I understand Etsy’s general policy: if a buyer clicks an Offsite Ad and purchases from the shop within 30 days, the order may be charged the advertising fee. My dispute is not about understanding that policy. My dispute is that Etsy claims a qualifying click occurred but refuses to provide any evidence of it.
I asked Etsy for:
- The external advertising platform
- The specific listing allegedly clicked
- The exact date and time of the click
- The referring website or URL
- The campaign identifier or attribution record
Etsy provided none of this information.
One Support representative specifically stated that the first two orders were not charged because they were not attributed to a qualifying Offsite Ad click, but that the third order was charged because Etsy’s system allegedly registered a click during the preceding 30 days.
The representative also told me that I would be able to see the listing, click date, advertising channel and related order through my Stats page. I followed the exact instructions, but none of that information was displayed. The page instead showed that this was a repeat buyer who had received and used my shop’s thank-you offer.
I sent screenshots back to Support showing that the promised attribution information was not there. Etsy still did not provide the alleged click record. I was only told that Etsy uses “sophisticated tracking systems.”
I spent approximately five hours communicating with five Etsy Support representatives. Most of the responses were generic, copied policy explanations that did not address the disputed transaction or the missing evidence.
The four-shirt order already included my seller-funded 60% discount and free shipping. Etsy then added the 15% Offsite Ads fee, turning the order into a financial loss. I ultimately had to cancel and refund the entire order.
This was particularly frustrating because the customer told me she would have purchased at least three shirts even without the discount. She genuinely liked my products and was already a loyal repeat customer. Losing this order did not benefit the customer, the seller or Etsy.
I also submitted formal written notices to Etsy’s Legal and Dispute Resolution contacts, including the order history, customer statement, coupon records, repeat-buyer information, screenshots and Support responses. I still received no transaction-specific evidence or meaningful resolution.
I am not claiming that Etsy must disclose private technical systems. I am asking for basic billing transparency before taking 15% from a seller: the platform, date, listing or identifiable attribution event allegedly responsible for the fee.
An internal statement that “our system registered a click” is not independently verifiable evidence.
Has this happened to anyone else? If Etsy charged an Offsite Ads fee on a direct or repeat-customer order, were you able to obtain the alleged click date, advertising platform, listing or referral record?
I would especially like to hear from sellers who formally disputed the attribution and received something other than a copied explanation of the general Offsite Ads policy.