Quitting Etsy before I even open my store.

[BeccaMatin]

I’m sure you’ve all seen the Invalid Taxpayer ID suspension posts by now. What’s upsetting is how carelessly this company treats sellers. Tons of us are affected by this. The fact is, you can have your shop suspended by some “technical issue on their end” and be out of business for over a month and you can’t do anything about it. The customer support is just a call center that can’t actually fix anything or tell you when it will be fixed. The call center also refuses to connect you to the technical support team. The message replies go unanswered. I’m considering myself lucky that this happened to me before I set up shop cause other sellers I’ve seen on here also have to deal with explaining this mess to customers. I’m done. So my question to you all is, where can I go to sell art? Any suggestions?

[GroundZeroCreations]

You can try eBay and Amazon. If you are the artist you can apply for handmade by Amazon.

[BeccaMatin]

Thank you, I am the artist and will definitelylook into that! I didn’t know Amazon had a handmade section.

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

Yes, Etsy's customer service is very poor but you mustn't fall at the first hurdle!  There are millions and millions of shops on Etsy and only the few with troubles come to the forum.  

Nothing on Etsy is instant but once you are up and running it is usually a smooth ride so don't be so impatient if you planned to set up a long term business. 

Etsy will reply to emails but you need to wait for the reply and not send multiple ones.  You need to wait for a reply and then respond to their reply to keep the email going.  If you don't reply to their (often canned) first response, then they will close the issue. 

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360001980067-How-to-Verify-Your-Seller-Information-for-Etsy-...

I  have heard that Amazon is a nightmare for some!  Starting a new business is not easy but maybe try your own website?

[SteampunkCreativeEng]

Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, especially Etsy’s, especially if your creations are over $200, set up on more than one marketplace, your own website and stalls at markets and fairs if you can. 

[SugarTaffySoap]

@BeccaMatin  If you do a google search you'll find online ecommerce sites to sell your handmade art, I would not start your own website unless you can bring potential customers to it and don't close your etsy account in case the problem gets solved. I'm just curious did you recheck your settings and make sure everything is an exact match as to what the government and the bank have? 

[GoTo]

I disagree about not setting up your own website--I think every shop should do it, even if they only sell here (or here & other venues). They can just direct traffic from their own domain to Etsy rather than setting up a shop on it.

Back when I was active, and a novice at website building--my website got as much traffic as my Etsy shop just through keywords.

If you set up your own website, you'll be branding your business when you promote yourself. You can do it for less than $100/year, even less than $50/year if you shop around--good business investment.

If you grow enough that you set up a shopping cart on your site--you'll already have traffic stats for google about being an existing site which is good for ranking and all your customers will still be finding you through that previously promoted site, but will be sent to your own shopping cart rather than another website to process the order.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

@GoTo @SugarTaffySoap    I have to agree with Sugar.  Too many are advising starting a website.  It's much harder today than it was 5 years ago.  It is far more expensive.  It requires much more advertising and the work to get it truly going has doubled.  And all the new regulations that are in place have to be met.  There is no intermediary like there is an any venue.  

[GoTo]

I think you missed half my post--for less than $100 you can set up your own domain to point to your Etsy shop so you advertise your own business directly but folks are sent here for order processing.  Why would that be a bad thing to do?

It's not that big of an effort and costs little. It is shortsighted not to reserve your domain now in hopes of needing it in the future and giving one address out to current and future customers--a specific spot where they can always find where you are currently selling. Why would that be discouraged?

[DavidKingStudioStore]

@GoTo I have a free website made just using a Blogspot blog but modified so the landing page is not the blog.  I have a registered domain with name.com that only costs me $18/year with privacy. So it can be very cheap, but my website drives very, very few views to Etsy.

[GoTo]

@DavidKingStudioStore  That's great--and totally affordable.  Do you have a landing page with keywords, a few pics and maybe an about you section? There has to be a little content if you want the search engines to recognize your page's value.

When you promote, you would promote your domain address (like at a craft show, or in online ads or print ads). 

So rather than count just on Etsy's marketing, add yours on top directed at your domain--and if you ever decide to set up your own shopping cart, you've already worked on your branding and customers will be able to easily find you at the same site you always advertised, which the search engines will already be familiar with too.  

[DavidKingStudioStore]

@GoTo  Yes, my whole landing page is an "About" section plus I have over 200 blog posts and two gallery pages with links and keywording.  In 2022 less than 1% of my views came from my web page. Marketing is just not my thing, that's why I put my stuff on Etsy and Ebay and that used to work well enough, over 60% of my views come from Etsy search and Etsy pages but unfortunately the sales just dried up, haven't had any for months on Etsy, I have my theories as to why. I don't use social media anymore, it was just a big waste of time and I hate it anyway. Yes, I share my domain whenever relevant, I've even had business cards with it for many years. Some of us just aren't cut out for the art business.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

I wish you well.

I'm sorry but it is very hard to feel anything for posts like this.

You are not taking into account the true volume that needs review.  Why they need review which is for protection of Etsy and us sellers and that no company can have the staff required to do everything globally.  It is not a piece of cake to meet all legal and governement requirements.

If you find waiting so hard just wait until life throughs harder curve balls at you.  

Good luck. 

[BeccaMatin]

I’m willing to be understanding if they were willing to be transparent about it.

[SugarTaffySoap]

@GoTo  The original post says their shop is suspended so they can't bring traffic from their website to Etsy but I understand your point. Do you still have your website? 

[GoTo]

@SugarTaffySoap  No, but they could bring the traffic from whatever venue they end up on, even if it is not Etsy, like you suggested they look for.

I do, but have not been able to participate in my crafts or website in so long it is a has-been.  Yet, every once in a while someone still contacts me for a custom order or buys something from there instead of here.  If my health picks up, I will definitely invest in a refresh for my site.  And keeping the name in that case, is important so I keep the old site afloat--it's a small investment.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

there are some invalid ID threads, but very few, compared the the volume of sellers here, 0.01% would be 700, and I haven't seen that many, even when everyone in the USA had to re-verify

it's frustrating if it happens to you, but not as frustrating as a lot of other stuff

people get worked up about losing their star seller, or getting a bad review,
and I have seen more than 10 times as many posts, with people complaining that etsy doesn't count bank holidays around the world, as non-working days.
and putting in a phone number should be compulsory

With ID's, everything has to match exactly so if a name is
Jane Susan Smith, on the legal page on etsy, it can't be Jane S Smith, on the bank name or ID

and some people have the information from the registration from their authorities, but when they actually phone to check, it is actually different on the system, than the letter they were sent - and it's the systems that are checked against.

open one e-mail log, and when you get the reply, reply saying it hasn't fixed the problem, then each day, reply to the same log, saying you are still waiting for a fix.

I sell on amazon handmade, but they have more hoops to jump through than etsy to start a shop,
and they don't allocate money to your account until after you ship, then they hold onto money in case of refunds - it's a permanent reserve, I normally still have over £500 in my Amazon payment account, even immediately after a payout.
and they will shut your shop at the drop of a hat, for much more minor infractions than etsy would,
For example, If you spam customers here, etsy blocks messages for a while. Amazon shuts you down immediately
and if you breach service levels, you have to write an action plan, on what you will do differently in future, so it won't happen again, and if they don't like it, you are gone.

Diversification is key definitely sell on more than one site,

I would get things going on platforms, before delving into your own website, but if you are in it for the long haul, then do your own site, but to make it successful, will be a lot of hard work

[NewModelUK]

Hi Dear,

Please try etsy platform as there are so many sellers and I am also one of them. There are also a lot of online platforms.

Wish you all the best.