Etsy Reviews

I think what a lot of people fail to realize about Etsy is that they are merely a middleman so to speak. Each individual store on the site is run by a specific person who is not exactly affiliated with Etsy. One of the nice things for vendors about Etsy, compared to other similar sites, is that they allow each seller to set their own store policies. The actual store owners, not Etsy, set everything from shipping times to refund policies to prices and everything in between. Etsy is merely a gateway for people like me to sell our items. So if you are purchasing something on Etsy, make sure to check that seller's specific store policies as not all sellers put them in the listings. The vast majority of complaints I have read here seem to circulate around a person's failure to understand this detail.

As for Etsy itself? It's not a terrible site to sell or purchase on. Some of their terms of service are a bit foggy in some areas and leave the door open to interpretation. But their seller fees are actually pretty nominal compared to other sites. I think we are paying 3-4% of the sale to Etsy for the transaction fee. There is no fee to set up a store but there is a very small (something like 20 cents) listing fee. Compared to some sites, that is awesome! Listings are only good for a couple of months then need to be renewed, and yes you will have to pay a listing fee again. The other nice thing about Etsy is that they allow their vendors to put all their shipping expenses onto their Etsy bill. This eliminates the need for a separate account somewhere else (like USPS or UPS or FedEx) and it all comes neatly packaged in one bill at the end of the month. This really helps if you are a small shipper that is on a tight budget and prefer to pay all expenses at one time.

There are some real big downfalls to Etsy, though. This is why I can't give them more than a 3-star review. It's crowded for starters. Most stores get lost among the noise of everyone else. And unless you are searching for a specific item, oftentimes the smaller shops will go completely unnoticed. The other thing that I've noticed about Etsy is that if you pay them for advertising, you will get ads placed online, but they don't necessarily go to your store. I've seen our ads, with our pictures, online and clicked on them to see how they were routing only to be sent to the main Etsy page, not our store (after I found that out, after a six month advertising campaign, I don't pay them to advertise anymore, we do all the legwork).

The other issue that I have with Etsy is that, unlike when it first started up, today it is getting filled up with a lot of imported and knockoff stuff. This isn't really Etsy's fault because, as I pointed out above, each individual merchant is responsible for what they sell. I just think Etsy should have a little more oversight on that issue. So there you have it. A fair and objective overview of Etsy. Don't believe all the negative press because oftentimes it's more of a misunderstanding than anything else.

In Jan 2014, I found out that I was not going to be attending the event, and contacted Sherryval for a refund. She said she could process the refund, but to give her a few days as she had cases open on her Etsy account and was having trouble. She said she processed the refund on 3 separate occasions (all lies, no transactions were initiated). After several weeks of different excuses and outright lies (processed refund, not sure why it didn't go through, thinks her card was compromised so her bank stopped the transaction, etc.), she stopped responding to my e-mails.

I was able to contact her at her new site (sewsmitten.net) and the seller was openly hostile and refused to refund me, stating she shouldn't have to foot the bill for my mistake (I paid her for a costume, never received anything) and that she does not do refunds. As of Apr 2014, I still do not have my refund. My belief in her multiple lies caused me to be unable to report this to Etsy, PayPal or my credit card in time to initiate a chargeback.

Etsy can't help me because it went past the reporting period - I think this is a problem specific to Etsy's allowing sellers to do custom listings. The processing time can take so long that by the time someone figures out they are being scammed, it is too late to get $$ back from Etsy, PayPal, or their credit card companies. Etsy needs to put better processes in place for custom sales.

Original Review: April 7, 2014

I think I am one of those being scammed from this site. I order a tinker bell tutu dress for by baby's 1st birthday trusting that the seller is legit. The seller told me that it has been shipped already but did not provide me a tracking number. I believe all the seller's lies. The seller promise that item will arrived before I needs it but until now I have not received the item nor the refund. I ask for a refund but two weeks have passed I still not get my refund. I never suspected it as scam not until today when i realized I have no way to post a review or no way to comment on a thread. Then when searching online about Etsy, I came across to this site. Frustrated because I may not received my refund then. If not then Etsy.com is scam. Please be cautious of this seller willowlaneboutiques at Etsy.com selling baby's beautiful dress/tutu costume.

I sent Several emails to Etsy Support and it's been 3 months and NO answer. TIL this day it remains a Mystery as to why my account was suspended. I have been selling on EBAY For years..NEVER HAD A PROBLEM with them and unlike ETSY.. Ebay have Live People to answer your questions. Their customer Service, it's 100% Professional. They are happy to assist you no matter how Smart or Crazy your question is.. And they even call you a couple of days later to follow up on your questions or troubles. I will stick to selling on eBay. The only Reason I wanted to try etsy is because I wanted to expand my sales, but after my horrible experience.. No,Thank you! Etsy Should be ASHAMED to be making Good Sellers look like they bailed after a buyer makes a Purchased.. I take my sales very Personal and stand behind what I am Selling 100%.

It's been 3 weeks now since that last email from him, and now his shop on Etsy is closed. I have emailed him through Etsy saying I have filed claims through Etsy and PayPal, and will be doing so through my Credit Card company. PayPal immediately closed the claim as it was past their 45-day policy, but how is that my fault when there was a 4-6 week shipment time frame?! That alone would have brought us up to 45 days exactly today. I would not submit a claim prior to a shipment date given by the shop owner, somehow PayPal needs to review their claim status and make some much needed changes to situations that involve extended shipment dates. I am at a loss for what to do.

Upon return he found freight co. did not ship due to overweight problem. He was picking it up, repackaging it and I would definitely receive it on 01/03/14. He registered the item shipped 01/02/14 on the Etsy customer/vendor message page. I advise Etsy on 01/07/14 it did not arrive. I advised Etsy that if it did not arrive by Thurs. 01/09/14, we expect a full refund. Etsy advised us to "escalate" and they would assist buyer and seller to reach resolution. On 01/13/14, I advised Etsy the item did not arrive, Etsy directed us to apply to PayPal for refund as we originally paid through them.

