My listing has been deactivated by etsy

[labontedesign]

Hello,

My item has been deactivated by etsy

 I got an email about deactivation that contains violation issues related my product. But my product is not violating any of them. I wrote etsy contact my explanations to etsy via email, support request and chat but none of them did not work. I could not got any return from etsy. 

My mail content is ;

Everything listed as handmade must be made and/or designed by you, the seller. Reselling is prohibited in the handmade category.
• Items listed as vintage must be at least 20 years old. 
• Qualifying craft supplies include tools, ingredients, or materials whose primary purpose is for the creation of an item or special occasion. 

The first is related with handmade policy I read all handmaee policies and I am not violating none of them becase I am producing this product, I am not reselling All proccesses is making by me I wrote this and added video, photos to email.

Second is related with Vintage I did not labeled my listing as a vintage just one place I used Vintage in descripton. I implied there you can use this item your vintage styled areas. After deactivation I removed Vintage word from my description.

I dont understand the third one.

I could not find any way for telling my situoation to etsy.

How can I reactivate my listing?

Please help.

Thanks.

[BellaTreasuresByMT]

I see that you can buy similar items at Walmart and Amazon. basically everywhere online. I am not saying you didn't make them at all, but Etsy thinks you are reselling them. 

You need work on your shop. No policies, no location, about me, etc. I am sure someone else will chime in with more.

[AAANativeArts]

Only Etsy can reactivate an item they have previously deactivated. You can contact them via Community & Help -> Help and tell them the reasons why you think they made a mistake, but they have the final say. If you reactivate it without approval, they may close your shop permanently. It can take 10 days or more to get  a response from Etsy, and their first response probably won't answer your question. You have to keep replying, "I Still Need Help" until you get an answer. Don't keep posting new emails, or they will close the older ones and move you to the back  of the queue again.

[Adorabilities]

I looked at a few of them and although there are similar items sold in other places, they are different than the OP's.

I'm sorry to read that this seems to be happening to actual handmade items, whereas other more obvious items (packaged foods, for example) remain.

@labontedesign 
The third point is just letting you know that craft supplies can also be sold here, whether they're handmade or not. This is a form letter -- not specific to your particular listing.

[Hertfordweaver]

I see animals represented . Is it possible the Etsy bots picked up on an endangered species word? It's hard to say without seeing which items were deactivated. There has been active removal of some baby items too.

[Amaradorn]

@Hertfordweaver seems unlikely otherwise Etsy would have said that it was a prohibited item. The problem seems to be whether it was handmade/vintage/supplies.

[Amaradorn]

What was the product that was deactivated?

Is see on your lion wall hanging there is a photo of it in a box with some wooden toys. Where you selling the wooden toys with a wall hanging as a gift set?

[labontedesign]

Hello,

I am not selling wooden tooys. There are only for photo decor. I only sell lion head that rounded with raffia.

[howtobooksandmore]

I don't know which item etsy deactivated but if it is anything like the items remaining that are hand knitted, I wouldn't believe you either.  These items are crocheted and they cannot be made by machine.  They may not have been made by you but they were made by someone and not by knitting them.

[labontedesign]

Hello,

All proccesses making by me all of my item. I am knitting middle circle and than I am decoraring them raffia or felt. All proocesses have video records and I send it to etsy support.

[howtobooksandmore]

This may be a language problem but these are called crocheted, not knitting in English.  If you don't know what to call it, people won't believe you are actually doing it.

[SeasideRoseCreations]

Was it a newly or relisted item?

I ask because lately, bots are picking up new/relisted items that don't meet TOU.

I did an image search and your product is listed on several websites, including Walmart.

IF you are creating these with your own hands, you should have an About Page.  Also, you don't have policies or a location.

[labontedesign]

My deactivated item is similar with my current item that now active on my shop "Personalised Name Wall Hanger". Differencies between active and deactivated items is Deactivated item has eyes, nose, cheeks active item has name sign on the head area.

[Arcalliq]

does your deactivated item have beads on it by any chance? Perhpas a bot put together beads and nursery?

