Listing wrongly deactivated for violating creativity policy

[Printsinthegarden]

I have had a listing deactivated for being in violation of creativity standards, it appears from other posts in the forums that I am far from alone. The listing is a set of 3 art prints. The art prints contain illustrations of animal characters that I have digitally drawn myself and print in my home. I was very shocked to see this listing has been deactivated as it was a best seller and the safari characters depicted in the prints are featured across a wide range of other products that I make. These items include numerous art prints, baby grows, baby shawls and t-shirts, all products that are included in my safari themed range which demonstrate a level of design consistency throughout my store. As an illustrator I am deeply upset to see this has happened as I thought Etsy was on the side of real designers. I did report another sellers listing which featured my illustrations and violated my copyright, I think the seller had taken a screenshot of my images from my product photograph and was selling them as their own. I have considered that they might have reported my item in retaliation but I could be wrong. We all know that images are stolen from Etsy and featured on other market places, I am in the process of trying to have several of my product images removed but I might as well just bang my head against a brick wall, the process is so convoluted and draining. I have emailed Etsy to ask if they can look into this with no response whatsoever, they just send an unhelpful canned response. When is Etsy going to address this problem!! 

[vintageNCtreasures · Accepted solution]

If the listing was removed for violating creativity standards I doubt it was because another seller reported it.
More than likely it was removed because of Etsy's bots finding your photos on other sites (Etsy, Temu, Shein, eBay, Amazon and if you have a website your website.

If your pictures are on other online sites that are not your accounts, you have to file a DMCA with those sites to get them removed and provide proof to Etsy that you have done this.  Without this proof, I doubt Etsy will look into it.
Based on some shops that have posted in the forums, it's like playing whack a mole, get rid of one and 10 more pop up.

If a seller was using "your" photos, and they filed a DMCA with Etsy, you can counter claim the photos were yours.

How to File a DMCA Counter Notice – Etsy Help

From the link above "Unless the complaining party notifies Etsy of legal action seeking a court order to restrain you from infringing activity, you may relist the removed material 10 business days after Etsy processes your counter notice."

And Etsy won't tell you the exact reason why the listings were removed. It could be a number of things.

[ModAngie · Accepted solution]

Hello! We're sorry to hear you're experiencing issues with your listing. We've forwarded your concerns to a specialist team. Thank you! 

Please know we handle support inquiries privately per our Community Policy – we’re closing this thread, so you can get the support you need from us directly.