Its becase eth network has a huge traffic right now.
In case of bitcoin you don't care if you pay fee higher than other users. In case of eth as far as i know if you are single entity like shapesift all you transacions have order and and executer in order. What it means: if yours 1st transacion fee is to low to be process by the network, then all other transacions of yours will have to wait, even if they have paid enough fee.
RE: Today I lost $280 in Ethereum, probably it's not secured platform as Bitcoin