Listing removed in error

[NatureScapesStudio1]

A bot removed my listing for a magnetic clasp that is the EXACT SAME product shown in 25 OTHER shops  + 40 with closely similar magnets that violate their stated bans. Not to mention the 10 pages of magnetic clasps with small parts and strong magnets (against their rules) One of the shops has been on etsy since 2014 but even though I have been on etsy  since 2009 and just happed to post a magnetic clasp yesterday a bot removed it! I have 5 - FIVE - clasps that I am destashing. The non-support run around seems to have stymied a lot of people. Once upon a time, 2021, there was ACTUAL people in support, because I have a record of talking to someone then. 

Advice - do I just relist it by cleaning up the wording to match those allowed and disguising the photos more. Or let it go. I am using Etsy to sell off supplies I have had in my studio. I have paid them a lot in fees for doing this but it has become the only way to sell these items because FB and any other social media is useless. I am NOT a reseller of these products on a regular basis. According to what is posted and what is actually done there is no way to determine the REAL rules being used and misinterpreted by their ai.

I also have no faith in these forums. 

So don't refer me to their obscure and convoluted 'rules' page. I have read the rule and there is NO WAY they can tell what I or anyone else has is what they are banning.  I recognize this is all a result of AI taking over.

I have read of people being persistent in sending/replying to emails to get to a person, but that was last year and they  don't take reply emails now.

Is there an opening  in the armor somewhere to get thru to a human?

How do you get thru? 

[GieseDeseiGns]

So you got caught they didn't yet, so you want help to disguise yours so you can list illegally too, is that how I read your post?.

[MathewandMarieCo]

This is incorrect

[PlatypusDream]

Don't sell them here unless you want trouble - your items pulled, the rest of your items throttled in search, losing the possibility to get Star Seller badges... it's simply not worth it.

You only have 5 of them. It's not a huge loss to give up on selling them here.

Other people selling identical items is no excuse. Did your mother ever say "if your friends jumped off a cliff would you too?"

[OneEyeCatStudio]

"I also have no faith in these forums. "

Got it. Etsy says .....

• Don't engage in illegal activity or activity that infringes someone's intellectual property, or encourage others to engage in that type of activity.
• Don't use community spaces to encourage others to violate Etsy's policies.

https://www.etsy.com/ie/legal/community/#:~:text=To%20make%20sure%20that%20the,public%20areas%20of%2...

[Marmalady]

It was not removed in error

It was removed because it is against the rules

The bots tend to go for the easy targets first -- the ones that are newly listed, or recently edited.
But they will get round to all the other shops that are selling them in time

Yours was removed today. Others will be removed tomorrow, next week, next month.
You did not see the ones removed yesterday

"Etsy prohibits certain loose or separable high-powered magnets that fit into a 2.25 inches long and 1.25 inches wide “small parts” cylinder and have a flux of 50 kG2 mm2 or more, because of the safety risk they pose if swallowed.

from: What Can I Sell on Etsy? – Etsy

[LastCentury]

what is more heartbreaking?

A - posting in a forum where you have no faith, to get support? 

B - taking other people's word for it when they say they get zero response from support but not trying yourself and including all the pertinent details to support your case if you truly believe it is legit to be sold within etsy's terms and not by what is being sold on etsy by other sellers?

C - the loss of earning literally 10s of cents on that deactivated destash listing?

[Adorabilities]

I also have no faith in these forums. 

I don't understand why you'd say that, when you're asking us (other sellers) to help you, using the forum. If you already know you're not going to take any advice here, why request it?

[PrairiePrimitives]

@Adorabilities Because it's TVP?

[Adorabilities]

@PrairiePrimitives 

Maybe, but still seems counterproductive for that too.

[MathewandMarieCo]

They hit me for mine. You need to battle them and show them the details. I know it frustrating. This AM they took down my best selling booking necklace that they tried to get me to enter in the Etsy Awards thing last year. lol Unreal. They do no watch the bots at all.

[FallenAngelBrass]

---

@MathewandMarieCo wrote:

This AM they took down my best selling booking necklace that they tried to get me to enter in the Etsy Awards thing last year. lol 

---

Etsy sends that encouragement e-mail to everyone, I believe. 

