Shut Down by Etsy for Inform Act

Selling on other Platforms Etsy
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Anyone Else?

About a week and one half ago we got a message connect to your store and check for the banner about the Inform Act. Follow the prompts to confirm or key in the information and upload the required documents.

OK, I logged in, looked at what was listed, it was all correct, my personal documentation (Drivers License) was on file from when I filled this all out the first time.

About 5 days ago they sent a follow up email, "You have not confirmed or updated your Inform Act information. If you do not within 5 days we will put your account on vacation, and not distribute funds to your bank.

OK, I went back checked, everything was fine, I reentered (the same information) in a few fields, and reuploaded my Drivers License.

This morning I awake to your Etsy account is on vacation, we will not distribute funds. I went back and looked again, everything is fine, all looks good. Reuploaded again my Drivers License and opened a support ticket.

12 Hours now with our Etsy shop shut down. We have Convos with customers going on, some ready to order, but we do not exist.

Support did respond in 4 hours. I can not disclose what they said due to disclaimers in the message they sent me. I am, respecting them, “This message is a private conversation between you and Etsy. Please respect this confidentiality and refrain from distributing this communication without permission from Etsy.”

Yet I do not respect them and the action they took without cause.

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While you have chosen not to share the message, did they at least resolve the issue or inform you that they also see the error and are working on it?

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It has not happened to me (yet) but I have seen an increasing number of posts about shops being shut down for no apparent reason lately. My fear is that along with firing staff, Etsy is increasing the use of bots that take these actions - then it’s up to the seller to figure it all out. Awful.

It seems most/all get them back with an “Oops, our bad.” UGH

So sorry this happened, and I hope yours is also reinstated.

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They did not resolve the issue yet.

The fourth time I went through the process this morning, it :robot: did say, this will take three or four days to confirm. Same message when I did it over the last two weeks.

The email did say they are working on it, but need more information to help.

Requested and provided;

  • Tax ID number.
  • Deposit account number (last 4 digits)
  • Payment Method last 4, (same as above)
  • Our account balance

They did not have a non disclosure on the original shutdown email so I am pasting bellow.

Unfortunately, you can’t get paid until you confirm your seller info

Hi My name Our Company Name,
It looks like you haven’t confirmed your seller info within 7 days of our first request, so unfortunately, you can’t get paid for your sales right now.

To start getting paid again, you’ll need to confirm that the seller info you’ve shared with us is correct in the next 2 days to meet these regulations , which apply to your shop based on where you sell or your sales volume. You can learn more about each law in our Help Center.

  • INFORM Act: You’ve made $5,000+ in sales in a 12-month period over the past 24 months.
  • Digital Services Act: You sell to buyers in the EU and are considered a professional seller because you’re an incorporated business, or you set your seller status to “trader” in your shop’s About info. (You’ll still need to comply with this regulation now, even if you choose to stop selling to the EU.)

Here’s how to confirm your seller info in a few quick steps. Once you’ve confirmed your info, you’ll automatically be able to get paid again.

    1. On Etsy.com, click Shop Manager
    1. Click Confirm info in the red banner at the top of your dashboard
    1. Follow the instructions to review or update your info

I will report back. This is the first time I have asked for help in 18 years on Etsy. I do appreciate the prompt response and understanding what the problem is.

That NEVER would have happened on Amazon.

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Did you get the original email from Etsy asking you to check and/or update your information due to INFORM? I just checked and I got it last August - but there’s every likelihood they weren’t great about sending that out.

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I must have, because when I went to the page a week or so ago, I checked and all the info was correct and complete.

Again, I went to the page 2 times in the last week or two, and all the information was correct. This morning all the information was correct. And yes, everything matches exactly, most of us know with Amazon how important that is.

And thank you for thinking about why this happened. I appreciate that.

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@Image if this has happened to your store, and it is this difficult to get it resolved with all your ducks in a row, then I am fearful that many Etsy sellers will get caught up and be unable to recover. :grimacing:

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Exactly why I am sharing on the best Sellers Help Sellers Forum.

Will provide updates when available.

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Winner, winner chicken (or tofu) dinner! @LR72 called it.

15 Hours since start of event.

Etsy Support sends a message.