After doing same, PayPal advised us that we had exceeded the 45 day limit on refunds and they would not grant same. We should contact the credit card co. I advised them, it was through no fault of our own that we exceeded the 45 day period. On 01/13/2014 the vendor posted on Etsy customer/vendor message page that he was sorry it didn't work out, he contacted PayPal to direct a credit to our account, but due to the fact that we had a case on PayPal, they would not allow him to do that. He agreed to issue us a cashier check. I requested he send via FedEx 2 day service and forward a tracking #. Today is 01/23/14, and we have not received the check. I requested phone contact with Etsy, but we have not rec'd a response. The vendor - SIGAdesigns does not have a webpage, and we do not have a business address. We are at a loss of what to do. Direction would be greatly appreciated.

I am appalled! I have never encountered such lack of customer service! Sellers stay away from Etsy.com. You will be treated unfairly, you will be discriminated against, they will allow other sellers gang up on you, and take out the competition, and the worst part - Etsy will support the coup. Stay away and save yourself a headache. STAY AWAY from this site, it's lacking customer service, integrity.

I explained that if she has a complaint against her delivery service for damage that is for her to deal with. My rights as a consumer entitle me to a full refund for damaged faulty items that are not of satisfactory quality, this is laid down in the sale of goods act. She is now offering a refund minus two postage costs, and insisting I pay to return the item to her. I will be left out of pocket. Law says I am entitled to a full refund and seller cannot deduct postage nor expect me to incur postage costs for the return of item.

I raised a case with Etsy which I raised after no resolution was found with seller. Etsy took all of 5 mins to review the many photos and email correspondence and decided that the seller was right. They have ordered me to pay to return item, and seller will only have to refund minus two x postage costs for two attempted deliveries. Etsy have said I refuse to send it back they will just close the case. I have asked Etsy to explain their reasoning and how they can justify their decision to limit my consumer rights, which is void by the way. No response received. They give you no means by which to appeal their decision. They do not care about buyers, nor do they consider what the law says.

It seems it is run by a bunch of idiots who have had no training in basic consumer rights despite working for a retail industry. Please do not buy from Etsy. I am taking further action by following up my complaint against the Seller and also Etsy with trading standards and have no issue with sending a formal letter before action, as I work as a solicitor. Again, all I would say is please steer clear of Etsy and especially the seller Home made from Home.

Some of my items date back to 1946 (old Canadian coins). In the meantime, some of my listings had expired and I renewed them and paid the service fee to Etsy. This happened several times between September 1 and January 15. No one from Etsy told me I was paying for nothing and that my shop had become invisible to potential buyers. They just took my money. It wasn't until I complained on January 15 that I found out my shop was suspended. I thought, fine, I will just take my business elsewhere. I asked for a refund of the fees I have paid since my shop was suspended on September 1 but Etsy curtly replied that they do not refund fees. I have seen similar complaints on this website about their high-handed way of suspending shops without notice, when they realize that this could affect someone's livelihood and that shop owners like me could be paying fees without knowing that their shop was invisible. Could anyone help?

He apologized and agreed that he overlooked that part of the request. He offered to refund my money. I requested that he craft the legs and I would try to assemble. He agreed, but said that it would take some time as he had other orders to fill. I waited about 6 weeks and contacted him to check status. At that time, I found that he had closed his shop and did not respond to any emails. I contacted Etsy, and they simply said that the time to file a complaint had expired - 60 days from date of shipment.

Why would I have thought to file a complaint??? The seller was working with me and I was working with the seller! Argh! I have requested that Etsy assist me in getting in touch with the seller, but Etsy is no longer responding to my emails. So frustrating! Artists and craftsmen want an outlet to sell their wares, but I will no longer purchase from Etsy. Face-to-face is the only way I will purchase anything custom. I do not feel like Etsy supported my issue at all. I think that Etsy should ensure that there are no outstanding issues on purchases prior to a seller closing his/her shop.

We are being punished for another person's shop. Etsy has completely pushed us out. They are ignoring us when we did absolutely nothing wrong. I feel betrayed by Etsy. I was PAYING these people hundreds of dollars in fees monthly and this is how they treat me? Since I opened my shop, I was excited and happy to have a business on Etsy. Now I'm so hurt and disgusted at the way they treat their sellers. When there is a problem, they ignore you. When you politely ask for advice on the forums, they mute you. Those who run Etsy need to grow up and run the business like adults. They need to realize that we are real people who depend on Etsy for income. WE pay YOUR salaries. WE keep a roof over your heads and feed your families. YOU suspend innocent shops for no reason and ignore them when they try and find a solution. If Etsy continues to do business this way, it won't be long before they go down.

I have no idea how this affects people using public computers, and may be using the local library computer bank to run their shops. There's also the issue that the rules are applied in a random way... One user might get their shop shut down because of an inquiry or accusation with little to no warning... another shop might blatantly flaunt the rules, and get assistance to correct the problem, represent how they make their items, or even help rewriting their descriptions so that the item APPEARS to fit the TOU even though the item itself is a TOU violation.

Loss of forum privileges is applied in the same way. Someone may get only a warning (or not even) for a threatening post, or racist screed, but the person who says "that's inappropriate" or "that's racist" might be permanently muted. I've seen people get permanently muted for responding with cheering on a friend when the friend had posted about reaching a goal. Also there are some serious privacy issues with the site, and their use of trackers (Google "KISSmetrics") and that user information seems to be being sold to "partner companies".

Etsy just announced an Appeals Process for those users, and there are many, that aren't allowed to speak publicly anymore for whatever subjective reasons that Etsy has deemed horrible enough to permanently silence a paying member of its service, sellers, or their customers, buyers. I wasn't sure that I even wanted to appeal my muting, but thought I would look into the process. I couldn't access the form so I contacted Noah, the new Appeals Process Manager, and simply asked how I could access the form.

I received a reply shortly from Noah stating that he had reviewed my muting, found that I had violated Etsy's policies by not being civil, and that he would not be reinstating my forum privileges. He went on to state that he could see by my private conversations concerning the Appeals Process in a team that I am a member of, that it wouldn't be constructive to reinstate me. What?

