My Etsy Store was Shut down

[OrnamentsWithPets]

We noticed on our shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/personalizedfree that someone had posted videos to products that were not ours.  They could have been there for months or longer and we didn't know.  We deleted them, after I took pics of the videos, changed our password and then I searched up if others had issues with this same problem.  Found out that there have been and that ETSY told the seller it was a known problem but to let them know if it happens again.  So we let ETSY know we had the same issue but that we reset passwords to be sure someone wasn't on our account.  They replied the next day shutting our site down for suspicious activity.  We have not been able to get any response from ETSY and we messaged them back within the hour of them sending the email asking for proof of ownership, which we answered their questions.  It's now been over 3 days and still our site is shut down.  They had a link in the shutdown message to see updates on the case but we can't see it because we can't log into our acct and they aren't responding to email.  We have customers that we see are trying to message us but again we can't see the messages only that a message was sent. 

We are a star seller and have been on Etsy for 7+ years and in business for almost 30.   We were trying to do the right thing by letting them know of a security issue on Etsy, having nothing to do with us, but are disappointed that this is how they respond to their sellers without any question or warning and just shut us down.  They should be looking into the owners of the product videos that were on our site but didn't even ask for that info.  

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.  I'm just sick over this and not sleeping.  We sell Christmas Ornaments and this is our peak selling season and we lost out on a ton of money over the past few days being shut down and are still not operational.  We know what past sales are this time of year and this is awful timing.   Please let me know if you have any suggestions to get ahold of someone that can actually help at Etsy that can turn the shop back on and retain our star seller status.  

[leinweberstudio]

My guess is that shop was shut down for selling ornaments, just like you are selling ornaments in the one you are posting from.

We are not supposed to sell the same stuff in more than one shop.

For example, I see the same ornament that you have in this shop in the banner of the shut shop.

ETA, your recent activity there, changing password etc., brought attention to that shop which is how they discovered this site violation. They will not help you reopen it.

[moonbeamgifts]

Exactly.   If the items in both shops are identical then it looks to Etsy like you're trying to dominate the search category.   

I'd say to be thankful they didn't close both shops since you were violating the TOS and stick to promoting one.   It's got to be easier.

[ZenCatPottery]

@OrnamentsWithPets  This.

[SugarTaffySoap]

@OrnamentsWithPets  Did you request a call back ?

[PrimFun]

You cannot sell the same ornament in both shops. That's what appears to be happening.  The banner of the one closed has the same items as in this shop.  Etsy may have noticed this when you asked about the videos.  Also Etsy's rules require that all shops be disclosed in all profiles.  Unless you are borrowing this shop to post from?  And that may further confuse the issue. A dog can't own a shop so if you are the owner of both shops you cannot sell the same ornaments in both.  While it is cute, a dog cannot represent a shop owner as the owner. 

In the email you received, did you reply back with a phone number and ask them to call you to discuss this.  Did you file for a suspended shop and did you explain that you will remove any duplicates and make sure both shops are separate? From what I have read in the past Etsy is very hard to get them to reopen a shop once they have made a decision.

At least Etsy only closed one and not both.    

[OrnamentsWithPets]

Yes I've reached out to Etsy by phone.  Thank you for the replies.  The shop with our dog only sells ornaments with pets and has a small amount of styles only, while the other shop has individual items like soccer players, teachers, grandson etc.  But I will take a look and make improvements to the store and remove things that violate the rules. 

I understand better now.  At this point I just need to wait to hear from Etsy.  Patience is hard sometimes : ) but the community is often quicker  with replies so Thank You. 

[DollHeaven]

As a fellow golden retriever owner, I have to say I love your 'About Me' write up.  It is so true, they are quick and quiet when they are doing something they know they shouldn't.  Mine once spent a whole sewing class pulling every single pin out of a pincushion one of my sewing students had dropped, and letting them fall on the floor all around her and him.  (He didn't destroy the pincushion though and he didn't hurt himself or swallow any either).  I think (and this is only my guess) is that what triggered your shop shut down was the video combined with you changing the password.  I know that seemed sensible for you to do as a precaution but the password change  has happened to many shops that have been hacked and combining that with your complaint about the video probably triggered Etsy safety precautions.  I think you will just have to be patient and I know that is  hard at this time of year.  In the meantime, maybe you can concentrate on this shop and maybe think about how to differentiate the two shops significantly when your other shop is reopened and hopefully, that will be soon.

[OrnamentsWithPets]

Thank you DollHeaven - Yes Goldens are so great, we got him as a rescue and he came with a cute face and bad habits : )  He will be 15 in February and I've never had a golden live past 10 so we feel very fortunate. I'm hoping he continues to live many more years.  He's still pretty active and protests going home at the end of a walk.  Why do goldens do that?  : )

It would be so cute to see a video of your dog meticulously pulling out every pin, that's so funny.  Hard to believe he could do that.  My instagram reel is almost all cute animal videos : )

And thank you for the info about the password.  That is so crazy.  One of the videos on our site was selling life like baby dolls.  Who knows if the videos are legit from another seller and just got mixed up on our site somehow behind the scenes. I never imagined this would turn into so many problems.  But it's good information to have and I'm appreciative to the community for suggestions and support to improve our store.  We are all in this crazy web together.