Store Setup Support

[AOAdventures]

How long does it take to get ahold of someone about a problem we are having setting up our financials section on our store manager? I’ve got a group of people trying to make orders and our store is currently suspended due to information entered that etsy is saying doesn’t match our business establishment documents! This is REALLY frustrating! I think we might start a shopify store instead. This is ridiculous! 

[TheVintagePineapple]

The timeline for getting things fixed varies.

Are you sure that the ''group of people trying to make orders'' are not scammers trying to steal your money?

[AOAdventures]

Yes.

[Natalya1905]

Please read the forums. Most probably it's a scam. New unfinished shops get attacked by all kinds of scammers. Be super cautious in your messages. Don't share any information, don't click on any links. 

Finish your shop, setup payment methods, etc. When you get real orders, you'll see them in your Orders and Shipping folder. 

[PrairiePrimitives]

@AOAdventures 4Runner & Land Cruiser ... that's Toyota, right? Do you have licensing rights from Toyota to use their brand name and an image of their vehicle?

Do you have permission and/or licensing rights from Anderson Overland to profit from their name/brand? 

Did you create the art on your other shirts? I don't see obvious IP issues with them, however Etsy requires that shops using a POD partner create their own art and that it's printed by the POD only for their shop. Speaking of which, you haven't specified a POD partner, but you're using typical POD descriptions, so that makes it kind of obvious. 

You don't have Policies or a Shop Announcement or an About section. In other words, your shop isn't set up properly.

Until you resolve ALL of these problems, I wouldn't expect to receive a reply from Etsy.

Oh, and if you decide to sell on Shopify instead, you'll still have problems with the IP issues.  I hope you have a good attorney. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@AOAdventures: There are several other points that may or may not be delaying things from Etsy's side. Are you using a print on demand company to make your shirts but marketing them as made by you? You are labeling new shirts with the word 'vintage' which could be confusing at best. Do you have permission to use any trademarked and copyrighted intellectual property in your designs and marketing?

[AOAdventures]

So “Anderson Overland Podcast” is also ours. We own it. As far as Toyota products. How are people able to sell offroading apparel with Jeep or Toyota photos, etc etc on them? I buy stuff all the time from companies that have photos of their own vehicles on them. As far as “Toyota” itself, I can see your point there. We can manage that and edit appropriately, which we will. But yes we are using printify to process our orders as our POD. I will work on fixing the things you mentioned right away. I really wish there was an online chat option with support on demand. Its frustrating that etsy does not have this as an option for folks.

[audreytherese]

Most are doing it illegally. Jeep is well known for issuing takedowns when they find unlicensed products.

[BagmakerSupply]

@AOAdventures: If you have not yet done so, you may want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000336547-Working-with-Production-Partners-on-Etsy?segmen... for information on a shop's responsibilities and requirements if they use a production partner such as a print on demand company.

[audreytherese]

First, it can take weeks or months to get a response from Etsy. If you stay here, you should not expect prompt CS. 

Second, your shop is not suspended. Normally when Etsy is having trouble verifying, they will put a shop on vacation. But yours is not, it is open. 

Lastly, just based on a quick glance I see you are a podcaster, so while there may be a chance you have an immediate audience, you are also a brand-new shop and target for scammers. One of the current common scams is saying they can't place an order with you and needing to verify your account details. This will lead to them saying you need to open up a Revolut account and deposit at least $300 into it. It's 100% a scam. 

If you decide to stick around, you really do need to make sure your listings don't have legal issues.

But even if you go somewhere else understand that scammers are everywhere. The post office has a disclaimer on their site about the scam texts people are getting about undeliverable mail. Michaels Makerplace halted all messaging within their system while they put controls in place. 

[AOAdventures]

Well thanks for the heads up! Geez! Scary!

[audreytherese]

You are correct though, no one can buy from you because you don't have any payment methods in your shop. This likely is because they can't verify the name on the bank account with the name used to set up the shop. You say 'our business', so I don't know how you have it set up and can't help. I am set up as an individual and created my account with my personal SSN. 

[AOAdventures]

We haven’t been able to take orders because the “check out” button is disabled temporarily. We can fix the IP issues easily today, but etsy will not accept our tax info eventhough they match our docs. I believe this is why it won’t show our payment methods. Our business bank account is connected. I’ve tried resubmitting our tax stuff multiple times and now it just says “you’ve already submitted this info and it does not match the IRS records”. But it does and is typed in exactly the same.

[audreytherese]

The check out is unavailable because there are no payment methods. If you look at the bottom of every other shop you'll see they accept Etsy payments, Paypal, and all the normal CC companies. 

So, again, I'm set up as an individual and not a business, but from posts I've seen before, I think you need to register under one person's information first, then add the business information. I think you have to have a specific person attached to the account before you can go further. I'll see if I can think of some terms to search the forums for, because I know I've seen others deal with this same thing before (but I haven't, so I'm not stating any of this as fact, just what I think I remember). 

[AOAdventures]

I sure appreciate the help! Means alot to us! We’re just trying to get another income stream going for our family! I will look into that stuff and try to fix it as soon as we get back to the house.