First of all, I didn't file an appeal. I have never even seen the Appeals form. I did not fill out the Appeals form. I did not talk to, or convo, anyone to give my side of the story. In his announcement of the new "Appeals Process" Noah stated that he would be looking at all sides and making a determination. Most Appeals Processes consist of both sides telling their story to an impartial person who knows nothing about the disagreement, and then that person makes a determination based on the facts presented by both sides. Where was the promised process in this appeal? Basically, Noah rubber stamped what was determined by Etsy without even considering anything I might have to say. Among the other words that Etsy has given its own convoluted definitions, such as handmade, cooperatives, vintage, and many more, add the phrase "Appeals Process" to the list. Etsy needs to publish a dictionary with their definitions of words so that consumers aren't thinking Etsy is using the usual and customary definitions when they state policies.

Secondly, Noah stated that he could see my private conversation in a team setting, and used my words to affirm that he shouldn't reinstate me. Actually, he confirmed what I said in this private setting, that the process would be nothing but a sham. When posting in a private team thread, there is wording at the bottom of the reply box that states that only team members will see your reply. More lies by Etsy. Or maybe Etsy's definition of the word private?

Again, there was no "Appeals Process." Just a mockery of the phrase, and Etsy trying to silence those who are unhappy with the entire "muting" process by appearing to reconsider each muting on its own merits. Shame on Etsy.

They claim they have ethical expectations for the factories Etsy shop owners use, but there is no real rules or a realistic way to enforce these expectations. Because sellers are technically customers of Etsy (we pay them fees to run our shops on their site), I am very disappointed in this lack of honesty and will have no part in it. I was always under the impression you had to disclose where something was made (isn't that why we have "Made in China" printed all everything we buy now?).

Sometime ago, Etsy started taking the money for purchases and selling the seller a label/postage for a sale. This is the same service offered by PayPal. I had a problem one evening and could not print the label, even though Etsy had the money for the sale. After discussing this with other Etsyians on the forum, I figured out a work around. There was no customer service available by phone... there is never a customer service by phone. On a help page Etsy states, in the event of a problem, to read the rules, and if that does not work, go to the Forum for assistance. The people on the forum really try to help; however, so many do not know the answers to many questions. But Etsy says if we do not get the problem resolved, then send Etsy an email....... and it is a matter of record that many emails are answered days later, sometimes never.

Etsy does not seem to recognize the fact that they need to support their customers... the buyers and sellers. Etsy has 130 technicians supporting the online site. Each of the 130 people can, and do, make changes without any supervision..... often their change is not proper. We have asked Etsy to please do not make big changes during the Holiday season.... So many of us made the items we sell. In September, we are working hard to prepare for the upcoming shopping season. When we have to stop the production of our good and deal with changes and especially, with changes that do not work correctly, it really hurts our bottom line which is our income. The lack of customer service and support is really stressful, especially because when we try to get answers from the Forum, we have to be careful what we say because of mutings from the Forum. This is really hard to be creative and functional when one is totally ignored.

With all kinds of evidence in hand, I went to Etsy with this and after bugging them repeatedly because they seem to not care at all about the sellers, I finally went on their Twitter and blasted them and FINALLY got their attention. Well, the woman from Etsy said, "I'm sorry, I know you have valid evidence but our hands are tied." "He ordered it so he can leave whatever feedback he likes." So basically this other shop owner is destroying the way I feed my family and Etsy doesn't give a crap. All my hard work, the long hours, the family times missed to build this business, all of it just to give myself a stress induced heart attack. Etsy is absolutely a scam. They do not care about being ethical or their shop owners.

Etsy standards are in the gutter. What was supposed to be a vintage site is now a free-for-all. I have seen many items that are NOT vintage. Etsy seems to attract a lot of con-artists. Please take my advice. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING ON ETSY. Chances are that 2 out of 3 times, you are going to be ripped off. Why take that risk? The fact that these sellers continue to con people is because Etsy allows them to continue selling. I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY DISHONEST SELLERS ON ONE SITE. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!!!

You can only email them - they will take FOREVER to return your email. You can send a email to their CEO - Chad Dickerson (chad@etsy.com) but will never get a reply at all. He may be only reply on those who want to interview him and DO NOT CARE for his customers at all. WARNING: DO NOT open a shop at Etsy; otherwise you will never know when they will SHUT YOU DOWN!!!! They don't care that may be your only job and has no money for the family, for food, to pay rent, etc. They will just SHUT YOU OFF FOR NO REASONS GIVEN!!! WORST WEBSITE COMPANY in the whole world. DO NOT BUY OR SELL THERE, you will regret FOREVER!!!!

The saying goes if you give anyone or thing 100 percent of the power, you will have corruption 100 percent of the time. Yes, I paid my bill immediately when I found out I was a couple of days late, but I have always paid my bill and sometimes given Etsy more money than was due. No company should have the ability to hurt or take away income from people that TRUSTED Etsy with their business to run their Business. They are very willing to take everyone's money but have not shown me and the others in the complaints filed that they deserve our trust. They will lose business, just like eBay. It is hard for a State like NY to take action against a company that gives them millions of dollars of sales revenue. Think about that when you wonder why no action has been taken against Etsy.

We have done what they said, comply to their rules and change what we could at the store. Yet we received no reply, no review before shutting the store nor any explanation why our store remained closed for (and how long). This is not professional for such a big company. Yes we know that closing our store would not make any difference to them but it is for us. There are so many so-called ''handmade'' stores on Etsy (even selling contact lenses, etc.). Instead of focusing on those stores, they focus on the stores that are truly handmade and offering altered designs. We truly hope you could help us in any way to get our voice heard. Thank you so much.

Etsy does not like intelligent articulate people who ask difficult and pithy business questions or who are critical. Recently they dumbed down the forums so that all the business discussion is lost amid social chit-chat about pets and food. There are certain subjects you are not allowed to broach. You must not mention the thousands of resellers which Etsy allows to infest the site. You must also not mention all the people who have been muted - had their forum "privileges" removed for breaking some obscure or nebulous rule.

The rules are deliberately kept vague and untransparent. You may imagine you are safe posting on a thread where you agree with most of the posters and say nothing controversial. Wrong, wrong, wrong. You can post some throwaway phrase that you would not be ashamed to use in front of your 90 year old grandmother. But some pathetic cowardly snitch can be offended by it - probably because they are in the business of being offended - or maybe a competitor. That was what happened to me.

