Forced Into Vacation Mode as a New Business

[TanglewoodBeardCo]

My account was recently created for my small business, and filled out completely with my tax information, listings, etc. As of 14 days ago, Etsy has forced my account into vacation mode and prevented any sales from going through this account. This is very unfortunate, for numerous reasons, but especially because I have had 200 views on my account but no sales can be processed...

Etsy sent me a very brief, and vague, email when I created by support request the same day. I followed the instructions and insured that everything was up to date, and there was no missing info. I also resubmitted my tax information again just to be sure. I emailed back to the service team requesting help, and have still not heard back 14 days later. Several support requests later, and I'm left pretty much in the dark.

I am a new, small business who is not near the $30,000 threshold in Canada to meet a requirement of providing a GST/HST or VID ID to Etsy. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as it seems like there is no active customer service that can be reached easily by the existing support request / FAQ system. 

[ChikaBeadwork]

When I had sent a request to customer support, the first reply was the message by AI. After sending the reply for the first messsge, customer support had told the contact person's name.
When you receive the first email, reply to it instead of sending new message.

[RosemarysDesignsNSCA]

Thank you for your help. I have already tried responding to my current ticket through email, Etsy's support site, and by inputting another ticket, only receiving the same response as the initial message.

[CoquetteBath]

while I cannot answer for you on this, I do have a question.

Are either of your production partners actually making a product that you are selling? Or are they supplying ingredients and labels for the products YOU make?

If the first part, yes they are a production partner (if you've designed the items that they are making for you to resell).

If the second part, they are  not a production partner, but are a supplier. You do not have to list the places where you buy ingredients. And, in fact, that's normally considered a biz's proprietary information.

Finally, ensure that your business insurance covers selling your products. Not sure about Canadian law, but in the US, you have to have (in most cases) an individual maker/crafter policy. And those run about $500 USD a year.

good luck getting your issues resolved.

[PoochandTabby]

Keep in mind, if you haven't already, while you don't have to supply GST/HST registration under $30K, you do need to provide your SIN due to new requirements by the gov't that marketplaces like Etsy has to submit your sales to the CRA to make sure you pay the appropriate taxes. 

It was a big issue for CA sellers last year that didn't want to and got suspended until they did or left the platform. 

Other than that, Etsy takes forever to do verification and some wait weeks and on occasion, months. Make sure all your ID info matches exactly what you have on Etsy. 

[MrsDsHandKnits]

When you are preparing the description for the products you intend to list and sell, be aware of the wording of those descriptions so that No medical-type claims,NO healing type claims,etc. In you "About" story you state"will help protect and moisturize your beard and aid in beard growth." Be very wary about using that sort of wording in your descriptions.

[GroundZeroCreations]

I don't know if this has anything to do with your problem, but have you seen the information in the following link that went into effect January 2025?

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/25255013479703-What-Information-Does-Etsy-Report-for-Canadia...