Forced vacation Mode issue

[CustomBridalGifts]

Today marks 1 week of when we found our store was placed on forced vacation mode by Etsy. We received no contact of any kind (yes we checked spam folders) to know why this had happened. As a long time seller all information is verified and nothing had changed. After reviewing some past chats we saw someone mentioned an expired CC. We found a CC to be invalid due to a stolen card being closed so we updated this information within a few hours of the vacation. We have no pending orders to ship and no order has ever been late.  It has been a week and nothing has changed.  We have tried all forms of customer support.  Submitted ticket requests and within a few days the tickets show complete/closed with no contact or help from Etsy. All new ticket requests immediately change to complete/closed.  We have used the call back request to find the same "script" process from a call center. The script they tell you is the same every time (although they are very nice and sympathetic) every option leads back to "we don't have access to how to solve and will "escalate" your situation to the appropriate team to contact you via email."  If you ask them who is the right team or can you provide me further info, all answers lead to no.  Having no clue what the issue may be is the largest problem that seems to be universal in all the previous people I have found facing this same issue. If we know what to fix, then we can get it fixed.  Having no ability to contact anyone for support is defeating.  For a store that normally has 100+ sales a week, this is devastating. I am unsure how Etsy holds us to such a high customer service standard but then doesn't seem to offer any in return? Anyone that may have some input or advice would be greatly appreciated.  I create this post only so others who may be facing the same issue may understand you are not alone. Hopefully one of us will figure out how to resolve these issues quickly for future people facing this same type of problem. 

[OmasFabricStash]

The credit card will cause problems every time. Etsy tends to take their time but I hope they get it straightened out quickly. 
I wonder if Etsy gets the “I’m the mom and I said so” attitude? Or “because I said so “. 

[KidsBirthdayGoodies]

Wow, hopefully you get it resolved soon.

[SheByTheSeaStickers]

@CustomBridalGifts  I do hope it gets sorted soon and you can get back to work. Etsy support is appalling.

[decalbunny]

I'm right there with you. Its been a week for me as well. I filed an appeal last night after sending countless emails and multiple phone calls so maybe that might expedite this vacation mode. But who knows with Etsy. It's very stressful waking up every morning and seeing my shop on vacation mode. 

[CustomBridalGifts]

I filed an appeal 5 days ago, still nothing. I have responded to that appeal link begging someone to respond with no effect. 

[WeAreBirdieBirdie]

Im in the same boat. Alls good with my account. It’s appalling we’re left in the dark and completely helpless. 

[BravoCreatives]

@WeAreBirdieBirdie I congratulate you on the opening of your shop! Could you please share what factors led to this? Is there any new information that could help others resolve this issue? Thank you in advance!

[TheCuriosAgency]

Just found the same note and forced vacation mode slapped on my vintage items shop TheCuriosAgency. No issues noted. No reasons given. No link to click. Nada. 

Not sure where they get off putting a note on my shop in my voice either. Pretty sure that is not something they can legally do.  Its they site so they can pull items and close my shop, but posing as me and lying to my customers is unstable legal ground. 

[BravoCreatives]

@TheCuriosAgency Hello! I'm very sorry to hear about your situation. But I see that your shop is open now. It seems your vacation mode didn't last very long. How did you manage to reopen your shop?

[CustomBridalGifts]