After taking a look in your account i noticed that is correct your information is verified, so at this moment you should wait for a couple of days to the banner being removed, from our end looks fine and you don’t have to worry about it.

Note, no non disclosure requirements in this message.

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So the banner remains but your account is fully functional or are you still suspended?

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is your shop inactive during this time? This is ludicrous…

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An odd term, not you, I understand as a seller, that is what it said.

What they did was, stopped us from getting distributions. Though we do $XXK sales a year on Etsy, nothing special, they disbursed on Monday, our next payout day is Monday next week.

Frankly no impact.

In the fine print that they would not allow us to share, paraphrasing and not sharing. They gave us two days and we would be forced into vacation mode. Very fine print.

Odd since we only do a vacation every 6-7 years and have a team that picks up for us when we do that. So punished to do a vacation, our last holiday was 1 year ago to Key West. Sorry Etsy, we have another 5 years to go for that vacation opportunity.

I think it is active, trying to look at it (the shop is active) from the customer facing side See the “fine print” note above. Though we can’t get our $36 but the news in this hour is we will get that Monday, (I think) along with the weekend sales.

A complete “Kerfuffle” all they did was engage me to evangelize with facts on how they feel about sellers.

Again, I was impressed with the communication and pending solution in just 15 hours. And also again, no way if this was Amazon would a resolution come as swift as this did.

That said, even so, we did update the form 4 times and confirmed it was correct yet a :robot: (my assumption) took this inappropriate action.

Time to expand on all marketplaces. Never, never ever, have one customer or vendor control your life or the cashflow that feeds your family, and team members.

Something I read back in 1988, and founded our company on but that is another story.

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Ahh, sorry, I misunderstood this line earlier then:

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So frustrating. And it seems to be happening so much, you have to wonder what triggered it - especially since your information was correct. :confused:

In any event, so happy you were confirmed quickly and boy, you’re not kidding about not counting on one source for cashflow!

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I have two shops on Etsy. One of them was on vacation mode for the last two years. I re-opened it a few days ago. I wonder if I’ll get a similar treatment soon. There have been no warnings so far.

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I don’t think you did. The emails, and threats were different from what was happening on the customer facing side. At least I think it was after drilling down.

The morning email related to “You have been put on vacation” was clear. Though from what I could tell, they only shut off the ability to disperse funds.

That I could care less about, the funds would come when they come.

As a 16 year “shop owner” who never bothered them you do have to wonder. Remember, I did respond promptly, and did so 4 times. That and all the info was correct from whenever the last time we entered it.

Though, I can understand. My partner is “on assignment” as the assistant to the Regional President of a local bank. The fraud is out of control. We just went through a reverification of our Inform Act information on three accounts at our corporate bank. All were opened prior to any requirements.

They even had SS numbers of some stranger attached to the accounts. And wrong addresses. The only reason we found it is we wanted to transfer funds to our payroll account in another bank. We could not due to the wrong Inform Act information.

Sadly the last email that came in was a response to me providing my phone and email, should someone want to review what happened. My thought, I was helping them from doing other “shops” wrong.

What I got was a very typical Amazon Seller Support Email. Don’t need to go into the details, most of you know what I am talking about. :woman_facepalming: :person_facepalming: :man_facepalming:

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Keep in mind that to protect consumers, the gubment has mandated more bureaucratic activity at Internet marketplaces as a time when Internet marketplaces are laying off their bureaucrats in significant numbers.

And it is unlikely that the employees who are being laid off are the least intelligent, least motivated and most deserving of being laid off.

2024 will have challenges which are similar to 2023 for the marketplaces and their sellers.

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This is absolutely happening. Started back last spring.
2 of our neighboring sellers (in our building) were suspended for no reason.
They made countless efforts to find out why and get their accounts reinstated, then at the 6 month mark, got an email saying they were shut down permanently because they never requested reinstatement - but they had sent multiple appeals that were denied with the same cut and paste email.
We have scaled back quite a bit on that platform which is disheartening.
I think there are some real growing pains (big troubles) there that may not be resolved in the near future.

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Oh goodness, that’s terrifying! I do subscribe to Etsy Plus for $10/month (you get $5 in ad credit and 15 listing credits so that lowers the end cost) - because it gives you access to chat. Hoping if this ever (please don’t jinx it!) happens to me, that would be helpful.

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