Etsy shop permanently suspended for an unknown reason. This is going to kill my start up business!

[Cadmium3DPrints]

Hello there everyone, 

I am writing this as I'm literally out of options and don't know how to proceed. I was just setting up my laser engraving etsy shop and I had created a initial product of some personalised tabletop RPG slate coasters. It was up a matter of days perhaps when the account was permanently suspended. I got no email as to why this was and all I could do is guess at the reason. 

I decided to make sure everything I could possibly have gotten wrong was sorted (things like enough pictures and not naming any specific games etc in case of copyright). I appealed the decision and within 30 seconds to a minute I had an email saying that it was rejected. I wrote quite a lengthy explanation and this could no way have been read before the ban was rejected. 

So I contacted support and I waited.....and waited....and had absolutely no reply in 2 weeks. At which time the option to appeal again came up so I submitted the appeal again and I am waiting again. I have submitted multiple support requests that just get ignored. Its been over a month now and still nothing.

I even somehow managed to get to the point on the support page where you could have an agent call you back. I thought great! Finally I can get this sorted! Nope, the agent could not do anything for me on the phone other than disinterestedly tell me that "I had to wait for support to contact me via email". I asked for a supervisor and I was told  was "They had no way of getting me in contact with a supervisor, I would have to email support". So another dead end. 

I am even writing this now from a different account as I can't use the Etsy community on my business account that's suspended. The name of the shop in question is "Squirrel Wizard".

I am literally at the end of my tether. I am a start up business and I quit my day job to pursue this full time and I have been delayed so much for no reason that its going to kill this dream off.

If anyone has any sort of advice or can get me in touch with someone to get this resolved I would be forever grateful. This has been so stressful and I just want to be in my tiny little corner of the internet, selling my gifts to people and make a modest living. 

Thanks a lot in advance everyone! 

[DreamGreatDreams]

just to clarify, you made coasters with images you copied from games and/or characters in those games, but did not use the name of the game or characters in your title, tags, or description?  

here is etsy’s policy for IP copyright and trademark infringement.  in part it says:.  

“Etsy terminates selling privileges of members who are subject to repeat or multiple notices of intellectual property infringement in appropriate circumstances and at Etsy’s discretion.”

[LastCentury]

Do not open multiple tickets for the same issue. Keep replying to the same ticket. Use screen shots & any other useful info to help with your issue.

BUT... you aren't entirely clear about the items you were listing. You say

"...and not naming any specific games etc in case of copyright..."

just because you weren't naming names does not mean the image recognition bots aren't working.

If it isn't your name, your brand, your artwork, your image, and you haven't purchased a license or asked permission to use it, does not mean it's yours to make money from.

[BagmakerSupply]

@Cadmium3DPrints: Can't even speculate on the reason your shop was closed without seeing the shop, but part of the reason for a slowness in getting help could be that you have appear to not have followed the rule that "you must list all the shops you run in the Public Profile section of each account". Based on other posts, Etsy does not seem to view support requests based on suspected user violations as a priority.

[Jewels2at]

Did you use copyright images or names?  If you used copyright images on your coasters...that is probably why your shop was suspended.

When I look at Squirrel Wizard...it actualy looks like Etsy closed down the shop.

What images did you have on your coasters?

[BootifulLabels]

 I was just setting up my laser engraving etsy shop and I had created a initial product of some personalised tabletop RPG slate coasters.

This is most likely your answer.  If you were making products depicting popular characters or scenes from RPGs then you need a license form the owner of the Intellectual Property to use it.  Without a license, you are infringing on the rites of the owners of the material you are copying.  Quite apart from being illegal, Etsy specifically prohibits items that copy or otherwise make use of another person's IP.  If the shop has a significant proportion of that sort of product, they will close the shop.  

It is unwise to base a business on an illegal practice.  In this instance it seems likely it has cost you your Etsy shop, however, it could easily have been the IP owner themselves who caught you, and in such an event, the cost would be much higher. 

[VintageRescueSquad]

I agree with the others. Etsy is cracking down, particularly on new shops whose premise is IP infringement. Seems like a zero-tolerance policy.

They are not required to tell you why your shop was shut down, because they assume you read the rules, and are following all federal and state laws. If they deem you are not, then you face the consequences.

We might be wrong, but the fact that you mentioned RPG images seems like the culprit.

[BriarMoonBeads]

ok since everyone is focusing on the IP infringement, I'm going to note that IF it wasn't that, there's a possibility you were just caught by the shop suspension bot. It's very common for new shops to get hit with this - it might depend on the category you're selling in, Etsy might just have decided they have enough custom engraving shops and put a cap on it for now. We don't know.

What we do know is that A - support is anything but, and notoriously hard to both contact and deal with no matter what your problem is. There's a very good chance this is a door slam situation and no matter how much you beat against it, it's never opening.

So in that eventuality, first thing to do is not be upset - don't take it personal, it's just the system here. Second step is to get your social media (whichever one works best for you and your market) and a Shopify. You might also be able to sell on Amazon, I don't know their process though I have heard their new shop bots are just as touchy. Shopify are much more indifferent.

As long as you're making stuff for the geek market that is not infringing on any copyrights, you should be fine.

[Cadmium3DPrints]

Apologies for the slow reply, I didn't get a notification despite having multiple replies! First and foremost thanks for your time! 

