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.

[mulberrymuse]

The same happened to me an unauthorised ad campaign running for $1 a day.

Managed to spot it in time! This is a serious breach of trust.

[sweettreatssupplies]

cindylouwho2 how can you tell if it was on a relist item?

[cindylouwho2]

@sweettreatssupplies you can see which items were being advertised, I believe, and should be able to see which got clicks in your stats. (But I haven't run ads in several years so maybe you can't check the recent dashboards; I it only goes back 2 years for me and I haven't run any in that time)

[FabioMcMustache · Accepted solution]

Hello, and sorry to hear you're experiencing issues; we’ll need more details to investigate further, and you'll find troubleshooting tips outlined here in the help center. We also encourage you to reach out to us directly so we can collect more specific information from you too. Here’s a quick checklist of what details to include in your message to Etsy Support for the quickest resolution:

• Screenshots of any error messages or unexpected behavior you’re seeing.
• The browser you’re using, whether you use the Sell on Etsy app or Etsy.com, and any actions or workarounds you’ve already tried.
• Any pertinent details like order numbers or links related to your question.

Thank you!

[sweettreatssupplies]

I guess when they had a reply link they really didn't mean it...so sorry to rant again.

[JMOldeVintage]

Purely an "informational post".  From Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/legal/advertising/

This link (May 2024) goes thru Etsy Ads and then the offsite ads program, etc. 

The first paragraph includes this - "You may choose to promote some or all of your listings or shops as Etsy Ads."

Before going into the offsite ads details this starts off the last paragraph on Etsy ads: "By default, all of your listings will be promoted, including any new listings you create; however, if you are using the Sell on Etsy App to add new listings, you may be asked whether or not you want that new listing included in Etsy Ads."

This could be a glitch in the new listing form. Hopefully it's random but at times that simply pushes any fix to the end of the line.
Is it possible that if a shop ever used Etsy ads, there's something "in" the new listing form that is picking up a trace of the campaign?

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@JMOldeVintage 

By default, all of your listings will be promoted, including any new listings you create

This might explain something I have been reporting as a bug on the new form for months.

There is a toggle at the bottom of the form for Etsy Ads. If I happen to be running Etsy Ads at the time, and make sure the toggle is off for a new listing, it is added to my active Ads when I publish.
And when I re-open the listing the toggle has changed to on.

Seems a bit heavy handed.

Edited to add - The Etsy Ads toggle only appears if you have Etsy Ads active. It appears just below the Feature this listing toggle at the bottom of the form.

[cindylouwho2]

@DaysofYoreTreasures @JMOldeVintage the previous versions had those terms as well, going back to June 2020: https://web.archive.org/web/20200627145629/https://www.etsy.com/legal/advertising/

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@JMOldeVintage @cindylouwho2 

Just another observation. Every time I "Restart" my ad campaign, the only active listings are those that were active before I last "Paused" it.

So I think this bit might apply to new sellers or first time turn on. By default, all of your listings will be promoted

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@cindylouwho2 
I turned my Etsy ads back on and ran some tests for completeness.
- Auto renew, Manual renew and Update & publish do not add the listing to the active ads list.
- Publish a new listing does add it to the active ads list.

[redsofa]

On June 24th, on the Etsy seller app on the phone, I clicked a section on the home page talking about click ads (a kind of ad about Etsy ads). I don't have a screenshot of it, but it seemed like Etsy was promoting some kind of click ads program that could be turned on by a seller.

I opened that section, but it was confusing so exited it right away.

On the next day, on June 25th, I checked my payment page and I have noticed some kind of "marketing charge" for a few dollars, a type of charge I have never seen before. The same has happened the day after!

I went back to the ads section, but this time on the COMPUTER ( not the app) and I was able to turn off any ads that Etsy was running there. I have never consciously turned any of these adds in the 1st place. Something was turned on there without my permission.

Today, I clicked on the phone app home page mentioning those click adds again. And BANG!!!!!!!! There is was again: Etsy has activated a $ 1 dollar ad camaign for 25 items. And there seems to be no way of turning it off on the app!!!!!!

