Etsy store suspension imminent

[#1]

Hi Everyone i'm reaching out on here as i have tried live chat and emailed etsy directly. But i'm either getting standard generic replies or no reply.

I have been selling on etsy for nearly 8 years and have shipped 35k orders in that time. Yet this month i keep getting hit with creativity policy removals and i'll be honest i don't know what i'm doing wrong. My store just got the dreaded 1 more violation and my store will be banned email.

The main items i sell are vintage patent print i recently had a creativity policy removal for a set of 3 drummer related patents from the 1920-30s please note that old patent documents and drawings are public domain and are not protected by copyright restrictions. 

As the email from etsy is so generic i have no clue what the reason why the item was removed i'm thinking its either the use of mockups or the category made by or designed by is not correct at the moment my products are under the made by category.

I have always used mockups to display my artwork as it can be hard to take really good photos. I'm sure a lot of you have tried this yourself but to be honest they will usually never look as good as some of the mockups. Getting good lighting and setting can be hard unless you get a professional company in to take photos. I do create my own videos though for my artwork which look okay. 

The mockups i use are all edited by me personally using my artwork that i have created. I have not just gone online and downloaded other sellers pictures and put them on my store, Many of these prints i've been selling for nearly 8 years. And i'm fully aware that my images have been stolen thousands of times over the years and used by sellers on various platforms. Small family businesses are unable to police stuff like this, if large corporations are unable to do it. How can it be expected that tiny businesses like many of us on here to do it. We don't have legal teams and if we did they would probably cost more than our entire profits each year. Do i need to take photos myself for all of my products photos on etsy?

If it's not the mockup issue is it the category my products are listed under is incorrect? at the moment mine are in the made by me category should it be designed by or maybe one of the other categories? 

Please note all of my products have been created by me on my computer, they are all printed by me in my studio and then packaged and shipped by me we don't use a third party for any of my items. Etsy please let me know which categories my products should be in? Especially if this is why my products are getting hit for creativity policy violations.

Any advice from the community or etsy would be greatly appreciated as i don't know what to do. I started this business 8 years ago on the side to my full time job as a carer and within 2 years i was able to give up my job and do this what i love full time. Now i can't help but think that i'm about to lose everything i've worked for and all etsy are doing is sending me generic pre written replies. This is my families livelihood i'm a father of 4 i have put everything into etsy to make it a success. All i want is some transparency from the etsy support team as to what i'm doing wrong. This store is literally my whole life if it were to get banned i would most likely be in a position where i would lose our family home.

Sorry if this all looks a bit of a mess i typed this on my phone. The stress of this is pushing me edge mentally as i feel my world is about to collapse. I have no idea how i can some assistance from etsy before my store is closed. I hope someone from etsy sees this message as live chat and emails have been no help at all so far.

Many Thanks

Gaz

[MagicPosters]

I've seen this on other posts. I don't think etsy realise that we're real people with real lives and some of us have actually put everything into making their etsy store a full time business. Not everyone is doing this as a side hustle after 8 years you would think they could at least hear me out. 

[TBQSC]

@MagicPosters With over 7 million sellers on Etsy, I do not think "hearing you out" is even a remote possibility anymore, which is why Etsy is now operating via AI bots.  That is not to say it won't happen --you may get a call back-- but at this point in time, I would not hold my breath! Sorry!

[MagicPosters]

That's how many seller accounts they have. It's certainly not how many active sellers they have each day. 

It's like ebay you open an account your also a seller. Many of the seller accounts on etsy may have no sales or a handful.

I don't think etsy should be let of the hook for poor seller support jusy because they have 7 million seller accounts.

Amazon has 10 million and they manage to support their sellers. 

And to prove my point on active sellers on etsy to show that their is no excuse for this lame support.

Etsy did 13.1 billion in revenue last year. They say they have 7.5 million active sellers. That equates to just 1756 dollars for each store. £1330 in British money for each seller. 

Most of the revenue on etsy will be from the top 5% of sellers possibly even as low as 1%. The rest are selling next to nothing and probably just have dormant stores doing nothing ready for when they want to sell their next item they prefer to use etsy for instead of Ebay.

Etsy sort your seller support out this is ridiculous by any standard. Or at least have some kind of tiered support for stores over a certain amount of sales. Some of us are businesses and not just selling stuff we've found up the loft. 

[MagicPosters]

Crafty corniche the response was generic. It's the exact same response anyone would get go on live chat ask them what I'm asking and then share the email response on here I bet it's the same one I get. 

