Hi there, I just wanted to share my story to see if anyone has any advice for me. I started building my Etsy store in late 2016 / early 2017 and spent so much time and money cultivating a presence on the platform. I sell high-end furniture / antiques and fine art. It was extremely slow at first, and mostly smaller sales, but by the summer months, I was regularly making 4 digit and even 5 digit sales. My feedback was 100 percent.

In November, someone from Austin purchased a chandelier from my store for around 1800 bucks. She purchased the item and in the days that followed asked a variety of questions about the light fixture. I thought this was a bit strange, questions after the purchase. In any case, I was happy to answer her questions about the provenance of the fixture, whether it had been used before, etc. etc.

Once she received the fixture, she began sending emails complaining about a variety of things. From "deformed" arms of the chandelier to "black spots" on front portion of the piece to lightbulbs that burned out to quickly to a cord that was shorter than advertised. Literally she would send me long emails with numbered lists of all of the major issues this fixture had. I examined and photographed the fixture prior to shipment. I don't send garbage out to anyone. I told her that she can either return the fixture or I will try to fix the issues that she described. She said she would keep it but only on the condition that I buy her some accessories and extra parts for the chandelier and have it sent to her directly from Italy (or she will file a dispute and leave a bad review.) I complied.

She then said I need to pay for the electrician to install the chandelier. I agreed to this as well.

Once she had the tracking number for the items coming from Italy, she changed her mind and said she wanted to return the light. I told her that this was not possible anymore. The items were on their way to her, non-refundable and we had agreed on a solution to the problem. She said, ok, then buy 2 whole sets of light bulbs for me and have them sent from Italy. The chandelier in question takes 30 bulb at a time at almost 10 dollars each. I had already sent her 3 extra bulbs as a courtesy. Bulbs are never guaranteed by the seller and are considered to be the responsibility of the buyer. She admitted that she installed the fixture, used it and then a few bulbs burned out (by this point it had been 4-6 weeks since this drama began). I said that I couldn't afford to buy her 2 whole sets of bulbs. She doubled down on the bulbs and said she would file a dispute.

She opened her bag of lies and sent a long list of complaints about the chandelier once the dispute process was under way. She sent a photo of the cord after she had installed it. Meaning she had installed it (remember how a few bulbs had burned out?) , taken it back down and took photos. By this point she had cut the cord to about 12" in length. On her list of lies, she said that I misrepresented the cord length and that she had received an item with a 12" cord.

Etsy dispute resolution decided in her favor despite the fact that she had bowed out of our prior alternate resolution and a photo of the fixture with a cord that was about 6 times the length of what she pictured, on the table, getting packed up and ready to be sent out. Etsy wouldn't even acknowledge this photo.

Dispute resolution, by the way, if you've never experienced it, is just a message board that you can go back and forth with the disputer, and then once a week a member of the Dispute Resolution team comes in and makes a completely superfluous statement that shows s/he has no idea what's going on.

Get this -- I was told that not only would I have to refund this scamming heap of shite, but I would have to refund the initial shipping cost and then pay her to have it shipped back to me. We're talking hundreds of dollars each way. I tried everything. I called, emailed, told anyone that could listen, that I had photographic evidence that this person was a scammer. I begged them to review the info and look at the evidence.

Nothing worked. She was refunded, etsy told her to keep the chandelier and they put all of the expense on my account. So now they want me to pay them about 2500 bucks. They said if I don't pay, my account would be suspended and suspended it has been for the last few months.

When I've tried to get in touch with Etsy, they send me a message that until I pay 2500 bucks, they have nothing to say to me.

What would you guys do or recommend? It pains me so much to have lost the chandelier and to have to pay another 2500 bucks just to start my store again, and begin paying 100's of dollars of promotional fees, etc.... seems ridiculous.

Couldn't this happen to me again, anyway? What's to stop another scammer from doing this? The nature of my particular business dictates that I can't take one too many random losses like this. I don't sell oven mits or key chains or earrings. A few scammers like this in the span of a few weeks or months will literally put me out of business or at least hurt me in a very bad way.

