Etsy ads campaign set up without permission

[#1]

This evening Etsy have started up my ads with a $1 a day budget. Check your accounts folks because I didn't authorise this. I already pay through the nose for off-site ads, I'm not paying more! I only knew about it as I had an email in my spam file. Somehow they have managed to charge me for two days worth as well, even though I only got the email five hours ago.

[helengraydesigns]

That was my worry exactly, I managed to chat to Etsy this evening to ask if they could remove the campaign banner, explaining exactly what you have said already. To my surprise the assistant did take my concerns on board and said they would speak to the team and remove the banner, so I shall see if they actually do that, 

You are right, the buttons are so close together it would be so easy to click the pay one by mistake. 

[GroundZeroCreations]

@DaysofYoreTreasures @cindylouwho2 Well if that ain't something! LOL I had no idea I had a "pause" on Ads. When the heck did I do that. I must have looked at running ads at some point and my better sense took over because there weren't any products selected. So I found the button to turn ads off and not pause ads. Then I went to a listing and that option was gone from the listing form. So maybe that is what has happened to some others. They didn't realize they even had it on and it was getting activated from the bottom of the listing page because they didn't realize it was there. 

[cindylouwho2]

@GroundZeroCreations Thank you for confirming that @DaysofYoreTreasures 's theory was correct! That at least gives us something to warn people about. 

I may have to install the Etsy Seller app to test the other theories. 

[mulberrymuse]

I was only able to pause the Etsy ads there is no way I can stop them completely.

The page to show Etsy ads has no further information or the ability to change that status.

Now I am checking everyday to make sure it doesn't restart!!!

[redsofa]

How do you stop the campaign? I was only able to pause it.

[CloverPatchHarnesses]

I just noticed this same charge on my finances page. Etsy put every single listing in my store on the list for Etsy Ads. NOT HAPPY HERE. I don't even know how that is legal. 

I also noticed that when I renew listings, Etsy is back to changing my option from Manual Renew to Auto Renew. Again, how do they have the right to interfere with my options? Renewing a listing should not alter my choices.

[AWindowsillParadise]

I received an email today indicating Etsy Ads are on and set to $1.  I never set this up.  Thankfully - they only got $2 from me.  I agree - this is a huge breach of trust. 

[caidree]

Same thing happened here. 

I could not turn it off for a few days due to being away from phones and computer but it started on 27th June and already spent $8.80 

I was able to finally turn the ads off today. 

I feel this was sneaky and dishonest from etsy to do. Frankly I am getting really tired of all the things they keep adding including hiking the fees!

[WondrousPrintsStudio]

My shop had Etsy ads turned on automatically on 27th July. 

[SimplyDivineThings]

Sorry for my delay in responding to people.

I had not put any new listings up, the email came through to say my campaign was live with all of my listings when I was nowhere near my phone or computer. I immediately disabled it as soon as I saw the email, maybe three hours later, and I had been charged for two days.

I had seen the banner telling me I was one of the sellers who may benefit from using Etsy ads. I tried several times to click the "x" to get rid of the banner and I wonder if this has activated it. It has since reappeared and I'm not clicking anywhere near it.

I haven't run any Etsy ads for years and years. It most definitely activated all of my listings and I had received several hundred views apparently, so I was not mistaken, it was active. 

Very underhand of Etsy to do this. What if you don't notice and it runs for months and months? 

[cindylouwho2]

@SimplyDivineThings I installed the app and clicked that banner away, but did not have an Ads campaign started. If that was a source of the issue, it may have been fixed. 

[Kokoyem]

Same is happenign to me. I just received an email saying my ads have been turned on without my authorization. Its probably a technical mistake . A pretty convenient mistake for Etsy...

Not happy

[WondrousPrintsStudio]

This has happened to me without a email I had no idea. I am so annoyed as taken a lot of money. 

[Alfven]

I had the notification of "you're one of 3.5% of sellers who would benefit from Etsy Ads", I clicked the X away for multiple days, and while still being shown this, eventually clicked 'reply' to advise why it wouldn't suit my shop.

Then today (Wed 3rd July) had an email saying my Etsy Ads had been set up and I had been charged $2. I've cancelled and phoned Etsy who say "they can't refund because it wasn't possible for them to have authorized it"... In emails with them now

[Alfven]

@SimplyDivineThings

I have now been given a refund from Etsy for "Etsy Ads campaign activated by mistake."

