Oops: Etsy decimal point error massively overcharges for shipping

Decimals points are pretty important. Case in point: A glitch at e-commerce site Etsy briefly caused the company to overcharge for shipping labels by thousands of dollars.

Etsy sellers took to social media on Monday to notify the company about the problem. Apparently, the e-commerce site’s accounting system failed to notice the decimal point when charging for the total cost for shipping labels. 

As a result, one merchant who thought they were paying $11.64 for postage ended up being billed $1,164. In other cases, the glitch caused Etsy to accidentally empty bank accounts.   

“I just lost $11k.  Emptied my Etsy account, drained my bank account, maxxed out my overdraft protection, and maxxed out my credit card.... all for what should have been $110 in labels,” tweeted one seller. Read more...