Best seller wrongfully removed for violation of Etsy's Creativity Standards

[AVikingPrincess]

After many attempts to get help from Etsy Seller Support with no luck, I'm turning to this forum to hopefully find some answers.

A week and a half ago, one of my best sellers was removed for "violating Etsy's creativity standards". This is an item I designed myself and make by hand. I've read the creativity standards top to bottom and there isn't a single one that I could have violated for any of my listings, including the one that was removed. I've been selling on Etsy for over 9 years now and this listing is (was) one of my top sellers. It had an "Etsy's Pick" badge and hundreds of five star reviews. 

After 9 years selling on this platform, I've seen Etsy change a lot. I've also seen many people copy my designs, use my watermarked listing photos and even copy my entire listings. This is not the first time I've had to deal with Etsy's Seller "support" but this is the first time I've been completely left out to dry.

I made a support request 9 days ago and was given a generic response that the request was received but absolutely no help.

I don't understand why a shop with 15k sales and almost a decade of selling on this site can have a best seller removed without cause and no one will give me a reason why or offer any sort of support.

I can see from other forum posts that this is becoming a common problem. If anyone can give any support or ideas of how I can talk to a real person on Etsy to get my listing back, it would be much appreciated.

[TaylorMadeLA]

Hello,

I am new to selling on etsy.

I have watched lots of videos on getting started and one of the things I hear to look out for is people and businesses stealing your photos (I believe Temu is the main culprit). They say that if etsy finds one of your photos on another site, they will shut you down assuming you are the one without the proper rights to the photo. 

I wonder if this could be the case for you, maybe someone is stealing your photos or ideas. 

I imagine you’ll receive more experienced responses, but I thought I’d share. 

[GlassyFields]

"They say that if etsy finds one of your photos on another site, they will shut you down assuming you are the one without the proper rights to the photo. "

Temu, Alibaba, AliExpress and Shein sellers are probably jumping up and down for joy. They're probably posting on their forums about how to steal Etsy's cake.

[GlassyFields]

You're right. It's become a common problem that is exacerbated by Etsy not allowing appeals and closing down any discussion in the forum. I expect that to happen to this thread.

Since you've already read other posts about this - and there are tons of them here are the things you can do:

Do a reverse image search and file DCMAs for each copycat.

If you sell on more than one site, use different photos on different sites.

Keep your support request open, just one, and reply 'I still need help'

Fill out feedback for Etsy about this issue.

And please let us know how this turns out for you. 

Personally, I'm hoping that the outcry from legitimate sellers will get Etsy's attention and they'll revise their process to an 'innocent until proven guilty' process - the reverse of what it is now.

[VintageRescueSquad]

As you know, the first thing you need to do is a reverse-image search. If/when you find your photos on another large wholesale site, issue DMCA takedown notices to those sites. Provide them to etsy, too, as proof that you are proactively protecting your IP (photos). Do it today so your resolution may come sooner.

There is zero point in contacting etsy until you have done so.

[AVikingPrincess]

That's the weird thing, I keep tabs on all my listing pictures so I know if they pop up on Temu or other sites. So I figured that was the case, but I did a reverse search on every picture from the listing and nothing came up.

[FabioMcMustache · Accepted solution]

Hello! We're sorry to hear you're experiencing issues with your listings. We've forwarded your concerns to a specialist team. Thank you! 

Please know we handle support inquiries privately per our Community Policy – we’re closing this thread, so you can get the support you need from us directly.