Listings not appearing in store - new shop - Please help!

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

Hi Everyone!

I'm extremely new to selling on Etsy and just created/opened my store over the weekend but I'm having some problems I'm hoping you might be able to help me with!

As part of the initial shop creation it had me create a first listing - I went through the whole process and now have the 1 'Active' listing visible in my Shop Manager. When I try view the listing however it just gives the error "Sorry, this item is unavailable in your region.". I don't recall making my item only available to specific regions anywhere when creating it. 

The item also isn't showing up on my store page, it just says "No items listed at this time". I assume Etsy might have some kind of listing review process where they have to review new listings for any IP/Copyright/etc. violations and approve them before they're actually made live/visible and maybe this process takes longer if you're a new seller but I can't seem to find any information on that or how long it might take?

I did try google my problem and found some people saying its a bug and try deactivate and reactivate the listing and that should make it appear in the store - I have tried this but it hasn't seemed to make any difference. 

Am I doing something wrong? Does it just take a while for the first listing to be made live/available? I'm getting a bit stressed as I've paid all the fees for creating a shop and listing the item and everything but it's not working and I have no idea why! Please help! 

Thank you!!

[CappuccinoLace]

What was the item?

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

A crochet plushie (of grim reaper if that makes any difference??).

[BagmakerSupply]

@CraftyPandaCrochets: We can see your listing just fine. You should familiarize yourself with the United Kingdom laws about selling knives, etc and why Etsy makes those listings "unavailable" in some places. Very likely your listing is the victim of a false positive because of the word 'sword' in the title.

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

@BagmakerSupply Oh I didn't even think of that! As I said I am completely new to Etsy (and selling things online generally) so that didn't occur to me at all. I'll change the title and see if that makes it visible for me. 

Thank you so much for the input and taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it! 

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

@BagmakerSupply - OK I'm a bit at a loss with what to do now. I tried editing my listing to completely remove the word 'sword' - it's still not visible to me. 

I contacted Etsy support and all they could do was confirm there is a restriction on my listing (for the UK only apparently) but they were completely unable to tell me what the restriction is or why it was applied in the first place. There are plenty of listings visible in the UK that contains the word sword (key chains / jewelry / even massive replica swords!) so there isn't a default blanket ban on anything sword related for the UK. 

I can't understand what about my listing is causing it to be restricted - its just a crochet plushie and Etsy are apparently incapable (or unwilling) of clarifying either. How can they not know why their own system has flagged a listing for restriction?? Etsy seemed unwilling to help or clarify things any further and simply terminated the chat on me, which is kind of unbelievable to be honest. 

I could try create a new listing but without understanding how and why the restriction has been applied it might just happen again and I'm throwing more money down the drain!

[BagmakerSupply]

@CraftyPandaCrochets: Once a listing has been flagged, it may take some time for changes to be reflected to a shopper.

"How can they not know why their own system has flagged a listing ..." It appears that much of customer service is outsourced and they seem to be limited in what they are allowed to "see" and / or "fix".

[Marmalady]

Yes, anything with sword or knife or similar in title tags description -- or even anything that looks like one in a photo will remove the item from visibility in the UK

Also --make sure you get your shop legal under UK regulations:
a) Return Policy -- buyers have minimum 14 days after receipt to inform you of intent to return for full refund, a further 14 days to actually return. Choose the 30 day option on Etsy.  Buyer to pay return postage. Without this policy buyers have a full year to request a refund and you have to pay return postage if you want it back
b) GDPR compliant Privacy policy -- Etsy have a template,
c) Address & contact info of where you conduct your business. Etsy have a Sellers Details section in their Policy template

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

@Marmalady 

Thank you for your detailed reply and input, I do appreciate it but I can't see how use of the word sword was the reason. 

I've just searched 'sword' on Etsy and they evidently aren't restricted on UK Etsy - there is absolutely loads of listings using the word sword with clear pictures of swords including massive replicas!  

This for example is visible to me in the UK:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1538738182/anduril-sword-of-strider-with-free?ga_order=most_relevant...

My shop page is visible to me in the UK - so its not the entire shop that is being restricted - just my listing apparently. 

A) I selected the default 30 day Returns and Exchanges policy Etsy provided - I assume this is OK. I've actually found UK Etsy listings that state they DO NOT accept any Returns or Exchanges. 

B) I don't see how not having a GDPR Complaint Privacy Policy would be restricting my listing. The shop of the link I provided above is based in the UK and doesn't provide this anywhere I can find. 

C) I'm not sure about this to be honest or how much information I'm supposed to provide to buyers about what my address is. Its visible that its Derby in the United Kingdom - which is more details than some other shops seem to provide. 

I really can't see how I'm doing anything wrong or different to any of the other listings I'm seeing on UK Etsy and Etsy themselves seem unable or just unwilling to help. 

[Marmalady]

@CraftyPandaCrochets 

I am also in the UK -- so I see your shop page with no listings.

It could be that the listings you see currently available have already been reviewed by Etsy and deemed allowable. But any new listing will be restricted until it has been reviewed -- which may take a few days. Nothing is instant on Etsy!

As for the Policies -- this will not be the reason your listings will not be visible, but something that may cause you trouble in future if they are not right.

As I can't see any listings, I cannot see what return policy you have -- if you have got 30 days, that's great!

And yes, you will see other UK shops with illegal policies such as no Privacy Policy or incomplete address details -- but that does not make it right!
You do need your full physical address and either email or phone number under the Sellers Details section of policies. Just saying "Derby" is not sufficient.

