Renewal fees to reactivate in date listings.

[NeedlesandPinsOnline]

Etsy is asking me for renewal fees to change inactive listings to active listings even though the listings do not expire until June. Anybody had a similar experience? 

[NanaLetha]

Your shop is on vacation mode so why would you want to reactiveate any listings?

[ChromaMystic]

It appears that their shop is now out of vacation mode. 

[dayspringcollectible]

How are you getting this request?

As far as I know Etsy doesn't "ask" for renewals.  They simply stay expired until you are ready to put them back in play.  And there is no reason for them to have you renew when they are still active.

It sounds to me like someone is trying to scam you, hoping to get you to either pay them directly or reveal log-in info about your shop.

Did you by chance have a bunch of listings that Etsy expired on April 2 to correct the glitch of listings not renewing properly?  If so, it would be related to that.

[JenMRamosHandmade]

I think they’re referring to the little dialog box that pops up when you reactivate or renew. It’s an ask in the sense that it’s giving you and opportunity to cancel your action. 

[JenMRamosHandmade]

I just experienced this too! I did a market and deactivated my account (put it on vacation mode). When I returned home I deactivated individual listings that sold or that I wanted to adjust/add new photos. When checking my finances to see my weekly deposits I noticed not only renewed listings, but also re-activated listings had incurred a fee. This is totally new to me, and I’ve been doing this for a while.

So yeah - expired listings told me so was agreeing to pay 20 cents to renew. Deactivated listings did not alert me of the fee so until I checked finances for fees, I was unaware  

[BootifulLabels]

The clock does not stop on listings that are reactivated, it continues to countdown on the inactive listing until it reaches the expiry date.  If you have auto-renew active, those listings will renew for another four months and you will see a renewal fee.  If you are planning on being away a while, you should make sure you switch all listings to manual renew, so that they don't automatically renew.  Then when you come back you can pick and choose what you want to renew.

[JenMRamosHandmade]

I’m aware of that. ALL of my listings are manually renewed listings and they weren’t expired. I deactivated them to add new photos and such and have the listing not be live. I make one of a kind items and set vacation mode for the day I’m doing a market so I can better sort things when I get home. 

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

You cannot make changes to a expired or inactive listings.  You can make them but in order for them to come alive you have to click renew down at the bottom of the page.

I know this because I am currently editing expired and inactive listings and UNLESS I click the renew button nothing is saved.

[JenMRamosHandmade]

Just want to follow up that I sent an email (“contact us”) to Etsy as well as a screenshot of finances where some say “renew expired” and some simply say “renew listing.” I asked for a refund of the latter fees. Nowhere in the FAQs or seller handbook is this outlined as a new fee. I’ve always been able to edit de-activated listings, then re-activate without a fee as long as it’s within the same 4-month listing period for which I’ve already paid.

[JenMRamosHandmade]

From the website

How to reactivate a listing

To reactivate a listing:

1. On Etsy.com, click the Shop Managericon.
2. Click Listings.
3. Select Inactive under Listing status.
4. Check the listing(s) you want to reactivate.
5. Click Activate at the top of the page.

Deactivating a listing doesn't affect its four month listing period. If your item expires while it’s inactive, you’ll be asked to renew the item for a $0.20 USD fee before you can reactivate it.

There’s no fee for reactivating a listing that hasn't expired.

I’m pretty sure they’ve started charging for making changes to deactivated listings, but haven’t updated the website 

[Amaradorn]

@NeedlesandPinsOnline @JenMRamosHandmade 

Are you all sure that these listings that you are being charged to 'renew', are not ones which should have expired already. Perhaps you are looking at the date that says 'expires June', but not noticing that the year says '2024'?

[JenMRamosHandmade]

The express reason I reactivated these listings was that they still had time remaining on the listing period of four months. I’ve been doing this for a while. 

[JenMRamosHandmade]

I’m not sure if you read all the other posts but yes, I’m disputing these because they were still current listings (unexpired) that I’d deactivated. 

