Is the website 'Etsy' safe?

[Kat.Tee]

I'm considering buying some products from this website but am unsure if its actually safe to buy online from here. Has anyone had any experiences dealing with this website? Also, is there a way to make only one order to purchase instead of several orders (if I purchased from different people on the site)?

[?]

Yes, but the vendors on that site are real people, so the site is about as safe for purchasing as ebay.

[Marco]

Etsy is definitely a safe place to make a purchase. The only risk is that the product might not be exactly how it is billed, but for the most part, the pictures tell the story. The payment process should be through reputable providers like paypal, square or bank sites.

If you make purchases from different vendors, you need to make separate payments and pay shipping for each item. They are each individual businesses that will be packing up their offering and shipping it from their home or office. Etsy is just a place where people place their goods - - they do not manage any part of the sales process.

Etsy is awesome and a great place to find unique items.

[Jake]

Because you are dealing with individuals, the results can vary, it's helpful to look at the selling histories, probably not wise to be the first customer of someone with no track record. Someone with a hood record is less likely to want it damaged by complaints.

You can click on a seller name to get a feedback rating and the history of all of their past sales.

Etsy says they have an anti-fraud team, but it looks like a resolution can only results in the seller account being suspended, paypal provides some buyer protection, particularly in clear cases of non delivery.
http://www.etsy.com/help/article/3161

They don't have Etsy shipping facilities like Amazon, which can combine some orders, each seller has to ship on their own.