First I posted a throwaway remark that was not even about Etsy but another site. I got a week’s suspension for that. When my posting "privileges" (sic) were restored I was extra careful what I said. I avoided posting at all for several weeks. Then I posted on a thread where, again, I was merely echoing and paraphrasing what other posters had said or reiterating their points. I used a phrase that is common currency on the internet and that got me permanently banned. The gist of the phrase was that one should ignore certain kinds of online behavior because by responding to it you only encourage it to continue.

I appealed against the decision and wrote asking for it to be reviewed by a senior member of staff. I wrote a respectful message saying that I was sorry I had upset anyone and that I had not intended to disrespect anyone on the thread or any Etsy member or group. I also pointed out that the moderator, in closing the thread, had used a similar phrase. So how could my terminology be in violation of the rules since the moderator themselves has used a similar word.

I got a brief reply from the "senior moderator" which made it clear they had not even read my message or considered my arguments and my apology. The decision was upheld because it is a violation of Etsy policy to call a member of the Etsy community a **. They could not understand there was a qualitative difference between expressing an opinion such as "One should not co-operate with a **" and "You are a **". I had never called anyone a name. I had simply expressed the opinion that it’s best to ignore people who behave in that way.

This blind ignorance and lack of intellectual sophistication is typical of Etsy staff and echoes many of the tales I have read on the internet. Once they get you in their sights you are very wise to open shops on other platforms and to get your own website. I sold on eBay for 12 years and will be re-opening my shop soon. Ebay may have many arcane rules but at least they have a telephone service with whom one can engage.

Ebay forums are moderated but you can engage in frank discussion and feel free to criticize the company. You will not have your posting rights suspended because some poorly educated entry level college leaver makes an arbitrary decision that you were "disrespectful" or "negative" to someone or that your response was "unconstructive" (whatever that means). Like many members I have learned not to trust Etsy.

We deal in rare and endangered breeds, and it has taken us years to source some of our suppliers. She was looking specifically for a particular fiber that is especially hard to find. She said she was desperate for some of these fibers and would I sell her an amount of our processed fibers at a discount if she purchased several ounces and agreed to purchase other fibers in bulk in the future. We agreed to do so. All of our conversations are documented on our customer custom order platform.

We sent Gail ** a first shipment of a few hundred dollars and told her we would do our best to source her more of the asked for fibers. We were waiting for our own shipment to arrive and then would have to wait until the fall during shearing time. I made a commitment to a supplier with the understanding that Gail ** of ** was wanting these fibers in bulk and raw! We agreed upon a price and waited for her confirmation of the fibers arriving.

From the beginning, Gail ** feigned confusion and frustration as she could not remember her order, or where to find the information in her own conversations with us of what she had wanted. A detailed account of her order was sent to her for her approval before it was posted for her as a custom order. We stated clearly in our very first conversation with Gail that we only would exchange fibers. We did not offer any kind of a refund! Gail received our package and then wondered where the second package was. We copied our conversations with her and showed her that she had only one order with us. She then opened the package the following day and said our fibers were wonderful processed but the washed and unprocessed were not what she was looking for.

I had written Gail in our convos that I had made a serious pricing error! I had sold her an entire fleece for $25.00 a pound instead of the agreed upon $8.00 an ounce. She acknowledged that she would correct this error. We then, in writing, asked for her to send that particular fleece back if she did not want to pay the price and we would send her another. She said no and then claimed that the fleece was not as described.

Again we explained to Gail in writing that we measure all of our fibers washed and that this fleece was washed and still it's curl. She then, in the coming days, continued to complain of the fleece and finally saying we had sent her kid or very young short fleece. We now asked her again to return the fleece. At that point she claimed it was lost, and that she had hundreds of pounds of the kid fleece. She claims to be an expert in our fibers yet she repeatedly contradicted what she wanted, how much she wanted, and in what length and part of processing.

Against our better judgement, we gave Gail the benefit of the doubt and told her to keep the fleece if she ever finds it. We explained in writing and in picture repeatedly what we were sending her in raw fleece. I then sent her 4 pounds of my own fibers and told her that I could not guarantee a uniform fleece in length as this is raw and completely unprocessed. We shipped her fleece along with well over a hundred plus dollars in bonus processed fibers for her bulk order. She received her fleece and once again complained bitterly of the quality and length.

We repeatedly tried to understand what she was doing that she was saying our fleece was not as described. We immediately gave her 6 different options including a full and immediate refund of the entire package. Again, Gail ** of ** on Etsy refused to agree to any kind of a solution and told us she would keep the fibers and we could just send her more. This was not going to work for us. She needed to return the entire purchase order and then we would give her a full refund. She refused to do this and again said she wanted to keep her product. We sourced and washed some special long locks for her and sent her a pic.

By now, Gail ** was becoming rude and accusatory and defensive in her communications with us. We ignored the attitude and slams and tried to resolve this matter with her in an amicable way! She then tried to get us to believe that she knew of many sites that were selling our rare fibers for $3 - $4 dollars an ounce. She then quoted a site on Etsy. We said we would get back to her. Our fibers in the pic we sent to Gail are these fibers, clearly shows the lengths to be well over 12 -14 inches long! The fibers on the sites quoted and others we researched were only a few inches in length. We convo'd Gail with our information and called her on her numbers and quotes. She then wrote back an insulting and abusive convo telling us how we were charging her some ridiculous price and she would not pay that for my fibers and they were not worth it.

This was the final straw for me. I sent back a convo, clearly explaining the errors in her crazy mixed up math and that she needed to answer at least one of our concerns and this was the one. We showed clearly and easily how what she was saying was ridiculous to say the least. Gail wrote back immediately demanding that I refund her money instantly or she would do us harm in so many words. Well...considering Gail had not returned anything to us and had repeatedly refused any solution to her problem, we told her we needed her to keep to her last most recent agreement and that we would happily exchange the fibers in the fall when shearing was done with our premium breeds. And if she was still unhappy, we would then decide that we should end our efforts at doing business with each other and would refund her money with the return of the order.

What we went through next and still are going through with both Etsy and Gail ** of **: Gail sent raging emails threatening to come to BC and take her money back. She insulted my self, my family, and my country with vulgar superlatives and violent threats. She then followed up by opening a claim against us with Etsy. We were not concerned as we have our entire transactions in writing and are open for anyone to review.

