Etsy Closed My Shop Part 200

OK, that's an exaggeration, but apparently Etsy did another big Friday sweep and once again I received emails from sellers wanting to know what to do. So again I post my piece of mind.

Etsy TOU's or Terms of Use are so all encompassing that every seller is probably in violation of something. For instance, if you have collaborative work with any other Etsy seller and you don't have the link to that shop on you shop, If you say ANYTHING negative about Etsy on a public venue (believe me, they are watching), and of course if your items are in handmade and don't look handmade. One of the most common reason's for having a shop shut down is copyright infringement. If you want to sell on Etsy, only sell "fan art" that is "inspired by" the genre you are representing. The don't seem to understand the law on reconstructing materials either via the First Sale Doctrine. But that's another long story.

Point is, they can find a number of valid reason's to close your shop. Sometimes you can get it reopened, sometimes not. I think it depends on how penitent you are. Do you grovel, or are you snippy and snide? And I also think it helps to have had white backgrounds. The have a preference for shops that display works on white backgrounds. Look at the front page, right now, go.

Do they need your shop? No, not anymore, they have thousands of shops. Your 3.5% doesn't mean much to them anymore. Even if your sales mean food on the table for your family. That's what happened to my daughter, because she was supporting her family on the money she made on Etsy. Her 3.5% was about $90 a month, she was doing very well and they still didn't care.There is no Heart in Etsy.

The first thing I suggest to anyone selling online at any venue is to get a web page. You can get free ones. weebly.com has free sites. Buy your domain name someplace cheap and buy a site if you can. Put that address on your business cards and link your "shop" page directly to your selling site. That way if anything happens to your site, your buyers will ALWAYS know where to find you.

Don't think you're immune either. I've had friends who have had their images stolen by off shore factories and posted online. These are honest shops who have had their copyright infringed on, and Etsy forced them to prove that their merchandise was handmade. DO NOT think that a watermark will save you. They are easily removed with Photoshop. I've seen the images that prove it.

And remember, if you do get your shop closed, you can contact me through this blog. At least I can hold your hand and lend a shoulder.

Etsy Integrity Inquisition - Ha Ha funny if you've had your Etsy shop closed

It's been quite some time since my daughter and I had our Etsy shops closed. We are doing very well now, no thanks to the site we promoted and loved who dumped us without so much as a chance to protest.

Ebay has learned that sometimes the hand that feeds you also bites back, as many sellers have sued them for similar practices. I'm sure this will happen to Etsy eventually.

Since my original post, I have met many crafters who have had their shops closed by Etsy. People like my daughter and me, who have invested a lot of time and money in their business, only to have the mustachioed "rug" pulled out from beneath them.

As I always recommend. Please don't set yourself up to fail. Etsy is a great place to sell if you can #1 compete with the resellers #2 keep your mouth shut publicly about their evil practices #3 protect yourself by linking your shop to your own website and sending out business cards with that website address only, with orders. That way you can link to a new site IF Etsy shuts your shop down.

I thought you all might like this entertaining parody of Etsy discriminatory practices. Really, it's funny (not if you've had your shop closed though)

I Used to Sell on Etsy

Another friend got a warning from Etsy. She used licensed materials in her product, which is perfectly legal, but she got her first warning. I used to sell on Etsy too.

Etsy has so many sellers and so much money that they really don't care about you. They might pretend that they do, but they don't. When I was having problems with Etsy, I was advised to contact a certain person for help. My friends assured me that this person was wonderful and that he would certainly help me. But almost immediately after I wrote to him explaining my problem, instead of having the one troubled shop reopened, all of my 4 shops were shut down.

I personally didn't violate any policies, as a matter of fact, although my daughter was called out, she didn't either. She was legally reconstructing licensed t-shirts and vintage sheets. Etsy didn't even want to discuss it. They shut down her shop and my shop that had a link to her shop. Yes, if you have a link to a friend or family member, you can be shut down permanently too.

I reopened a shop in my name only, and that worked well, but my daughter couldn't, and she struggled for a long time. We were already struggling financially, so my Etsy bills were at the bottom of my list of priorities. Food for the kids, and shelter came first. I got seriously behind and Etsy shut down my shops and demanded payment in full to reopen my shops. I was already struggling, so there was no way I could pay it off, and there was no negotiating. They would not accept partial payment and a payment plan to reopen. They just wanted to get rid of me.

Fortunately I had another shop open with some of my product, and fortunately I had downloaded my CSV.
Although the information was a bit outdated, I was able to open a new shop at a new venue pretty quickly. As for traffic, that has taken a few years to develop again.

Now I have my own website. I have a shop page, that can be linked to any venue I want to sell at. Today it is Artfire.com, tomorrow it may be storenvy.com or the new Handmadeology.com marketplace.

I also know if you possibly can, download a CSV. You never know what can happen. People have had their shops shut down, just because Etsy suspects they are having items made outsourced. While some shops blatantly violate and still remain, others get shut down for nothing. Oh and by the way, discussing anything negative about Etsy publicly is a violation of their policy and a reason for getting your shop shut down too.

I used to sell on Etsy, and it is so liberating not to have those "evil eyes" watching my every move.

Bizz Buzz - Life Without Etsy Part Deux

I had another post written for today, I bumped it to next week because I wanted to write this post about my amazing Daughter Poppy.

About a year ago, Etsy made an unfair decision to shut down Poppy's shop. She had been on Etsy for years and was a top supporter and a top seller of handmade original clothing designs. She also reconstructed shirts and there was where the problem lay. While she sells reconstructed shirts on other sites without problem, Etsy chose to remove her and all of her shops including one we shared, because of excessive flagging, even though her items were legally made and the flagging not valid. Etsy didn't listen to reason. You can read more about the incident in these past posts. Etsy Shop Closings

Poppy's clothes are beautiful, original and wonderfully comfortable and well constructed. She's amazing at her craft. Watching her design is a treat. She gets an idea in her head, lays out fabric and just cuts it. She takes her pieces to the machine and just like magic it's perfect. No patterns, no measuring and she can reproduce it over and over without pattern, in any size. I could never sew for her when she was in the hospital, because her patterns are all in her head. When she was on Etsy, she was on the front page regularly. You remember her adorable Poppy Longstockings I'm sure.

This month Poppy is Clearing out her Poppy shop on Artfire at ridiculously low prices as she prepares to close shop. She has to go back the the Genre fashion that brought her to Etsy from eBay. It makes me very sad, and I'm sure it makes her even sadder to see all of that wonderful work sold for practically nothing. But Artfire and eBay are a different animal than Etsy was.

Poppy will still have her genre shop, Poppy's Wicked Garden but that's her cash cow, not her heart and soul. I know how she feels, because I'm not selling my beloved product either, but I chose to try another path with it. Poppy has a new baby and doesn't have the time to try other markets, when she has product that sells.

So if you get a chance, stop by Poppy and pick up a great deal, or tell Poppy how great you think her designs are. She'll appreciate that.

Thank You Poppy for Making the world a prettier place.