Listings deactivated due to handmade policy my images stollen and used on other websites

[#1]

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this or has any advice for me.

I have been a seller on Etsy since 2010, I make handmade jewelry in a small studio which I was able to open because of my etsy sales. The jewelry is handmade by me, which can easily be seen on my website. I have a jewelers stamp and am registered in Switzerland with metal control.

I have built up my etsy shop for 14 years, taking care to make the best possible items and customer service. I have been a star seller from the beginning and have taken great pride in it.

Recently listings of mine have been deactivated due to handmade policy. These items are made by me, so I could not understand why they would choose these items to deactivate.  Then the next day more were deactivated and two days ago I received my last warning and my star seller badge was removed.  Now I wake up in the morning worrying that my shop will be shut down.  A shop that I have been building the last 14 years and have taken so much care with.

I did a bit of research and I think what may have happened ( it is the only thing that makes sense) is that with reverse photo search, I have seen that discount websites have stollen my images and used them on their site such as Temu, Alibaba and Co. So I am thinking that the Etsy bot found these images on othere sites and assumed I am re-selling these items on my etsy shop.

I have written etsy support twice but have not received a reply and now I am just so worried that my shop will be shut down, it is really a stressful situation because this shop is my lively hood and all the items deactivated are made by me.

I wish I could speak to someone from Etsy but all I seem to be able to do is contact support and hope they react before another image is found that someone has stollen from my website. I strive to take the best possible images for my shop as Etsy wishes us to do .... and they are being stollen.

In the meantime, I have deactivated a number of my items which I found images used on reverse image search.  This must all just be a Technical issue - no?

Does anyone have any advise for me or has gone throught the same thing? Can anyone help?

[KoroniCreations]

So sorry that this is happening to you and to us all!!! I totally agree with the @ValkyriesSong last respond - it is not worth it anymore! This whole situation is taking so much time and mental health instead of focusing on your work, on your customer service, social media ets. I have just deactivated myself more than 100 of my jewelry listings because I am afraid after receiving 2 emails for `handmade policy violation` because of stolen by temu photos my whole shop would be closed... I left only the supplies listings as they are not followed by these Etsy bots. Etsy may not replay at all on the help requests - last year they fired almost all of their staff replacing them with AI system. There were announcements about this. There are no many people left and I guess there are hundreds / thousands similar help requests to their support every day. The support just may not respond on time before their crazy bots suspend the total shop! And yes, etsy phone number is for certain countries and my country is not included, too. I chatted with them a few times and all I received was `we do care for our sellers and will look and your case soon`. Even if they resume the removed listings you cannot be sure there will not be more `violations` for another listings with stolen photos tomorrow! I spent so much time and nerves on this issue instead of working on my own site! I have been on etsy for more than 8 years with a few shops for different products and I am absolutely disappointed and frustrated! 🤦‍🤦‍🤦‍ 

[VivienFrankDesigns]

Hi Koroni

Thanks for your reply. I have also deactivated so many listings because these images are on Temu and co. I have started take down requests but it is endless.

Does anyone have any tips how I can get a reply from Etsy? My country is not listed for live chat or phone calls. Anywhere else I can try?

[IntheWitchwood]

I don't think there is any other way to contact them for those of us who don't have access to live chat or phone calls. From what I have seen in the forums those avenues are useless anyway.

I'm still waiting on a response too about my deactivated listing (same one deactivated a second time after resolving the first time after 4 months).

Last time I opened three help requests, each was closed down and marked as solved after 4 weeks without any contact.

[VivienFrankDesigns]

Hi Inthewitchwood

How long did it take to get a response?

[IntheWitchwood]

About four months after I opened a fourth help request (after the other three were shutdown).

[openthecellardoor]

VivienFrankDesigns, I see you have your badges back, congratulations!!! 

How were you able to finally resolve with Etsy? I've been waiting 15 days since my first help request and I've provided Etsy with a ridiculous amount of proof. I've had serious issues with my photos being stolen by AliExpress, DHGate, Wish, Temu, and even other Esty sellers for about 5 years now. It's exhausting.

I use components in some of my pieces that I have purchased from jewelry supply shops (most of them on Etsy). My listings are fully transparent, I have all jewelry supply stores included as a production partners. 

Like all of you, my stress level is through the roof. 

[VivienFrankDesigns]

Hi Openthecellardoor

Yeah, I got it back finally yesterday!  It took about 4 weeks to get a reply. Unfortunately they did not re-instate all my listings ( probably just missed them) so need to write them back again today. I was on pins and needles since I was on my last notice. I deactivated a lot of my listing which I found out to my horror that images were stollen ( so many of them) , I was worried that the bot would find one more and then my shop would be shut down. I think all you can do is be patient. I wrote them every second day or so to let them know I still need help on my ticket. That was all I could do.

Wish you good luck, I am confident with all your proof that your listings will be activated again.

[openthecellardoor]

I'm so happy you got your badges back, we work WAY too hard to have those stripped away! They say Star Seller status doesn't affect the algorithm but I saw an almost immediate dip in sales and views after they were removed.

I've been adding to my ticket almost every day. I'm hoping they get so tired of me that they'll deal with me just to make me stop bugging them!!

Fingers crossed Etsy will get it together and stop penalizing us for being victimized. They really need to remember who makes them money every day/pays exorbitant fees and employ actual humans to evaluate any suspected violations before taking any actions. We deserve better than this!

[CraftyCornishMaids]

there is nothing to have to work hard about for star seller

ship on time with tracking 

reply to each new message thread in 24 hours

none of that should be hard or difficult

the review ones - we can get bad reviews for no reason, however "hard" we work 

none of it is hard work, is just ordinary stuff for 2 of them, and the reviews land as they will.

none of it is any different, from what I was doing before etsy started give us star seller, or not

[openthecellardoor]

I have run my shop like that from day one, none of my actions changed with the Star Seller program. We all know that balancing a million tasks to run a successful shop is hard work! Not everyone runs their shop properly, the badges at least give customers some security that we know what we're doing. Having them revoked is insulting and makes our shops look unprofessional and less trustworthy.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

star seller is not worth the pixels it is made of

millions of sellers here don't send tracked, because of the expense of it in most countries, so millions of very trustworthy shops don't have it.

and you can get a 1 star because sellers don't understand how to choose the rating properly, or they buy a knitting pattern and say they can't use it, because they can't knit.

Mine comes and goes, it has no affect on sales at all, and it is not an indicator, if I am trustworthy

However much extra work I put in, it will have no affect whatsoever on the badge, so it would be pointless.

I ignore it, much less stressful than working hard for something you can't do anything about.