She then tried twice to have PayPal demand a refund from us. When she discovered she had made a custom order, she then began to slam us with PayPal, in our shop feedback, writing outrageous slanderous and liable accusations about us and tried to get PayPal to investigate us for fraud! We welcome any independent party to examine this case. This is a very simple agreement and we have co-operated fully to this point.

Etsy informed us of an open case and that we were to submit any documentation regarding this matter. We submitted everything and answered the endless slanderous rants and abusive comments from Gail for the next 3 weeks on a daily basis. We asked Etsy to please have Gail follow the terms of agreement re membership communications and that she would not be allowed to continue to hurl insults and unfounded claims against us. Etsy said they would review this on the 20th of July. We have nothing to hide and still, it was unbearable to read these things daily. The emotional and health toll on myself and my entire family was severe.

On the 29th of June of this past month, Gail phoned our home over 30 times! She uttered vulgar and violent threats to me and to my daughter, left similar messages, and finally, we had the police answer our phone and introduce themselves. Gail sat silent on the other end. The RCMP constable read the threats that were sent, listened to her messages, and opened a file on her. He then went to the station and phoned her direct. He advised her that she needed to stop her behavior towards us and that she would be charged if she decided to continue. We submitted all of this information in writing to Etsy, including the RCMP file number.

Etsy ignored us on every attempt to talk with them. Eva for Etsy Trust and Safety department exchanged personal conversation with Gail regarding our case right on the case site! We were never acknowledged on any level. After all of this, Etsy told us to pay Gail ** a full refund based on a package that was sent to us. Gail sent us a package all right, a pulled apart fleece with half of the order missing, including the fibers for purchasing a bulk order. As she is claiming to not want the order, we insist that after all of this, she definitely needs to return all of the fibers from this order. At no time has Etsy addressed the real complaint stated by Gail from **. Gail claims we sent her a product that was not as described.

We submitted ample documentation about this concern. Etsy said we could not use any of the conversations and confirmations of our agreements with Gail ** that were on our convos platform. As that is the only place to communicate with customers, where in the hell did Etsy want us to talk to our customers? We were then told we could not use custom order for our order????? I think when someone wants us to source a particular fiber for them, that would be a custom order! If it is on our site, prepackaged, then that would not be a custom order.

Our business is sourcing hard to find fibers and marketing them. Clearly, Gail cannot do this, as she has come to us to do it for her. She made a specific request and we put in the footwork and time to locate some of these fibers and have them shipped to us before we sent the order on to Gail. If Gail could do this work, then Gail would not have come to us. Our time and contacts are part of our service. If you want to purchase directly from our site, the process has been done on our timeline and has not caused us extra effort and time. Gail wanted and insisted we do this for her. We don't work for free, you know!!!

Well now, we don't work at all. Etsy suspended our shop and business and are holding it hostage until we pay demands. We told Etsy we were seeking legal counsel and would respond after we had a chance to meet on July 30th, 2013. On the day we were to meet with the lawyers, Etsy closed our shop with no warning and essentially stole our business and customers. We could not even complete our customer transactions or contact them to let them know anything. We have been denied access to any of the teams or groups on Etsy, and so have nowhere else to go with our complaint with Etsy as they are completely ignoring our many attempts to talk to them. We are only doing what we can at this point.

While it is somewhat helpful to know that many others have gone through this, it is also upsetting to see how Etsy is so arrogant to flaunt this fraudulent and offensive behavior at the entire online communities. We are doing what is left to us to do. We will now begin writing letters and contacting ours and New York's political officials seeking some justice in this matter. In the meantime, we are starting a blog and a petition to have Etsy return our businesses, offer a statement of apology to all of us, and to take action against those that have been allowed to libel and slander us with impunity. We are also asking that Etsy be held accountable for their customer relations policies and that a phone contact and online contacts with real people be made available to all members and customers of Etsy. That will do for a beginning.

I panicked and emailed Etsy asking why my shop was closed. Well I get an email almost a week later stating my account has been suspended because my account was affiliated with an account that was accused of fraud. My heart dropped after I read that because I KNOW for a fact I could never do such a thing and I could not believe I was being accused of something so serious. It turns out my mother's Etsy account was hacked and someone was making unauthorized purchases on her account. They had suspended her account as well as mine. We tried a dozen times calling Etsy and it went straight to unavailable each time. My mother emailed Etsy telling them what happened. Etsy responded a week later telling her in order for both of our accounts to be reactivated, we would have to find the person that hacked her account and get them to confess. What a RIDICULOUS response. Because someone who committed fraud is really going to confess to that. Really Etsy?

Well we emailed back telling them we had no idea who did it, and after about 2 weeks of waiting for a response, they finally emailed back, stating in the rudest and most frank and sarcastic way they had permanently closed our shops. Because I was faithful to this company, because I gave them business and told so many people how great this company was, I get kicked off like none of the time and money I invested in my business ever mattered. That is not a way to treat a customer. I am not even allowed to make purchases or even close my account. In order to close my account I had to email them. Did that and got no response. So my account is useless. I have never run into such a dishonest and shady business. Stay away from Etsy. They will do this to you eventually. No matter how well you follow the rules it will not be good enough. Stay away.

I have had the unfortunate dealings with Eliza on Etsy and this person is incompetent. She was rude, arrogant and ignorant. However, the lack of customer service must be coming from the top; otherwise, this person would not have been allowed to address me the way she did without being reprimanded. I have a right as a customer to speak to a real person and for them to explain what is happening and how to resolve it. But all you get is an email answered whenever they feel like it and a person who is demeaning and not there to help you in any shape or form and not only that puts barriers in the way and makes it hard as possible for you.

Bombard the Attorney General and ask him why he is letting this Multi-million company in his jurisdiction get away with such bad business practices. Name and shame, that is the only way these faceless corporations ever learn by denting their pockets. Etsy, your time is coming and I will laugh my ** off when you cowards have to face your customers with no more hiding behind your computer screens. File reports and ask others to do the same. I can describe building a business on Etsy like building a house on sand. It will eventually collapse because it's built on a weak foundation.

