Samantha was an artist who loved to make and sell handmade goods. She found a community of like-minded individuals on Etsy, a platform where she could showcase her work and connect with potential buyers.
One day, she received a message from a mysterious buyer who was interested in purchasing one of her creations. The buyer offered an exorbitant amount of money, far more than the item was worth.
Despite her initial hesitation, Samantha agreed to the sale and shipped the item to the buyer. But as soon as the transaction was complete, she began to experience strange and unsettling events.
She started receiving threatening messages from an unknown source, and her personal information was mysteriously leaked online. She felt as if she was being watched, and she became increasingly paranoid.
As she tried to uncover the source of the harassment, she realized that the mysterious buyer was not who they claimed to be. They were part of a sinister organization that used Etsy as a front for their illegal activities.
Samantha was powerless against the forces that had been unleashed, and she was forced to go into hiding. The Etsy enigma became a dark legend, a story of terror and craftsmanship gone wrong. The platform that was once a haven for artists and creatives was now tainted by the horrors that had transpired.
Etsy was a popular online marketplace for handmade and vintage items, and a young woman named Lily was a frequent shopper. She loved finding unique and one-of-a-kind items on the site, and she had made many purchases over the years.
One day, she came across a seller offering an antique doll that caught her eye. It was a beautiful and intricate piece, and Lily was drawn to its haunting beauty. She placed an order, and a few days later, the doll arrived at her door.
At first, everything seemed to be fine. Lily displayed the doll in her home, and it quickly became the centerpiece of her collection. But then, strange things started to happen. The doll seemed to move on its own, and Lily began to hear strange whispers and footsteps in the night.
She tried to return the doll, but the seller was nowhere to be found. The shop had been deleted from Etsy, and Lily was left with a haunted item that she couldn't get rid of. The doll seemed to have a life of its own, and it was determined to torment her.
As the terror escalated, Lily realized that she was not alone. Other shoppers had made similar purchases, and they too were being haunted by the same doll. They banded together to try and stop the terror, but it was too late. The doll was a portal to the paranormal, and its evil was spreading through the site, infecting other items and terrorizing unsuspecting shoppers.
In the end, the story of The Haunted Handmade became a legend on Etsy, a warning to others about the dangers of purchasing handmade items from unknown sellers.
Here's one woman's horrifying experience as good justification on why this should not even be sanctioned by Etsy:
Just recently, as stated in announcements, Etsy made sellers able to add their real name to their profiles. In the announcement they state....
"Using your name on Etsy can help people you know in the real world recognize you, and can establish credibility and engender trust.
Using your name on Etsy is a way of saying, "With my real-world identity, I stand by my work and my activity in the Etsy community."
This has caused a lot of issues with some sellers and I'm one of them.
I'd like to share with sellers my personal story and perhaps you can understand why some sellers (such as myself) sell under pseudo-names and prefer NOT to have their real names published.
--
A few years ago, I dated a man who was handsome, charming and terrific in many ways. During the time we were dating, he began to use methamphetamines. Because of this, I broke things off with him.
He stalked me. Threatened me. He broke into my home more than once and the second time, he beat me unconscious on the bathroom floor.
He was sent to jail.
In jail, he met a queer man who liked violence and forced sex. He hired this man, once the man was released, to come pay me a visit. This man busted down my locked front door. When I fought back, he beat me to near death. I died on my kitchen floor while my sister was waiting for the paramedics to arrive. I was revived there as well.
Since that time, I've moved. I've made every piece of personal information that I can disappear from listings and searches and anything I couldn't delete has been made private. I have *paid money* to have profiles and info removed off sites that state they won't remove information.
Over a year later I'm still required to do daily physical therapy. My face and body are scarred for life and I will -always- have to do physical therapy for the rest of my life. Daily.
Not wanting my real name shared with the public through my shop does NOT make me less trustworthy than anyone else. Not wanting my real name shared with the public through my shop or profile doesn't make me any less credible.
Like everyone else, I have to make a living. I need the extra cash I make here on this site. Being the (nearly) invisible partner behind our Etsy shop makes me no less credible than anyone else here.
I am (and should be) insulted that Etsy has insinuated in their faq this is the case with the installment of this new feature. So are others. Maybe sharing -your- name isn't a big deal, but that doesn't mean it isn't a valid issue.
WallCandy, a Canadian artist and cancer survivor, has been on Etsy since 2007. Soon however WallCandy might no longer exist as WallCandy on Etsy.
A new Esty seller, Wall Candy Arts, has apparently complained to Etsy. Wall Candy Arts filed a trademark in 2002, in the US, for something very specific: "decorative plastic wall coverings and wall boarders that adhere to a painted wall surface and are easily removed and repositioned."
Etsy has given the original, Canadian WallCandy one week (ONE week) to notify customers and choose a new name. Rather than do something logical like, oh say taking 5 minutes on Google to learn that Wall Candy Art and WallCandy sell non-competing products and are based in two different countries, Etsy chooses to be boneheaded fucktards as usual.
Etsy - this is bullshit. You're an International site, right?? As you say "the Etsy community represents more than 150 countries worldwide" so ACT like it. Just because a company holds a copyright in the US, does not mean that they have a lock on a seller's shop name based out of another country.
Source: http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/2011/03/etsy-screwing-etsy-shops-one-seller-at.html
Etsy certainly is Power Mad!
My password was cracked and I was being harassed through convos from MYSELF - and my wife was receiving them also!