Most of the answers are saying about copyrighted images. I have not used any copyrighted images on purpose to avoid this situation. All they were was coasters with a selection of fonts (all copyright free) for your character name to be put on every side of the coaster near the edge. That's literally all it was. No images used at all and all the product images are ones I have taken myself of the actual thing I'm selling in a lightbox. The only two things I can think of is that I used a placeholder image briefly as I was setting things up but these were on for maybe a day or two max before I put all the proper ones on there. I also used Dungeons and Dragons in the name originally for lack of a better idea, which I changed to Tabletop RPG a day or two later as a friend gave me the idea. Again becuase I was worried about this very thing.  

This seems extremely harsh considering it was a genuine mistake and I have been actively trying my best to comply with them with no response.  

Thanks @BriarMoonBeads , it is very much looking like it might be the case I didn't put all my eggs in one basket thankfully and have been making a WooCommerce website as I have a bit of web development background. I always forget about Shopify so Ill look in to that too! It would have been nice to get the ball rolling on etsy first as its taken me quite some time to get that going. Should be live in the next few days though! 

Thanks @LastCentury for the info about the support ticket, I think I have been replying to the same one but ill make sure I don't create any extra ones! 

Based on this new info, is there anything I can do, do you think? Would setting up another Shop with a similar name just get banned again? I will have a check to see if what @BagmakerSupply said might be causing my issue but as far as I'm aware it was in the public section.

Again thank you all for your input!

[PlatypusDream]

“Dungeons and Dragons” is trademarked.

[FallenAngelBrass]

I'm confused how RPG items are created and sold without IP infringement.    Are these RPGs that you created and have a following around?  I don't understand. 

[Cadmium3DPrints]

I am not using images or names from RPGs at all. It is just the players character name that will be on the coaster. 

[FallenAngelBrass]

So you're making game coasters with no game titles, game characters or game symbols on them, just random names made up by players? 

[BagmakerSupply]

@Cadmium3DPrints: Have you checked to make sure that none of "the players character name that will be on the coaster" are trademarked?

[DudleyandSprout]

If it is possible, IMHO, find another day job and pursue this in your spare time.  Etsy has very poor customer service for sellers.  It usually takes a long time to establish yourself here, especially if you want this to be your income in place of a day job.  

If your shop has been shut down, you can't ever open a new one unless Etsy decides they closed your shop in error.  BTW, I just looked at your shop and it is showing no items listed.  If a shop has been shut down it usually says "not selling on Etsy at this time" or something similar.  Is it possible that your shop has been reopened and you can now list items?  Check your emails, including spam to see if Etsy has contacted you.

[Cadmium3DPrints]

Thanks for your advice. Just so you know, this is not the account I'm talking about. I had to use this one becuase it wont let me use the community on the actual account that got suspended. 

[howtobooksandmore]

I have not used any copyrighted images on purpose

The images may also be trademarked as most RPG figures would be.  The law doesn't care if you did it on purpose or not and neither does Etsy.  If they let you reopen your shop, there is no guarantee that you won't use other copyrighted images on purpose.  Etsy expects you to know their rules and any laws governing what you sell before you open a shop and have little to no tolerance for people who do not.  But you shop shows it is open so either Etsy opened it back up or you have a second shop and have not disclosed it in both shops which is also a requirement.  I would give up on the RPG altogether and find something else to sell.  Good luck with this.

[Cadmium3DPrints]

I have not used any images at all other than my own. All the coaster is, is a players character name that they enter and pick a font. No actual trademarked names or characters has been used. 

This is a second account becuase I cannot post on the community with the other suspended account. 

[CuriousityShop]

You cannot even use character names. They are also copyright. Imagine if you tried to put "Harry Potter" on your coasters. It looks like your shop is open, with no listings.

[OmasFabricStash]

Just a kid with glasses taped together would probably be a problem. Add the scar and it doesn’t matter what you call it. 
Trademark and copyright can be so picky. 

[Cadmium3DPrints]

I haven't used any copyrighted names. People who come to the shop enter their character name from the RPG game they are playing with friends and I etch that on to a coaster. No actual character names from any trademarked game or film has been used. 

[1960sDollHouse]

I'm seeing an open shop with no listings. When Etsy closes down a shop, there will be a message that buyers see to the effect of "So and So is no longer selling on Etsy". I can see one sale with three men in the picture. Looks like three regular dudes with no IP infringement. I think you may still have your foot in the door. When you try listing what happens? 

[MaynardMillinery]

Different shop. He said, this is an old account that he’s posting from, not the one that was closed.

[OmasFabricStash]

Without seeing anything it’s hard to say what could be the problem. What type of RPG characters were you doing? Do they look anything at all like characters in games that are already out there? For instance a shaggy green arm holding a Christmas tree ornament is the Grinch, you don’t need to name it something different, Green Monster is used a lot, it’s still the Grinch. 
Was there anything in the listing that referred to the name of a character in a game or the game itself? There is little room for playing around with the name. D&D, D and D, Dragons and Dungeons are all the same and could be a major problem. 
You need to check everything out very carefully, people have had listings taken down because it had a Smiley face, or the dress had a Velcro closing, called their infant outfit a Onsie.  Things that few people never thought about, I mean a Smiley face, who would ever imagine the design belonged to someone and can’t be used?

[Cadmium3DPrints]

I haven't used any copyrighted names or images. People who come to the shop enter their character name from the RPG game they are playing with friends and I etch that on to a coaster. That name is made up by the player, not an actual name from any trademarked game or film.