Etsy removes a listing claiming it is not handmade!

[CoolCyberCats]

Etsy just removed one of my listings claiming it is not handmade. I sent them a message saying I make it and I can video me making one for their entertainment and send it to them. This is absolutely stupid, Etsy lets billions of AliExpress junk on the site and ignores them and then decides a cat toy wand I make. And I bed their board wonders why the stock price for the company has gone from $300 to $58 in about 2.5 years.

Anyone know a way I can call support or get a chat support with them since emails will take forever and I want to get the listing back up?

[BagmakerSupply]

@CoolCyberCats: Unfortunately false positives is going to be the price of Etsy's automated attempts to rid the site of resellers. A very common reason seems to be stolen images being used on the 'wholesale' sites. Have you checked to see if this has happened in your case?

[CoolCyberCats]

@BagmakerSupply How do these bots NOT see all the mass produced junk here? *Sigh*

I am on a chat with support now, been here 30 minutes and moved to several ppl. Trying to resolve this.

[ClaimYourselfJewelry]

If you insist to much they'll just block you...

[OmasFabricStash]

Many have had their photos stolen and posted as their own items. If Etsy sees many shops with the same photos they will question if they are handmade and which shop took the original photos. 
There has also been times when a seller has shops on Amazon, eBay, facebook, and whatever other sites are out there. Again Etsy sees many shops with the same items and photos. What would your first thought be? 
I don’t think the bots do a lot of investigating, if items are in different shops they take them down and let the humans deal with it. 

[ArtDollsbyJD]

Did you check to see if your photos have been stolen?  THat's the first thing to do.  You need to issue takedown notices when you find your stolen photos used elsewhere,

The type of items you are selling could lead to this confusion.   It probably would help if you added photos of you making the items to your About page.

And if Etsy persists you might want to consider getting a notary public or other person to certify that you do handmake your items.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

" It probably would help if you added photos of you making the items to your About page."

It would be nice if it could, but that couldn't possibly be any help until after a listing has been taken down and an actual human has looked at the issue. 
And that doesn't seem to be happening in a timely manner, if it happens at all.

The bots don't look past the first photo.

[ClaimYourselfJewelry]

Photos are relatively easy to get removed from such sites problem is the design itself, without a copyright anyone can replicate it and etsy will deactivate the listings of the original creator. Copycats gets away with everything and etsy damages designers and creators

[Adorabilities]

you might want to consider getting a notary public or other person to certify that you do handmake your items.

How exactly would that work? Notary publics verify a person's identity for signatures. They do not visit workshops or watch products being made.

[GieseDeseiGns]

Do a google reverse image search. check and see where possibly people are using your photos to sell knock offs of your items. If so file DMCA and let Etsy know you are taking action against other sites unlawfully using your photos.

[ClaimYourselfJewelry]

Problem is that etsy doesn't really care. Copycats are damaging thousands of sellers and they do nothing and just deactivate listings and then give no space for appeal or explain the situation. 

[CoolCyberCats]

@ArtDollsbyJD  & @GieseDeseiGns 

The chats got nowhere. I am rather pissed. I'll need to search for images as time permits later. First thing I am going to make several of the item taken down on video and email it to them.

I suspect it would be a good idea to just retake every image and emboss the entire image with "Handmade By CoolCyberCats" so if anyone steals the images it has that.

[HectanoogaPatterns]

That actually sounds like a good plan.  (No need to retake every image, just download one, and imprint using the paint program.)

[GieseDeseiGns]

Chats are outsourced they only can do what Etsy gives them, they are not Etsy perse'

[CoolCyberCats]

@HectanoogaPatterns  I would retake all of the images to make sure no one can ever use them. If it turns out someone is using my images I will emboss every listing image where the embossed words repeat all over the image so they can never be used by anyone else.

I am so angry over this and how useless etsy support has been thus far.

[treasuredcharms]

I keep a copy of my original digital camera photos, before I crop and edit and sent those to them.  Not sure if it helps prove I am the original owner of the photos but one of my listings was reinstated. I used to put watermarks on the corner but copycats just crop them off.  I was also told not to watermark on the photo itself because ads like Google shopping won’t display those. You can’t win! 

[LBclothingStudio]

Sadly the pic stealers use them  with the watermarks still there. 

[CoolCyberCats]

I took the first step, I just made one and did the best I can to video it (impossible to hold the phone when I need 2 hands so I had to put the phone down several times and I say what I am doing on the video then show the result of what I said). Video is too large to attach to email, so i sent them an icloud (apple) link. This really annoys me!

[CoolCyberCats]

An image search did not find my images (except etsy and that WAS my old listing).

[hopeandjoystudios]

I'd use some sort of obvious branding behind the item that would be harder to erase or crop out than a watermark. 

[treasuredcharms]

Good luck!  I’ve been selling here 14 years and two of my items received handmade violations this month after never receiving one before!  One got reinstated, and they won’t respond to the other one. I attached receipts and my original digital camera photos but nothing. No option to call them, no explanation of why this is happening.  Also, these are both necklaces I have been selling since 2013, one of them was my #1 best seller out of 2,000+ items in my shop. I source my supplies from USA if possible and have been here way before junk from AliExpress took over.  These resellers don’t even bother to take their own photos while I work my butt off and get penalized. 

[moongategiftshop]

Just a theory - is this possibly why Etsy is pushing so hard for listings to have videos??

[CoolCyberCats]

@moongategiftshop  I would not put up a video of my stuff being made, ever. That simply is a blueprint for someone to make something LIKE my items. For example, how the hair attachments are made is a basic make, it is trimming, and materials used that changes the look. Same with the wands, last thing I want is some know it all to see exactly how I made it to figure it out and make wands and sell them here. So, I will never put-up videos of me making anything, though I will gladly make them for Etsy when they have a bug up their rear and insist I did not make them.

[ExquisiteEquestriaCo]

I have had some of my magnetic brooches removed for violation of handmade.  If they looked at the video they would see my magnetic clasps are handmade.  So I don't think the videos help - Etsy will do what they want.  I have battled and lost.

[After9Marbles]

@CoolCyberCats I am not sure I would ever send the video or the production process to Etsy at this point with it all being outsourced. Think about the wages they are probably paying these people and the potential income they could get from stealing your process. 

If it comes to that find a service that the video can only be viewed once and then self deletes.