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

@BagmakerSupply 

It won't let me to reply to your last message but hopefully you see this! 

"Once a listing has been flagged, it may take some time for changes to be reflected to a shopper." - so presumably my original listing might, at some point, be visible in the UK? Will updating it trigger some kind of new review process? Or is it just going to be permanently restricted now?

As I said swords definitely aren't blanket restricted in the UK on Etsy so I still don't know why mine was a problem unless it was just a weird false positive as you originally mentioned (maybe being a brand new shop didn't help with that) and Etsy support just couldn't do anything about it directly. I'd like to escalate this further but I'm not sure how to go about doing that? 

[BagmakerSupply]

@CraftyPandaCrochets: The best we can ever do is infer or guess how Etsy does anything. And if you read between the lines of Etsy's reports you will see that false positives are a major issue.

Most triggers are probably not as simple as a single word, and it would be logical that a shop's age would be a factor.

Without getting into a discussion of what is fair or right or if your listing should be flagged, the fact that there are other shops selling similar items only means that they have not been caught yet, or those listings may not contain the same trigger that snared you. Additionally, we will not know how many other listings were flagged and / or deactivated using the same trigger - only those that appear to not have been. The bots seem to check when a listing is created, renewed and / or edited.

Etsy seems to adopt a "better safe than sorry" approach and acts to protect itself first.

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

@Marmalady 

Thank you again for taking the time to reply! 

"It could be that the listings you see currently available have already been reviewed by Etsy and deemed allowable. But any new listing will be restricted until it has been reviewed -- which may take a few days. Nothing is instant on Etsy!"  - that makes sense thank you! I assumed there is some kind of review process but wasn't able to find anything concrete. If using the word sword caused some kind of immediate flag and restriction (until its been reviewed and deemed allowable) that's understandable, it just seems odd that is only been restricted in the UK and not anywhere else - and why wasn't Etsy support able to provide that guidance/information? "It's been temporarily restricted due to a trigger word until it's been manually reviewed which may take x days" seems like something they should be able clarify, especially to a new Seller! 

I appreciate your input and guidance RE policies - it's not something I had thought about yet but I do want to get it right going forward (if that's even something I want to do). I completely agree that just because other's aren't doing it correctly doesn't make it right or excuse me from doing things properly. Honestly I just setup the shop over the weekend because people had taken an interest in this specific crochet plushie and asked if it was available on Etsy. I figured I'd set up a shop and see what the whole platform was about - I wasn't even necessarily ready to make and post a listing but Etsy had me create the listing as part of the initial shop creation! I assumed it would be a draft or something until I was ready to 'Go Live' with it - I was surprised when the listing was made 'Active' as part of this set up but I let it ride on the assumption no one would likely find or buy it anyway (I was just going to directly share the link with the interested people when I was actually ready).

I've not been crochetting long but people have been showing an interest in the things I've been making so I was only just starting to think about the opportunities to make and sell to a wider audience via Etsy. I haven't really considered the details of being a business or 'proper shop' and so far the experience has left me confused, frustrated, overwhelmed and disheartened but I appreciate your time and effort in trying to guide and support me. 

[Marmalady]

"it just seems odd that is only been restricted in the UK and not anywhere else"

That is because most knives and bladed items are age-restricted in the UK

As there is no way that Etsy can verify the age of a purchaser they have gone the blunt instrument route of banning anything that even looks like a knife from being visible in the UK -- even vintage (blunt) butter knives!

Etsy can be hard work -- but once you get the hang of it can be very rewarding!

[UppNorthEh]

I'm in Canada.  I see your item and can put it in my cart or buy it now if that helps.

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

@UppNorthEh 

Thank you - I appreciate you taking the time to verify that and reply to this thread to let me know. 

Etsy support confirmed its only restricted in the UK but they are unable to actually confirm WHY its restricted, which is very frustrating. 

Current assumption is the use of the word 'Sword' in the original listing caused it to be flagged and restricted - presumably until its been manually reviewed. I have since updated the listing and removed the word Sword but its still not visible in the UK. Currently waiting to see if they review it and remove the restriction but I have no idea how long that might take.

I am tempted to create a new listing and see if that works but it's more money down the drain if not! 

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

@Marmalady 

"As there is no way that Etsy can verify the age of a purchaser they have gone the blunt instrument route of banning anything that even looks like a knife from being visible in the UK -- even vintage (blunt) butter knives!" 

That's understandable and I don't disagree with it. If the policy is to temp restrict all these listings until they've been reviewed and deemed acceptable I can understand and appreciate the reasons why that's necessary. I even understand why that review process might take longer for a brand new shop with no prior history of acceptable listings/behaviour - I am a complete unknown and probably at the very bottom of Etsy's priority list! It's just very frustrating they couldn't clarify any of this themselves and it's still unclear what, if anything, is happening with my listing. I just have to wait and see or take the chance on creating a new listing and seeing if that works OK. 

[Marmalady]

Another new shop also affected: Re: Sorry, this item is unavailable in your region... - Welcome to the Etsy Community

[CraftyPandaCrochets]

That is unfortunate for them.

Thank you for sharing though, I've left a comment on it.  

[WalDarkShop]

hm

[LiliumDesignsUK]

I can see that you have two products in your shop, so did you manage to sort this out and get your listing reinstated after renaming/removing reference to sword? Or did you have to relist as a new product?

 Ive just discovered three of my products have been affected