Etsy account has been permanently suspended :(

[TexCajunCreations]

Hi all, I'm hoping you can give me some insight on why my account has been permanently suspended. It says I was violating their Terms of Use.

Which doesn't make any sense.. I opened my shop about 3 months selling Cell Phone Cases and all the images I use are AI generated. I have not gotten any complaints from Etsy or otherwise. I just got a order and BOOM all of a sudden I was locked out of my account and I got that dreaded message.

Your Etsy account has been permanently suspended for violating their Terms of Use, I filed for a appeal as soon as I got it. I have worked on this shop for the last several months almost non stop. And I was up to a 148 phone cases listed, and I have no idea why this has happened.

Any advice would be much appreciated..

Sandra

[PrimFun]

I see a shop, open, linked to this account.  What is the name of your closed account?   You don't list the shop in the public profile of the one you are posting from.  You are required to do so by Etsy.

Without knowing exactly what this product looked like and the images you were using, it is hard to say.  Anything that went against Intellectual property?  Anything that infringed?  The way the listings were worded that made a buyer to think you were associated with the any cell phone company?  Photos that were truly your creation or simply taken from the Internet?  

I don't know.  Can't say more without more information. 

[TexCajunCreations]

How do I list my shop in the public profile?

And the name of my Shop is TexCajun Bayou Cases. No I only sell the Phone Cases and nothing was infringed or Intellectural property.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

Did Etsy actually say that?  Isn't permanently suspended an oxymoron?

[TexCajunCreations]

Yes it said permanently supended. I did just find a email from them that was send a couple of days ago. That said this:

Your Messages feature on Etsy is temporarily disabled due to repeated policy violations, and you may face permanent suspension if the issue continues.

But I have no idea what they are talking about. As far as I know I didn't do any policy violations. And if I did I didn't know I was doing it.

I was having a conversation with a customer over a order she made. But as far as I know I didn't do anything wrong.

[UniqueGiftOrnaments]

Your current shop sells cards. So obviously, you have another, and are required to mention it in your shop.

[TexCajunCreations]

I am required to mention my other shop, which is a completely different niche? So my Digital card shop has to be mentioned in my Cell Phone Case Shop???

[ZenCatPottery]

@TexCajunCreations 

Yes.  Go review Etsy’s seller policies.  

[TBQSC]

@TexCajunCreations -- So sorry, but without knowing the name of your shop that was shut down, it really is hard to offer you any helpful insight.  I hope you do come back and let us all know.  : )

[TexCajunCreations]

The name of my shop that was closed down was TexCajun Bayou Cases.  I design Cell phone Cases and use Printify as my POD.

[TBQSC]

@TexCajunCreations -- I found your shop which had 6 sales total ... super cute cases ... but it appears that you did incorrectly title them (IP infringement), and is probably why your shop got shut down ... although using AI, with no mention of using that method in your listings, could have played a huge role in Etsy's decision too.  Instead of labeling an item "XXX Case", the correct way is to say Case "for" XXX.  But even that can cause issues if the company chooses to not allow sellers to use any mention of their company name at all.  Anyway, best wishes with your other shop ... ensure you are following all Etsy policies and you should be good to go.  : )

[FairestCreatures]

Your card shop (that is still open) doesn't appear to be selling original designs that were designed by you.

[BeadAndDestash · Accepted solution]

On the account you are posting from, you are selling infringing images. For example, Maxine cartoons are the property of the artist John Wagner. If your second shop was also using copywrited images, I would suspect that is why you were shut down. 

[ThePurplePuppy]

@BeadAndDestash  First thing I thought of was if she was selling phone cases and saying "iPhone case" or Samsung Case" if was probably an IP thing.  

You can sell phone cases but they have specific wording you have to use.

[CoquetteBath]

I noticed that immediately too. You see anything 'Maxine'...and you know the person didn't do the art...

[TexCajunCreations]

No the shop that was shut down is TexCajun Bayou Cases where I sell Cell Phone Cases. And all of them I used AI to create the images.

[TexCajunCreations]

I guess the Maxine card slipped by me, and I wasn't thinking when I listed the "one" Maxine card. I have deleted it now. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Asymmetricthreat]

Your shop is open

[TREEandCOW]

Etsy has been cleaning house.  It looks like you have/had 2 shops.  If one gets closed, I've heard that they all get closed.  It may take a day or a few but your card shop is probably next.  

[CoquetteBath]

so this card shop is open. But as mentioned by others, you are clearly using the IP of others to make money for yourself. Ie, Maxine.

that's absolutely not correct. You cannot profit off the work of others. 

AND Etsy has updated their Creativity policy recently. To do a digital download (which yours are for this shop) you MUST be the original artist. And you aren't.

so I would seriously reconsider everything. You cannot use clip art or found art, or art you've even paid the licensing for, if you are not making the finished product, yourself.

A lot of shops are now 'illegal' per these new rules. A subset of those shops will decide that this is not worth more effort and close. Another subset will go 'okay, time to do some printing at home' and stay open.

your call on what you do. But do something, you must.

[TexCajunCreations]

First of all..there was only "1" Maxine card and I have deleted it from my card shop now that I know about it. I must have been tired and not thinking straight when I was doing multiple listings and listed the Maxine card.

And most of my cards were made by me from images I have bought the licensing for. And some are already made cards that I bought, that I have the license for.

But thank you for the comments, even though they are on the rude side.

[CoquetteBath]

@TexCajunCreations 

I think you misunderstand.

you can NO LONGER use images that you didn't create, yourself.

that is, by yourself. Not buying any images that have licensing.

zero is permitted. That changed very early in June. That is because you are using digital download. If you were making them, you could still use those images, but not for digital.

see my original comments, repeated here:

A lot of shops are now 'illegal' per these new rules. A subset of those shops will decide that this is not worth more effort and close. Another subset will go 'okay, time to do some printing at home' and stay open.

not rude. Truthful. and would you rather be told the truth now, so that you can correct & adjust, or have Etsy close another shop? Note that when they do that, you can't have another one. EVER.

so the choice is yours. I'm merely pointing it out. Using someone else's design and not doing anything but creating a listing is no longer 'Etsy legal'. 

now you have to be a maker. Which is, honestly, what this place was designed to be from day 1. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@TexCajunCreations: "And most of my cards were made by me from images I have bought the licensing for. And some are already made cards that I bought, that I have the license for." You may want to reread the Etsy rules and policies you agreed to since both of these scenarios are no longer Etsy-legal.

If you used AI to generate images how do you know they were not infringing. Most AI models are essentially sophisticated search engines which do not "create" anything but merely take other people's work and rearrange it. If your AI was trained on something which was copyrighted and they did not have explicit permission to use that image the generated artwork might have been infringing. Have you heard about the lawsuit by Disney against Midjourney?

If you called the item you were selling "iPhone Case" that implies that it was made by or authorized by Apple and therefore is either a counterfeit item or you are reselling. "My Case for iPhone" may be all right but Apple can still come after you for using their trademark without permission (if you do not have a license), particularly if you do not include all the disclaimers and attributions.

Obviously we do not know the exact reason(s) your shop was shut by Etsy but any or all of these could have been a factor.

[TexCajunCreations]

My shop that was shut down is TexCajun Bayou Cases, but I have another shop where I sell Digital Greeting Cards called TexCajun Creations.

[CoquetteBath]

well, until now, I didn't know what the phone case shop was. But this shop...I did see. And my comments above are valid. Wish you the best outcome.