Etsy suspended our account and I can't get an answer

[HenryVIIIdotSpace]

Why does Etsy even bother advertising on TV?  Our account has been suspended and I can't even get a reply for my case number.

[VintageRescueSquad]

Did the notice give a reason why?

Did you contact them through the Help Center?

What does TV ads have to do with your shop closure?

[bradgoodell]

Yeah, the TV ads is a non-sequitur.  

[bradgoodell]

Etsy suspends shops for many reasons, including:

1. Verification and confirmation of seller and shop
2. Verification of bank account
3. Repeated IP infringement
4. Too much bad feedback
5. Too many cases or chargebacks
6. Not meeting customer service standards
7. Other policy violations

Your shop appears to be on forced vacation, not suspended.  If you were suspended, we wouldn't be able to see your shop.  So it is likely 1 or 2.  There are new laws in place that require Etsy to verify and confirm the identity of the shop owner.  Have you gone through the verification process?  That can take anywhere from a day to weeks, depending if there are any issues or discrepancies.

[PlatypusDream · Accepted solution]

You can check your open support requests here:

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb/requests?segment=selling

If they aren't answering your original request, keep posting on the same thread until you get help.

[HenryVIIIdotSpace]

The problem seems to be that the person who set up the Etsy account YEARS AGO apparently clicked a box indicating he was the "owner", which he apparently figured just meant he was "responsible for managing the login access".  Now, suddenly, Etsy takes that "owner" designation to mean LEGAL OWNER WHO MUST BE VERIFIED BY GOVERNMENT ID, etc., in spite of the fact that the account and tax ID are related to a business, not the dude who set up the account.  That dude is NO LONGER AVAILABLE, and so Etsy shut down our account because the "LEGAL OWNER" is not available.  What a joke!!!

[PlatypusDream]

It seems very reasonable on Etsy’s part, actually. They are ensuring a safe, reliable marketplace with fully verified sellers and legal tax compliance.

Why didn’t you set up your own shop? Etsy doesn’t support third party sign ups or set ups.

[BagmakerSupply]

@HenryVIIIdotSpace: Why do you think that it is unreasonable for a marketplace to think that owner means owner?

Etsy's philosophy has been that a real person is the owner of an Etsy account. If the account is operating as a business that is a separate issue. The account belongs to the person who "owns" the account not to the business. The account owner cannot sell, transfer, or otherwise dispose of the account to a different person.

It becomes even more complicated now that the current verification laws require that for business accounts both the business and a responsible human be verified.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

Maybe the dude who opened the shop read about how the site works, but it looks like you did not.

Etsy  has always been pretty clear about shops being non-transferable.
Can you just open a new shop?

[Adorabilities]

You'll need to open a new shop with you listed as the owner. Etsy shops cannot be transferred from one owner to another.

Etsy advertises to try and bring customers here to buy something. There are millions of shops here.