SIX MONTHS, seriously Etsy, listing not reinstated that Etsy indicated removal was in error

[ReImagineBrewing]

Ok, we've gotten to the beyond ridiculous point Etsy.

I make wooden boxes, totes and bottle openers from scratch. We get rough cut lumber, I have help making blank items from two gals, a retired father packages and I do everything else from etching to printing to designing to messages to pulling my hair out and yelling at a screen. Why is this relevant?

I contacted Etsy 6 months ago because my boudoir box/bedroom box/adult toy box was removed. It violated the policies. Um...it is a wooden box with only customer's text on it. The same box we sell for crayons. No bXXbies, egg plants or tacos on it at all. Just text..."Sexy Little Things" is quite common. 

Etsy admitted the removal was in error. GREAT! It was reinstated. I edited a few tags just in case my PG to PG-13 tags were the reason the listing was flagged and removed. A few days later, the listing was removed again! I saw it was removed again when my wooden elf delivery box was removed too. It never sold, was really cute. My niece's friends bought them locally. You could put your family address and Santa's return address on it for when your naughty little Dec 1 Elf Arrives and then goes back up North on Dec 25. No images. No in violation text arrangements like "Elf on a chunk of wood sticking out from a wall some might call shel...ving".

Three months later Etsy CLOSES the new ticket where I asked for both listings to be reinstated. What am I given. A copy and paste response from Etsy explaining what can be listed. No response about the two listings indicating if they now deemed them in compliance or violating policies. However, neither were in violation. Etsy already admitted the Boudoir Box removal was in error.

What almost pushed me over the edge was that the shop is dead. 42k sales and now I'm lucky if I get 2 sales per day. My best selling "Bottle Opener" can't even be found by "bottle opener". My best selling boxes, little to no traffic. I'm lucky I've branched out elsewhere or I'd be back in an office job. Quit your Day Job...until AI takes over and kills your shop. Also, don't listen to Etsy, DIVERSIFY your shop. If you don't, with the new search your items won't be found. Your photos are too similar. Etsy is bragging about using AI to prevent similar images from showing up in search results.

The final straw, Valentine's Day is coming up. I had a customer reach out wanting to re-purchase our "Boudoir Box" but in a bigger size. Good for them having some fun! I can't sell the item to them. If it was an easy listing to repost I would do that. It had so many price, size and finish variations it will be HE-double hockey stick to recreate. Also, I'm stubborn and want my original listing back and credited for the removal error.

Etsy. You hold us to these high standards and require 24hr response times and yet SIX MONTHS have passed and you don't have the time to reinstate a listing you already stated was removed in error. Instead you give me the policies. Is this a joke. I hope that was a technical issue.

I know moderators don't really look here to respond to fix things. I have given it my best opening 3 help tickets and 2 chats. Nothing.

We as shop owners are struggling financially for many of us that have been on the site for 5-10+ years due to policy, AI and algorithm changes. At lest make us feel a tiny bit valued. Respond to cases with actual coherent relevant responses or I hope everyone files BBB complaints. Blocked items from their top key terms within search results and items removed that don't violate policies. You are just getting rid of the diversity and true handmade and vintage. It is sad and Etsy you disappoint me.

[cindylouwho2]

"I have given it my best opening 3 help tickets and 2 chats. Nothing." - unfortunately, that is rarely good enough when dealing with incorrect takedowns here. 

You need to:

1. shame Etsy publicly (social media, BBB),
2. go to the news media,
3. open a dispute under section 11C of the TOUs,
4. get a lawyer.

Those are the things that work if you can't get stuff resolved through normal Support tickets and calls. 

(Just FYI, a ticket should be no longer than 3-4 lines, max; 2 lines work best. Writing a long rant with the listing's history and how it sells locally will mean no one really reads it.)

[TinLizziAntiques]

OP, Etsy doesn't approve of the word "sexy" and may have removed your listing just for that seemingly too-adult word. Can't you do a reserved listing for your potential buyer, show a generic photo of flowers or candles or candy kisses, and sell the product she wants? 

[cindylouwho2]

@TinLizziAntiques does "sexy" now get removed? I thought the listings were just shadowbanned for most other searches that didn't include "sexy", but I could be wrong. Things do change awfully quickly around here LOL

I agree that without specifics, it is impossible to be sure why some listings were removed, though, which makes it difficult to provide advice. 

[audreytherese]

Last I heard it was still only a shadowban.

I just did a search for 'sexy box' and while the exact word wasn't in titles of the first few rows (instead it showed me things like 'intimacy box' 'adult naughty box', even a 'mystery pleasure box' that is clearly against the mystery box rules), there are still a bunch of listings that use the exact word 'sexy'. 

[ReImagineBrewing]

I don't use the word "sexy" in the listing title or tags. It is just etched into the wooden box in the photo. It is against Etsy policies to make a photo of something I don't actually sell too.

