Shop Suspended Due to Violating Handmade Policy

[DopeHatsShop]

Hello,

I am trying to get clarification on the issue stated in the headline. I have been selling on Etsy for over 4 years now, have close to 8,000 sales and a 4.8 star rating selling wide brim hats and fedoras.

The other day we received an email stating our store was suspended for violating the handmade rule. The issue is that we never said we personally hand make the hats in our store. Since we do not handmake our hats, we have the 2 production partners listed that I use to bring my designs to life. 

In Etsy's example of a production partner it states:

"Sellers’ original designs produced by a production partner: Original designs created by a seller and produced with the assistance of a production partner. Sellers must disclose that an item is made by a production partner, and provide accurate information about where the item will ship from.

E.g. A unique dress designed by a seller and reproduced at scale by a production partner."

The dress example is exactly what our business does, but with fedoras and wide brim headwear. I monitor the niche to see what styles are popular, or emerging, have someone on Fiverr create mock-ups for me based on our designs and inputs, reach out to productions partners, pay for samples, compare samples once received, narrow down which partner to use based on the quality of samples we receive from the production partner, and then finally once we receive the products from the production partner, we use all our own equipment to take and edit professional level photos using a high end camera, canva, and adobe.

I am not understanding why our listings keep getting removed and now we are suspended. I have wrote to Etsy with each removal of our listings and more recently this suspension appeal and we have never once heard back from a human that can explain why our listings keep getting flagged.

I have put countless hours into this Etsy business and would love if someone could help us understand the issue and how to get it rectified.

Thanks

[NanaLetha]

@DopeHatsShop  your shop is not suspended. Etsy put you on vacation mode - check your email. Do you have any unfilled orders? They might want you to upload your ID.

[DopeHatsShop]

Hello,

I am definitely suspended. They placed me on a vacation mode that I cannot turn off and sent me an email saying I was suspended.

I package our orders 6 days a week, I have never had on-time shipments drop below 95%.

[CryzalisMasksUK]

Your shop has not been removed so it looks like they may require additional information from you.

Have you tried requesting a call back?

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?segment=selling&fbclid=IwAR3XJULkao3ZPR8XcOEf2A7143n87Xt...

[DopeHatsShop]

I received an email saying we were suspended and I cannot turn vacation mode off.

Prior to this, over the course of 2 weeks, they removed our listings 3 separate times, which led to 3 separate strikes, and then, finally the suspension.

Never once has anyone at Etsy responded to us.

[CryzalisMasksUK]

When Etsy brought the new listings options in for handmade, were you listings showing as designed by or handmade?

Maybe if they appeared in the wrong category, this would have caused this issue.

Try contacting them for clarification, they have not removed your shop  

[DopeHatsShop]

When they brought forth the new updates we didn't have them updated quick enough to "designed by" with production partners, but after the first listing was removed, we updated every listing almost immediately after, and they still continued to remove them for not being handmade, although we don't state anywhere that I myself am handmaking them.

The oddest part is all the sellers that are buying their products from US based wholesalers (not hard to tell with a reverse image search) have their products still listed as handmade and not "designed by" and they are not getting flagged and are even using the pictures from the wholesalers websites. It's very frustrating.

We are one of the few large shops in our niche that actually has our hats made to our specs.

[NanaLetha]

Suspended would mean they closed your shop. They did not!

[DopeHatsShop]

I received an email from Etsy saying we were suspended, they placed our shop on "vacation mode" for us, and we cannot turn it off.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Suspended can be temporary.  Closed is closed.  Closed will have the uh oh not currently selling banner. 

OP try searching your listing photos via the internet and see if they are being used elsewhere. 

[audreytherese]

@nanaletha 

This is becoming more common. Even though to you it looks like the shop has just been put in vacation mode, shops are reporting that they're being told they are suspended. This appears to be to give them time to finish up orders before they are permanently shut down. 

[DopeHatsShop]

audreytherese

Correct, that is what the email stated. Our shop will be closed in 28 days for violating the handmade policy, but for now we are put in vacation mode to finish our last orders and respond to customers.

