Hi,
In my store, I sell 267 products that are handmade, completely my own design, I have all the drawings and I produce completely by myself. 2 weeks ago, I edited the keywords and tags of one of my products. Then when I clicked "Publish", my product was disabled because it was not handmade. I immediately sent a message from the help center, attaching images of the product's artwork, but I didn't receive any response for 8 days. After 8 days, I received a warning "Your badges were removed because you received a final policy violation warning" and my star seller badge was removed.
I guess this warning means the next app store closure, but it is a TOTALLY unfair warning and an unfair punishment. And certainly no one from etsy is listening, responding and communicating with me. When I didn't get an answer to my report in the help center, I made a new report, but 1 day later I received a "this request is complete" notification and it was closed. And there is still no response to my old notification. This has definitely created a lot of distrust. My store, which I have worked for 3 years and spent almost 24 hours, is unfairly penalized and may even be closed. This is really very damaging to trust.
While I was trying to expand my store, increase the number of products and make plans for growth, this UNFAIR event that happened to me worried me a lot. I did some research and there are many sellers who have experienced this. But almost all of them got an answer and their problems were solved. All our hard work depends on a false policy violation warning. Any clues as to what will Etsy do now? What can I expect next?
The best thing you can do is reverse search your images online and start issuing take down notices before Etsy closes your shop.
Might be an idea to make a video showing you making these items and sending it to Etsy, just in case (the images in the about me section are showing up as stock photos)
Your photos are prevalent on Amazon with the items selling for about $15. In an effort to curb reselling, Etsy sends out bots to detect photos that appear on other marketplaces and the bots sometimes deactivate those items.
Thanks! That is probably what dinged me.
Explain how the love-knot design is common and can't copyrighted. I have used it and taught for years. People sell various versions of it on Ebay.
The photos are all mine. I have the raw versions of all of them. Can you share with me the products with the same images you see?
The best thing you can do is reverse search your images online and start issuing take down notices before Etsy closes your shop.
Might be an idea to make a video showing you making these items and sending it to Etsy, just in case (the images in the about me section are showing up as stock photos)
Etsy has also been doing this to me, with an option for a loop tape header with my custom draperies. I've tried reaching out, but they close every inquiry without responding. I've sent detailed images of the items in production. Is there anyone who will even respond? It doesn't even appear that they are even reading the messages.
They usually eventually respond, but because they don't believe the items have been removed in error, it's not a priority for them and often takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to get a real human to look at your inquiries.
did you use the word Velcro? That will get you a removal.
You will have to send take down notices.
On your listing:
I also found it on several websites...
Looks like they all used your design.
I make and teach how to make the love-knot in the form of a ring or bracelet. this is a common design and in the public domain. There are You Tube videos on how to fabricate this love-knot. So, I don't see how it is a problem Etsy.
Sadly this is going to happen a lot to sellers with beautiful photos and popular items. They will be stolen by big sites, then Etsy punishes you bc their bots aren't trained to figure out which one was first. They also won't pay humans to do it, because Etsy don't care about us at all, so why lose money on something they consider our problem, not theirs? They have enough sellers that they can be indifferent to our struggles, even the ones they cause us.
Honestly the best thing you can probably do is focus on your social media being a place that showcases how you're an artisan company, which right now you are not doing. Frankly I'd just consider not selling here since you're going to be treated like a reseller by 'support'. Also your items are expensive and made of precious materials, so you're a sitting duck for scammers. Etsy won't protect you there either.
Gorgeous shop, Etsy does not deserve you!
I could have written this post myself- I'm in exactly the same boat. I've been selling my handmade items, designed and made by me, in my Etsy shop for over a decade. 20 days ago one of my listings was taken down for a "handmade policy violation". I immediately opened a help ticket with detailed photo evidence of my studio, handmade process, and photography area. A week later my Star Seller badge was removed for a "final policy violation warning" even though this is the only time anything like this has ever happened in my shop.
