Etsy deactivated my listing in error, took 10 days to fix, I haven't had a single sale in 18 days.

[iFeltFanciful]

Etsy apologized for their mistake, but I believe that my shop was dinged because of the deactivation. I am a star seller but cannot get through on Chat. Before I send an email, thought I would see if anyone else has experience in a post-deactivation death of shop? How long did it last? Can anything be done? I figured once Etsy fixed their mistake, I would go back to getting sales, but it's been over a week and still nothing. This is not normal and I hope Etsy has a way to fix what they broke. Any advice?

[NanaLetha]

Buyers would have no idea you have a listing deactivated. 

[iFeltFanciful]

I did not say that they did. 

[JDTotesnDolls]

@iFeltFanciful   but you are assuming the deactivation is keeping buyers from buying.  Buyers have no idea.

Shop sales decrease may have nothing to do with that but may be a result of it's tax time in the US and the recent bank issue has people worried. 

[iFeltFanciful]

@JDTotesnDolls No, you are making assumptions.  I never said that buyers had any idea there was a deactivation. Of course they would have no way of knowing that. I AM concerned that Etsy's algorithm, which is largely unknown, is to blame here. I believe that a shop's remaining listings could suffer because of the ding from a deactivation. Just like Etsy acknowledges can happen because of a case against a shop.

[VibeEnvy]

The post seems to be concerning shop rank or quality score being affected by a negative impact which can result in lower traffic and lower sales whether customers are aware or not.

[iFeltFanciful]

@VibeEnvy Correct! Thanks for making that point more succinctly. I have a bad head cold at the moment and may not be communicating as clear as I think I am.

[bohemians]

@JDTotesnDolls

 ... "but you are assuming the deactivation is keeping buyers from buying.  Buyers have no idea."

That's not entirely true. If a buyer could no longer find an item they had in their cart or favourites, and then wanted to proceed with a purchase - it would be a sale lost.

[bradgoodell]

I sincerely doubt you slow sales are due to one accidental deactivation.  Likely it's a coincidence.  Lots of shops get legit deactivations and it doesn't stop their sales.  Repeated deactivations might, but not one.  

[iFeltFanciful]

My last sale was within hours of that deactivation, and views are also noticeably down. My main Sloth listing is rarely off the first page of Stuffed Animals, now it is at the very bottom of page 3. I am not a high volume seller, my stuffed animals are hand knit, then felted, so they are labor intensive, but I haven't had 2 weeks without a sale in years and years. Been selling since 2009, so I really don't think it is merely coincidence.

[khleetools]

To JDTotesNDolls ---- I disagree. I have many customers who have been referred to me by others for specific items. When they get to my shop and can't find that item because Etsy 'deactivated' it improperly, they assume I don't have it anymore and will go elsewhere for it and likely do other shopping with that other seller. I know this because I'm in this situation myself for the last month due to gross negligence of Etsy. As far as I'm concerned, Etsy owes me considerable money in sales lost for one month.

[iFeltFanciful]

I typically am very busy before Easter, knitting a lot of bunnies and chickens. I think we all know that there are many things about the algorithm that we don't know. I'm wondering if any sellers that have had a deactivation have suffered through a period without sales? I'm concerned that customers may not be able to purchase, but I can't even get ahold of someone at Etsy to check for me. I waited for an hour on Chat, then the window just disappeared. 

[moonbeamgifts]

I was able to put one of your items into my cart and almost go all the way through the checkout process (without pressing the final 'buy' button) so that side is healthy.

[iFeltFanciful]

@moonbeamgifts thanks for trying that for me

[moonbeamgifts]

Have you listed anything new?    Tried deactivating (good) listings and reactivating?    Sometimes that can bump you back up into the bots finding a lifeform.    I hope it's short lived.    

[iFeltFanciful]

Yes, I actually had a universal update to do, but took the opportunity to check keywords too, so everything did get a update and publish.

[VibeEnvy]

Updating everything usually has a worse impact than dings Etsy may give you. Updating listings resets them, if you were already feeling things slow down updating out of desperation which is very common has an opposite effect than hoped for and pushes listings further down while Etsy has to calculate all new fresh data to figure out how to place it in search. Never do a shop wide update, spread it out so you keep some listings alive while they others regenerate their data in the algorithm.

If you ever see someone posting that they are always updating keywords and tags you will also see them complaining about how their shops dead.

Get everything good as possible, set it and forget it, time is often the best thing for your listings.

[iFeltFanciful]

@VibeEnvy  I usually have a couple of tags that I change seasonally (stocking stuffers, etc.) because Etsy still doesn't use the Holiday or Occasion choices. I hadn't noticed a slowdown in the past, but I may make the next changes to my bestsellers in the typically slow summer and then leave them alone. Thanks for that suggestion.

[ZYOZA]

I checked Etsy's page on search for you, it says '... recent cases and past intellectual property infringement issues can have a negative effect' but this does not mention that deactivated listing act as a ding too.

Sorry that you're experiencing this, must be frustrating Let's hope that in a few days, the algorithm finds its way back to your shop!

[iFeltFanciful]

@ZYOZA Thank you for checking that. It is incredibly frustrating, because I thought the problem was finally solved

[VibeEnvy · Accepted solution]

The reason for deactivation plays a role, even if fixed they can't go back in time and undo what impact it had after reinstating the listing. Without knowing what or why it's hard to say how badly it could have impacted you, removal for amber beads or for kids clothing with drawstring (safety concerns) is prolly less impacting than selling (or falsely flagged for) counterfeit or  infringing which is more like blatantly breaking rules or the law as opposed to Etsy removing things just to be safe.

[iFeltFanciful]

@VibeEnvy Yes, I doubt there is anything Etsy can do at this point, which is why this is so damaging to sellers caught up unfairly by these bots. My droplet plush was deactivated but the email Etsy sent only mentioned bottles and pacifiers. I knew it was a mistake because nothing appeared in title, tags or descriptions about bottles or pacifiers.

[FallenAngelBrass]

@iFeltFanciful 

Your mama and baby sloth is on page 1 for me when I search "stuffed animal sloth."

Two of your sloth listings are on page 2 for me when I search "stuffed animal sloth." 

Your chicken & hen listing is at the top of page 1 when I search "stuffed animal chicken."

[iFeltFanciful]

@FallenAngelBrass Thanks for relaying that info....that's much better than my incognito search results. Might be because we are relatively close. I'm just outside of Philly. 

[RusticBucketsSouth]

You have wonderful items!  So cute!  I don’t know what “As seen in Pink” means.  Is that an infringing item?