My story with Etsy is so very similar to those I read today in that I was told that a company representing Pandora had filed a complaint about my product due to infringement and copyright issues and the information on the infringement had been emailed to me, which like others, the email had not been sent. When the first complaint was filed, my first store had been opened only a couple of months and I advertised a certain bracelet and in my item description, I had indicated the bracelet was Pandora-style. I did not say it was Pandora, only that it was designed in the Pandora-style. When I determined (on my own) that the complaint must have been because I had said my bracelet was "Pandora-style", I immediately revised all my listings to delete any references to Pandora entirely.

I also want to add that after receiving the first complaint, I did MANY searches on Etsy and found that sellers were not only stating their bracelets were "Pandora-style", some were stating their bracelets were in fact, Pandora and advised Etsy legal of this and got no response. Nothing happened for months. I thought the issue was resolved and did not pursue it further because I felt no one could have an issue with me selling a "European style" bracelet that hundreds, if not thousands, of sellers were selling on Etsy daily. I sold many more of the bracelets.

Then several months after this, I received yet another Etsy convo, same thing, same information; that I was violating copyright and infringement laws once again. Boy, was I surprised, as nowhere in my listings did the name Pandora come up. I was selling bracelets that did not have any Pandora beads. Basically, I was selling the same type bracelets that were being sold by many sellers at Etsy but I, unlike some of the sellers, did not promote my bracelet in any way as being Pandora-like or Pandora, so I was really confused as to the reasoning behind my getting yet another complaint, as I was doing absolutely nothing wrong.

I too dealt with Jason at Etsy legal and he had the same negative attitude with me that I saw posted on other individual's complaints. He said basically, I had to take it up with the company filing the complaint, which I did. I drafted a lengthy email and attached photos of the product taken from my Etsy listing and explained that if they looked at the product and read the product description on the Etsy listing (which I also copied and pasted into the email), they would surely see I had in no way infringed on the company and had not implied my product was the same or even similar to Pandora, and did not use any Pandora products in the creation of my bracelets.

I eventually received an email back from the company that filed the complaint; however, they merely stated in their reply that I had infringed on the company by using their product name, which I did not. They did not even acknowledge that I had provided evidence with pictures and listing information which proved I had in no way violated the company copyright. Nothing more happened for months, but then got another email from Jason, exactly like the other and in his Etsy convo said that my shop was subject to closure by Etsy for these violations. I responded to him again, and copied the email I had sent to the company and asked him in my email why Etsy would not investigate my matter and get to the bottom of the complaints by the company that were totally bogus. He was rude in his reply and said it was not their problem and I had to take it up with the company who filed the complaint, which I might add, I had already done so, but to no avail. I was going to again email the company who filed the complaint the next day; however, before I could do so, I got an Etsy convo stating they had closed my shop.

I then went to my other two shops and found they had been closed as well. Not only had I lost income on the shop that had become so successful in less than 2 months, I lost income on the other two shops, plus had a big loss on all monies spent ($0.20 for each listing posted on Etsy) on the listings for all three shops. Needless to say, I was upset, angry and at a loss for words because in a matter of a few hours, I lost income of approximately $1,500 - $2,000 per month, as my stores had finally taken off and I was doing well for part-time selling. In fact, I had already cut back on my full time job and went part-time due to my success in selling on Etsy. Now, I am working part-time and do not have the income I was making on Etsy sells.

To add insult to injury, my husband decided to open a shop on Etsy, as he is a craft person also and wanted to sell items he created and we decided I could work for him and sell some of my most popular items that were selling on previous Etsy stores in his store. He got the store set up in one night and by the next day had many people saving items as favorites and knew we could be back in business again. I want to add that the previous item that Etsy and the company filing the complaint on (they said) behalf of Pandora was not one of the items to be sold on my husband's store, thus there could be no issue with him trying to sell an item that a company had lodged a complaint against me with Etsy, as it was a bracelet, and the products my husband added to his store were totally unrelated, so no similarities whatsoever.

Within 2 days of my husband opening an Etsy store, he got an email (not me) stating Etsy had closed his store. They said that he (not me) had violated Etsy policy by opening a new store after others had been force-closed by Etsy (he never had a store that was closed by Etsy previously) and that he was not allowed to open a store because of previous infringement violations; that he was to close all Etsy accounts and that he (not me) was basically barred from Etsy. The main point here is he never had a store prior to opening his store 3 days ago and he had never had complaints filed against him for a store he owned. The only store he had was opened for 2 days only and he had not had any sales or complaints in the two days it was opened. Yet, his store was ultimately shut down because my stores had been previously closed.

Etsy closed the store yesterday and he found out last night when he checked his email and has not responded to Etsy, as of yet. I then decided to research Etsy for complaints against them and found more than I could have ever imagined and will further research, especially after reading the article referenced above. I am not a computer guru and do not know how this works, but will investigate further to see if I can find out the truth behind the articles and blogs I researched about Etsy's unfair tactics. One thing I did realize after conducting all the research is that I was not shut down until I had become successful in selling from my three Etsy shops. Is it a coincidence that because I had finally started making money from my sales, Etsy was losing money because potential buyers were now being sent elsewhere?

I cannot make this claim, as I am too unfamiliar with the topic at this point, but it seems rather strange to me that my stores were closed only after I became successful, especially since the first complaint about the infringement issue came soon after I opened my store, when I had very few sales, but the next two came after sales had far exceeded my expectations, within 2 months of each other and shortly before Etsy closed my stores. I can only hope that a lawsuit will be filed against them for the way they treat their sellers and if in fact, they are doing something illegal will be brought to justice. I am ashamed to have ever been a part of Etsy and regret ever doing business with them.

I am just relieved to now know that my husband and I are not the only ones out there that have been treated so poorly and unfairly by Etsy and are not the only consumers that have been damaged financially and emotionally by Etsy and can only hope that someone can put a stop to it very soon. The small companies and sole proprietors that depend on this type of venue to sell their goods are the ones getting hurt and losing so much time and money when they have done absolutely nothing wrong, and this is not right and most certainly not fair.

Well Etsy won't let you re-open a complaint. I feel they need to take more responsibility on the sellers and also they need to keep up with complaints instead of telling you to deal with the seller. If you are going to let them sell on your website, then I feel they also have a responsibility to the consumer, and getting your money back is also hard.

