Etsy.com calls itself “your place to buy and sell things handmade” and is a pretty cool website that we personally enjoy. The sellers who use the site, however, are getting all riled up after several stores were shut down without notice due to simple, easily-resolved complaints from buyers.
Reader Elizabeth writes:
Over at Etsy.com, there have recently been a rash of insanely unprofessional events, most importantly, the closing of several stores without notice and for no reason given, but clearly violating Etsy’s own written standards about the very stringent requirements in place before such a drastic thing should happen
She pointed us to a thread where Etsy store closures were being discussed. One seller with 15,000 positive feedback comments was banned after a single complaint:
I just wanted to let everyone know that I am trying to find out why my shop is gone. I have tried to contact Etsy about it and they sent me an abuse report from a customer who says they never received their order. Funny thing is I can’t find any record of the order in my PayPal account. So it appears they may have shut me down over an order that was never paid for. To all of my loyal customers I will continue to get all of your orders out from the invoices in my PayPal account until I can get this resolved. I am in shock that Etsy would shut me down considering I have almost 15,000 positive feedback. It appears there has been a BIG misunderstanding. I have sent several more emails to Etsy and have not received any response. Please be patient…I am still around!
The sellers are eventually able to get their accounts reinstated, but not without possibly being reported to the FBI’s cybercrime’s division:
A seller DID complain about me – a week & a half after the purchase date for not receiving their parcel, & I’m in Australia & he’s in the US! Instead of referring the buyer to me, giving me the benefit of the doubt or explaining on my behalf that assuming non-delivery was premature, Etsy banned me & issued the buyer with an FBI cyber-crime form to complain about me!
Forwarding routine complaints (or threatening to forward them) to the FBI seems to be a theme at Etsy:
This actually happened to me around Christmas time. I had a customer request a Custom Order & then Subsequently change her mind. I refunded her payment & never marked the item as shipped. About 2 months later I got an email from Etsy saying I did not ship an item and the Customer was furnished with the FBI Cyber Crime thing & my account would be suspended if I did not respond. I responded to the email explaining that she changed her mind & the Payment was refunded. About 2 days later I got the same email & responded agian explaining what happened. I even contacted the buyer (nicely – & asked if she was unhappy in any way with the way the transaction had been concluded & to doublecheck that she had received her refund).She said she had received her refund promptly & was very satisfied since it was she who had backed out of the transaction. She said she had not reported the transaction to Etsy in any way. In fact, she had left me Pos. feedback previously.
We can appreciate that Etsy wants to remain vigilant about fraud (obviously), but not every consumer complaint is “fraud.” Telling consumers to forward basic complaints about refunds and slow shipping to the FBI is inappropriate and a waste of the FBI’s time. Billing errors happen. Things get lost in the mail. If every customer service snafu warranted closing down the business, people would be asking “Verizon? What’s that?”
We wish Etsy and its sellers the best of luck sorting this out.
More shop closures – including a Top Seller [Unofficial Etsy News]
Two Seller Accounts Deleted Under Strange Circumstances [Unofficial Etsy News]
Unwarranted Accidental Shop Suspensions [Unofficial Etsy News]
Another Case Of An Erroneous Shop Suspension [Unofficial Etsy News]
More From Consumerist
-
eBay Seller Who Sued Customer Claims He’s Sorry, Has Filed Dozens Of Feedback Suits
-
eBay Seller Freaks Out And Sues Customer Over Bad Feedback That’s Actually True
-
Amazon Sellers Engaging In Price Wars, Shift Prices Multiple Times Each Day
-
I Sent eBay Buyer A Pair Of Sunglasses, They Sent Me Back A Brick
-
Amazon To Buy Goodreads, And Owns Part Or All Of Its Competitors, Too
DON’T KID YOURSELF. ETSY IS EBAY. IT’S NOW OVERWHELMED BY JUNK.
THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT EBAY DOESN’T CLAIM TO BE ANYTHING BUT A JUNK YARD AND IS RUN BY COMPETENT PROFESSIONALS.
ETSY IS RUN BY ANNOYINGLY NAIVE HIPSTERS WHO CLAIM SOME SORT OF MORAL MISSION THAT NO ONE CARES ABOUT.
