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/