Shop put on Vacation mode due to Legal Shop Info verification (Canada)

[ArcliteFabrication]

Hello fellow Etsy sellers, I'm hoping some of you Canadian shops can help me get back to selling as this is my only course of income and my shop has more than one mouth to feed. Etsy no longer has a phone number that allows you to speak to someone, and the response time for a support request doesn't show any urgency towards getting my shop back open.

Yesterday I was attempting to update my (Canadian) corporation information into the "legal and tax information" tab under "Finances". Even though I was copying and pasting from my online CRA business account, Etsy could not verify the information. My shop was immediately put on vacation mode and I was asked to upload legal documents proving my information.

My business is a Canadian federal corporation. I have a corporation number and also a business number. The business number is tied to everything tax related, my corporation number has never been on a tax form to my knowledge. Etsy requested my business number, so that's what I inputted. For my GST/HST number, I inputted my business number + RT0001 on the end as this is what is on all my tax forms and the CRA website. I had to call the government yesterday to confirm that I am federally incorporated (not provincially) since it is not on any paper work that I have.

So, what legal documents do I need to upload? I went to check out the help link to find the answer to this question (https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001980067?segment=selling) under "What business verification documents are accepted for my country?" and of course, there is no section for Canada.

I uploaded everything I could think of:
-My articles of incorporation (which do not have my Business Number on them, but my corporation number)
-Mail from the CRA with my address, business name and business number,
-A screenshot of a government website corporation search showing my business name, corporate number, business number and address
-An amendment certificate showing the name change for my corporation back from 2016

Is there anything that I'm missing that could speed up this process? It's frustrating that up until yesterday I was able to make sales as per usual without this information in my account. Our revenue is higher than 30k/year so we report all taxes ourselves. We are upset our shop is being financially penalized without any direct access to someone who can fix this issue with any sort of urgency. 

Thanks in advance for your time and help, much appreciated.

Owen

[cindylouwho2]

I answered in the other thread you posted in, but here is more info on what to fill out where that might help you: https://community.etsy.com/t5/All-Things-Finance/Sellers-incorporated-in-Alberta-Canada-problems-wit...  https://community.etsy.com/t5/All-Things-Finance/Solved-Can-t-Enter-GST-ID-in-Tax-Info-for-Canadian-...

Right now it is taking over a week for Etsy to look at uploaded documents for his purpose, as apparently there is only one small team doing it, and everyone is suddenly realizing they need to fix their info by July 1. If you can figure out how to fix it yourself, your shop will be reopened automatically. 

As I always say, never ever rely solely on Etsy for your business income. You never know when they are going to close you, ban what you sell, etc. Get working on other income streams such as your own website ASAP. Good luck! 

[ArcliteFabrication]

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I'm locked out of altering the Business Registration Number, so it looks like I'm going to have to wait until Etsy reviews the files I uploaded. Etsy said I had 2 more tries, but after I submitted it once I was locked out. I really wish I had just come to the forums first, I did not realize my entire shop would be locked.

When they first started requesting this information years ago I called into Etsy (they had a phone line back then) and the guy on the phone basically told me the system wasn't set up correctly and he couldn't tell me which information to input to have it successfully registered. 

I completely agree with your advice, my wife and I are taking the down time this upcoming week to work on our website.

Solution copy and pasted for anyone who comes across this (Credit to BotterMfg)

Hi all,

I recently had an issue where I changed my seller type from individual to a corporation and I was required to enter in my GST ID. The number I entered in (9 digit business number followed by RT0001 from the CRA) could not be verified by Etsy and my account was about to be locked out. I managed to enter everything correctly on my last attempt. I found a few other posts about this online, but their solutions didn't work for me. I'm making this post to help others out who are struggling with this since Etsy customer support is non-existent and absolutely useless. 

The issue for me wasn't that I was entering in the incorrect Taxpayer ID/GST ID, it was that my "Business Registration Number" wasn't correct, even though the error message was telling me that the GST ID was incorrect...

In the "Business Registration Number" field I entered my incorporation number which is listed on my articles of incorporation, and in the GST ID field, I entered my 9 digit business number with the CRA followed by RT0001 (all caps, no spaces). This worked!!!! 

Hopefully this helps out some fellow sellers who are struggling with this issue too.

