Etsy www.etsy.com A Stat up Business Owner's worst nightmare: Shipped product, no money Internet

I am an artist and was given recommendation to use Etsy as a good source to build up revenue and customers for my business by a friend. Firstly, I have had my account with Etsy for a long time, and have not made any sales until recently. I do not think that the products were not appealing to customers, I just felt that Etsy was not exposing the products listed on their site to enough locations.

I began building up my cliental on my own. I haven't had much time before, due to my day job, but now that I am unemployed I put more heart and soul into promoting my art.

Finally, I got my first sale. It was a custom made painting, which the customer wanted to get framed and chose to pick up the item.

I informed the customer to use Etsy to do the transaction to save on gas and travelling back and forth. I expected that Etsy would complete the transaction normally, so that I could use some of the profits to purchase the frame request for the item. Etsy, on the hand, chose to not pay me the money earned. Everything came out of my own pocket and Etsy continued to inform me that I would get paid or the money would be deposited on a specific day. When that day arrived, they then stated that I won't get paid the money earned until that Monday. When Monday arrived, still I received no payment. I contacted the department, and they informed me that there would be an additional 3 to 5 business day delay in the deposit. (totaling over 10 business day delay) Why???

When they validated my account information, it was automatic. When the retrieved payments for their bills, it was also automatic. But to pay me the money that I need is delayed??? It makes no sense.

I am furious. I am forcing myself to wait until I receive my funds (whenever that will be) and then I will close my Etsy account. I am writing on here for anyone interested in Etsy to be weary. If selling your craft or art is a hobby, and you are not reliant on your profits for your items, than Etsy is a good place.

However, if you ARE trying to start a small business and rely on your profits to continue to fund your supplies, etc. I would not use Etsy. They have proven themselves to be extremely unreliable and they have lost their credibility with me. Do not rely on the suspected deadline of direct deposits that they give you either, those dates apparently continuously change a lot. 

This is my experience but after digging through the internet more and talking to some friends, I found that this lack of payment to the sellers is common. So beware.