Shop Closed By Etsy, Not Sure What To Do?

[SiamMandalayPuzzles]

Hello All,

We are currently going through the process of setting up Etsy Payments, and during this process, something strange happened and our shop has been closed by Etsy.

We got an email saying: "We’re reaching out since it looks like we couldn’t verify the seller info you shared in onboarding, so your shop is in temporary Vacation Mode."

But when I try and upload the documents, I get a message saying: " Your shop was closed by Etsy.

Please check your email for more information about this issue. If you have any questions or would like to request that your shop be reopened, please respond to the email you received from Etsy or contact Etsy Support."

This is my shop for reference: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SiamMandalayPuzzles?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

The Etsy support leads to a black hole, we have not received any emails about temporary or permanent suspension. But I appealed, but I am not sure what I am appealing.

The workshop is in Thailand where we reside, but we ship to the US under a Hong Kong company, we don't have a VAT or Tax number for this business. I am not sure of the information I am meant to provide.

Is there a support email that we can contact?

[CryzalisDesigns]

Sorry this has happened to you, I assume Thailand was one of the recent announcement for the Etsy payments expansion. Maybe there are some glitches but it seems like your shop has been permanently suspended.

All you can do is appeal and send them all the information, keep replying to the same email.

here is a link to their email

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?segment=selling#issue_sell_manage_listings-contact_selec...

[cindylouwho2]

"The workshop is in Thailand where we reside, but we ship to the US under a Hong Kong company, we don't have a VAT or Tax number for this business." Any sort of discrepancy between your ID, your location, your banking info etc. is likely to trigger a closure.

Etsy has more than enough sellers, it seems, & they are not moving quickly on closure appeals. You might get lucky, but without more info, it is hard to predict.  

[SiamMandalayPuzzles]

We ship from US, to improve our shipping times, Thailand took 3 weeks...

Our business is in Thailand though.

[PWOriginals]

You say you're located in Thailand but your shop shows Baltimore, MD, as your location. Is that adding to the confusion perhaps?

[SiamMandalayPuzzles]

We ship from Baltimore.

[Amaradorn]

If you reside in Thailand, then why does your shop location say US? 

[SiamMandalayPuzzles]

Because we ship in bulk to Baltimore to improve our service and shipping times.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

If you are in Thailand, and run your business from Thailand, that is the information you provide,

Etsy does not need your shipping company information

You should have a TIN, if you are under the threshold for VAT

[NancyQstudio]

Etsy requires transparency.  The country we reside in must be our location.  Production partners addresses are listed in the specified area.  This area can be found in your dashboard under Settings and Partners You Work With.  This very likely contributed to a flagged account.  

@CraftyCornishMaids is very knowledgeable about international requirements. As she suggested it may help to look into the TIN issue to see if this may be needed.

Once all of this is done, respond to the original appeal with the corrected information.  Doing a new one will cancel out the first message and move the new one down in priority.  From what I've learned from other sellers Etsy takes awhile to respond to these issues.  

Sorry to hear you are going through this.  

[SiamMandalayPuzzles]

Thank you kindly for your constructive observations. 

Okay, I will prepare the required documentation.

Thanks,

[cindylouwho2]

In addition to the location issue, the cache of your shop does not have the 100 employees shown in your About page photo listed as members of the shop. The owner of an Etsy shop with "handmade" items must be the maker or designer of every product sold, and any employees that make items from your design or otherwise assist you in running the business must be listed as members on the About page.

If those employees are actually from another company separate from your Etsy shop, you must list that company as a production partner. 

https://www.etsy.com/ie/legal/handmade/#:~:text=Everything%20listed%20as%20handmade%20must,and%2For%....

[SiamMandalayPuzzles]

Yes, we have a lot of employees, lots of employees do lots of things, from designing and making, shipping, inventory management, cleaning...

Some sellers on this platform are selling things we have made for them...

Granted, if the rules are we need to list every single designer/maker we should have done that, but that seems rather harsh.

[CryzalisDesigns]

Some sellers on this platform are selling things we have made for them...

If these sellers are selling your items (which is not allowed) they may also be using your pictures. In which case the same pictures are appearing all over the internet for your products by different sellers.

Etsy might assume you are a reseller hence the closure

[cindylouwho2]

@SiamMandalayPuzzles "lots of employees do lots of things, from designing and making" - employees can't design for an Etsy shop. Period. Only the owner can.

It's clearly explained in the link.  

[GlassyFields]

I used your link and ended up in a shop ... with 1600 sales and located in USA

it said the shop was taking a short break

seems different from what you indicated regarding location and just setting up

[cindylouwho2]

@GlassyFields Etsy Payments has just been introduced in several new countries, and sellers there need to enroll by the end of the month. So they probably were just setting up EP.

When the banking and other info doesn't match, then the shop is caught. 

[SiamMandalayPuzzles]

I agree, the process of Etsy Payments has resulted in our suspended account... 

It's unusual for a brand which is in Thailand, to sell to a Hong Kong Company - who then ship to the US where our inventory is held. So yes this is why it's flagged... I am not sure what we have been "caught" with.

[UppNorthEh]

Looks like they did get some form of etsy payments.

[SiamMandalayPuzzles]

I agree, I have submitted all the relevant business documents in the appeal - so will let everyone know how it goes.

[ByBloomDesign]

Etsy