I then proceeded over the next two weeks to contact Etsy's call center attempting to get in touch with someone who could help or at the very least escalate my open ticket to the correct team marked as urgent. I got a lot of different answers from a lot of people who didn't seem to know what they were talking about. I was promised many times that I would hear back within a day or two but I still have not received a single reply to my ticket, not even a bot response.
I'm terrified my shop will be suspended or closed for further "violations". Many of my photos have been stolen by Ali/Temu/DHGate sellers and keeping up with filing takedowns is a full time job I don't have room for in my busy schedule- I've barely been able to take a bite out of it so far. I've been looking into ways to automate this but so far nothing productive. It's looking like I may need to hire an agent to do it for me but my sales are not robust right now so the added expense will be quite challenging for me.
I'm so frustrated that after a decade of consistent sales, happy customers, and the hundreds of thousands of dollar I've paid in Etsy fees, that I can't get a single employee to review my appeal after 3 weeks of waiting. It's very upsetting. I'm sorry I don't have advice for you, just wanted you to know you aren't alone.
Can you tell us what phone number you used for this Call Center. It would help all of us.
@PinkCoyoteJewelry I use this form to request a call and someone calls my phone immediately. Just a warning though, they have very limited authority and can't really help with anything, and many of them will lie to you to get you off the phone. Definitely manage your expectations as it can be pretty exhausting trying to get anywhere with them.
https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?segment=selling#issue_sell_manage_listings-callback
The same happened to me when I went to renew my Braille Math Turtles listing. I got the bot message and that it was deactivated .. blah, blah, blah. So, I am closing my shop here. If I can't sell my original item for the visually impaired then I will just go elsewhere. I removed all my listings and will close the shop after my last sale is delivered. It's really sad, because this is where I got my start. I will really miss the customers, because they are special. I've had some of the most caring, lovable thoughtful people customize items for gifts. It's touching and I will miss that. Take care and good luck with the bots.
Did Etsy say why they thought your jewelry was not handmade? Was it cast? Do you hire other people to fabricate your designs? Is your gold jewelry, gold plated, gold filled, or vermeil? Just some thoughts on the subject. The frustrating part of this is trying to contact a live human to help you with answers. You deserve a reasonable answer from Etsy.
This happened to me on my best-selling listing. In the notification, they said they can't (won't) give out information on why it was removed. So helpful lol
@KindaWeirdStuff If it was for your worm on a string earrings, (because you said it was your best-selling listing, and you have quite a lot of reviews for that item), it is quite possible it was deactivated because "Worm on a String" is trademarked.
Your return policy is not legal for the UK and EU countries. You might want to look up what is needed and fix that ASAP or they have a year and a day to request a refund and they don't even have to return the merchandise.
Here is how Etsy handles a support request:
You send an inquiry. They have up to 10 days to reply or review it if it was a takedown. But they don't always reply,
You send a 2nd request in a new thread. They close the original request and treat the new request as a new problem and kick you to the back of the line to start over with the canned responses.
So you need to be sure subsequent emails are in the same thread, and have a subject line of "I Still Need Help."
First, a bot will send you a canned response that doesn't solve your problem. It may include one that says their decision is final. It's not.
They will usually answer the next inquiry with a different form email that doesn't address your problem.
Maybe the third or fourth time you contact them in the same thread, a real person will review it. They still won't tell you what the problem was, or apologize if it was a mistake, but they will often reinstate your product with no further explanation. But if you haven't figured out on your own why the bot flagged it in the first place, they are likely to suspend it again the next time you make a change or renew it or the bot makes another sweep.
By then, usually a couple months have gone by. If you are persistent enough, they will usually take action, eventually. They probably get rid of 90% of their complaints at the Our Decision is Final letter.
I wish I could get Etsy to even send me a bot reply. I think they de-prioritize "handmade violations" appeals so they don't even bother replying. It's been 3 weeks for me without a word from Etsy in reply.
I absolutely agree that they de-prioritize 'handmade violations' appeals, even when that's not actually the reason for the removal. When I had an item removed with the reason of being not handmade (it was actually removed for something else, they just used that reason), it took almost exactly 2 months before I got my first response from support about it.