Does Etsy have that many stores that make 5-digit transactions that they can just afford to make them as disposable as I was? Is there any hope of every getting anyone to hear me out at Etsy and do the right thing, which is reversing the wrong decision made by the dispute person "ASHLEY?" if so, is it just a matter of time until Etsy does this to me again? Is it just not an amenable platform for higher-end items? Your thoughts and wisdom and assistance are very much appreciated.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/8wwhpx/scammed_by_a_customer_and_suspended_by_etsy/

When you first started selling on Etsy, did you have dreams or goals of eventually quitting your day job?

It started as a hobby, a way to support my crafting habit, but then I saw Etsy as a stepping-stone, a way to work towards running my own business. The community was so encouraging in that regard and every where I turned I was told that that’s what I should aspire to.

Apart from creating things, what do you do?

Oh, I don’t have time to create things anymore. I spend all my time on the Etsy forums in promotions. I also relist 35 times a day, but I can’t tell if it’s helping my views.

How long were you selling on Etsy before deciding to switch over to Etsy full time?

It wasn’t a conscious decision. I found myself needing to renew items, respond to emails, and track the status of my items constantly throughout the day. With customers waking me at 9am because they couldn’t tell if they had paid for their purchase, even after I had worked all night and gone to bed at 6am*, it was a necessity rather than a choice. I even have a friend helping me answer emails and ship and it’s not enough*.

What made you decide to keep your day job?

I have to pay my Etsy bill somehow. Unfortunately, constantly checking my email at work gets me into trouble.

How have you promoted and marketed your Etsy business?

I spend about 4 hours in the promotions section bumping my own thread, but it’s better to bump others’ threads. It looks less greedy. I also set my alarm for an hour before the treasuries open up so I can get one of them or when ad space spots are going to become available. Littering business cards where people will find them has actually worked out better than any of these techniques, though. So now I spend several hours a day dropping them from random places. The $4,700 in listing fees* I spent last year can hire a plane and I get a larger audience by dispersing them over the county.

Can you walk us through what a typical workday might entail?

Sure. I put on the coffee, turn on the computer, and check my email. I then sacrifice a walmart smiley in effigy to the Etsy Gods. Before going to work, I check to make sure what’s going out that day is ready for the mail carrier. I go to work for 8 hours, come home, and get orders ready to go out the next day. After comparing the Etsy and paypal addresses on every order* that came through I send a convo thanking the customers. Once a week I have to make time to call my credit card company to make sure Etsy hasn’t double charged my fees.

What goals have you set for the next few months and year?

To set up my own website with a shopping cart that’s fully integrated with Paypal*. I figure it’s a step up, and cheaper, than my current situation.

Do you foresee quitting your day job anytime in the future?

No, I’ve already had to sell my cat’s toys as supplies, take out a second mortgage, and take on a second job as a phone sex operator to pay my listing fees and advertising costs.

Any other thoughts?
The biggest problem I face with Etsy is that people think that because I'm the individual artist I will bend my policies, or prices. They see people that will do work for between 1-5 dollars an hour. So when you charge a mark-up on supplies, and charge labor rates above slave labor, people take offense.


Thanks to a Bitches Aux for the last quote, which, unlike Etsy's Day Job series, is not bullshit.
*Inspired by true events, unfortunately.

Source: http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/2008/06/keep-your-day-job-farceor-not.html
 

I had a successful seller Etsy account that was running perfectly fine. I was selling hand made textile home decor. Later, I decided to open an other Etsy account and sell completely different items than what I was selling. Before doing so, I called Etsy to make sure this is fine and I'm not violating their policies. They said it's OK as long as you disclose and list all of your shop in your Etsy public profile. I went then ahead and created a new account and listed them according to Etsy guideline. I worked hard on my second shop and spent too much time building it and trying to make it look attractive and professional. After one month, I got an order from someone who lives 25 miles away from me. I was happy receiving my first order just under one month. Two days later, my shop got suspended and deactivated without a warning and for no reason. I was in shock, I had no idea what I did wrong as I'm always careful following Etsy rules and policies. All contents that I used are properly licensed l and I'm selling truly handmade products that are totally different from what I was selling before. I never logged in n into my account in any public hot spot or used VPN as I'm aware that many Etsy shops have been shutdown because this. I heard many stories about Etsy deactivating Etsy seller account mistakenly and wrongfully with no reason or excuse, just because they suspect something without verifying it. Sometimes their AI and logarithm automatically shut down seller account if their AI detect something against their policy without even verifying it. I called Etsy multiple times explaining to them my situation, but no one even listened. They simply hanged up on me and claiming that our business relationship has ended. I have never been treated like this in my entire life. I understand it's their right to refuse service with any one, but not like this. This is rude and not appropriate behavior from Etsy. Lesson learned, I shouldn't relay on Etsy as my main source of income. Now I'm building my own Shopify store and marketing it on social media. I'm also switching to Amazon handmade and eBay and expanding my network.