My message to Etsy: Please fix this bug, add extra information describing that the Business Registration Number is not your Business number with the CRA but your corporation number on your articles of incorporation. Additionally, indicate the correct error message if a user enters in the Business Registration Number incorrectly.  Also, why are you locking users out of their profiles for entering in information incorrectly? This is insane to me. You should give sellers an unlimited amount of attempts to enter in their information, especially when the fields aren't adequately described. 

[cindylouwho2]

@ArcliteFabrication I know several people who were never able to fill this out because Etsy didn't set it up properly. It is ridiculous that this is happening to all of you. 

Can you edit your listings right now? At least you could get a head start on updating the prices to add GST for July 1. 

[ArcliteFabrication]

@cindylouwho2

Yup! I can still edit my listings, although I need to read up a bit more regarding the price increase to account for sales tax. 

I understand that topic has been discussed in many other forum posts, I'm just still in the "mentally processing" phase for this change.

My book keeping was already fairly time consuming and now it is going to be significantly worse. The pricing will also not be fair to anyone who pays less than 15% in taxes, or I'm going to have to eat the difference. 

I don't understand why they're taking a drastic step backwards from a system that was functional.

Pretty disheartening experience so far.

[cindylouwho2]

@ArcliteFabrication I covered everything a GST-registered seller needs to know on my blog & Tumblr yesterday - can't post direct links myself, but I am sure you can find them. 

[ArcliteFabrication]

Hope everyone had a nice long weekend!

I just wanted to post a follow up that my shop is still on vacation mode, and none of my support requests have been replied to by Etsy. It's been 11 days now. I did notice they marked one of my support requests as "completed" without replying to it at all.

Is anyone else having trouble getting in touch with Etsy these days?

Owen

[cindylouwho2]

@ArcliteFabrication they will close duplicate tickets, so make sure you don't keep opening new tickets. Stick with one.

Good luck! 

[DreamGreatDreams]

@ArcliteFabrication if you wanted to try a callback or chat option, i’ve found some links directly to those options. not sure they work 24/7 as they say, or if they work outside the usa, but it’s worth a try. i hope one of these will help:

here is the link to the “how to contact support” from the seller’s handbook.

here is a link to initiate chat or email.

here is the link to request a callback.

 this link or this link sometimes work for chat or email.

if you do email them you *should* get an automated reply and once you do, you must reply to that email above the line of asterisks that their automated best guess solutions did not work. all you have to say is something like “i still need help” send the reply, and it should stay active.

[ArcliteFabrication]

@DreamGreatDreams Thanks a lot for your help. I just got off the phone using the callback link and unfortunately no progress was made.

The rep told me the team that can fix this issue is email only and he is unsure of as to how long it will take to receive a reply.

Unfortunately all three of those links only initiate email, and I have had no luck with them replying in the past 11 days. 

I did reply directly to the "best guess" email with no luck. The support request was updated with my reply so it definitely went through, but since I have received no reply in return.

Thank you for the links. I've tried to find the callback page on my own multiple times and it has never worked. It seems like the direct link is the only way.

[cindylouwho2]

@DreamGreatDreams thank you for posting these!

Unfortunately, other people who have managed to get a callback on this issue have been told they will have to wait for the proper team to review their documents. That is taking over a week right now, and the holidays in the past week won't help. @ArcliteFabrication  might be able to get phone support to consolidate the tickets, though. 

Edit: sad to see this is still the case 
: - (

[SustainMyCraftHabit]

Thank you so much! The solution pasted above using the Articles of Incorporation number seems to have cleared the error for our shop.

[Driini]

Hey ArcliteFabrication,

I don't have any solution, but just wanted to let you know the exact same thing happened to me. I have gotten rid of all the errors, but still stuck in vacation mode, this is now day 8. 

Same as you, just waiting to hear back from the proper team. The phone customer service is just as useless as the email.

Let me know if and when you get it resolved, and I will do the same!

[ArcliteFabrication]

I just got an email from Etsy Safety & Trust - they are asking me to confirm my corporation number.

I am slightly nervous about replying, as there are two ways to enter this information. Listed on my articles of incorporation is a 7 digit number that has a dash in it, in this format: 123456-7. When I look up my business information using a government search, I see that the dash is not there eg. 1234567.

Those who have successfully filled out this form with a corporation number, could you please confirm weather you used the dash or not? I'm already down 15 days of revenue and would really like to make sure I reply correctly.

They ended the email by letting me know if I did not reply in 24 hours my selling privileges would be removed from my shop. Although I am already on vacation mode, this could be another step backwards and I really don't want to risk that.

