Forced vacation - taxpayer id

[wolfandflower]

Hi

Its now day 5 and I still havent had any communication from Etsy after escalating via the help centre messages and also on this forum, i had a seperate thread on this forum to say that etsy representatives would look at my account and be in touch, and then they mark my post as resolved.

***ITS NOT BEEN RESOLVED SO DONT MARK THIS MESSAGE AS RESOLVED***

My verification was uploaded again 4 days ago and its still pending, the customer service is truly dreadful, its our livelihood that is now being effected.

My original query is below:

Yesterday I had a message on my dashboard to confirm my phone number and a government ID upload to verify the business, I did this straight away, and they have instantly forced my shop into vacation mode and removed all my listings and ability to sell until etsy verify the information.

Having been on Etsy 5 years, we rely heavily on Etsy income, and ive had no response via the help service, i sent a message through that and not had a response.

Hope somebody can help or has been through similar and can at least advise on timescale to get back up and running as its causing us a great amount of worry especially with Halloween/Black Friday and Christmas coming up.

Thanks

Sam

[FancyTogs]

Did you enter something other than a VAT registration number into "Primary taxpayer ID" ? 

It is labelled incorrectly because Etsy still don't understand the difference between VAT and Income Tax.

That field only accepts VAT registration numbers, no spaces, with the country code at the start. If you have entered anything there only Etsy support can remove it.

Your UTR or National Insurance number (NINO) need to be entered in Additional Taxpayer ID, which is the section below the primary taxpayer ID (VAT number).

Lawrence (Clare's other half)

[wolfandflower]

Hi Lawrence,

Thank you for the reply,

yes i have my VAT number GB432184123 in the your taxpayer id and also in the additonal taxpayer field I have my businesses UTR UK number.

Ive uploaded a combined document of our VAT registration certificate and Passport for myself and its still pending and forced vacation of my shop.

I have seen some shops have a response within 48 hours and solved and others who have had to wait 15-20 days for a response.

It just doesn't make sense to put a seller who's been on the platform for 5 years on forced vacation when they have asked me to update contact numbers and upload a document, why not give a deadline saying upload these documents and details within 5 working days for us to review, and then if not uploaded put the shop into forced vacation, to do it instantly whilst pending review is just rediculous.

Sorry for the rant  

Thanks for your reply,

Sam

[FancyTogs]

@wolfandflower 

I just checked that the VAT number is valid, that check should be automated by Etsy.

They usually check the name and address against the VAT registration

Make sure that you have the company information and personal info in the correct input areas.

The VAT registration is against the Wolf & Flower Ltd company, but it is your personal name & address in the Seller Details. The Seller Details usually defaults to the taxpayer ID name & address, but you can override it manually in the Seller Details.

Does the taxpayer ID name & address match the VAT registration?

Etsy don't make it easy.

Lawrence

[wolfandflower]

Hi Lawrence,

Thank you for replying, yes everything matches the VAT registration, this is what i cant understand

I think its the fact you cant speak to anybody at Etsy, weve lost 5 days of trading on etsy which is massively effecting our income, and we have money locked in etsy we cant draw either until its verified.

Such a shame, because we love selling on etsy and ship all over the world because of their reach, but this side of it makes you question everything if they can just put your shop into vacation mode at the click of a button.

Thanks for your time,

Sam

[CostumeCoutureNaomi]

Do you have the yellow box that won't go away after uploading documents?

Try clicking the confirm button again. (And again if the first time doesn't help.)

It will take you through several additional pages.

The first is confirming (once again) that your info is correct.

The second one confirms whether or not you use prduction partners. 

The third confirms that you follow local laws if you sell to places like the EU.

Once you click through those additional screens, the yellow alert goes away and your shop should show as verified.

The yellow alert not disappearing after you upload your documents is confusing, because there is nothing to indicate that there are 3 more steps to the process.

It just looks like a glitch announcement that won't go away, even after you upload the documents and everything shows verified in your finance tab.

You need to click on the yellow box a 2nd time to finish the verification process and protect your shop from deactivation.  Once you do this, the alert goes away.

[wolfandflower]

hey

Thank you for your message, 

yes thats when they forced my shop into vacation mode i proceed through all the yellow boxes and then had to upload an personal ID etc and once i submitted I then got put into forced vacation whilst they review the information

[AutoMotoGraphics]

We had the exact same issue today!

We got this message that we have to verify our info, no idea why. We have everything verified already long time ago, company name and VAT. We are from Bulgaria. Now we are on vacation mode, no sales. I don't know how long this is going to take but this is ridiculous! We need to confirm some info and they stop our sales like we sell from 2 days, not 2 years and more.

So if you rely on this business, you don't have to anymore. You can wake up every day and just go banned by Etsy for no reason. We have all info that they need, to comply with whoever they need to. ebay became harassment dogs a while ago, I just thought Etsy are cool and don't bother us with this nonsense.. now you guys are the same. Shame on you!!!

Still the best way of doing business is your own website with fb and ig ads. We will move our energy in this direction!

[CostumeCoutureNaomi]

The repeat verification is because of new tax laws.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@AutoMotoGraphics 

the whole of the EU signed up to the new oecd laws, in the EU, it's called DAC7

Your country changed the rules so you now have to reverify, under the new rules

You only have to put your VAT number in, if you are close to the VAT threshold in your country

otherwise, scroll down, and in ADDITIONAL taxpayer ID, you choose either 

Bulgaria (personal foreigner's number)

or

Bulgaria (unified civil number)

and put the right number in there

[ModAngie · Accepted solution]

Hello,

The ETA for response varies on a case-by-case basis, and a separate team is handling your case. Any further communication on the matter, if applicable, will only occur directly with you, and via email.

As support requests are handled privately, we're now closing this thread.