Next, Etsy Integrity contacted me in March and gave me four days to prove I had made some lace gloves. I took over 40 photos showing my workspace, supplies and myself making the gloves with my own original patterns from start to finish. On Easter morning, I got a very rude letter that I had not proved I handmade the item well enough. I had to take even more photos including a close up of my original pattern and provide my supplier information on the Etsy seller that sold me the silver lace. Finally, Etsy felt that I had proved my product was handmade and left me alone for a few weeks. I suspected a certain seller had made the complaint because she had sent me many very rude convos via Etsy claiming I was copying her. I wrote to Etsy and reported her to them including proof that my items were listed before her copycat items. I also started working to take my gloves in a different direction to get away from her possibly feeling I was intruding on her ideas. But she kept bothering me and further listed even more items like mine.

Now, Etsy wrote to me in my children's shop and now claimed Pandora.com said I infringed on their copyright. I wrote to Pandora and got permission to use the word "pandora" in any way in all my shops and listings. I checked with the US Patent office and the jewelry company that also used that word only has a trademark on their logo with a little crown over the letter O. I did write to that company also and forwarded them the permission from Pandora.com. They never responded to me. But on April 24, 2013, Etsy shut down all of my shops for this supposed copyright infringement. I got Pandora to write directly to Jason ** at Etsy legal about the mistake made by Etsy regarding an incorrect notice of copyright infringement and letting him know they had no intention to sue or any issues with my using their names. Again, he will not respond. I have paid an attorney to write to him but he will not respond even after that letter was sent. I have customers that have written to Etsy and no response.

I am blocked from accessing the existing orders on Etsy also I so cannot finish completing these orders. I was never sent any warning in my other shops that this pretend violation in the children's shop could cause all my shops to be closed. Jason ** wrote to me that he could basically interpret the rules as he sees fit and do what he wants. I asked to have copies of any emails sent to me in the glove shop, Seamstressbythesea, warning me but he answered that the warnings in the other shop were sufficient to take away all my selling and shops. Further, to add insult to injury, Jason ** from legal at Etsy pretended over a week later that he found more infringement violations and had to deactivate listings in Sew4munchkins, the children's shop, when that shop had all items already deactivated. That is how dishonest he is and the Etsy staff that he would lie and claim to remove listings at that point.

Etsy also closed the shop of my family member that was a different name, bank account and address because he was associated with our shops. He wrote to Jason ** at Etsy legal and was refused a response except to say that he was associated with us. This was most likely because he was on our About page in our shops as one of the helpers. I am really very upset about the way Etsy Legal and Jason ** have been so dishonest. I lost my entire income in a few hours time and really did not have a copyright infringement issue in the first place so it makes it worse. I requested that a supervisor look over the shop closures, that I be allowed to access the orders pending, etc. and have been totally ignored.

Despite that waste of effort and money, their response was, "We do not have enough information to prove this item complies with our handmade policy." Just to put things into perspective, I had hundreds of sales, 100% positive feedback, always shipped within 1-day, never had any problems with buyers and always paid my fees on time. All of my items were handmade by myself and I was the only one ever involved in anything relating to my shop. I did all of the work. To top it all off, now I see that some of my items are now being copied and are listed on Etsy for double the price by a seller who joined Etsy five days after my shop was suspended. Coincidence? I think not. I reported the offending listings for copyright infringement and unsurprisingly got no reply. The listings haven't been taken down either.

Etsy treats sellers like crap. You are never allowed to speak out against injustice by Etsy in the forums or they'll delete your posts and even your account. And I heard that just last week, they sent out promotional emails showing the sellers' full names instead of their shop names, so no respect for anyone's privacy there. If I can offer any piece of advice to anyone, it's that you should never create an Etsy account. They will suspend your account at will, steal your listing fees and your trade secrets if you give them the photos. It sickens me to think that the hundreds of dollars I paid in fees went towards supporting these horrible people. Lots of sellers are leaving the site because of their harassment and ill treatment of the people who actually keep Etsy up and running. Without sellers, Etsy is nothing.

When I contacted Etsy asking that the feedback be removed or at least allow me to post a reply, all I received were numerous form letter-like communications from their Trust & Safety team. I tried to explain to them that I could easily prove my case, but was confronted with nothing but stupidity, incompetence and apathy. My anger at the slanderer/thief was quickly eclipsed by my anger and frustration of dealing with the seller support and customer service (or lack thereof) of this greedy impersonal corporate entity. I closed my shop and moved all my online commerce to my website.

On the USPS paperwork that she never bothered to check, it was dated to be guaranteed on the 13th of April, the very day of her prom, and sure enough it arrived at 2:30 that day. I refused the dress and they returned it. This woman has been harassing me to the point of abuse and will not agree to return our money. I have a case filed and the admin has instructed her to refund our money but she still refuses, calling me all sorts of names. I can't believe there are people in the world out there like her. Please if you’re going to do business on Etsy, be very wary of this shop owner. She is a scam artist.

I've lost thousands in revenue. And because my Facebook store is connected to the Etsy store, it is also gone as a result of loss of contact to my customers! Even my customers have written Etsy attempting to appeal, but to no avail! With the suspension, I cannot print shipping labels either. I am losing customers permanently as others are blaming me for not getting their products, and they are demand refunds.

On a personal front, about a month ago, my husband was tragically killed in an auto accident. We had no life insurance. My company, my store, was my livelihood. Though, as per Etsy's policies, I made and packaged all of my products. My friends and family came in very quickly to help. We made an announcement on the shop, for all the customers who had gone without contact and had back orders for two weeks, that help had been brought on. I actually had to go take time off for a deep depression. In between, I came to make products and that helped a little. At no time did we violate their policies. Etsy knew all this and shut the store down twice, anyway.

The last explanation was that "production assistance for certain intermediary tasks in some crafts may be acceptable. The following policies govern use of production assistance in the creation of handmade items: An assistant, under supervision of the seller, may: assist with a portion of the creation process, list items in a shop, ship items, communicate with buyers, accounting or other record keeping".

Of course it has been under my supervision! They had no idea what they were doing! I had to walk them through and in communication at all times. How is a business to grow if one person is to make, package, order, communicate, ship, everything? This is impossible. Now, this is just my experience. There are droves of other sellers leaving for such other policies - an exhausting, 40-part document of process to prove they make their own items, which includes revealing proprietary information, questionnaires, photos, from beginning to end of the product being made, 30 questions about the company, and the ingredients (in my case).

