Seller ArtfulMarket is the latest shop to be shut down under confusing circumstances, according to this forum thread started by ArtfulMarket using another account. ArtfulMarket is one of Etsy’s most successful sellers, with close to 15,000 positive feedbacks, and who makes regular appearances on EtsyTools top sellers lists. At the time of this article’s publication, the ArtfulMarket shop is the “brick wall” indicating a closed account.
lynn61056 says:
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!
Please note that Etsy’s version of this incident is not currently available, and ArtfulMarket’s post cannot be verified by UEN at this time.
edit by JB February 25
artfulmarket’s Etsy shop has been reinstated
As well, earlier today, seller Whatyoumacallits reported on the forum (via another account) that her shop had also been closed without warning. Their shop has since been reinstated. Whatyoumacallits has over 140 positive feedbacks and no negatives.
Edit:
A THIRD shop has been reported as closed without prior notice: Thatsmycharm, according to this thread posted by the sellers’s girlfriend (who is a top seller herself). As of February 11th, Thatsmycharm had over 1300 positive feedbacks and no negatives.
Thatsmycharm’s shop was reinstated on Saturday.
According to a statement by admin Kfarrell in this thread, this is Etsy’s notification process:
kfarrell says:
Transaction report emails go out automatically whenever a customer files a nondelivery report. The seller receives an email to let them know a report has been filed, and the buyer receives an email advising them to contact the seller directly. The emails do not assign blame to either party.If you get a notice of a nondelivery report filed against you, contact both the buyer and support ASAP with any information on when you mailed the package, how it was shipped, where it was shipped from, etc.
for previous coverage of this issue of shop closures without warning, please see these previous articles:
http://etsynews.com/584/two-seller-accounts-deleted-under-strange-cicrumstances/
http://etsynews.com/73/unwarrantedaccidental-shop-suspensions-sellers-be-warned/
http://etsynews.com/75/another-case-of-erroneous-shop-suspension/
http://etsynews.com/80/how-does-admin-handle-shop-suspensions/
http://etsynews.com/312/etsy-says-no-double-billing-has-occurred/?cp=5
(see comments, not main article)
Edit by Serena 2/22 1:30 ET:
Etsy admin daniellexo recommends the following steps to ward off surprise account closure:
1) Please make sure your email addresses are correct on file. If this address isn’t correct - we can’t contact you and neither can buyers.
2) Add support [!at] etsy.com, abuse [!at] etsy.com and billing [!at] etsy.com to your address book. This way it will not be forwarded to your spam/junk mailbox.
3) Keeping open lines of communication with Admin. We will try to contact you numerous times.
Source: Fora.
February 26th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
I like your idea of having one place to share the stories of everyone muted or banned, Haflyng. The increasing evidence is very compelling, and if I can help, I will.
February 26th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Danielle is asking people for specific suggestions in that forum thread. Many good suggestions have been made in the comments of this article which I will summarize:
1. If you don’t get a reply by email, then try convos to contact the seller before closing their store.
2. Don’t delete stores on Friday afternoons.
3. Provide an emergency phone number for urgent issues such as erroneously closed stores.
4. Get rid of the brick wall graphic, it’s rude and a slap in the face too customers.
5. When a shop is temporarily suspended, just hide their items from view and block them from making new listings, but allow them to log in to access records and fulfill outstanding orders.
6. Have an audit process or oversight process before closing a store. Serious mistakes were made last friday, such as the buyer’s account being deleted instead of the sellers. These kind of mixups could be prevented by having a second person check over the case before action is taken.
7. Please stop being so defensive and stubborn and proud, admit when you’ve made mistakes and apologize to the injured party! Right now Etsy rubs salt in the wounds of stores they have already injured, this needs to stop.
8. Make restitution for the lost sales on the shops you closed in ERROR.
9. If you have time and staff to mute an innocent seller for asking what happened to their store, you have time to answer their desperate emails begging for help. Stop reacting as though every seller is a criminal, improve your listening skills and if necessary, call another Admin at home to deal with the issue ASAP.
10. Stop making public statements which imply sellers are lying or leaving out half the story. YOU, Danielle, also do not know the whole story and you have publicly posted facts about the cases which were NOT TRUE.
11. This is a no brainer. Before closing a shop for non-delivery, check if the buyer even paid for it. If they never paid then of course the item wasn’t shipped!
12. Please stop sending the harassing, bullying and threatening convos to every post you don’t like. This is going to ruin Etsy’s reputation and yours.
13. Etsy should get out of the dispute mediation process entirely, let paypal handle it since they handle the money.
14. Put less staff energy into threatening sellers and BUYERS for their forum posts, and put that energy towards reading and resolving the flagging emails which are now being deleted unread. The site is overflowing with blatantly mass produced goods, which state right in the listing it’s not handmade, and Etsy never removes these items or shops.
15. When a seller has an outstanding dispute, there should be a red alert above their shop that only they see, like the alert when you log in that says your bills are overdue. That way even IF they didn’t receive the (alleged) emails from Etsy, they would know there was some problem.
Paypal does this with their resolution center, you get a red warning saying there are unresolved disputes.
16. There needs to be an internal audit of all shop closures fr the past 6 months, performed by someone OTHER than the admin who originally handled those cases. How many other mistaken closures have been made that we don’t even know about?
17. Etsy needs a formal appeals process
18. Etsy needs a formal failure analysis process
19 Whoever screwed up these past 3 shop closures needs to be fired.
February 26th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Yes, because that is what we do. We will help them because we do care :)
February 26th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
At that point, we’ll just have to welcome them with open arms and feel their pain ;)
February 26th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
until it happens to them and then they cry!
February 26th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Thank you, unknowncomic. I appreciate that.
My theory is, nothing will ever get solved if the problems are so sporadic and spread out. As someone already pointed out earlier in this topic, they closed stores last month before a long weekend. Then they closed stores this last week. If it’s so spread out, and people instantly forget (not everyone, mind you), then there are going to be tons of people that will think that since it’s such a small percentage (the 3 or 4 stores that were just closed because that’s all they can remember) that it’s no big deal.
See?
For the people that REFUSE to believe anything without hearing Etsy’s side, I say let them be. Even after all the evidence is in front of them, they will still refuse to believe it. Even if we had over 100 examples of the same store closing situations, they’d still refuse to believe.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Me, too, PicketFence. Maybe they’ll be tossing handcrafted bricks at each other and giggling in the accompanying photo.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Oh, and I was already unmuted after my 24 hours.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Excellent suggestions, Halflyng. And I’d love to have a chat room.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I am so waiting with baited breath for this hastily cobbled together Storque article that is supposed to put us all at ease.