Small advice: always back up your data and listing on Etsy. You will never know what could happen

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/eetb0k/etsy_deactivated_my_account_for_no_reason/

I woke up this morning and saw this article "3 myths about policy enforcement DeBunked" under my shop checklist, and gave it a read.

"Answer: We definitely do! For all policy violations (for instance, when a prohibited item is listed) we’ll reach out to the seller and provide educational information about our policies, and even give them the opportunity to remove or edit the listing without ever suspending their shop."

This is an outright lie. Like, who can I call at Etsy and tell them they're full of shit?

When I first started my shop (I sell handcrafted wooden Cannabis pipes) I listed a couple pipes, had a sale almost immediately, and went to bed. Woke up the next morning, and my shop was gone. I got a little blurb telling me that my shop was closed, have a nice life. I had no idea why even, not a clue. I phoned, I emailed, and after three days, I got a form letter telling me that Etsy doesn't tolerate prohibited items, now PFO. They didn't even tell me what policies I'd broken.

So, this goes back and forth several times, mostly because I wouldn't stop sending letters and emails, until finally I got someone to talk to me. Apparently, I used the words "Cannabis" and "Marijuana" in my tags, that was verbotten, and I was gone. As well, they don't allow drug paraphernalia, and "drug pipes" were not permitted.

I argued that by the letter of their own policies, my products didn't violate their rules, my pipes had no residue on them, were not illegal to buy in ANY state, province or country in the world, had no carburetor on them, and were fundamentally NO different that a tobacco pipe. And again, my products fell within ALL of their parameters for being allowed on Etsy.

After almost three weeks of fighting, I got my shop back and have been in business ever since. So, this "we contact a shop to educate them" is an outright, unadulterated lie. It's spin and PR, and I call bullshit. They never said a word to me, they just nuked me and moved on. And I've read HUNDREDS of stories over the years of the same thing happening to other people. They may give second chances, but only if you fight like hell for weeks on end and absolutely PROVE beyond a doubt that Etsy is in the wrong.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/f6edlq/myth_2_etsy_doesnt_give_second_chances/

I knew it was coming. I got an ODR notice in Nov, saying they would re-evaluate in Feb, so my evaluation period was over the worst holiday season. I sell like 100 items every 3 months or so, so I knew it would be impossible to keep everyone completely satisfied seeing as 1 upset customer would do it to me. Honestly, Etsy has been destroying my mental health and love of the craft with their policies and notices, constantly pushing, so I'm almost relieved although that came after many tears. I got my email on the 19th.

Anyways, the notice email's first line is: This is Peter from Etsy's Trust & Safety team. After a manual review of your account history, we’ve permanently suspended your buying and selling privileges.

But I just got another order, and my shop page looks fine. I don't want to do it after everything Etsy has put me through. I know I can just cancel this particular order but I can't figure out why they would allow an order to be placed several days later. I hate this company.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/f8osy9/yet_another_closed_shop_its_been_real_yall/

My shop was closed down over the weekend. I could not understand why… For four years I’ve had a five star rating, great sales, great shipping speed in communication with buyers. I did submit an email to Etsy support, and they came back to me saying that they are connecting me to my husband’s shop which had a low ODR. Apparently he missed the email warning or never got one. Because we use the same IP address in the house, they closed me as well. I am so frustrated because I worked so hard to build this business to make extra money for my kids to go to college. I’ve been using this income as money for groceries so that I can save my substitute teaching money for my three children to go to school. I wish there was someone I could talk to to...but there is no human side to Etsy. These generic blanket emails are ridiculous. Can someone please give me some advice? I have literally been crying for days because I feel like I lost a big part of my life. I had invested a lot monetarily ($500 Worth of materials being delivered this week! )and emotionally call taking time away from my family to build his business. They just don’t even care and respect that my husband‘s business and mine are connected in no way whatsoever. His business is his and mine is mine. They are completely different items and I have nothing to do with his.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/f8osy9/yet_another_closed_shop_its_been_real_yall/