One of the major problems of Etsy is what I like to call the "tattle tale" clique. This means reporting a seller for violations. Most of the time, it's a competitor. I could go on and on about the long list of incredibly vague policies, but one just needs to Google "Etsy + complaint" and enough will come up. There are so many complaints on the web about their unfair business practices, lack of response, support, and the ability to destroy a business within days with little or no explanation. I cannot believe there's been no reprimand or warning. The amount of complaints from the BBB is also mounting daily. At what point does a company have to have culpability? I see a class action lawsuit coming.

As far as I am concerned, the seller is the person you pay your money to, in this case, Etsy. Their so-called trust and safety department is a joke. Their supplier, Tawan Brass, refused to even answer emails regarding the broken item from either myself or their selling agents Etsy. It's a bit like purchasing an item from a major department store. If the goods are faulty, it is the responsibility of the point of sale (the store) entity to resolve the problem - in this case, Etsy. If you don't want to be ripped off, avoid both Etsy and Tawan Brass like the plague.

For a year and a half I have been a loyal seller, buyer, and Etsy artisan. I have followed all their rules; I have paid my bills, I have done nothing to warrant any disciplinary action, yet Etsy suspended my store, all of my listings, and banned me from forums or from communicating with fellow shop owners via Etsy.

There was no email notification of this action. I have received no explanation as to why they have taken these actions, and they have failed to answer my emails, my faxed letter, and my direct contact to Etsy admin. I have been ignored completely, but here is the thing - I have paid Etsy for a service. That service was to host my storefront on their website. Here is how it goes: I pay my bills, follow the rules, and they, in turn, keep my shop up and running and looking real pretty like. However, Etsy has failed to uphold their end of that agreement and the service they sold to me.

After several emails, someone responded with a curt and very unhelpful response saying that I was in violation of Etsy policies on a related account. I do not have any other accounts! Then she goes on to say that I have to contact the agent who notified me through the other account of the violation for assistance. Well, since I do not have another account, that will be very difficult to do! I emailed her back and told her such but got no response. I emailed again and still got no response!

I have not been offered a refund; my cash is still in their hands. So when does someone stand up and sue these jerks for violation of a business contract? Their business isn't hurting by these careless actions, us little shop owners are the ones who are hurt.

I have read through the forums and could see that I am not the only one this has happened to. It seems to be a common problem. So I ask myself, what kind of business are they running? It seems like a ramshackle unprofessional place, at best. If I did this to my customers, I would be out of business, yet Etsy is up and running. I think more people need to stand up and file complaints. Etsy could be a great place, but they are seriously unprofessional and in need of some major restructuring and policy review. No business should be shut down without notifying the owner, nor should it be done without cause.

I would think heads should roll in Etsy for actions like this, but something tells me they don't give a damn.

As soon as the cc company charged back the money, Etsy reopened the case. They also closed the shop so communication was difficult. Now they are asking the seller to ship the missing parts. They are only doing this because they are looking for proof that I received everything so they can get their money back. My cc company advised me to report Etsy to the credit card fraud bureau. I did that also. Keep fighting. Keep sending posts and emails to support. Unfortunately with Etsy, the customer isn't always right. They are wrong. Consumers have rights!

I could not believe she was serious. I compared my photo of the trivet to the one on Etsy and there was no glue on the example for sale. She has agreed to accept a return, but I will need to pay for shipping. I would be very cautious about buying this type of product from this seller because it was not made well and was more expensive than some of the other wine cork trivets from other sellers. I was very disappointed and it was wrong to accuse a customer of trying to deceive her. I actually thought I should send her a copy of my hospital notes to prove I was telling the truth, but I guess that would be too much info for a stranger to receive.

Then, all in the same day, they suspended my account because of some jewelry pieces I had in my shop, after I viewed hundreds of other Etsy sellers selling items they did not make, including used vintage products! How insensitive was that? I reached out to Etsy for support and advice about a racist Etsy member, who made horrible racial slurs towards me, and they suspended my account, which is very sad because I have excellent customer service and reviews, and I pay my Etsy bill every month! I just thought that was so mean. I have a different outlook about Etsy now.

I brought this up with Etsy and they refuse to help me as they consider this to "not violate Etsy policies". So I asked them how is it possible that allowing fraud is their policy and they don't even bother answering back! I told them that I have written proof of my communication with the buyer, offering her refunds and trying to work with her, but they simply do not care. This is a case of very poor treatment of sellers. They simply do not care after taking more money from us for listings, whether they sell or not. Unacceptable!

It's wrong to assume on Etsy's part that the seller is purposefully trying to 'upset' their policies. Their policies are so vague and unclear, it's left up to chance, and guessing on the sellers part. If communication and opportunity were given to the sellers to keep within specified guidelines, then Etsy would have an abundance of grateful artist praising their name.

Instead, consequentially, the online art community is getting a bad rep, due to Etsy's snobbish ways of playing God with people's lives, and ability to earn an honest living. Etsy, you are doing your fair share of keeping the economy deep down in a hole of regret. For this, I hope you get what you deserve, the honest stories of the people you have ** over.

“Etsy has refined our rules on commercial supplies and Re-Ments do not meet our selling criteria. A commercial crafting supply is not a commercial item that, although it may be used in crafting, is ready to use as is. These include but not limited to dollhouse miniatures, dollhouse accessories and dollhouse furniture.“

There are still other sellers continue selling Rement Miniatures on their site. We lost business. We paid for our listing (valid for 4 months), so we think our rights are violated when Etsy simply removed our listing without prior notification. It took two emails (in one week) for their customer support to simply tell us they changed rules and, thus, they have the rights to remove our listing. They can't simply take our money and tell us a month later that we can't sell those items on their site.

Ideally, all would like reimbursement or delivery. However, because of this seller's stalling tactics, it is too late for PayPal reimbursement and our children will clearly outgrow the product. I would like Etsy to support its buyers and remove this seller as she continues to pull these tricks all while hiding behind the PO. I have kept documentation of correspondence with both parties and can submit it immediately. Both seller and venue information can be found below. Please, please help us!