Etsy closed my shop after the first order

[barnes]

Hi all,

I opened my first Etsy shop a few months ago. They verify about me & my business after signup. After verification, they approved my Etsy shop. I added all of my listings & started selling. When I didn't get any sales, after a few days, I decided to promote my shop on their advertising system. I spent about one month on their ads. I still haven't had any sales after the advertisement. After a month, I stopped advertising, too, as I was not getting any sales. After three months, I got my first sale and was happy. I started to work on my first order immediately, and I informed the customer about when he delivered his order. It was night on my side. After starting on order, I fell asleep. In the morning, when I checked my emails, I saw an email from Etsy that they suspended my account & asked for more documents. So, I sent them the documents that they were asking for. They activate my account after checking the documents. Another morning, I got an email from Etsy saying they had permanently suspended my account. They say that the service I am selling is against their TOS, but hundreds of sellers have been selling the same service on their platform for years. Now I understand I was wasting my time and money on their platform. So, I didn't email them back about this issue. I left my account suspended.

Now I have decided to open my eCommerce shop & I set up a woo commerce shop. This forum helped me decide to set up my e-commerce shop & choose a platform. This time, I am more confident as no one stops me as it is my shop. The money I spend on ads is spent on my shop.

I share my story here to motivate people to consider not opening a shop on such platforms. I suggest you do not waste your money and time on such platforms as you do not own such platforms. Work on your platform. Open your eCommerce shop rather than using other platforms.

I hope it helps more people.

 

[cortez]

The problem is that Etsy is making massive sweeps through their shops with bots that always shut down shops incorrectly. Even after Etsy reopens your shop and apologizes for the mistake, it can still happen again because the bot will flag the same item for the same reason again, and you'll have to go through Etsy's review again.

 

[javier]

It’s good that you posted here, though, so that other people see these kinds of posts and realize that Etsy is shutting down many shops without any warning, and though I’m pretty sure many of them are doing something they shouldn’t, like IP infringement, selling products that are not handmade/vintage or supplies, selling strictly prohibited products, many of the shops are from innocent sellers and bots close them. Sellers are left clueless about the reasons and what they can do. I hope you get your shop back ASAP, but I would consider opening on another platform so you don’t rely only on Etsy.

 

[agoston]

I also deactivated my account a few months ago. They are not reading my mail. They blew up my efforts. This one-sided behavior of Etsy is so ridiculous. And I build my shop in Shopify. Don't let anyone shut down your little shop!!!

 

[ITivan80]

I am sorry that you are going through this bad experience with Etsy. Maybe you may want to take a look at other online stores (i.e. eBay or Amazon, Mercari).

 

[Brantdus]

Etsy charges exorbitant fees, makes you pay for their ads and treats you like shit. If you own an Etsy store, you essentially work for Etsy, not your brand. It's a little more complicated and takes longer, but if you are serious about selling, woo-commerce and AdWords are how to build your business in the long run without being controlled by Etsy.