[BootifulLabels]

Just to clarify the four month listing period.  It is linear, regardless of the status of the listing.  Deactivating a listing does not stop the clock on that listing.  From the day you first list an item, it lasts for 4 months, unless sold sooner, and regardless of whether you deactivate it for a while or not.  EG if you list an item on Jan 1, that listing will expire on May 1.  If you deactivate it on Mar 1, and then reactivate it on April 1, it will only have one month left.  If you reativate it any time after May 1, you will need to pay a renewal fee because the listing expired on May 1.  Does this help at all?

[JenMRamosHandmade]

You said that already.

The deactivated listing has an expiration date on it. It is visible with the listing. I should be able to reactivate within that same four month period without incurring a new fee. I KNOW IT DOESN’T STOP THE CLOCK. I’ve been on Etsy since 2006. I have done this same thing a few times. 
The listing wasn’t created more than four months ago. I don’t know how many ways I have to say this to convince y’all that i know what I’m talking about.

 I quoted policy for a reason. The listings I reactivated were good until at least June. That’s based on the clearly visible date in the listing. 

the reason I’m following up in forums is to help anyone else who encounters this. It is a new thing Etsy is charging for. It doesn’t jive with their stated policy. 

bottom line (per what Etsy is doing - if you deactivate your listing, then edit it before you reactivate it, you’re being charged a fee and the date is reset for four months from when you REACTIVATE it. This applies regardless of whether your listing was expired in the deactivated state. If you simply reactivate, no fee. So going forward make your edits. AFTER reactivating your listing that has not yet reached the expiration date. 

[BootifulLabels]

Fair enough, perhaps I misunderstood.  No offence intended.  That said, it does seem strange, and is probably something only Etsy can help you with.  I wish you luck with that.  It seems of late you either get a bot response or an outsourced "customer service" person whose knowledge is VERY limited on such matters.  Hope you manage to get it sorted.

[JenMRamosHandmade]

Yes - the latter! So frustrating. I would quote the email but I’ve seen them call people out for doing that on forums. My last response was to cite their policy and also ask where they found their info in the seller handbook. Then I stopped getting responses. I’m a little OCD where I get fixated on things being unsettled. I mean it’s only 60 cents but ugh. 

[PWOriginals]

Definitely sounds like a glitch. Please let us know if you hear back from Etsy. I was going to be working on some listings today, possibly deactivating while doing so. I'll just keep them "live" for now.

Thanks for the heads up!

[JenMRamosHandmade]

Definitely don’t deactivate then edit! I’d say either edit live or set the shop to vacation mode for a bit. That was basically their suggestion without acknowledging their failure to honor published policy. 

[NoFrogsAllowed]

I just took a deactivated listing that wasn't set to expire until September 2025.  I changed several things about it and reactivated it and was NOT charged a fee.  

This is the blurb that comes up when you deactivate:

Deactivated items won’t appear in your shop, but you can still find them in your listings manager. If an item you're deactivating is part of an “offer together for less” discount, your offer will automatically end.

Deactivating a listing doesn’t change its 4 month listing period, so if your listing expires while it’s inactive, you’ll be asked to renew for a $0.20 fee if you want to reactivate it. There isn’t a fee for reactivating a listing that hasn’t expired.

If Etsy charged you it is definitely a glitch and unfortunately they are the only ones that can help you.

[JenMRamosHandmade]

Ok that’s wild. I appreciate you sharing your recent experience. So the agent actually said, after naming all my listings I’d renewed (only three were reactivated/not expired and the others were in fact expired, and I knew that) - “These fees are standard for both renewing expired listings and reactivating deactivated listings.”

then he went on to say

1. When you deactivated listings during vacation mode, they were removed from the marketplace.
2. Upon reactivation or renewal, each listing required a new $0.20 fee to become visible again.
3. This process is the same whether your shop is in vacation mode or not.