After I realized that someone was on my account I changed my password immediately, but I was still receiving convos from the person on my account, apparently you have to sign out and try to sign back in for the password change to go into effect.
I started to get worried about someone being on my account, because I have all my personal information; Full name, Address, Phone number, Email address, and all my private convos and purchases!
I contacted etsy through [email protected]
On the 3rd day Etsy finally responded to my cry for help, and they DEACTIVATED my account, and my Wife's account!
My wife nore I received a Email explaining why we were Deactivated. Why her's was deactivated is a mystery.
I wrote them demanding why I was deactivated and telling them I didn't want to be deactivated and want to be reactivated ASAP.
This was my response:
Below is a message from Etsy's Support Team.
If you need help again, please let us know.
Etsy's Support Team is here to help.
Click here to access your issue on Etsy's Help site.
Etsy's Support Team (Erin) wrote on 05/17/2010 03:21 PM:
Hi Charles,The account CETphotography has been closed.
The following links may be helpful;
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
Etsy Terms of Use:
http://www.etsy.com/terms_of_use.php
Password: Keep your password secure. You are fully responsible for all activity, liability and damage resulting from your failure to maintain password confidentiality. You agree to immediately notify Etsy of any unauthorized use of your password or any breach of security. You also agree that Etsy cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to keep your password secure. You agree not to provide your username and password information in combination to any other party other than Etsy without Etsy's express written permission.
Provided that your e-mail account password is secure, your Etsy password can only be changed by you. Additionally, if you receive the lost password reset e-mail but did not request to have it sent to you let us know. You have the option of not confirming the change.Best,
Erin
Etsy's Support Team
http://help.etsy.com
WTF kind of help is that! I can't even access the links to their help site! I would need an active account in order to click that!
It's 3 days later and I've sent 4 email asking them to reactivate my wife's account, she had nothing to do with this and her account was safe.
Etsy has to have the worst customer service I have ever dealt with.
Source: http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-etsy-shop-closure-fail.html
What Etsy maketh, Etsy taketh away. That's the moral of this story, and if you don't have your own domain pointed to either your own website or another venue this could be your story too. It doesn't matter how much or how little you sell. Etsy will get you, if they want to. Or just one admin feels like it.
LildecalShoppe will attest to that. Etsy is shutting them down.
We've been sitting on this for a week, hoping not to have to publish this. We were honestly hoping Etsy would do the right thing, but it appear Tim has started playing the God card so we've been give the pass finally to announce what top seller (who just broke into the top 100 with almost 5000 sales) has been shut down (see last post).
This seller has been featured a number of times in the new defunct gift guides, front pages and Dorque articles, they got tons of exposure online for themselves as well as Etsy, they are also slated to appear in InStyle Magazine, but now will not be providing their Etsy address.
They sent us this brief summation of the whole incident:
So basically after 6 months of great customer service, Etsy banned us. Our customers loved us for not only our fast service but also that we would customize anything and fix ANY issue quickly.
Etsy declared us to be in cahoots with another decal seller. How we have anything to do with this Etsy store, we don’t know. They had a few sales and only 73 percent feedback and being allowed to stay open, we had over 5000 sales with 99% feedback and are being shut down. The guy lives nearby us, but other than that, we have nothing to do with him. It appears Etsy may have just used this as their excuse for getting rid of our account.
My business partner and I have many theories as to why they really shut us down but I assume its because I made another account called “craftyguydecals” to combat yet another decal seller (whose name we were playing off of) who basically just copies ours and others work. It also may be that the hipsters don’t like us. Regardless of that, Etsy’s user agreement states nothing about having a second account and we did no wrong.
So Etsy now loses an active supporter (you have no idea how many people we turned onto Etsy) and the cash flow we provided them. We paid them well - over $3000 in fees during our brief 6 month tenure.
So if you want to support somebody that Etsy screwed over, you can find us on our new website, and also soon find us on Artfire; a website I am going to support fully. If I have any hand in it, will overtake the poorly run Etsy as the top handmade website.
After answering all of Etsy's questions, agreeing to what they said and having near perfect customer satisfaction, we were banned without any warning or chance to comply with whatever it was they wanted us to comply with...we still have no idea what that was"
We got to see some pieces of correspondence between this seller (but we will not share them here) and Etsy Admin Tim, who seemed to be on a bender with his godlike power all but stating he can do as he likes with arbitrary rules and no actual procedure, or answers. All this seller kept asking was "what can we do" and was repeatedly met with accusations of unproved wrongdoing which he provided answers and clarification for.
First this seller was accused of not being handmade, for which they provided video of the two of them working in their shop basement actually making the items. Then they were inundated with accusation of running or being involved with a number of stores (ironically ones that copy them) that have no relation whatsoever. They even helped other sellers in their field and Etsy accused them of collusion. Every time they'd answer an accusation, they'd get hit with another one. It's clear Etsy was pulling shit out of thin air trying to find a reason. Then they were accused of having an undeclared shop, which they did but had fixed. (How many admins have had or do have undeclared stores now? More than we can count.) I can truly say there was nothing this seller did worth the treatment they've received.
The store is inactive, we hope by publishing this that Etsy will be reexamine shutting down a seller that gave more than it got and will flip the switch back.
Shame on you Etsy. You have resellers with months worth of flags and you pick a upstanding handmade store who has made you tons of money to go biblical on?
Source: http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/2008/09/from-bitches-auxiliary-dont-quit-your.html