Or ask them them anything about creativity standard policies listing removals and I guarantee the email you get back from them will the same again.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

you are selling things that do not meet the creativity standards, and etsy told you that

... you might want the standards to be different, but they are not

comply, or don't

the decision and consequences are yours

....

absolutely the reply will be the same, a link to the standards, which are very clear

[AutumnHollowStudio]

@MagicPosters I am really sorry that you are in this situation.. you have received some great information from other sellers here as to why reprinting images of vintage art is not considered "vintage" and can't be sold here. Etsy's rules are pretty clear.

No amount of trying to change the wording, or skirting the rules by making it a party supply, is going to help. Except maybe offering custom framing options as someone else suggested.

[MagicPosters]

I don't just sell patent prints. I don't actually know the reason why the items were taken down please read my first post.

It also does not say anywhere that you can't take some the old and make it new. Most of art is exactly that barely anything is original including most of the items you are selling.

[MagicPosters]

Craftcornish etsy support and use of Ai is so bad that you know your knits your selling. If someone over on temu, aliexpress etc takes your images and starts selling them and the bots pick it up. Your listings will get removed you'll contact etsy and you'll get a generic response. 

It's that simple your business will be gone and if this is your livelihood you'll most likely be unable to pay your rent, mortgage etc 

[MagicPosters]

I'm not just printing them off go online download a patent stick it on your wall and you'll see they look nothing like my images.

They are totally remastered in the same way someone may take an old table and bring it back to life.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@MagicPosters 

an old table is still an old table.

not a new printed print, on new paper

the first is still vintage if it's over 20 years old, and there is still just one of them.

the second isn't, it is a new reproduction , which can be reproduced millions of times,
like factories can take copies of old tables, do a few enhancements to the old design,  and reproduce them a million times.

just because you want to sell something here, you can't twist the rules, etsy is very black and white

sell them on a platform that allows them

.....

never rely on one platform/supplier, it is not a safe business model, now is the time to spread your wings and sell elsewhere too - start with the ones not allowed here.

...

I have had my exposure off etsy curtailed dramatically - when etsy paid for offsite ads, we couldn't choose to re-instate them.
My sales dropped by half - you could see exactly why, with google analytics.

I have been hit by the frequency capping on etsy, where they remove your bestseller , completely, from it's main search term for months, put it back, and a soon as it gets it's bestseller badge back, it goes again for months.

I have had my photos stolen

and  etsy deciding my shop was being hacked, so closed me for over 2 weeks, when there was nothing wrong with it

you cannot rely on 1 platform

don't rely on etsy, I don't, since the first hit on offsite ads
- I know it's a shock  at the time, but looking back, it was the best thing that ever happened for my online selling and sales

[LegendaryStones]

I can imagine how frightening and nerve wracking this must be. I recently had a couple listings taken down because Temu and Shein and AliE had stolen my photos and were listing them for sale on THEIR websites. So Etsy immediately assumed that I was the one who stole their photos and was reselling. I responded through the "Etsy Seller Help" and sent in photos of me making the items myself and hopefully that will suffice. I am assuming the reason they deactivated the listings were because of Temu and friends. Because, as you state, their generic notice gives no information. I do have to wonder how legal that is. You have only so long to file an appeal, yet they do not tell you what your actual alleged "Etsy crime" is.   It's one thing to say they can close you down for any or no reason. It's their website. But it's another thing to send threatening emails, saying you're in violation and you better change that, but refusing to tell you the exact violation so you can defend yourself. It seems like a really unethical business practice. I don't know, but eventually I have a feeling this will end badly for Etsy.  I just hope the sellers can hold on long enough to out-survive Etsy. But request a call back and ask the person for an actual reason so you can appeal it, and ask for a ticket number (so you have proof you spoke to someone). I'm so sorry and I wish you the best of luck. 

[HolyGuacamollyCo]

This is the third time it happened to me 🥹 I bookmarked the first human reinstate email and keep replying to that one. The average waiting period for me is a month…. Though each time they did reinstated my listing. Chat & call back is faster but unfortunately they can’t reinstate  listing. I also file DMCA but it’s never ending. I hope Etsy can figure out better filtering system and seller support soon. 

[LaRenaissanceGirl]

I have a simple solution for you. 

Remove all the listings that contain art you didn't create yourself. 

The patents...

The maps (unless you are also the cartographer)

Just sell designs that you personally made (or typed) with your own two hands. 

