Name change

[MamaHouseStudio]

For over a month now Etsy has had my account suspended and is holding my $400 hostage because of a name discrepancy with my account. I am in the process of changing my name at the social security office due to a marriage, so my driver's license and bank account are under my married name and my social security number is under my maiden name. I have provided my marriage license showing in my maiden name and my husband's last name proving that I am connected to both last names. Their policy clearly states that you have to exceed $500 to have your account suspended if you do not have your name and bank information verified in all the ways that they require. And yet here I am at $400 worth of revenue and they have suspended my account will not resolve my issue or pay me they money they have taken from MY customers. They will also, likely, close the replies on this post as soon as they see it because they don't want sellers to be able to discuss this issue with one another, so please message me directly if you have had any success in resolving this. I want the money that my customers paid for their product and I am entitled to that because I have not broken any of their rules. I understand and appreciate not wanting to make sure no one is committing identity fraud, but this is not that, otherwise they would work with their sellers to resolve the issue. At this point Etsy is the one acting in a fraudulent manner, taking funds from customers and withholding it from the small businesses they are trying to support. 

[NanaLetha]

You will have to wait until the IRS records are fully updated. It's not Etsy's fault they are so slow.

[MamaHouseStudio]

No, but it is Etsy's fault that they don't assign a single agent to a person's case in order to resolve it's unique situation. There are a LOT of factors that have occurred over this past month of interactions with Etsy that have made a simple situation impossible and that is their fault. They make this particular issue impossible to solve. Have you been through this process? 

[ArtDollsbyJD]

You will simply have to wait until everything is updated.  No way around it.  I've never heard of the $500 limit.

Did you deliver all the information to the social security office?  With all the changes happening you may have a difficult and long wait as the number of employees has been cut as well as the number of offices.  Or did you do it online?  It can take a week or better to get any paperwork from them.  

Etsy has to be careful.  They cannot assume that the person with the name change is the person who owns the shop.  I know this isn't what you want to hear but marriage certificates can be falsified.  Bank accounts can be too and even the SSN  so Etsy is cautious to make sure the person requesting the change is the same person who owns the shop.

Etsy's first point is the customers not the sellers.  So until they are satisfied they can keep the the funds for dispersal to any customer.  They are acting on behalf of the buyer that uses the services Etsy provides which is individual sellers.  

Once they are satisfied they will release your funds.  I know you don't think they are working with you but they are.  They are protecting Etsy, you and the buyers.

[MamaHouseStudio]

The customers all received their orders because I paid for them out of pocket in order to prevent delays caused by the unexpected suspension of my shop, which Etsy reprimanded me for. So I am the only one at risk of be out anything. And I had not heard of the $500 limit either, until I was approaching it and my account was suspended. I had no idea that my account was not set up to Etsy's standards and requirements until then. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

your account was suspended,

because your name does not match on the legally required documents.

etsy shouldn't give a waiver for any amount, even $1

Did support tell you they had a waiver for under a certain amount, as it is not in any documentation

[MamaHouseStudio]

I'm not sure what you mean by "waiver" but here is what they say on the page where we are to enter our tax info:

1099-K Settings

For the 2024 tax year, Etsy shop owners who use Etsy Payments to process over $5,000 in gross sales within a calendar year will receive a 1099-K form. Please note that several states have their own reporting thresholds, which may differ from the federal IRS requirement. You will receive a Form 1099-K from Etsy if you meet either the federal threshold or your state's threshold in 2024.

And here is the email I received after my first $250 in sales:

We saw you recently made over $250 in sales on Etsy this year—way to go!

Due to federal tax regulations that were passed in 2021, sales are reported to the IRS for any US seller that makes over $600 in gross sales in a calendar year. If you meet these thresholds, Etsy will issue you a 1099-K form in January of the following year, as part of tax compliance.

You must provide a valid Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number. Otherwise, your shop will be suspended once you reach over $500 in sales, as you near the reporting threshold.

That email and this next one came in over night:

Unfortunately, your taxpayer information is missing or the information that you submitted cannot be verified. Your shop has been temporarily suspended.

Since you have reached $500 in sales already this year, you must provide a valid Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number. Until then, you won’t be able to receive any deposits or new orders on Etsy.

$5,000, $600, and $500 are quite a variety of numbers. And, while I take full responsibility for not making sure I hadn't missed anything, I must say, it would make things considerably less difficult if a shop wasn't allowed to make a single sale if there was even a single thing that needed verified. But I HAVE made small sales over the last few years and had no idea that I was missing s

something so important.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

your name doesn't match on some of the documents,

there is no waiver for that

[MamaHouseStudio]

Then they shouldn't have let me sell anything until it did. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

you said you were in the process of changing it

If it was all fine before, and te didn't need to re-verify, it would be ok

if you started to change things, before they all caught up, there would be a problem 

[TheVelvetPrincess]

I am so sorry you are going through this mess. It's what I call a cleanse by fire. Ouch. Do everything you have to do o meet the requirements. then while you wait. Get everything else about your business caught up to date so you can come back online stronger and better than before. The things they do to protect us and them for sure....sometimes hurt but in the end will make a stronger business. It is not personal. The timing could not be worse with all that is going on in these organizations right now.