What Evah! - A Little Secret About Etsy

I've noticed a new rash of Etsy shop closings. They like to do it on Friday, so you can't contact them about it till the following week, not that they answer you back to let you know what you did and how you can remedy it.

I have a little secret I've been keeping. Silly me, I thought that someday I might get back on Etsy, so I didn't want to bash them too bad. Not that my secret is bashing, only the truth.

You can read about how My Daughter got her shops closed here in my post Etsy Shop Closings. It's been a popular post, I guess because others have had their shops closed too, without warning.

I must say, that I think almost everyone on Etsy has SOME violation of the TOUs, so if the powers that be want you off, you will be off.

Poppy's sin was copyright infringement in ONE of her shops. But if you read the post, there was no infringement. She legally reconstructs licensed product under the First Sale Doctrine. But Etsy didn't want to hear that, or that she had proof from the complaining companies, that what she did WAS legal. No, Etsy told her that she had had been accused (unjustly) too many times. There was nothing they could do.
they couldn't even leave her shop open. The even closed 2 shops that I had with her.

We did have a series of unfortunate events though, and I fell behind on my fees. All of my shops were closed and I tried in vain to negotiate with Etsy to make payment. You see that was my only income, and without the shops, it was nearly impossible to pay the fees. I was lost and struggling.

I was on a wonderful Etsy team and my fellow members suggested that I talk to one person in particular to find out what was going on and see if he could help. He had been very helpful to her and others. I tried to handle the situation myself, but got nowhere.

Finally after about a week I used my friend's inside contact and made a plea for his help. Now here is the secret I have never shared with anyone. Shortly after I sent the email, my shops and Poppy's shops disappeared off the face of Etsy, and our ISP was blocked. We could get to Etsy, but couldn't look at item details. I never heard a word back from that kind helpful person. I just got jerked around a little bit more.

I did find a few other places to sell, but my product had to change with the atmosphere of the site. Still struggling a bit, but things are looking up.  I wish you all well in your endeavors and hope your luck is a bit better than mine.

Update - Life without Etsy

Well it happened again, another shop suspended. Etsy did one of their sneak attacks Friday at the end of the Day and suspended the shop of a seller, without any warning. This is a seller whose sole income is that of her Etsy shop. These are the cruel people you work under and support. Etsy shuts down shops on Friday at the end of the day, because no one is there on the weekend to answer your emails or calls. I know because it happened to me.

Type in my old address and this is what you get akacinders.etsy.com

So how is life without Etsy? I just had to compile my finances for the past 5 months. I was on Etsy in January, sales very good, then I was booted off on February 11th. It was very hard for me to look at that month. While I was trying to negotiate with Etsy, and trying to figure out what to do, I had NO sales for 2 weeks. I was misty eyed as I filled out the financial statements.

Then in March when I decided to get back on the horse and fight, I started making sales again. I really love Artfire, and my shops had sales, but the traffic is still not as good as Etsy. Although I didn't want to, I went back to eBay too. I spent weeks trying to figure out my niche there. I made some sales, but it was 1/4 of what I made in January.

April got a little better, some Artfire Sales and a new Product on eBay that was selling. Still not as much as I was making last year on Etsy.

May, now there was a month. But mostly it was due to hours of blogging work and exposure from a blogged item. Now if only I can get more people to blog my work, life could be rosy. My sales in May were actually higher than my Sales at Etsy last year. But we will see how that goes when I'm not freshly blogged.

By the way, I am selling my Genre Aprons and Clutches. My Jewelry suffered terribly and I was just getting off the ground with it on Etsy. Very disheartening, as it was to My daughter Poppy when she got her shops shut down too.

So even though it was a struggle, there is life without Etsy. If you ever get yourself into the same predicament, please feel free to contact me HERE and I'll help you get through it.