If you have spoken with CHAT, what information did you give to Verify your acct. to them?

[Marbrykers]

Is this legit? I have spoken with CSRs on CHAT before and I have NEVER had to give this information! Did you???

 CSR  says: I understand you want to know if your account is active because you think you are only limited to 2 sales until they were delivered.

Hi, Is this legit? I have never had to give the last 4 of active bank account no., or last 4 of an active billing card" to have a csr help me with my Etsy problems.

Ellay says: To assist you as quickly as possible, and to make sure your account is secure, please respond with answers to the following:

Ellay says:• Last 4 of active bank account no. in your payment account (This is where you receive your deposits) • Last 4 of an active billing card on file (The payment method you use to settle your bills)"

[ShelwinDesigns]

This does sound a bit odd. Were you logged into the app, mobile site, or on a desktop?  I know that they asked me for additional details once when I was on a pc, but hadn’t actually logged into my account yet. 

[Marbrykers]

I am on PC. I am always logged into my account.

[BootifulLabels]

It depends on the topic of the discussion with chat.  If it involves account changes or is payment related, then they need to verify that the person they are chatting with is the owner of the card/account concerned.  The last 4 digits of an account or card number are sufficient to show you have access to the card/ account but not enough for a scammer to actually change anything in the account/card.  As long as the discussion is happening on the Etsy site and through their CS chat facility, you should be safe to confirm that information.

[ThePurplePuppy]

Is it just me or do others also think it is bizarre to have to prove to a robot that we are NOT a robot? (or a scammer)

[Marbrykers]

I typed In HUMAN CUSTOMER SERVICE and Ellay came on.

[Marbrykers]

It had nothing to do with payments or account management. I wanted to know if my account was on Hold and why I only receive 2 orders at a time. Once those 2 are "delivered" then I receive another order. I have been a Star Seller for months. 

[WitticismsRus · Accepted solution]

@Marbrykers 

Yes, it's legit. I have been asked the same a few times when contacting live chat. It's a security measure. They are just trying to verify you are who you say you are. It's for your protection. They aren't asking for the entire number just the last 4 digits. Think of it this way...would you want them to help a potential hacker with your account without verifying anything? I sure wouldn't so I'll happily verify any info they need to help keep my account secure.

[Marbrykers]

I have NEVER been asked to give that info before. This was the 1st time after quite a few different chats throughout my time here.

[WitticismsRus]

Yeah, I haven't been asked every time so not sure what triggers them to ask. Maybe if the rep is newer or your ip looks different than a previous log in or any number of reasons. It's a safety measure, that's all.

[PoochandTabby]

I've also had to verify this info if I'm trying to speak about my specific account and it's not just a general question. 

[cindylouwho2 · Accepted solution]

I've had to do this several times, including for some innocuous questions. It's been happening for years, and is not necessarily related to the topic.

[GalleryAntiques]

I have been asked to provide the last four digits of my card on file. I did not see a problem with it, as Etsy is establishing that they are talking to the account holder, not someone pretending to be, like a scammer. I am glad they asked and I expect to be asked some questions to confirm I am the account holder, here on Etsy and other sites.

[hopeandjoystudios]

If YOU reached out via actual Etsy chat, yes that happens.  If someone reached out TO YOU and it wasn't via the Etsy message file that's a scammer. My email became unusable. Even ATT couldn't get it to work and just gave me a new email.  It took forever to get it updated as they send confirmation codes to your old email if you want to change it. I finally got through to chat and asked them to email me on one of my other shop's emails and they passed me on. THEY asked me either for the last 4 of the card on file in that shop or my SSN( can't remember) and the amount of my last deposit.  So yes it does happen. IMO they aren't going to admit to or answer that question or "fix" anything.

[TastefulArtisan]

I got the dreaded "your account has been limited and badges removed" notice this morning and my shop on forced vacay. Apparently the vacay was only about an hour as it was already reopened by the time I got up. My husband had it on his screen to show me. We figure it was down about an hour and a half based on the activity feed of sales & favorites. There were no more than a 2 hour gap so really just a guess.

Since this happened once before, nearly a year to the date, I tried chat, did have to add:
Last 4 of SS# (even though I use EIN)
Last 4 of Bank
Last 4 of Payment Card

Chat was friendly and tried to be helpful but he wasn't able to "fix" getting that error removed and my badges back.

Sent a support request, provided same. Canned response which I politely wrote back that I was confused and had I broken any rules. (no violations, no cases, etc)

While waiting for another auto-response I tried the callback.
Another friendly, polite person who gave me the "escalate" line which I know means we'll get back to you never.
But I did have to provide those 3 things to confirm it was me.

Figured I'd wait it out and try again tomorrow. I was getting orders and my shop was indexed, no funds were put in reserve and my bills are always covered by sales so not a huge deal but I've had SS since the day it was introduced and while I don't mind losing it over something I did, it's annoying to know that not having it could lead to a payment reserve and it would not be something I flipped up. All 3 instances of support confirmed it was an error.

Within an hour, the notice was gone and my badges restored.

It was bizarre. But I've found with Etsy Support, you have to approach it friendly, polite and professional. So far my only 3 times I've needed support, they've handled everything in a reasonably timely manner. 

No complaints but I will admit that I seriously considered day drinking because I was a bit stressed. : )

The only advice I can think of is to be patient, kind, polite and professional. It's hard when feeling like your business, and livelihood, is threatened. Easy to lash out and say impulsive things. But like most people, and while they might not be the best CS around, they are human too.  (mostly!) I knew my chat guy was a human (unless AI has gotten a whole lot smarter) because he made a typo abck and followed up with *back That's usually a human thing not a machine so I'm fairly certain I was chatting with a human once I got past all the bot replies.

All those words to say it's not uncommon to have to give that info but if they ask for full numbers (and absurdly bank balances) then I would instantly suspect scammer.