[audreytherese]

@FallenAngelBrass They don't. Some of us are blacklisted forever and have never received anything remotely encouraging like that. 

[PrairiePrimitives]

@FallenAngelBrass Maybe not everyone. Don't think I've received this type of email? At least not recommending I enter a specific item in the Etsy Awards. But Etsy doesn't know what to make of the primitive / folk art style; they never have. 

[MathewandMarieCo]

No, they contacted me multiple times trying, but thanks 

[cindylouwho2]

@MathewandMarieCo me too, for the same listing every year, which would never win an award LOL!

They do this for most Etsy's Picks listings, for example. And yes, multiple times. 

[cindylouwho2]

@NatureScapesStudio1  Some people in this thread are wrong - magnetic clasps are not against the rules. Only certain types of magnets are against the rules: https://www.etsy.com/legal/prohibited/

"Etsy prohibits certain loose or separable high-powered magnets that fit into a 2.25 inches long and 1.25 inches wide “small parts” cylinder and have a flux of 50 kG2 mm2 or more, because of the safety risk they pose if swallowed." I've personally never seen any magnetic jewellery clasps that meet those specs. Flux for most magnetic clasps is not that high.  @Marmalady @GieseDeseiGns 

I had one of mine removed and was able to get it reinstated within a week. Feel free to contact me if you need help.

"do I just relist it by cleaning up the wording to match those allowed and disguising the photos more" Do not relist; let Etsy reinstate the listing. You can get your shop closed if you keep listing things they have removed. 

[NatureScapesStudio1]

Thank you. I sent you a message on your shop. Didn't know you could reply here so sorry to mess up your status counts. Yes, I believe that you are correct. I ignore the ones who just like to hear themselves talk. Being able to evaluate the exact content of what they are saying and not saying is key. I did get a live person to reply to my questions, but they offered no help at all except to say it was up to me to follow the rule, but couldn't explain the definition or parameters  of the rule, just repeat the statement. Like everyone should have it at their fingertips.  Just it's our rule, you have to do it even if others don't. and yes, I found over 50 listings combined that were the exact same magnetic clasps I had PLUS the loose magnets that fit the rule better. Of course etsy doesn't care.  So there you have it, their blatant preferential treatment of certain sellers over others. I have disliked etsy for years, but find myself needing to sell these items and this is the only place that people come to buy what I am clearing out. I don't know how anyone sells any real art here and make anything at it. There is always some rule that etsy comes up with on the fly. I've probably lost the option to get it reinstated now and I'm sure I'm flagged. There is a problem with a service company who has to have hundreds of pages of rules yet cant follow them themselves. It would be nice to know the steps for protesting a removal and how to get a reinstatement. thank you for  your reply.

[cindylouwho2]

@NatureScapesStudio1 "their blatant preferential treatment of certain sellers over others" It's just bad Support, not preferential treatment. All the takedowns are done by bots, not humans. 

Your magnets are not as strong as the flux requirements that are banned. That is the only point you need to keep making. 

I have replied to your Message. Good luck! 

[BagmakerSupply]

@NatureScapesStudio1: "... their blatant preferential treatment of certain sellers over others." Unlikely that this applies in this situation, but rather that the trigger which flagged your listing has not yet been run against those other listings or the trigger included an element which is not present in those other listings.

It is almost impossible to speculate on EXACTLY why a particular listing was deactivated. Additionally, we will not know how many other listings were deactivated using the same trigger - only those that appear to not have been.

[DragonFireGlass]

@NatureScapesStudio1  Do not relist, Etsy may just close your shop. Try listing those on eBay or just throw them out. 

Just because others are doing it, doesn't mean anything, don't ever look at anything like that. Someone just jumped off the cruise ship, would you?

[cindylouwho2]

@DragonFireGlass "Try listing those on eBay or just throw them out. " As I explained above, this is bots gone amok yet again. I had a takedown myself and got it restored in a week, because there are no magnetic clasps I have ever seen that meet the flux requirement banned on Etsy. 

She should not relist, but she should challenge this black mark on her shop. Too many of those and you do get closed.