So, this may or may not be helpful, but you could always start a business in the US. I don't live outside of the US, but I work with hundreds of other people that have had to create a business in the US in order to get a US bank for selling on places like Etsy or Walmart. I went through a training course with a group of people that had a variety of sellers, and they suggested using a state that doesn't have sales tax, but in reality, I think it's just good to use a state that doesn't have any state income tax requirements. Selling on Etsy, they collect the sales tax needed and remit it to the locations that the sales are going to anyway. They suggest getting an LLC (corporation is not necessary and usually costs more). You can then use the business information to set up a US bank account. I believe in order to do all of this, though, you have to also get a US address. So, something like a UPS box or something that can be used for a business address. I don't know all of the details, and their training is closed, but it's an option that might work to keep your Etsy shops open. Unfortunately, it also costs money to do all of this, so it's an added cost that sometimes feels unnecessary. If this is something that people feel they want to do, though, I'd be more than happy to try to find a link to something that would walk you through the steps of doing this, but I am not sure if I can post it in the forums....
Personally, I'm having issues with the Etsy payments as well and I'm in the US, have my business information all set, but they cannot verify my bank account (even though there are deposits in my account already, so they obviously connected to it) .... so, I don't know if Etsy is even going to be my main business anymore. The button to change my payment information to even try manual verification isn't working for me, so that tells me Etsy obviously cannot get their programming stuff together anyway. I've been slowly moving over to a newer marketplace, but I have so many customers that prefer Etsy, I'm putting in the effort to try to get this bank account thing fixed. I understand the need for something like this, but there is absolutely no reason that Etsy doesn't have their stuff together to be able to follow the steps and get something done without having to contact support and wait weeks for a response!
