10 Reasons Why Shops Get Banned on Etsy

hi welcome back to daydreams of quilts on youtube i'm anita i keep forgetting to tell you my actual name i always say daydreams of quilts but i think most of you know but i am anita and i'm happy to hang out with you today to talk to you about etsy with my fellow etsyans or etsyrs um i want to talk today about 10 reasons that sellers get banned on etsy uh so many times i see posts in the facebook groups of sellers that are just completely shocked that their shop is shut down and they're banned on etsy and they they seemingly don't know why so i want to go over a few things so that that doesn't happen to any of you or we get started don't forget to give me a like and subscribe to my channel that really helps my channel out a lot and helps me get found by other etsy sellers like you um the first possibility is that it could just be a mistake or a glitch so if you're convinced that there's there's been a mistake there might have been so uh email etsy and ask them uh what's going on and hopefully they'll be able to get to the bottom of it quickly um the second reason why you might get banned from etsy is missing a warning email from etsy um some people set up a email for their shop so that they don't get all the etsy email emails coming to their main email but they don't check that email very often so um that could be a problem for you if etsy's sending you a warning or they've sent you a takedown notice and you have not complied with what they've asked then they will shut your shop down and you may not be able to get it back in that scenario so make sure you're checking your emails from etsy even if they're not coming to your main email address if you set up a secondary business email make sure you are checking what etsy is sending you so that you don't miss a warning email okay uh the third reason could be uh bad customer service if you're constantly shipping late or you're getting a lot of one star reviews or a lot of cases open against your shop etsy can shut you down for that so it's really important not only for yourself and your business but for your ability to remain on etsy that you provide good customer service so try to avoid the one star reviews i know sometimes they just happen and it's really beyond your control but if you are providing the best service you can you're shipping your orders on time or if you can't ship you're contacting your customer and letting them know what's happening extending the ship by date you really need to do that as well if you can't ship on time you need to go into etsy and extend the ship by date but generally if you're providing good customer service you will be getting good reviews and there won't be cases opened by customers so work hard on your customer service and don't let too many issues come up in that department um i did see one lady talking about how her shop got shut down because they got overwhelmed with orders and they couldn't get them all out on time and then they got stuck in the christmas mail so they had a few cases open and even though they were like in the top one percent of etsy they lost their shop because they weren't able to keep up with orders so if you're getting overwhelmed just put your shop on vacation mode and just get caught up before you start accepting more orders it could mean the difference between keeping your shop and losing it okay so that one's important uh not paying your bill make sure that your credit card on file that you're using for your etsy bill is up to date um i know i forgot one time to update when it expired and i got a new card and um they didn't shut my shop down but they wouldn't deposit my money and i kept requesting a deposit and it kept not coming and i was getting really frustrated it was because my credit card had expired so you need to make sure that your payment method is current so whenever you get a new card in the mail go into your etsy and update your expiry date on your credit card and make sure you're keeping your bill paid generally that's not much of a problem anymore since they take their fees as your sales come in now instead of letting them build up like they used to um but that could be reason number four okay and the fifth reason you could get banned on etsy is by selling things that you're not allowed to sell on etsy and there is a big list in it used to be called the etsy handbook i think it's now called the house rules there's a big list of prohibited items in there so you want to make sure you're not selling those so go and check that if you haven't already some of those items might be non-handmade items like etsy is not a reseller marketplace you can order in craft supplies and resell craft supplies but you cannot just like order in a bunch of clearance flip-flops and then sell them again without altering them in some way and making them handmade so your items need to be handmade um selling items that are non-vintage when you're calling them vintage that would be a problem um items not designed by you um so you could be you can design a t-shirt and have it printed and sell it but you cannot be reselling other people's designs on t-shirts other prohibited items are alcohol tobacco drugs drug paraphernalia obviously those would be prohibited items animal products and human remains these these are on the list um feathers even you're not allowed to sell on etsy they're considered animal product uh cat and dog parts such as like a skull uh that you found you can't sell that uh ivory or bones from ivory producing animals dangerous and hazardous materials recalled items um weapons you can sell knives but they need to be knives that are intended to be used as a tool not as a weapon so like a kitchen knife would be okay um say you had hand carved the handle for it or something that would be fine um illegal items or items that promote illegal activity are not allowed you cannot sell native american crafts unless you actually are a native american uh plants and seeds are regulated that are regulated you can't sell those uh and for children's products there are many compliance laws that you must follow so make sure you're educated on those before you start selling children's products and food products as well there's many um food regulations you need to follow to sell food products internationally regulated