Urgent - Shop closed - Verifyication of seller info for incorporated business not working

[#1]

There is no provision for uploading our corporate documents (Legal Entity) as well as our personal IDs - but Etsy is requesting both.  We are on Etsy since 2010, Starseller etc. and our shop got put into vacation mode today. None of our business information has changed and all our documents are current. This glitch is extremely harmful to our business. Please fix asap.

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[foreverbeading23]

I am on day 10. I have them call me daily and send emails daily. No progress. 

[BabyMaesShop]

We are on day 7. The last we heard was that the information provided doesn't match what I originally registered on Etsy with. I was just doing this as a hobby at that time, so yes, of course my information is different from that. But it is the same as when I originally started as an LLC. I have been operating this business and paying taxes with these numbers for 13 years.

[SpokenWoodDesign]

We were in the Etsy vacation doghouse last week for 3 days. After repeated attempts to communicate and upload all of a sudden we were back in business. This morning it happened again-the dreaded Red Banner. Everything has been uploaded and verified but still something is tripping up the AI. We only sell to the US and the issues seem to be about EU conforming to some new rules. So I checked our shipping settings and sure enough an old setting we do not use (and has no listings in it) did say we would ship it anywhere. I have deleted that setting and will see if that helps. 

[BabyMaesShop]

Thank you for bringing that up! We also only ship to the US and Canada but I know we have old shipping profiles with EU countries. I will delete those also.

[LivingDreamsYarn]

Day 7 - Now Verified - But still in vacation mode!!!!

I called again today and seller support opened a NEW CASE! They acknowledged that they have all documents - they escalated the case again to find someone to actually lift the vacation mode...?!?

We need to get ETSY to spend money on resolving these issues - Quickly!

Etsy, hire real people and educate them well enough to make decissions and actually DO SOMETHING!

Etsy, you are expecting excellent customer service from us - how about setting a good example and treating us sellers with respect and expediency?

[SpokenWoodDesign]

I cannot agree more!

[foreverbeading23]

Took 11 days but I am finally back up and running. There is hope. I called multiple times a day and email after email. Make sure you are in communication with the Trust and Safety team as they are the ones that released me. 

[LivingDreamsYarn]

7 Days - Finally out of vacation mode!

These are the things that I wished someone had told me to safe us a lot of pain:

- AFTER we were finally VERIFIED (day 5) our store was still not released from vacation mode. I called, they looked into it, opened a new case, told me to wait. I expected further communication by email or at the site where you upload the docs (Your Documents > Legal Shop Information > Legal and tax information > Finances) - but discovered today that you actually need to go to your Dashboard and click through the red banner. Once I did that, vacation mode was immediately lifted. NOBODY MENTIONED THAT!

- I never received a single email from Etsy about this process (other than the original request and the notice of lifting vac mode). I was told everyday that Trust & Safety team would reach out to me by email - never did! Don't wait for that - call them!

- What started our particular lengthy process was that Etsy requested docs that do not exist - in my case a PERSONAL drivers license with my BUSINESS name on it. I spent too much time trying to explain to the stupid AI that Etsy had their wires crossed... which AI seemed to interpret as a rebellious attitude regarding handing over personal information (I kept getting info about the Inform Act). I believe what worked was putting together a single pdf file with all our personal and business info (drivers licenses, cert.of corporation, annual report, resale cert.) I probably should have done that on day one.

I am deeply disappointed with Etsy that they did not put more (wo-)man power behind this process to avoid loss of income, interruption of business and hardship for their loyal sellers. Nothing is driving home the importance of owning your own web store like this experience of powerlessness on a marketplace platform that doesn't treat you with respect.

[WalnutStudiolo]

Thank you for sharing your experience and solutions. We could not get any helpful answers from the support section either. We've had a shop since 2009 and it's so frustrating that we can't get any real customer service.

[AutumnHollowStudio]

@LivingDreamsYarn   I am glad your shop is back - but - Etsy does not have a phone number to call for support. If you google that and find a number, it's not legit. A lot of people get scammed that way.

[TheKraftyEquestrian]

Who do you actually call?! I can only access the email function and I am getting canned responses, zero from an actual person. My documents still say pending verification and like you it seems to want a drivers license with my business name instead of personal. I'm at my wits end.

[BeeCoolDesignsLLC]

I have had issues since Feb 9, 2024... the boxes are greyed out and was advised to use the individual seller button although I was registered as a LLC. I have repeatedly sent emails to have a generic response to how I am suppose to make any changes when the boxes are greyed out and will not allow me to update. I have upload supporting documentation and received an email to click "here" to update. Still the boxes are grey. I am not sure what to do at this point since the help desk clearly has no clue I am suppose to make changes if it does not allow me to do so. My shop is on hold in the meantime. 

[LivingDreamsYarn]

Well, I don't know what to tell you BUT Etsy does have phone numbers - I am sure they don't want you to know that and will redact it if I post here.

I called them every single day throughout my 7 day "vacation" and spoke to various team members to escalate the case to the Trust and Safety team. They were able to view my docs and screenshots that I had uploaded to Help Center. They also were able to reference my case #  (open and look up your cases in > Help Home > My Support Requests).

They are legit and you need to provide identification (last 4 of cc, last 4 of EIN, last 4 of Bank account etc.). Etsy seller support team is kind but pretty powerless - you must get them to escalate to the Trust and Safety team.

Best of luck to everybody still in involuntary vacation mode - be persistent and cautious (I am sure that it is true that there also are scammers out there).

[BabyMaesShop]

Etsy is denying my drivers license because apparently the legal name on it was supposed to be the business name. Obviously, the business doesn't drive so that ID doesn't exist. Now they want a different government issued ID or passport (which I have never had either of), but those are not going to satisfy their requirement either. This is maddening. Everyday is something different. 

[LivingDreamsYarn]

Baby Maes Shop ,  repeat from above  - maybe it will help:

What started our particular lengthy process was that Etsy requested docs that do not exist - in my case a PERSONAL drivers license with my BUSINESS name on it. I spent too much time trying to explain to the stupid AI that Etsy had their wires crossed... which AI seemed to interpret as a rebellious attitude regarding handing over personal information (I kept getting info about the Inform Act). I believe what worked was putting together a single pdf file with all our personal and business info (drivers licenses, cert.of corporation, annual report, resale cert.) I probably should have done that on day one.

[BabyMaesShop]

Thank you, LivingDreams Yarn. I had read that, so I did it this morning, submitted one pdf with all of our documents in it. Now they're asking for a passport or other gov. ID, which I don't have. I just don't understand how all of a sudden after 13 years this information is a problem.

[BagmakerSupply]

@BabyMaesShop: "I just don't understand how all of a sudden after 13 years this information is a problem." The sad reality is that with all of the new laws and regulations that are constantly being added, we will all have to go through this more and more often regardless of what was sufficient, verified, or accepted yesterday.

[BabyMaesShop]

We're finally out of Etsy jail! We were released with documents I have uploaded multiple times... so frustrating!! Yesterday they were asking for another form of personal ID besides a drivers license. Today the support person had me upload JUST the front of my DL (previously I had uploaded front and back). That worked! Then I had to upload my EIN again. Within an hour our shop was back up. What a stressful 9 day situation this has been!!