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 27th, 2008 at 12:53 am
I think perhaps google group chat is the best way to go right now?
February 27th, 2008 at 12:53 am
MM, I read your Storque comment before it was deleted. In fact, it was deleted in the moments while I was writing my own comment. I wish I had screencapped it, I did screencap the page after my comment appeared - but yours was gone by then. It was not at ALL abusive or rude, I’ll vouch for that. Critical, yes, but politely so.
FYI for anyone interested, you can get a message board with chatrooms at Yuku.com, and they’re pretty good. It’s free, well it’s ad-supported but they’re not very intrusive. I tried to pass this on to Halflyng but I’m not sure if she got my email. You can set it up with different security levels, with member approval and such.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:53 am
That response from brepettis is just too funny! “So people are saying that we’re unprofessional? Are not, are not, are not! Infinity! Neener!” The only thing missing is a threat to hold his breath until they remove the article and replace it with one extolling the sheer fabulousness that is Etsy.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:47 am
I just got notification, JB. I’m working on setting up a group chat through google. I think it’s the best I can do right away. (If someone with more expertise in this area wants to help, I’m game.)
February 27th, 2008 at 12:17 am
I applied to your group Paula.
do google groups have a chatroom?
February 27th, 2008 at 12:15 am
http://consumerist.com/360889/sellers-growing-increasingly-unhappy-with-lack-of-professionalism-at-etsy
check out this comment by Etsy admin brepettis
oh my god is he 5 years old?
they ban people for being grumpy??
he also just accused the shops that Etsy closed by MISTAKE of being deadbeats.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I just posted this in the latest article, but I figured that people in here wouldn’t mind an update:
OK, after looking at everything, it looks like a quick chat/secure bb is not in the cards just right now. But I have set up a google group as a temporary measure-
http://groups.google.com/group/e-crafters-resource-group
Members will have to be approved by me, so it will (hopefully) be a place for people to be able to speak freely without fear of reprisal.
Also, I’ve learned in the past that I’m not a very good mod/admin on my own. So if anyone is interested in helping me run this thing, please let me know.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Yes, and in that case the seller had only 85% positive feedback, had over 50 recent negatives, and was giving HORRIBLY abusive retaliatory feedback to buyers. So of course in an extreme case like that I think everyone agrees, shut them down! But the recent closed shops have all had 100% positive feedback. This is comparing rotten apples and oranges, they can’t even be compared.
Etsy just needs to let the feedback do what it was designed to do. If someone has 50 negatives in a 30 day period they don’t belong on Etsy.
If someone has a spotless record, 15,000 sales and then has one bad transaction, give them the benefit of the doubt. All that hard work and good reputation should count for something.
Etsy waited too long to close that one bad shop and ever since then they have been over-correcting by being too strict and unreasonable.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
” Why does a Buyer file a Non-delivery complaint?
- Buyer has placed an Etsy order and paid for it”
In my case:
***the buyer had not paid for the order but was filing a complaint because they were not able to get their PayPal payment to complete.
Um… that kinda just nearly happened to ME not two freaking days ago!!! PayPal was down when one of my vcustomers tried to send her payment. She thought it went through. It didn’t. And three days later I’m scratching my head wondering what the heck is going on; where’s her payment?
I politely convo the person giving them them a head’s up and let them know hey, our lives are busy. If you forgot, that’s ok. But I can’t mail out your item until the purchase process is completed. No biggie. She writes me back, a little perturbed(not that I blame her) that the payment never went through. She sent it again and it was successful. She said that if I do ever receive that first payment that she’d like more of the same product. Great! She was an easy going person and I appreciate that. But what if she wasn’t? What if I never contacted her? Technically she could have tried to file a non-delivery complaint!!! And no, I seriously doubt Etsy’d be smart enough to actually check to see if she paid for the item….
I’m more than a little miffed now at the whole “you’re at the mercy of your buyer” thing.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I think the Storque article sounds great, but the enforcement is (severely) lacking. Hopefully they’ll take some of the easier steps to remedy enforcement problems right away.
Cringed at this:
“Very few cases ever end in a closure, and amongst that group, we feel very strongly that these Sellers do not belong on Etsy.”
We were all clamoring for a shop closure, I reckon, back a while ago with a shop that hadn’t delivered hundreds of items. Let’s find somewhere in the middle.