items such as items from cuba cannot be sold on etsy and so the the list goes on so you want to make sure you're complying with etsy's rules uh or that would be a reason for having your shot shops shut down and banned and when they ban you you can't even shop on there as a customer anymore like your account is gone so you want to be careful there uh reason number six why your shop could be banned on etsy uh one of your other shops or a shop that shares your ip address gets shut down a lot of people don't realize this if you have a friend like a roommate and you're both using the same internet ip address basically the same internet modem and your friend gets shut down your shop will be shut down and the same goes for if you hire a virtual assistant and that virtual assistant has access to your shop as well as many other shops if one of her other customers gets shut down your shop could be shut down too because your shop is associated with the same ip address as the shop that got shut down so if there is a concern there you might want to consider getting your own modem um even though you're you're sharing an apartment with your roommate and don't go on public wi-fi like at the library or at starbucks or wherever because the same thing could happen if you are on the uh public wi-fi and then another shop goes on that same public wi-fi and their shop gets shut down your shop could get shut down it is possible to get your shop back usually but it's a lot of back and forth with etsy and you have to prove that you're not actually associated with the person whose shop got shut down and i mean if it's a public wi-fi you're not even gonna know whose shop got shut down um so you wanna be careful and just use your own wi-fi when i'm out and i wanna check my etsy shop i just use my data on my cell phone i don't use public wi-fi okay reason number seven why your shop might be shut down on etsy is fee avoidance you are not allowed to uh convince a customer to go and make their purchase somewhere else um you can't be saying oh if you buy it on my website it's 20 cheaper or something like that you can't do that that's um against etsy's terms of service so you if a customer has contacted you on etsy you need to complete the transaction on etsy and pay their fees because they are the one that brought you that customer and they need to earn their commission on that sale um okay reason number eight for possibly having your shop shut down on etsy is mis representing the item's location you need to be transparent about where you're shipping from you cannot be saying it ships from canada when it actually ships from the states and people in canada are wanting to buy something that ships within canada um that could be a reason why you would be banned from etsy uh reason number nine is you have not disclosed a production partner um there is a section in your shop where you can fill out your production partners that help you make your products and i've filled a few out in my shop for print shops that print things for me or like if i get my fabric if i design fabric and i have it printed at spoonflower i have disclosed that spoonflower is a production partner so you need to go in and do that that could be a reason for your shop getting shut down if you don't disclose that there is a way to keep the name that displays to the public private so that you're not telling all your competition who your production partners are but you do need to tell etsy who they are so um behind the scenes etsy can see who helps you produce your products but what's front facing to the customer you can set that to private i mean it will just show that there is a production partner but it doesn't say who um and the tenth reason would be acts of discrimination and hate speech is not allowed on etsy and you cannot refuse service to someone based on their race solely as a reason for not serving them so that would be another reason so just be nice and and everything will be fine so i hope some of these things help you out um going back to items that are not designed by you that that could also be copyright infringement usually if you're infringing on someone's copyright which i don't think you should do ah but if you were you would get a warning email from etsy if you ignore the warning email and don't take that item down then they'll shut your shop down and just because there's a lot of sellers on etsy that are selling things that that are copyright infringement does not mean that you should do it it just means that they haven't been shut down yet or if they're a really big shop they may have purchased a license to sell those items and they may be allowed to sell them but licensing is extremely expensive and you also probably as a small business owner do not have the ways and means of fighting a big company like disney when they come after you um and they will they have whole teams of people that search for copyright infringement on etsy and then they submit a takedown notice to etsy and at sea when they've when they email you it's because they're complying with that notice it's not because they singled you out um so many times i see people in the etsy group and they're saying oh i don't understand when my shop is shut down and they're they're so upset but yet they're selling things that are like mickey mouse and pokemon and things like that and that is why their shot got shut down and they will not get their shot back if you get shut down for that reason you will not get your shop back so just don't don't post and list items that are copyright infringement items you need to come up with your own designs and your own ideas and definitely don't put tags like disney princess or or pokemon or any or harry potter do not put those things in your tags and titles you will get caught on that so um that's my advice for you guys i hope that you all stay safe and well on etsy and i'll talk to you next time if this video helped you out today please don't forget to hit like and subscribe to my channel and hit the notification bell to be notified when the next video gets posted thanks for watching

Channel: Daydreams of Quilts

Views: 13,051

Keywords: selling on Etsy 2021, banned on Etsy, Tips for Etsy Sellers, Etsy Tips

Id: 0Jw9lIlO3oI

Length: 14min 44sec (884 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 26 2021