The production partner designation is a huge gray area. How can I prove I am involved in all steps of the process if Etsy won't respond. We have requested help 5x now to no response.

[audreytherese]

@DopeHatsShop I know, there have been at least a dozen shops that have made posts that have said that same exact thing. I'm not sure how certain members can keep denying what sellers keep saying over and over, especially those that are in here enough that it's hard to believe they haven't seen those posts. 

Yes, it used to be that they would shut a shop down immediately. But it's been at least a few months now that they are instead telling them they will be shut down in 28 days. 

I don't have any advice, but I do believe you that at this time you have been told you are suspended and in 28 days it will be permanent closure. You may want to search the forum for some of those terms, like 'will be closed in 28 days', then sort by date so most recent are at the top, and see if you can find any guidance in any of those older posts. 

[CatsBeadKitsandMore]

@DopeHatsShop  , When you get an email from etsy, there should be a  reply button towards the bottom of that email. Always respond to the original email. Otherwise if you send a new email each time you contact etsy, you go to the back of the line.

As someone said above, use the request a call back number.

[DopeHatsShop]

CatsBeadKitsandMore

Where would I find the request a call back number? I am not seeing this anywhere

Thanks

[CryzalisMasksUK]

Nanaletha is right, do you have a red banner in your dashboard saying you are suspended? you can't miss it, check the listings page

[DopeHatsShop]

No, it just says they put our shop on vacation mode. The email stated they will close our shop in 28 days. Vacation mode is just so we can fulfill the remaining orders before they close us down.

[DopeHatsShop]

No, but we were sent an email from Etsy saying we were suspended and we could file an appeal.

Our actual shop has a banner saying they put our shop on pause.

[bradgoodell]

If your production partners are selling your hat designs to other businesses, which is a distinct possibility, or someone else is using your photos on other sites, it is possible that Etsy sees your hats for sale elsewhere and assumes you are buying them from a wholesaler and reselling them.  Unfortunately for you, your hats are extremely similar to what dozens of other stores sell all over the web, and many of those stores are also selling on Etsy.  

[DopeHatsShop]

Yes, unfortunately, there are only so many ways to make a fedora, palm hat, or cowgirl hat, however, I reached out to Etsy with examples showing my ID next to the color swatches and material samples I use, convos with our productions partners, etc-- no response.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

@DopeHatsShop Etsy is about the person designing the hat.  I understand what you are say but are you designing the hats in the style and then having the production partners make them.

The wording in the production parnters sounds a bit troublesome.  You are telling the partner certain specifications but they are making the prototype.  You are not making the prototype and having them make the copies from your work?  The other partner is making a prototype or you are providing the prototype?  Are these partners then allowed to sell your items?  Do you have exclusivity to your designs?

Etsy may be looking for more information on how you are actually designing the hats is is required by the TOUS and then having a production partner make them.  With Etsy's new insistence on what designed by and made by mean it is quite possible you like others are feeling the pinch even if you have been selling on Etsy for some time.

They may not consider the two partners actual production partners.  

You may need to present information to a notary public,  Have them sign off and then send in the information to Etsy.  This could include designs you made for your hats.

[NanaLetha]

The blurb on your production partners says nothing about you creating the design.

[audreytherese]

"we create prototypes based on key details we would like to include in each piece, and then work with our production partner to bring these ideas to a finished product."

"we provide the hat maker with key specifications we would like to include in design, they create a prototype, we examine each one, and select a style for mass production."

[DopeHatsShop]

Thanks audreytherese.

I also have the information clearly stated in the bio: 

"Dope Headwear was created in 2019 after multiple failed attempts at retail stores trying to find headwear that was stylish, but did not break the bank. Since then, we have stayed on top of emerging trends in the headwear space and worked with our production partners to produce quality headwear at a price that everyone can afford."

So our position is stated in 3 different locations. None of which claim my partner and I are handmaking them.

[NanaLetha]

@DopeHatsShop  It's the individual listings that count for saying handmade, sourced by or designed by.