New Seller - What in the world is going on with Etsy Support?

[ArtisticSensAI]

Hi everyone! I'm a new seller and after my first sale, my account was "temporarily suspended". I followed the instructions in the Dashboard message, which asked me to reply with my email address so I could be sent a verification email to un-suspend my account. I do so, but get an error message that it's not a valid Etsy username. Well, it didn't ask me for a username. I scoured my profile for a username but couldn't find one. Tried my store name but that didn't work either.

So then I go to Etsy Help to find out how to contact them directly, but there is (apparently) no way to do that. I just ended up in a link re-direct circle. When I click the "File an appeal" it just takes me back to the main Help page. Everyone within the Help section that mentioned or insinuated a link to contact Support, just redirects back to the Help page.

From my seller Dashboard inbox, I can compose a message, but there is no indication of who/how to address a recipient.  There is no auto-fill by typing "support" in the Recipient field, so how do I find out what to enter in this field. An email address? To whom?

What in the world is going on here? It's ludicrous that I would even need to verify my email after setting up the entire store. I even have 2FA set up, so Etsy suspends me but there's no way to contact them to unsuspend? How do people even get started?

[NanaLetha]

Sounds like a scam - Etsy already knows your email address.

[ArtisticSensAI]

That was my hunch, but I'm still blown away that there is no way to easily contact Etsy for support. Mind blowing!

[PrimFun]

@ArtisticSensAI   Contact us in teh shop manager.  It's not that hard to contact Etsy.

And many questions can be answered here, through HElp or our House rules.

If you have visited the forums or read the information in messages that warns of scams, you would have come to know Etsy already has your email and would never ask for it,  Plus the sale would have registered in your shop.  You have no sale.

There is a lot to learn here on Etsy and not fair to blame the site for being unfamiliar with its processes, 

[hopeandjoystudios]

Depending on the issue it is NOT always easy to contact Etsy. Chat may be the quickest if you have the option but their  advice is limited as they are just a call center.Last time I had to ask for help from them updating my email it was over 6 weeks with no reply. Chat finally got my message to the right team and they did contact me but....We have all seen sellers waiting weeks to months with no reply from Etsy. The fact that "Etsy support" reached out to you is a red flag in itself. Watch for actual Etsy messages in your Etsy message area of your shop message page only. Not in there ( or via your dashboard) probably a scammer.

[Vintorious]

From your shop manager page, click the "help" link on the left; select "contact us" from the slide out menu.

[ArtisticSensAI]

Thanks.  I have done this, but the "Contact Us" link just redirects me to the Help page. There isn't an actual form or anyway to contact.

[Vintorious]

You have to keep scrolling through the content to find the link to file an appeal, etc.

[PieceByNumberQuilts]

It's a total scam.  Your shop is not suspended - I can see all your items and individual listings, which wouldn't be the case if you were truly suspended.  Do some searches in the forums, and you'll see that Etsy is completely overrun with scammers trying to get access to info, take transactions off Etsy and otherwise create havoc.  Unfortunately they target new sellers, assuming the newbies don't know the ropes around here, but even experienced sellers have been duped, or nearly duped.

As for getting hold of Etsy support, this has always been really problematic and it's worse on holidays/weekends.  

[ArtisticSensAI]

Thank you for responding and especially for checking my store! If this scam message had just come to my email, I would have ignored it, but it came through the Etsy messaging platform.

[VintageRescueSquad]

You got "not a valid username" because etsy already deleted the scam account.

[howtobooksandmore]

Except Etsy didn't delete the account.  They "actioned" it.  And then they wonder why new sellers and a lot of old ones don't understand what they're talking about half the time.  Because English is hard.

[PristinityJewelry]

Scam attempt.  Forget about it, and go about your day, stress free.

[saharhome]

attention il y on n'a beaucoup comme ca 

[strawbooks1]

same thing is happening to me. how do u find a username? in the 15 years I've had the account I've  never been asked for it

[ThePurplePuppy]

@strawbooks1 

You have not been asked for it because that is not how Etsy works--it is a SCAM.

Do not reply or even attempt to reply to these things. Just put them in the spam folder. Etsy already knows about them--that is why you cannot reply==the account has been deleted by Etsy.

[artbyjocelyn]

You got hit with a Scam message, it was not from Etsy.

Etsy recently added a From Etsy inbox to your message boxes. Real from Etsy messages will only go in there.

The other way they notify us of issues with our shop or account are through red info banners on our dashboards.

[BrainTickleArt]

Hey, thanks a bunch! "Etsy recently added a From Etsy inbox to your message boxes. Real from Etsy messages will only go in there" ---that really helped, causes I had exactty the same problem as the op. 

...though I still dont understand how a scammer can send me a mail with a link that gets me into my account without me having to give in my password...unless its actually not just a scam, but a hack.

[PiccoloMiniatureArts]

Id say SCAM too.  The scammers are so good at it they can make your shop LOOK like its suspended or whatever, but its not.  Its a full-on problem.  I think all platforms should ban direct communications with sellers.  That is, no function to discuss the sale/offer with the seller at all. It wastes an inordinate amount of time sorting these scam/problem person issues out. Until that blessed day comes NEVER answer emails from "Etsy Lookalikes" that dont follow their protocols.  If you are feeling uncomfortable about an order or a communication from a buyer, cancel the order and put the message in your spam. Its not worth the time wasted on them or the effect on your mental health.  There will be other buyers. Legitimate ones. Nice ones. BTW your store is open for business as i type.

[MadeToOrderPDtv]

The support you are receiving these messages from are fake I've experienced it on Facebook and in other platforms as well its a big problem problem and yes they target companies with poor human customer service or none at all like Facebook, good luck getting someone to help you there lol big joke even when you can talk to someone so far its only been messenger messages that can be ignored and filed as spam or delete them so they do t mess up your response rate...