Is anyone having a very difficult time with Etsy customer support lately?

[AntiqueSportsShop]

They are not responding to my emails regarding an important issue with my seller account.  I had someone on the phone with etsy 2 weeks ago, who told me an account specialist would reach out which they never did, nor have they responded to my last couple help requests.  I've been an etsy seller for a long time and have been extremely disappointed and frustrated.  Has anyone else had an issue like this?

[ThePurplePuppy]

So far I have been lucky--mainly in that I have not had to try to contact them.

However--there are posts like yours all over the forum. Apparently Etsy essentially has no support--not even for very serious things like hacked accounts.

ETA: IT's possible someone here in the forum could help by answering your question (if any), unless it has to do with finances--only Etsy can do finances.

[NoFrogsAllowed]

Unless my shop was hacked, I wouldn't even try to contact Etsy, I figure out how to solve my own difficulties.  It's a lot less aggravating.  

[ThePurplePuppy]

@NoFrogsAllowed 

Same with me--only time in 12 years in this shop I ever contacted help was last summer during the evacuation--I found then that all that accomplished was to make the problem worse.

So I now do workarounds for everything--and like you, I would probably only try to contact them in case of a hack.

And speaking of a hack, see my question below?

[MirageRiverCreations]

@NoFrogsAllowed Agreed. Even when I couldn't deactivate listings, I asked here before going to Etsy and then waited a weekend for them to fix the site problems many sellers were having that weekend. Sometimes this year I even found the Help Center down entirely, even just to search for articles. Just the Oopsie page. Ridiculous.

[PlatypusDream]

Yes.

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/Hacked-shops-Etsy-Support-not-helping/m-p/140063249...

[AAANativeArts]

When don't  you have trouble getting a straight answer from a real person at Etsy? Are you sending all  your inquires from the same request? If  you open a new email request, they will assume the original problem was solved, so they will close that one and move you to the back of the line because they consider it a new question. It can take 10 days for them to answer  your original request. If they don't answer your question, keep replying to that email with I Still Need Help in the subject line.

[IvoryCatCreations]

I have been trying since July to get a pendant necklace reactivated...so no

[MiladysSewingBasket]

@AAANativeArts 

But a customer shouldnt have to go this.  If an organisation (any organisation in any country) cant afford to provide adequate online customer  service (AI bots, one issue per ticket responses, cases, canned responses, refusal to provide direct means of contact all fall into the category of pseudo customer service IMO - none of these things are an adequate substitute for a well-trained customer service representative) they should be downgrading their greed for money and operating at a level where they can provide adequate service and no customer should ever tolerate less. IMO

[AAANativeArts]

@MiladysSewingBasket

You are right. None of us should have to go through this blatant lack of customer service for sellers. Especially when they penalize us if we don't give top notch customer service to our clients.

I was just stating, in reality, this is what I have come to expect from them. I don't know what we can do to make them uphold their responsibility to us.

[LastTangoVintage]

How in the world did you get a phone number and access to a human????

[TheRecipePreserve]

I just start a chat in the help center. And if chat isn't available, I try a similar Help category to find one that has the chat line open. Or, wait until chat is available. Waiting for the chat is easier than waiting for an email. I've rarely had luck with Etsy email correspondence.

[VittoriaColona]

How do you find a chat option?

[cindylouwho2]

@VittoriaColona @TheRecipePreserve lots of people do not get chat as an option, ever. 

[AntiqueSportsShop]

The problem does involve finances, a suspected hacked account with banking information that was changed.  I cannot change the account back to my account because I don't know the acct number of the hacked account.  Initially when I went through the help section there was a have us call you option.  That option is now gone, and the number they called from does not take calls.  I sent an email, which they responded to asking for me to verify some information which I did.  That was 10 days ago, and have not heard back.  Very frustrating when this time of year is busy with sales for me, and I have no idea if the money is on hold, going to a hacker bank account, etc. I am going to start a new post hoping a moderator can assist me.

[nineteen27]

@AntiqueSportsShop 

@ModFabio 

can you help this seller with a suspected hacked account?

he does not seem to be having much luck with etsy support.