Today marks 2 weeks my store has been on Forced Vacation mode by Etsy.  In those weeks I have reviewed every aspect of my store finding the only issue out of sync for my 5 year store was a CC that was on hold due to it being stolen. Although I had lots of money in my account from the previous weeks sales I can only assume the computer tested the card and found it to be stopped.  I received no emails, no messages of any kind before being placed on vaca mode. (Yes I checked spam)  I found different banners on different pages all saying different things. The front page said I was in vac mode while they reviewed my information and I needed to do nothing. It stated this process should take 48 hours & I needed to do nothing.  My Options page warning stated I was on hold while I worked on catching up with all my orders although they were all shipped and I have never shipped a package late since opening 5 years ago. In these 2 weeks I have ensured all my information from tax, policies, address, name etc was fully verified.  I even went as far as re-submitting every aspect of identification. I provided ever aspect possible to ensure my account was covered in their files.  This was the only time I was ever contacted from anyone at Etsy throughout this process.  In the end I received multiple emails from the Trust & Safety dept stating I was fully verified and free to continue selling on Etsy.  Yet my store remains in vacation mode.  I attempted to then re-contact that department explaining my store was still closed and communication ended from Etsy.  I have attempted to use every aspect of Etsy customer service contact from sending messages, filing an appeal and the call back request.  All have been met with nothing.  All messages have never been answered.  Appeal is now 2 weeks with no response or movement.  Call back reps were very nice but clearly all reading from the same script ending with this is above my clearance and must be forwarded to a specialty team who will be in contact via email.  None have been in contact.  I truly wish to say if my journey ever comes to an end, I hope to find out why so I can be of help for future people in this same situation.  I have talked with at least 100 stores over these last few weeks either from past to current facing this issue.  There is no pattern to any of these shops journeys.  I have seen some that were back up within a day, others a week and even spoke to some that were down for month.  For me this has been a huge hit to my family. As a struggling small business over the last couple years, Etsy became a main source of income for my family.  I do love the Etsy platform that is until these issues arrive.  If only we had some source of Etsy Customer service that could help us single in on the issue at hand so we could all move past it.  A way to make us sellers feel important.  I understand Etsy is a huge company but it shouldn't come at the loss of sellers support.  I do sympathize with all you other stores that may be facing this same issue and hope we all can come together to update  each other when your issue is resolved.  Any piece of your experience could be a huge help to many people to move through this journey faster in the future.  Thanks 

ALSO if any Etsy representative monitors these forums, please help!

[MadewithlovebyNtouka]

I keep my fingers crossed your shop will be back online again soon. I also had a bad experience lately, when Etsy deactivated my bestseller item, because it would violate at least one rule. Not telling me which one, not telling me how to get the item active again, and no one was working on my incident ticket. I chatted with the first level support four or five times, and all they could do was also to escalate it to the "next higher" support level team, as they would be the only ones who could handle this.
After four weeks my item was back active in the shop, and an email told me it was deactivated by mistake. I hardly sell this item since then.
I guess they are using bots to deacitvate items or whole shops, and after the KI has done this, real persons are working on the large amount of incidents which were caused by the bots' actions.
Good luck, I hope it will be clarified soon.

[CustomBridalGifts]

Amazing enough I woke up today to my shop being re-opened.  I am praying it's not a fluke and wish I could say I had any clue what changed that made it acceptable for Etsy to remove the forced vacation.  I received no response from any of my customer service requests.  I now will begin to try and rebuild as I can only imagine the impact of being down for 2 weeks will have on my items in the search results.  I offer my positive thoughts and prayers for everyone that are currently or just starting a similar journey. 

[phoebestreasure]

Glad to hear your shop has been re-opened. Mine was just re-opened too. Just like you, there was no response to customer service requests and I still don't know why they closed my shop.

It took a while for my items to repopulate, but my star seller badge has yet to come back. Not sure why they removed it. 

This has been a very stressful situation and I know there are other shops having to deal with the same lack of communication from Etsy. 

[SugarTaffySoap]

@phoebestreasure  Sounds like you're disqualified from Star Seller.  Here's some very important info as to Star Seller removal.

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407191123607-Why-Was-My-Star-Seller-Badge-Removed-?segment=...

[phoebestreasure]

Thank you for the link. I don't think I violated anything that would disqualify me, so I am really hopeful this will get sorted out.

[CustomBridalGifts]

@phoebestreasure it took mine about 12 hours from when my store was re-activated before my badges were restored. 

[phoebestreasure]

I am so glad to hear you got the badges back!

[SugarTaffySoap]

@phoebestreasure  Yay, your Star Seller has returned! 

[CustomBridalGifts]

If I could offer any advice to anyone that is facing this same type of issue, go through this link very closely.  Don't assume because Etsy didn't send you a message that there may not be something that needs addressed.  In my case it was a simple CC that was on hold due to it being stolen online. At least that is the only thing that I could find.  After 10 days of waiting, I went ahead and re-entered all my information although it all said verified.  Even after being reverified my shop stayed in vacation mode.  Last night I used the Contact Us link at the bottom of this page. I sent another message asking for help and explaining the situation.  After 12 hours the request showed activity but no response was sent.  It was shortly after my store was released.  Still no contact but in the end I was re-opened.  So in hopes of full disclosure for those who may be just starting this journey, have patience.  I know that is difficult to say.  My journey took 2 weeks to be resolved and unfortunately in the end I can not pinpoint what worked.  But here is that link just in case. 

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/14553858116759-Etsy-Asked-Me-to-Confirm-My-Seller-Info-?segm...