Thanks for your help,

Owen

[cindylouwho2]

@ArcliteFabrication  in the links I gave you, it says dash, but that could depend on the province: https://community.etsy.com/t5/All-Things-Finance/Solved-Can-t-Enter-GST-ID-in-Tax-Info-for-Canadian-...

I would just explain that sometimes you see the dash & sometimes you don't, then attach a scan of the document again just to be safe. Surely it is the actual number that matters (I should know better than assuming around here, though) 

[ArcliteFabrication]

Thanks, I'm in a bit of a panic over here - I re-read the original post but did not read the comment clarifying the format. Thanks for pointing that out.

Just going to send the email now, hopefully everything goes smoothly from here on.

[cindylouwho2]

@ArcliteFabrication I completely understand panicking over this - Etsy should be providing clear information and quicker customer service to boot. 

Good luck! 

[Driini]

Great to hear they got back to you. I have my fingers crossed that they respond quickly and that your up and running in the next 24. Please update and let us know how it goes.

[ArcliteFabrication]

Update:

I received an email from Etsy Trust & Safety today (noreply@etsy.com) saying:

[This content has been removed by Moderation. We ask that you please review Section 1, Item 2 of our Community Policies prior to posting.]

Unfortunately, my shop is still on vacation mode. I checked the "Legal and tax information" section of my account and sure enough, it is now verified with my corporation number in place of my business number. I called Etsy to ask if they could please open my shop up now that everything has been straightened out and I received the same run around. A specialized email only team is required to resolve this issue, and there is no timeframe available.

[cindylouwho2]

I am so frustrated on your behalf that I am sitting here swearing. This is completely unacceptable. 

[Driini]

Absolutly brutal. Hopefully it just takes some time on their back-end to update, and it doesn't take anouther 2 weeks to resolve. I think you will be up and running soon.

I still haven't heard anything back from Etsy, but I was put on vacation mode 4 days after you, so I am hoping soon...

[Driini]

Congrats, looks like your back up!

I still haven't gotten any reply from Etsy 20 days later... Hoping soon though!

[ArcliteFabrication]

Thanks, huge relief.

I really hope your shop is back up shortly as well. I'm really sorry I can't offer any advice on how to speed up this process.

[ArcliteFabrication]

Update:

My shop is finally off vacation mode. Although I am relieved my shop is pretty dead in terms of traffic right now. There's quite a bit of mixed information regarding recovery from being on vacation mode. The common denominator seems to be 3-4 days. While speaking with an Etsy rep on the phone yesterday, I was offered 20 listing credits for the inconvenience. I guess it's better than nothing.

I don't think any action on my side helped expedite this process, so unfortunately I can't offer successful advice to anyone in the same situation. Thanks for everyone's help in this thread and words of encouragement / support.

My takeaways from this learning experience:

- As Cindy advised above: Do not rely on Etsy if this is your main source of income. Take the time to start up a Shopify (or equivalent) store and start directing traffic there on any platform you can. I've read that lots of people include promo codes for their independent websites when packaging their Etsy orders.  My wife and I now have a website up and have made a few sales there. It's nothing compared to the revenue we're used to, but it's a step in the right direction.

- If something seems to be off on Etsy, go to the forums for answers. Chances are others will be having the same issue and you'll find a solution faster than contacting Etsy support. I was under the impression that I had 3 attempts to enter my tax information, but only got 2. The first time my information did not verify I should have come here and posted or searched for the issue so I could have kept my shop open. Do everything you can to avoid vacation mode.

- Continuing on the previous point - get to know Etsy's system. Use the forums to learn what issues other users are facing so you can avoid them. For example, your shop could be placed in vacation mode during a busy season if you have more open orders than usual and some of them are overdue due to higher volume. Even if you've messaged every buyer in that situation and they're okay with the delay, Etsy will still intervene.

- Keep the mentality that this is Etsy's game and we're just the players. Mistakes like this are part of the agreement to sell on Etsy. Their mislabeled tax form cost me 3+ weeks of revenue, but I chose to sell here and develop my business through this shop. The bigger Etsy becomes as a corporation, the worse the seller support becomes.

[GlassArtbythelake]

Did you manage to solve the situation? I am only a Sole Proprietorship and I have been penalized and put on Vacation as well. I would love to hear from other Canadian small businesses that actually had their paperwork accepted? And what was accepted. This is going on 3 weeks now.