[AntiqueSportsShop]

By the way, I was hoping for a chat option but I cannot find one even in unrelated help categories

[cindylouwho2]

Sorry this is happening to you! Giving it a boost for visibility, as another one in the forum got solved today (solution in progress)

They also had to wait over a week after verifying information. 

[AntiqueSportsShop]

Thanks Cindy Lou.  I wouldn't have an issue with waiting for help if I knew there wasn't a chance the hacker account was getting my funds.  Hard to keep listing, packing and shipping, not knowing whats going on.

[cindylouwho2]

@AntiqueSportsShop that is a very fair point. I hope this gets resolved soon! 

[ThePurplePuppy]

I have a question pretty much related to this:  I see a several people posting that their accounts were hacked and the bank account changed. I keep wondering how this happens? We all know that it is not easy to change a bank account. Right now, during this verification process especially.

For starters they would have to have your Etsy info and hack into your account, then one has to have the OLD BA number  and put it in first before proceeding to change to the new--therefore the hacker would need your old BA number. In order to get this I would think they either know you well enough to know this, have in their possession a check you have written   or have to have put a keystroke logger on your device   and you use online banking.  And if they had all this information I would think they would also be cleaning out your bank account, not dinked around with your Etsy account.

Just have been real curious about this.

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@ThePurplePuppy Whilst in no way trying to dismiss the concerns of people who are recently reporting "hacked" Shops in which the Bank Account details have been changed, I, too, wonder about the motivation of these "hackers".

Surely, if the "hacker" had enough information about the Seller, the Shop  and the Bank Account then cleaning out the Bank Account would net them more money, more quickly, than adding product to a Shop and waiting for it to sell?

Are they just hoping that the real  Shop Owner faiis to notice until after a deposit?

The only way this would work in the short term is to target a high volume Shop with hundreds of Sales a day. But such a Shop is unlikely to be unattended for long and the "hack" would be quickly detected.

And for unattended Shops / low volume Sellers surely the $$s involved would be hardly worth the time it woud take to set up the "hack"?

I am not, for one minute, doubting that this is happening. Recently we had the SVG "hackers" but these people were just using vacant / unattended Shops to redirect Buyers to the "hackers'" websites.

The current reports are concerning changed Bank Accounts and I just do not see how this could happen or, even, why a "hacker" would spend so much time and effort for so little (potential) reward.

[ThePurplePuppy]

@CarpetCollectionAU 

Yes, everything you point out is  what I am wondering also.

And like you I have no doubt it is happening and is most distressing to the  sellers involved--but the question arises--why?  Because yes, they could get a lot more money by cleaning out the bank account itself.

Just puzzled.

[HarmonyThreads]

I don't think emptying someone's bank account is as easy as just having their account number. It isn't like bank account numbers are top secret information - it's printed on every check you write (not that we write many nowadays). Banks have more stops in place, unlike etsy. I assume these bank account hacks are something to do with money laundering. Change the bank account and then use the shop to process stolen credit cards. You now have a legit account full of legit money.

The question is why doesn't etsy have a dedicated chat, phone number, something for theft/fraud/hacked accounts. This should be top priority. 

[AAANativeArts]

@ThePurplePuppy

@CarpetCollectionAU

Most likely this starts with a keylogger placed on your computer from an email you opened or a bad website you visited.

You are likely to notice right away if  your bank account gets cleaned out. May be your bank will even call you. But many people don't pay that much attention to their Etsy accounts, especially if they aren't making regular sales. It may be months before they notice. Even if they do, by the time Etsy Support gets around to looking into it, they have already had time to steal several or more deposits. By then the hacker has probably moved on to a new target so there is less chance they will get caught.

Even with sellers who make a lot of sales, one day or week might be enough to get a substantial amount of money.

It's a numbers game. Some people will  notice right away but others won't.

They probably have a script that guesses account numbers and occasionally it guesses right.

Maybe they stole your bank statement out of your mailbox and got an account number. It most likely says right on the statement who you are getting payments from.

Maybe they are a family member or neighbor or friend who has access to your house or computer. Maybe a relative is on drugs, or whatever. Or a teen or ex who doesn't care about the consequences for you.

Could be  your housekeeper or a serviceman or  a store clerk where you paid with a check. Lots of possibilities.

Your first and best protection online   is to have a strong anti-virus checker installed on your computer before you ever venture online.