THE $27M INVESTMENT WAS BROUGHT IN TO FINALLY MAKE THE TRANSITION TO A FLEA MARKET. STAY AWAY!
Unfortunately unless this is settled on the terms stated by UEN editors regarding all policies, procedures pertaining to sellers and admin this will never be resolved.
@isellart: According to you I should never buy from Etsy. Awesome.
Unfortunately etsy hasn’t learned from its mistakes. Sellers are still having their shops closed for no reason, and without notice. It would seem that the etsy policies are for the benefit of etsy administration, not sellers or buyers. Furthermore, racial profiling and discrimination against minorities is becoming more and more apparent with the store closings. For example, a Native American friend of mine who has a store on etsy named Little Secrets went on vacation last week. The second day of her vacation she checked her site only to find her store had been closed. It would seem she was accused her not making the jewelry she had listed. All 170 pieces! She is a very skilled silversmith and artesian who has been crafting jewelry for more than 40 years. There was no inquiry from etsy. No emails. Nothing. Her shop was just closed. To further add insult to injury she emailed them for three days and did not receive a response. There is no telephone number for etsy. She looked. Etsy is run by very power hungry little people. It had potential to be a great site. Too bad it went the way of self-important little white boys.
I was kicked off Etsy. I had a computer melt down in August, my ancient computer finally quit. Being 71 with an ill husband, funds for things like new computers are not easy to come by. Finally I got a replacement computer with the help of saving and a fantastic son in law. Much to my surprise when I tried to log into my account, I was told it had been deactivated. No problem, I just contacted someone on the help site and told them I now had a computer up and running and would be more than happy to pay my bill. It got kicked back and told me to sign in and try again, enter my username and password and guess what, I have been deactivated. I tried every means that I could come up with to get in touch with Etsy, settle my bill and get back active. No answer, nada, nothing.. I went to all the suggested sites to resolve any issue and every time I was told to sign in and give my password. Oooops, sorry that site has been deactivated. Ok, I tried emailing them an as soon as I typed my user name in a little lighting icon came on, I suppose saying, bad, do not accept. Etsy seems to be so careful taking care of their reputation for honest dealing that will do so on the backs of honest dealers. I saw where someone had emailed someone and got an answer. I just want to pay my bill, which they want me to, but I can’t because I can’t log onto my site. I have Paypal up and running and Ebay with out a problem. Got my credit card registered. Can someone just tell me how to find out what I owe. I understand I have been black listed and will never again be allowed to try and sell my arts and crafts. Mary, pokie32
I am in Japan and I sold mainly vintage dollhouse items, rare stationery and dolls from the 60s and 70s. I also sold handmade brooches that took me days to make. I woke up one day to see my entire shop deleted from Etsy. This was done without warning and I was sent no emails at all prior to this. I wrote to the admin there but they have not replied. Before this happened I had contacted support about 2 months ago for help, they did not even bother to communicate with me even then. The vintage items I listed applied to their rigid rules (also tagging) that the items had to be older than 20+ years. Moreover, these items were rare and sometimes dead-stock items that are hard to find.
This kind of management is just so disgraceful and reflects so poorly on the image of Etsy.
Just making a engine search on the two words ‘bad’ ‘etsy’ and I found a list of sources that revealed that there were many other users who experienced this sort of treatment before.
I just wonder how their future is going to end up if they continue with these practices.
This experience has left a bad impression on me and I’ll make it known to most of the handmade community in Japan.
Etsy is a poorly run online marketplace with arbitrary rules enforecement. No response is standard operating procedure from the Etsy support staff. They seem to have no business or marketing acumen whatsoever. Appears to be staffed entirely with wannabe hipsters and stoners. They can shut down a seller’s store without warning or viable reason. No appeal process or inquiry. Thus, they can and do confiscate all the sellers product images and descriptions, costing the seller thousands of hours of labor and money. Don’t forget that the seller has already paid for a contracted listing of a specified duration. Management behavior is borderline criminal. Class-action lawsuit being brought by sellers soon. Etsy allows unstable buyers to run amok who make multiple purchases with no intention of paying. Seller concerns are routinely ignored and as a result, Etsy has developed a reputation as a “seller-unfriendly” site.