@Lionfishvintage
Hi Lion :- )
I did the manual verification a couple of weeks ago. When you go to your finance page, click to verify with Plaid. A pop-up will ask for your bank account number. Once you enter it, the next step will give you the choice between instant and manual verification. After I clicked manual, it asked for my bank's routing number then asked for my account number again. (I think it might have asked for my name too but I'm drawing a blank on that right now.) Anyway, it should then give you the info about sending test deposits to your account. I checked my account after a couple of days and there were 2 deposits from Etsy followed by 2 withdrawals of the same amount. I went back to the finance page and entered the amounts, and my account was instantly verified. They didn't hold my funds at all.
That said, some people are running into the same problem I ran into at first. I entered my account number and it said the number was not what Etsy had on file. I read in the forum that if you enter the wrong number more than twice, the system will lock you out or suspend your shop. At that point you would have to contact Etsy. But also, I read that if you DO enter it incorrectly twice, you should wait 24 hours before trying again. Supposably it resets during that time and you should be okay for another 2 tries. Fortunately, my third attempt went through on day 2. It finally "took" when I entered it with all of the extra zeros that appear on my bank statement. I'm guessing that's how I entered it when I first signed up. I didn't put those in on my first couple of tries.
As for the other problems and issues people are having, here's my take. I think Etsy gave blanket info on this and it's caused some confusion. Apparently you may have to enter 1 deposit amount, 2 deposit amounts, or a code for the verification. Different people have had to do different things and I think that boils down to who you bank with. The instructions for what you actually have to enter will be on the page where you have to enter it. I think that link appears on the finance page several hours after you complete the forms. As I said, I waited 2 days before I even checked my account for the deposits so the link was already there when I went back to the finance page.
Bottom line, if you get past entering the correct account number, you should be in good shape. My best advice is don't worry about all those other glitches people are talking about in the forum unless they actually happen to you.
Oh, and I hope all of that made sense. Happy to clarify if needed.
