Etsy Shop Suspension and No response to Appeals

[VintagePopUpStore]

Hello Etsy Community,

I am writing about my friends shop AnteBellumTreasure, her shop sell vintage jewelry since 2015, she have been a Star seller for a long time and no open cases/issues. Her shop got suspended on 12 December 2023.
Reason - selling prohibited items. Her shop had some vintage USSR jewelry. Etsy considers USSR items from 1980s as Russian items. Russian items are prohibited. She deleted these items even though they are not Russian.
She filed an appeal on December 12, 2023.
Etsy's answer - We’ve received your appeal, (ID: #14654315)
A specialist will carefully review your appeal details and account history, then email you a final decision—usually within two weeks...
She wrote multiple emails to Etsy support but did not hear back.
Today 2 weeks have passed since submitted an appeal.
And today there is a notice on her Etsy page:
"Your account has been suspended... you may be able to file an appeal with Etsy."
Do she need to make Appeal again? Why is there no answer?
Can anyone help what to do?

[JMOldeVintage]

@VintagePopUpStore  - Your friend is going to have to file an appeal with Etsy. 

Yes, there's the old USSR which was at least 12+ Countries that included Russia. They are all now independent nations with their own governments, etc. This includes Russia. 

Something marked "made in USSR" could have actually been made in Latvia. It all depends on the item. 

But then there's Russia now, sanctions and all.

No, there is no sense in trying to conduct a history lesson. But an appeal is in order. 

[howtobooksandmore]

She should follow the instructions she received in the email.  She should swear she will never list anything from the USSR or Russia again.  Russia is currently a sanctioned country and no one can list or sell anything from there, even if it is not.  Just like something may be ivory colored and not really ivory, the bots will take it down, if it is listed as USSR or Russian gold, it will be taken down.  Apparently this is a new bot that Etsy released recently as there are other threads about it in the forums.  So if she wants to continue to sell on Etsy, she needs to appeal the suspension and not keep writing emails until she gets an answer.

[PrimFun]

Russia is a sanctioned country by the US.  Because of that even vintage items can be banned from being sold here.

She will have to appeal.  How to File an Appeal for a Permanently Suspended Account – Etsy Help

I am sorry she got caught but as a seller here she needs to stay abreast of changes in the political arean.  Sanctions Policy - Our House Rules | Etsy

[Vintorious]

"Prohibited item" could be a lot of things. Were they selling ivory? Nazi medals? Counterfeit jewelry? If Etsy hasn't responded to the original query, you can't be sure what the issue was.

[CarnevalMefisto]

From my own experience, never EVER believe when Etsy says they will reach you back within X days/weeks.

I had my shop suspended due to a banking issue during the summer, I filled out the appeal, I was to wait for their reply for up to 2 weeks as well, I got it solved after 5 or 6 weeks.

No mail, no nothing. My appeal was marked as "completed", but when I wanted to "reappeal", the appeal page said it was filled and was under review. So COMPLETED DOES NOT MEAN ENDED.

Given the time of the year it may take longer than those 5-6 weeks. I was freaking out, but I was googling the issue and I passed by threads saying it's normal it takes over a month or even 2.

If your friend didn't file a "proper" appeal (only opened a ticket), she has to do that. She has to swear she will do better [and she really has to check out the whole shop and remove all problematic listings, even tags could be the reason for takedown].

The NO NEW MAILS or tickets. She has to WAIT. New tickets just push you back in line for review.

She should check the shop every day in the meantime. Seriously, there's no communication with Etsy. There are only changes on the Dashboard (at least in my case).

I just one day could file banking info all over again, no warning from Etsy. Just my dashboard notification changed one day, to my surprise, because there seriously was no mail. Seriously all thanks to the fact I was watching my shop every day in case there was a need to reply to a customer or whatever [I was kicked out from the app as well, so no notifications about messages].

Of course, the problem was different than prohibited items, but I wouldn't be surprised if it would work the same way for your friend.