What Does Blocking Someone On Etsy Do? | ANSWERED

  • By: Reece Williams
  • Date: June 29, 2022
  • Time to read: 3 min.

Etsy is a great marketplace filled with great buyers and sellers. The community feel is one of the big draws of Etsy compared to other online eCommerce marketplaces.

However, there are those on Etsy who will cross the line. Ideally with these people you want to prevent them from contacting, buying, or interacting with you in any way shape or form.

Etsy does have a “Block” feature, found on a user’s profile page, but there is some confusion as to what this does.

What does blocking someone on Etsy do? Blocking a user on Etsy only stops them from “following” you. They will no longer see updates on your personal favourites, or your store (if you have one) via the notification icon in the user’s account section. Blocking a user doesn’t stop them from contacting you or buying from your store.

I’ll cover what you should do if you are trying to stop someone contacting you or buying from your store.

Will A User Know If I’ve Blocked Them On Etsy?

No, the Etsy user will receive no notification that they have been blocked. They may only notice if they have been following your store and find they are unable to see updates on your store.

This also goes for being “unblocked”. Once unblocked the user will receive any new notifications. They will not receive any of the notifications they missed previously

Does Blocking A User Stop Them From Ordering On My Store?

No, blocking a user on Etsy does not prevent them from ordering items from your store.

How to Stop Someone From Ordering From You On Etsy

There is no button on Etsy that prevents a user from ordering from you. If you receive an order that you don’t want to fulfil – either because of the person who has ordered, or a certain location you have trouble getting orders to – is to cancel the order.

Etsy has a full guide on how to cancel an order. You can find it here.

To cancel an order ini this circumstance you need to:

  1. On Etsy.com, click Shop Manager.
  2. Click Orders & Delivery.
  3. Access the Cancel an order page, which can be done in two ways:
  4. Desktop only: Click the three-dot icon next to the order you want to cancel. Then, click Cancel.
  5. Desktop and mobile web: In the Order Detail overlay, click More actions. Then, click Cancel.
  6. Select a reason for the cancellation from the dropdown. You can set this as Shop owner declines sale
  7. In the text box below the buyer’s refund total, you can write an optional message to your buyer.
  8. Click Cancel order.

This is a “catch all” option for any reason why you don’t want to fulfil an order

Can A Blocked User Just Create Another Etsy Account?

Yes, if you are concerned that someone is following your store, then they can just create a new Etsy account and follow you again.

This is very rare though, as the user is not informed that they have been blocked from seeing updates from you.

The Blocking system on Etsy isn’t as robust as many hope or expect.

Conclusion

To block a user on Etsy simply go to their profile page which can be done by selecting the username from any user list on Etsy. At the bottom of the page there is a light grey “Block this user” link.

Once selected you are prompted to confirm that you want to block them.

This pop-up also shows us what “blocking someone on Etsy” actually does. Not an awful lot unfortunately. Blocking someone on Etsy simply stops them from viewing updates from you – whether that be your additions to your favourite listings, or updates from your store (if you have one)