Making a reserved listing or private listing is also pointless to be frank. Why? I'm trying to sell an item to many customers, not just one person. The one person is my tipping point right now that put me over the edge because they can't buy something that meets Etsy's policies. The customer can already buy the same item currently from a different listing that is a wine box or a cigar box or a kid's crayon box or a shoe box or a wedding dress box. I do have those alternative options. If you make a listing though you are paying for visibility and the "right to be seen". I want to be seen by millions and not just one person. I stopped doing 1 item private/custom listings or reserved listings after year 1 on Etsy. It is too much work when an item already can be purchased from an offered listing. It is a time management/opportunity cost situation.

Back to the toy box. The thing is that people look for storage boxes or boudoir boxes for their adult toys. So, the market exists. Customers are looking for the item using "adult toy storage" "dildo storage box" etc. So, results should be visible meeting those or similar terms. When the item being sold is just a box, no reason exists to not have it as an active listing. Etsy even stated they removed the listing in error. 

Sending customers off site is an option and that is where I might have to send customers if Etsy doesn't reinstate listings. However, we aren't allowed to do this. This does push me to sell elsewhere more thus Etsy losing diversity on the site. One less actual handmade person doesn't matter though to them. Someone will sell another pre-manufactured drop ship item with "sexy little things" on it instead.

Life of an Etsy shop owner...

[cindylouwho2]

@ReImagineBrewing "It is just etched into the wooden box in the photo" Image recognition could pick that up. We've seen counterfeit takedowns over a brand name like Chanel in the artwork but not written in the listing. 

[PrimFun]

Did you respond back to the tickets when Etsy replied?  The first reply is always a basic no answer.  One has to respond back to one email and keep asking.

Also the word sexy may have cause the shadow banning.  Etsy has taken some words into consideration that they don't want used.  Adult Nudity and Sexual Content - Our House Rules | Etsy   Yes this is extreme and truly does not apply to your item but it seems that it also influences how Etsy staff see things. 

[ReImagineBrewing]

I have replied to any they allow me to reply to. The reply and close the tickets without letting me respond stating the combined tickets. However, they close the new one that gets combined with the old one that they already closed. Yeah...hopeless. So, I open another one. I copy and paste and reference the other cases and the outcomes.

I show that they reinstated the listing and indicate it was removed in error.

This is just ridiculous. 

My listings 100% abide by house rules. A wooden box with text on it. This is allowed. I sell the same box to kids for crayons but with different text.

If we go by what Etsy allows, my wooden box IS ALLOWED. "Etsy allows the sale of non-insertable and non-penetrable adult toys and sexual accessories, as long as they meet our requirements for sale on Etsy. This includes items such as restraints, handcuffs, nipple clamps, body harnesses, sex furniture, and BDSM accessories, including BDSM headwear." I sell a box that people store these things in. My photos show a little lace peaking out and one has a whip sitting on top of a box. The fake whip is actually from a Kid's Halloween Costume. I think a Zorro Costume.

So, a wooden box and a kid's Zorro whip are getting my listing removed... Next no children's police costumes with toy handcuffs.

[TinLizziAntiques]

@cindylouwho2, I do not know why Etsy removed the listing in question, but use of the word "sexy" looms as a real possibility. We know words are added as needed by the Etsy staff.

[Uneekitemz]

Etsy Trust and Safety is akin to Military Intelligence; the absence of an effective remedy for erroneous listing removals, due to Etsy error, is worthy of litigation.  

Personal experience of getting a listing removed and then reinstated with an apology of their error via message.  Then, have the same error occur again with ZERO ACTION OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE ERROR EVEN WHEN REFERENCING THE MESSAGE RECOGNIZING THEIR ERROR IS BEYOND MADDENING!!!!

[ReImagineBrewing]

I chuck dog treats out of anger. I added two puppies to the pack of supervisors here due to the weight gain of the 8yr old golden. Yeah, Etsy has been frustrating the last 3 years. A very busy shop for the first 8 years to a silent one over the past 2 years. Then this...and yet line art of naked women and dog shirts with "I'm too sexy for my dog" are fine.

Again, the item says "sexy on it". I sold the item as a "boudoir box" or "adult toy storage box".

[Donobob]

@ReImagineBrewing 

"The final straw, Valentine's Day is coming up. I had a customer reach out wanting to re-purchase our "Boudoir Box" but in a bigger size. Good for them having some fun! I can't sell the item to them. If it was an easy listing to repost I would do that. It had so many price, size and finish variations it will be HE-double hockey stick to recreate. Also, I'm stubborn and want my original listing back and credited for the removal error."

If Etsy has cut the listing and not re-instated it, and you have a customer that wishes to purchase it, I would not hesitate to take that off-Etsy. Obviously Etsy does not care to have that item, so it is not fee avoidance at all.

[CreativeDesignsbyAmi]

Try contacting Etsy on Instagram.  Someone that had your situation did this and Etsy responded and reinstated their listing.

[ReImagineBrewing]

I'll take it to embarrassment on social media. Thanks