[Amaradorn]

Perhaps you are just going to have to change the design so that it doesn't look like the others that are found on the web (that aren't sold by you). Use different colours or add additional elements or motifs (perhaps some flowers or stars). Make it look different.

[FirenzeByDajay]

Too many shops being deactivated nowadays. Etsy bot is bzzzz. 

[JMOldeVintage]

Recently Etsy announced something about baby blankets, crib bumpers, etc. Did you happen to use any words in the titles or tags that may have triggered a bot?

Off topic but do finish setting up your shop - add policies. This is becoming very important if a shop owner should ever need to make use of Etsy's Seller Protections:

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014372467-How-to-Set-Up-Your-Shop-Policies?segment=sellin...

https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/selling-to-eu-buyers/239965962014?ref=list

[BlindSquirrelVintage]

Etsy really needs to have an arbitration "court" where the sellers can state their case verbally and live where questions can be asked and answers given.  The violation emails Etsy sends does not have the details of the violation the seller is accused of so the seller is left scrutinizing their listing, pouring through Etsy policies for the the possible violation, and posting on the forum for input.  Even if the seller determines what violation is, and follows the process for rebuttle, there is no response from Etsy that your argument is under consideration or that they have even received it - would be nice if they at least would respond with a case number that you can track on a dashboard - at least you know its not being completely ignored.  However these supposed violations are being identified, Etsy is taking the "proven guilty without a trial" stance.

I have been on Etsy for several years now.  A few years ago I had one listing deactivated and received an email with the obscure reason for the deactivation.  I followed up via the process Etsy defined and to this day I have not received any response or re-activation of the listing.  I have a 5 star rating with over 1600 sales and yet Etsy has excluded my shop from participation in the Star Seller program due to this long ago violation.  Having the badge is not an issue for me up until some future time Etsy prioritizes those shops/listings with the Star Seller badge within the searches.

Etsy's 1st big mistake with the Star Seller badge was to implement rules retro-actively throughout the history of the shop.  It should hae been rules applied with the same start date as the Star Seller program and then at a minimum, provide an abitration court.  Perhaps a "probation" period should be established.   

Sadly, with the current Etsy Star Seller rules, the OP will eventually see a message on the in their Star Seller stats that reads " Your badges were permanently removed because you received a final policy violation warning."  I never received a final policy violation warning - yet another reason why there needs to be an arbitration court where you can declare you need a the evidence.

[JMOldeVintage]

That would be something Etsy should consider. It's one thing if an individual or company has filed a DMCA for IP issues. I think Etsy usually sends the info. to the shop owner. The shop owner then needs to deal with the filer.

But when Etsy has deactivated an item, unless their bots multi-task, I would have thought each bot looked for a specific thing. So if the reason for the deactivation was for "amber" it's done by "the amber bot". 
If that is the case, why couldn't the email from Etsy be written so it says that selling certain real amber products is not allowed. Shops could review the listing & at least know what policy they violated. Or realize they need to remove the word amber as an adjective for a piece of glassware. 

[hopeandjoystudios]

I am sure it is cheaper for Etsy just to remove and move on. No employees tied up in arbitrating anything.  As far as they are concerned they are right ( even when not) and their TOU say they can remove any item for any or no reason. I feel for those that have items removed in error but it does seem Etsy may be actually holding to their word of stepping up removals. Hopefully the dirty panties and counterfeit items will poof more than error items. A bit like "Dad's" arm coming over that car back seat..he might not whack the right kid but the rest might see it as a "shape up" threat. YES they should be clear as to what the reason is.

[GingerandJuniper]

I have also just received an email about a listing being deactivated due to not being 'vintage, a craft supply or handmade'. The item(s) in question are simple little plush bunny rabbits. I quickly sent them an image of the items being made (by me) and had an response a couple hours later stating their decision was final and I may not appeal it. Unbelievable!

[riverofbeautydesigns]

@GingerandJuniper That sucks. I would highly recommend that you write directly to Josh Silverman at the Etsy HQ. In situations like this, there is nothing to do but write to the top. When I have done this (not at Etsy), I got action right away. It may not work but it's worth trying. 

[GingerandJuniper]

I suppose it's worth a shot. Thanks!