It seems to me that the moment you click on "this ad click advertizing" page something gets turned on without us knowing or being able to even turn it off.

It freaks me out. I am SO angry. Now I no longer know if a campaign is running on not.

What is happening Etsy? What have you done again Etsy? I would like to get an explanation

[redsofa]

And I will not be calling support to get a refund because they won't help and it will just be a frustrating experience (they are useless!).

I can absorb these few dollars right now, but frankly this is stealing from Etsy sellers. And now I am worried about what else is broken and how much will I be charged tomorrow because I clicekd on something stupid.

I have been here since 2008 and I am well acquainted with this site, so its very unlikely for me to turn on ads, unless it happened without my permission.

[mulberrymuse]

That is what happened in my case. It was a notification on my home page about ads. I thought I had deleted the notification but instead it activated the ad campaign!

Highly deceptive as when you normally hit the X the notification just goes away!

[TheCraftyLittleBug]

@redsofa I agree that they're useless. Opened a chat yesterday and they passed the buck to someone else. They told me they'd be in touch via email but I have yet to be contacted by anyone.

[redsofa]

I was charged for 2 days as well. What email did you receive? I didnt get any emails from Etsy regarding this matter. I only noticed the marketing charge in the payment section

[GroundZeroCreations]

When you are using the listing form, if you scroll down toward the bottom, you will see where it says "Feature this listing" and another one that says "Etsy Ads". Could it be that these buttons are accidently being activated?

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@GroundZeroCreations You will not see the Etsy Ads button unless you already have them turned on.

Come to think of it, that would be a quick way for sellers to check if they have been turned on - just open a listing and see if the Etsy Ads button is present.

[GroundZeroCreations]

@DaysofYoreTreasures I don't have ads turned on and I still see them. Just to be safe I went to ads to see if they had activated something, but it is still off. It tells me "You're advertising 0 out of 163 of your active listings."

I am wondering if it is if you ever ran ads that it is showing that?

[cindylouwho2]

@GroundZeroCreations @DaysofYoreTreasures I have not run ads in years, but did previously, and I do not see that option anywhere in my listings on desktop. 

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@GroundZeroCreations 

Is it possible your ads are turned on with no listings selected? Do you see a pause campaign button when you scroll down the page?

This is what mine looks like after pausing.

You’re missing out
Your campaign is paused, so your ads aren’t reaching shoppers searching on Etsy.
Restart your Etsy Ads campaign to increase your traffic from Etsy search.

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@cindylouwho2 

I wonder if this is related to the problem?

If a seller thinks they have ads turned off but they are actually turned on with no listings selected.
Then the first listing they publish from the new form would become active in ads?

ps the old form also had an Etsy Ads toggle but it worked correctly. The default was off and you had to physically turn it on.
From memory, I think it was turned on if you copied an active ads listing.

[cindylouwho2]

@DaysofYoreTreasures that's certainly possible. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

etsy has this on my dashboard, it's been there a while

Etsy Ads Clicks 0

Etsy Ads Orders 0

Campaign status: Not active

You’re one of 3.5% of sellers who are likely to benefit even more from Etsy Ads, based on your inventory and current performance. Just click “Start advertising” and we'll create your first campaign with a recommended daily budget of US$2.00

Start advertising   Maybe later

Based on an analysis of Etsy Ads sellers in August 2023

........there is no click to get rid of the message, you have to click one of the two, if you click "start advertising" instead of "maybe later" you are in,

they are close together, and you could easily click the wrong one by mistake

[redsofa]

I think this is it. I did click on this and that's when hell broke loose.

[TerrificTemplatesCo]

I had this on my dashboard as well, but mine didn't have the two options for start advertising or maybe later, I had an X on the far right side just like all other notifications on my dashboard... so I clicked the x to close it and next day got the same email from Etsy mentioned by OP that my ads campaign had started.

I did not add new product to my shop in the preceding days, nor did any products renew, nor did I make any changes whatsoever in my listings.

I also had not opened Etsy ads or in any way 'accidentally' turned on Etsy ads.

The notice in my dashboard absolutely did not indicate in any way that clicking anything would turn my ads back on. But either it clearly did or Etsy turned it on anyway.