Listings deactivated for using the word amber to describe glass bead colour

[ReweavingTheRainbow]

Hi, I had a listing deactivated for using the word amber to describe the colour of glass beads in my design, and the email said it was my responsibility to check through my other listings. I used the find and replace function in edit listings to remove the word amber from any other listings, but any listings it found with the word amber have now also been deactivated.  I am extremely concerned that my shop will now be suspended for continuing to violate Etsy policy, but I never listed any actual amber beads for sale, all my items are made of glass beads.  Please help! 

[GalleryAntiques]

Ask Etsy to manually check them, so they will reactivate them, do not relist them, wait. It woul probably be best to use a different term to describe the colour of the beads, like yellow, deep yellow/orange, etc.

[JDTotesnDolls]

The bot is designed to look for the word amber and not to make decisions on whether or not it is a color or an actual bead.

Contact Etsy and ask them to manually review the listings and with the removal of the word, they may okay a relist, 

[TheBeckoningCat]

Received a deactivation notice from Etsy regarding the word "amber" appearing in my description. I cannot get thru to Support by any means.  In my description of the bracelet, I mentioned that the Swarovski squares were of an "amber color". Swarovski, to my knowledge, does not offer any crystals made from amber. I have since changed the description to "honey brown color". Perhaps in the future, when your "bot" or algorithm comes up with results for people selling "amber" a human actually review them to determine whether actual amber is being sold. I just did a simple search for the word "amber" and came up with over 132,000 results, just in the US alone. The people who are selling Amber Heard T-shirts will have to revise their listings as Johnny Depp's ex-wife.  

[BlackberryDesigns]

I would get rid of the word Swarovski, also.  I got hit on that one from my website.  Apparently since making the shift and removing their crystals for sale to the artists, they are doubling down on their brand name and do not want it associated with us little guys.

[GlassSlippersByJane]

Yes, this has happened to me a couple of times now. I just sat it out until a "person" got around to reviewing the listing, and it was re-instated. I did go through my listings and change the colour to honey or whatnot, to avoid the hassle in future.

[RiverCityJAC]

Warm honey brown.

[KnotOriginal]

I've had that all of a sudden happen to yarn bundles that I've been selling here for years. After a human reviews your item and determines it okay it will just appear in your shop for sale. It takes 2-3 days. You won't get an alert or update email so keep checking your shop and then edit out the word amber. I forgot to edit mine and when it went to auto relist after selling the whole deactivation process started again.

[Annieoakley2000]

It's all very well to tell a seller that the word "Amber" either in describing a stone or used as a color is no longer allowed by Etsy, (Etsy's rules/Etsy's policies/ Etsy's email regarding this subject), but if Etsy did their due diligence and followed their own policies, they can quite easily see that there are still 166,935 listings on Etsy with the word "Amber" in it.

If a so called bot sweeps their site, these listings would no longer exist, so why are only certain seller singled out (and heavily chastised) to have these listings removed.

Don't give me the policeman analogy as Etsy is the actual policeman (bot) and can see everyone speeding at the same time, but only pulls over a handful of drivers.

If this is not discrimination, please tell me what it is !

[KnotOriginal]

@Annieoakley2000, The word "amber" IS allowed. A bot deactivates listings with the word and then a human comes along to determine if the listing complies with Etsy's terms regarding amber stones/beads. The listings in compliance are reactivated by Etsy within days.

[Vintagecountdown]

I had some vintage drinking glasses that I listed as amber colour in the title. After I removed the word ‘amber’ for fear of Etsy deactivating it, they sold right away!

[CarnivorousThings]

I had one listing in my shop with amber (it was a glass bottle filled with amber and the cork glued in) and it repeatedly got deactivated by a bot, then reactivated by a human about four times in a couple of months before I decided it wasn’t worth the problems and just deleted it.

once a bot tags one of your items for an amber violation, even if it gets reinstated, any time you try to edit the listing, it seems to automatically get deactivated until Etsy can have a live person ‘approve’ the changes to that listing. I tried to make my listing more clear, that they were not even beads (undrilled) that could be strung, and that the bottle cork was glued in, and the listing just deactivated. I’m assuming this is to prevent sellers from trying to sidestep the rules by getting creative with their listings.

[pasttopresentsupply]

I have had the same problem.  Algorithms need to change.  Sometimes amber is the best word to describe your beads.  Very disappointed with poor oversight.  Elaine

[Annieoakley2000]

Etsy is inconsistent in nearly everything they do; they predictably made a mess of the Amber situation as well.

All their flowery talk about protecting their site is mostly double talk; they remove listings with the word Amber (and not just the word Amber, plenty of other words as well), then re-instate them, then de-activate them again; sometimes several times over a period of many months ........

How are sellers supposed to deal with this time and time again and not get frustrated or frightened, as the Etsy emails pertaining to these issues are not exactly friendly or helpful in any shape or form.

Next Etsy sends me a lengthy questionnaire that I am one of the chosen ones to fill in how best to help Etsy improve their site. The email is addressed like I am their best buddy; yet I have received emails from Etsy in the past that are threatening and dismissive, so what gives ???

[Jewels2at]

My first notice, it was about 10 days for them to review.  My second notice was only a couple of days.  They are getting faster. 

I was provided instructions on how to find and change the word "amber" in my descriptions, but apparently it did not work. 

[RedLakeMercantile]

I had this happen twice. I am using “golden yellow” to describe beads.

[Annieoakley2000]

And this is exactly how Etsy discriminates against sellers who have their listings de-activated because it contains the word "Amber" and leaves thousands of other listings up, containing the same word.

If I were a buyer and wanted to buy an Amber necklace, I would type "Amber necklace" into Etsys search engines; I would not type in golden yellow necklace or honey necklace or light brown necklace or yellow gold tone necklace or whatever else hybrid words we have to now use.

By typing in Amber necklace, I get 35,013 listings I can make a choice from, so these 35.000 + listings have a distinct advantage over the sellers that have been rapped over the knuckles for using the same word.

You may get your listing re-instated for a short space of time, but that is never a given and mainly depending on Etsy's whimsical approach and nothing to do with fairness and equitability.

[CuriosAnCollectibles]

It's bonkers that you can't use the word Amber, to describe anything.