Or just sell somewhere else besides Etsy. 

I know my solution is not what you want to hear, because I'm guessing the custom personalized maps are the money makers, because people love personalized custom things. I used to sell watercolor prints (my own actual paintings that I made from scratch) of every US state with the option for me to digitally add a heart to the home city (using photoshop). They were very popular for awhile. People love things on their wall that are about themselves. 

But, if you didn't personally draw those maps, you can't legally use them in your prints for sale (on Etsy.) Although, maybe you can get around it by using actual physical maps that you are cutting up and repurposing, I don't know. But reprinting someone else's map is not allowed. 

[MagicPosters]

This is why I think etsy need to clarify things because. 99% of the art and things on etsy are indeed stuff that's put together from what your saying their will be no more maps ever sold on etsy unless someone has hand drawn a map. I really don't think this is what etsy means when it come to original I can't see that they want 100% hand drawn art in the art section this would also include fonts not being able to be used. Let's face it most of the art would look like absolute crap if this was the case. People are not selling prints for thousands of pounds on etsy. We're talking om average probably £20 max

I do not believe for one second that the team at etsy wants to remove 99.9% of the are from etsy so they need to clarify this.

Old things can be made to something new

[MagicPosters]

Do yourself a favour go on etsy sarch for print you would be lucky to find a single hand drawn or drawn on a computer print on the first 10 pages. And using a font is no different to anything else if your saying it needs to be 100% original as fonts are owned by rights holders and we're drawn by someone else.

Please go have a look and then come back and comment

[CraftyCornishMaids]

go on the roads, you will find people speeding and not getting caught

the ones that have been banned for speeding too many times, you don't see those

just like you don't see the shops here, that have been dinged too many times, they are closed by etsy, and never allowed to open another shop

.... you've had your speeding tickets, time to make sure you don't do it again and are then banned

[MagicPosters]

Crafty if you get a speeding ticket they at least tell you where you did the offence and how fast you was going. Its not just a generic message that could be anything like i said about your images craftycornish if someone sticks them on temu or aliexpress your store will get hit and you will most likely lose your store.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

The message etsy gives says creativity standards

the creativity standards have 4 detailed points

read them

you fail all 4.

there is nothing else to tell you.

.....

my items have been there - you need to file takedown notices, then you don't lose your store, and if you keep on top of it, you don't even get the first speeding ticket.

I issued my first takedown over 4 years ago, it's not a recent thing

It's a smart thing to do, because even if you don't get dinged on Etsy, they are taking traffic and sales that you could be getting on the sites you are on,
they are competition in google and other search engines, they can push you out completely, you need to get rid of them, even without etsys push on reselling.

[MagicPosters]

I think you have got far too much spare time on your hands craftycornish

[CraftyCornishMaids]

I don't consider issuing takedowns too much spare time,

it increases my sales, so it's a good use of my time.

and it means I get found in searches, without having to spend time on social media

[CraftyCornishMaids]

no clarification required,

you know the standards,

there are 4 of them

some of your listings don't fit any standard

so stop doing it.

....

let the others worry about their speeding tickets, they will probably get caught at some time.

you can report them if you want to.

......

there are a lot of etsy picks, that are obvious resellers - there are complaints about it all the time

- it still doesn't make some of your items OK to sell here

.....

and it's against etsy's rules, to call out other sellers

please read the handbook, then you wouldn't be in this pickle

[MagicPosters]

They were picked because they must be okay to be on the platform. Or else why pick them

[CraftyCornishMaids]

read the handbook, you really should.....

Etsy’s Pick factors are based solely on listing content provided by the seller, and the seller’s and item’s performance on Etsy.com. An Etsy’s Pick badge highlights items that are selected by Etsy’s style experts and isn't intended to represent an item as safe or free of errors, nor is it intended to warrant, endorse, or otherwise approve the listing or its accuracy.

[MagicPosters]

Yeah that's basically saying etsy don't take responsibility  if the item arrives and doesn't look like it does in the photos or if it has errors on the item. A real person still chose the item at etsy and that team would of had to have some guidelines to be in that role as an etsy picker. Do you not agree that they would of had some sort of training on what should be an etsy pick?

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

You can find Etsy's Pick badges on items that are illegal counterfeits, stealing other's IP, not handmade, vintage or supplies and obviously not Etsy legal.  I hold absolutely no store by the apparent official approval that a pick badge bestows.