My shop was put in vacation mode by Etsy without any explanation, or communication

[#1]

I have no any idea what happened. Just like that. I was asked by my customer if it is true that I am on vacation. That's how I found out. 

The shop was put in Vacation mode, and suspended. I received no explanation or any communication whatsoever. 

I have been a star seller for many months. How is it even possible? Seriously, when you rely so much on Etsy and trust it for so many years, how can this practice be tolerated? 

I am really in shock and don't know what to do. 

I submitted an appeal but I even don't know what I am appealing. 

[CoastalShadesUK]

Same for me too, over 1.5 days now. I've sent a support ticket which so far has not been answered for over 36 hours.

[ChillwolfArt]

vintageNCtreasures posted the link to the Etsy Announcement re: the INFORM Act.  What doesn't make sense to me, nowhere in that article does Etsy state that Shops will be put on Vacation before they are asked to Verify information. And some Sellers aren't even getting an email from Etsy.

[FanaticPufferfish]

Yeah, I haven't had any emails from the address they stated in that announcement... all we seem to be able to do is wait and see

[TTGamingSolutions]

This whole experience is making me realize I need to find other marketplaces to sell on.  Etsy has completely shut me down and they are completely radio silent on the issue.

[BigXStudio]

Just got off the call back from Etsy. The rep said they could see that my shop was in vacation mode but there was no reason they could see as to why. They said they would escalate it and I should expect an email response. (not holding my breath). So frustrating.

[FanaticPufferfish]

Had a callback from them too and I was told that they're not the right team to deal with these enquiries. The guy on the phone said that the team I need are contactable only when you raise a support ticket... It says this will take 1-2 days and I very much doubt they're gonna fix it within the first response too Losing business through this happening really hurts

[TrufflesAndCreams]

wait, there is a phone number to call them?! 

[BagmakerSupply]

@FanaticPufferfish: We received an eMail from Etsy dated September 26 2023 with the subject line of "How Etsy’s supporting your success this holiday season" that said "We've also created a dedicated process for sellers experiencing issues with account suspensions, so they can quickly file an appeal and have a specialized agent review their case." There was a link (which may be account specific) to the "dedicated process". You should check to see if you received that eMail.

[FanaticPufferfish]

Hi @Bagmakersupply doesn't seem like I got that email, checked all my inboxes for something similar

[studioQgallery]

Happened to me today too, first time ever I've been forced into vacation mode after selling for years! So upsetting as we're losing sales and income. I've verified everything, there is literally nothing else I need to add. This is beyond frustrating and what a clunky way to do this. Forcing sellers to lose income so they can run some checks is beyond me.

[CoastalShadesUK]

Totally agree, mine has just come back after 42 hours of being in forced holiday mode. Hopefully yours is back very soon.

[TrufflesAndCreams]

don't despair. they will reinstate soon, happened to me too. 

[TrufflesAndCreams]

Thank you all for your support and very kind words. My shop is back. Just like that. No email, no notice in the dashboard. A weekend of lost sales, but I am glad I am back. The whole situation makes me think very hard now about investing in my own online shop and promoting it more heavily. Relying too much on major platforms like etsy is becoming too risky. I have submitted another ticket today, may be that helped. Don't wait. Check your dashboard for any notices, and keep submitting new tickets. Such a major ****-up on the etsy side. Their institutional investors should be informed how etsy manages to loose money. The sad thing, because etsy has apparently lost $$ too this weekend, they will work hard to take those money back from us, small shop sellers. They need to make their quarterly profit targets and prove their value to their investors. Oh well... I am going back to my kitchen now. Good luck to you all. Hope your shops are reinstated today or tomorrow. 

[ChillwolfArt]

Glad to hear you are back.  It doesn't make sense that Shops are first put on Vacation, before the Verification takes place. 

[HintFineJewelry]

Looks like your shop is back up now, have you submit anything?

[TrufflesAndCreams]

I kept submitting tickets to their support team. 

[TrufflesAndCreams]

Had a chat with their support team trying to figure out why it happened to my shop. Here is their response. Basically, along the lines, since your shop was closed, it got demoted in search rankings, but keep working hard to get it back up in search results (aka increase you ad budget). It's just another level of cruelty from etsy. 

"Thanks so much for waiting. Since your listings were out of search for a little while, they missed out on views, clicks, and purchases that other sellers appearing in the same searches may have received. As a result, your items may not appear in the same exact places as they did before, which can impact overall Etsy traffic. However, the good news is, this should just be a temporary shift. Most sellers find that traffic and sales return to normal over time.  My best advice to you in the meantime is to think about how you may ramp up any marketing you're doing off of Etsy to drive more traffic and sales."

[ZehOriginalArt]

@TrufflesAndCreams 

Oh wow. I cannot believe they answered you like that. For all the world this makes it appear that Etsy is closing shops temporarily so sellers will spend more on ads  and drive their own traffic to their shops - meaning to Etsy.

But then Etsy loses money on sales, so how much sense does that make? As you say, it's another level of cruelty. Glad your shop is back  and I hope you do not have to give Etsy a dime to get your traffic back.

[IFonlyPretty]

Same thing happened to us. Still

on vacation mode, no warning. It’s been 4 days

[y225ljrzd2gmir50]

It is the same for me since yesterday. Last week was a blast and I finally had a green number in my financial overview. I'm selling digital products as direct download and it says, that my shop was put on vacation mode so I can ship my orders (I only see this info in the phone app not on the website). But these are directly completed after selling. No info that there is something stuck or wrong or anything.

As I did a lot of stuff for Halloween and also some of my non seasonal products sell, I'm still in dissbelief and don't know what to do except waiting for a response to my support tickets.

[XienceTech]

Same I'm on day 3 now of no communication. I have sent 3 tickets, I have written to the etsy support account, I have written to etsy marketing account. I have even gone so far as writing the CEO Josh Silverman directly. my Mortgage is now due and I don't have enough to pay it because they are holding my funds. personally I have paid etsy tens of thousands of dollars in fees and marketing. they OWE us an explanation for this. they cant just play with our lives like this.

[FanaticPufferfish]

Has anyone heard back from Etsy about this yet...? Still nothing here.

[StickerHillStore]

Same thing happened to me yesterday. My shop was put on "Vacation Mode" without warning or explanation. I've submitted two support tickets, but like others, I've yet to receive a solution.

My ID and bank account are verified, and there have been no issues with my shop's performance. In fact, I recently became a Star Seller, and my sales were thriving, only for my shop to close abruptly. With 300+ sales, positive reviews, no disputes, and not a single late order, I was taken aback by this unexpected situation.

This experience has made me seriously consider opening a shop on another platform as well. We shouldn't be so vulnerable, relying solely on Etsy. The lack of communication or warning is simply unacceptable. If there's a problem, the least Etsy could do is reach out to sellers first.

I hope we can collectively push for better transparency and communication from Etsy in these situations. It's frustrating and disheartening to be left in the dark like this.

[DivineCrossings]

E-commerce Bytes picked up on this:

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/abblog/blog.pl?/pl/2023/10/1696295002.html

[TTGamingSolutions]

I'm 100% adding that to my "Vacation Mode" messages so my customers know what is going on.  I highly recommend everyone else do the same.  Thx for this.