[RivermistCreationsUS]

I have one listing that I manually renewed on the 28th. I noticed today that it has gotten an astronomically large jump in views for yesterday and today. I checked the listing, the Etsy Ads page, and my finances page and nothing says anything about ads or ad charges. I have never ran any Etsy Ads in all of the 6 years I've been on here. I just find this extreme jump in visits to this one item very odd and was worried it was forcing some campaign on me that I didn't do. However; it is possible it could still be related. 

[PetandWildlifeGifts]

This must be another Etsy Glitch. I was VERY CAREFUL to make sure Etsy Ads were turned off on my recent listings (since the new listing form) when I listed them. They weren't turned on yesterday, but today I have 84 Etsy ads at $5.00/day turned on. WTH?

[ACertainFeel]

Contact Support to cancel out the charge. They will do so. This is beyond shady and the fact so many aren’t trying to get a refund condones this behavior. This is not the sellers mistake. 

[SparkBirdStudios]

As of today, July 22, 2024 this is still a thing. Happened to me today. Received an email that "My Campaign is Live" and coffee nearly squirted out my nose. Checked my shop dashboard and sure enough, I was suddenly, and without my knowledge or consent, running Etsy Ads since yesterday with a budget of $1.00 a day. I didn't have ANY experience in Etsy Ads so I just selected all my listings and clicked "Off" Then tried to connect with support. Got a call back after about 20 minutes (couldn't get star seller chat thingy to work, it wouldn't load) and the kind but inexperienced customer support staff couldn't tell me why it happened or readily explain how to turn it off. (While on hold I realized all my items were still included in my "campaign." Finally, while still on hold, I discovered the "Pause" button on the bottom of the page. And clicked that. Seemed to work. But since I have no clue how paid ads were activated for my shop to begin with, I feel like I've got to babysit this setting. And perhaps so should you? I was able to have the couple dollars already spent refunded. And the customer service rep was doing his best to be helpful. Glad I was in the studio to catch this error. But really shouldn't have had to...

[TheWoollyDesignCoUK]

This happened to me too yesterday evening. I turned off my computer at around 5.30pm (UK time) and when I checked my stats last thing (I always check Etsy for any late messages) I saw that I had a campaign switched on with 4 clicks at 78p. How can this happen? I still have the notice on my dashboard encouraging me to sign up for Etsy Ads! I DO NOT want them!!!

[CrochetToPlay]

This just happened to me too. I got two emails today about my ad campaign (excuse me, what ad campaign?!), checked, and sure enough I'd been charged $1 a day for two days.  I have never signed up for Etsy ads and didn't have any new listings.  Support did issue me a refund but now I'll be paranoid and checking this often.  What a breach of trust!  I can only imagine how many people are missing this and not getting refunded.  

[helengraydesigns]

I logged in the last few days to see the capaign banner asking me to take out Etsy Ads, and had to click 'maybe later' to make it disappear. I emailed Etsy support to ask if they could stop showing the campaign banner and the reply was that they would take it to the team and assured me it would stop showing on my dashboard.

But now after reading all these posts, I am getting a bit worried. I have disabled ads in my settings, and now taken the extra step of temporarily deactivating my listings. Can anyone reassure me that by doing that there wouldn't be a chance of Etsy activating ads without any listings to promote?

[aforagerscollective]

I had this happen as well. I've never used Etsy Ads... just saw 'marketing charges' in my payment account & realized what they had done. So that's another oops charge, along with USPS and their faulty 'shipping adjustments' that I have to look forward to. These entities can make thousands a day with their so called 'mistakes'. Most people won't bother with the 'customer service' to get a refund, and Etsy will cash in. I try not to complain all the time but the periodic assaults to my shop & finances are getting old.

[YukiKoFiberCreations]

yup, second time it happened to me within a week. I had to reach out to customer service. Hopefully they fix this problem. I haven't turned on the etsy ads in ages. This is not where my energy should lie - im here to sell my items , not to monitor daily if the etsy ads were turned on unbeknownst to me. Ugh.

[ThreeLittlePirates]

Do not click on any correspondence from Etsy to do with Ads.  I received the "your one of 3% who could benefit...." message, clicked on the message expecting more information, only to discover that that one click had activated the ad campaign.   Thankfully I was able to pause the campaign quickly, but it would be really easy to get caught out by this.  It was not clear that clicking on the message would result in signing up for Ads.  I do not want to pay for Ads.  They didn't work the last few times I tried, and I doubt they will work any better now.  I don't like misleading messages.  I do not like being tricked into signing up for services that I do not want.