Well, Etsy just announced they are laying off 11% of its staff, so doesn’t look like we’ll have human eyes looking at many cases any time soon! Sorry to read about what happened in your case, it’s a reminder that we need to stay on top of things. How frustrating for you

Etsy is too risky now to rely on.

My grandfather always said "never plant on someone else's land"

There needs to be a class action suit against Etsy for doing this to sellers. They’re bullying people and attacking the lively hood of people and their families. The answers to these account suspensions and closing are templates thye write to everyone, in other words, they do not provide a reason or explanation of why they’re suspending or closing your account. They take all your money invested in the shop before they close it, they do not compensate you for your time and investment, basically it’s legalized robbery.

Etsy seems to be going the same way as EBay, treating the sellers as if they were doing them a favor and mistreating and bullying them in the process.

There's a guy named Chadwick Eisen on youtube that said he had a permanent ban on Etsy and uploaded a video just 4 days ago stating that he contacted the BBB and filed a complaint with them because Etsy was not returning any of his messages and now his account is reinstated. Maybe file a complaint with BBB so Etsy has to respond to them about your account.. worked for Chadwick. I hope you get your account back soon!

Unbelievable that this happened. Etsy should be ashamed of treating sellers this way. Closing all shops is out of proportion. Besides this, health is the most important thing in life, hopefully things are moving in the right direction. I'm sure you'll come out stronger and laugh about it later, but right now it's terrible. I wish you a lot of strength from Holland and hope to see you again soon with all your good and educational advice. Love from Holland, Bo

I just sold all my ETSY stocks today. Investing in this ridiculous joke is the worst decision I've ever made. I hope you recover, stay away from this disgusting company. They banned my artist account too. I feel your pain

Crazy how etsy will let staff off to save money but at the same time they will suspend people for £7 and lose out on all them sale fees. That company needs some real management.

Etsy hurt themselves by closing your shop, too. You'd think they'd want to be able to find the problem, quickly.

So awful. Etsy ban people for no reason in the blink of an eye! My brother lost his life savings, he's a carpenter and took the chance selling on Etsy. Took a small loan to make some items after he got some orders. Sent out about 30 orders, purchased the materials and made around 70, and then etsy suddenly banned him and took at the money! Awful and it all happened in the blink of an eye. The amount of stress it has cost him is heartbreaking and etsy never responded to him :(

I have heard so many horror stories like this about Etsy. It doesn't make sense! Why would they close a store this size down and not help him right away or give a warning? They are losing business as well!

Unbelievable, I wish there was an ability for a class action suit against platforms like Etsy and even Amazon. They close accounts yet need to explain why, this is a real business that supports your family. It's also why I'm nervous about selling with Etsy, put in all that work and they ruin your life. Good luck with your mother-in-law and your daughter, they, of course, are far more important.

Sorry to hear this to yet another etsy seller. Why dont people who have sales like yourself just sell through your own website? You have the customers. Etsy has gotten so big that they dont seem to care, about the impact that suspending someone's shop, does to them personally. I remembered when they first started for the handmade community and now its all about them and they dont seem to care about their vendors. I have heard bad stories after bad stories with this platform. I hope someone comes along and creates a platform that is not so complicated for sellers. They seem to nickel and dime you and when your in trouble, bots are answering your questions. Unexceptable!!

That's absolutely horrible, and thank you for warning everyone. Causing all that trauma and loss of sales over 7 dollar, what are they thinking? They really should start treating the people who make them money better!

Similar thing happened to me except I haven't violated any of their rules. Simply, I received too many orders over a bank holiday weekend and nobody bothered to ask me if I had staff, what my capacity was (I hired staff and had industrial machinery etc.. They just closed my shop for 2 weeks and their email didn't even explain the reason! I was never late with a single item, all good reviews, no complaints... My shop never recovered. I made 40k in my first 3 months then my shop died. In the UK they didn't have a phone number I could call, and they didn't reply to my email for 4 days.. when someone did, it was an asshole that disregarded whatever I said in my panicky emails... Luckily my business is booming but not on Etsy and I will never sell on Etsy again never ever ever ever...

Seem to be hearing this scenario more and more these days and I think its sad. I've been with Etsy for over 10 years and I've seen a lot of changes. It used to be for handmade items only and was a wonderful platform. Now they just sell all sorts of stuff, even mass produced. One thing I've never loved is how hard it is to actually TALK to anyone if there's problems. Wouldn't you think they could just send an email out saying 'hey, you owe us money', instead of treating their sellers like this. Im so sorry this happened to you...I wish you and your family well.

So sorry to hear this happened to you, your family and your staff at such a critical time, Vlad. As a former special ed teacher's aide and independent special needs art instructor, I totally sympathize with your caregiving and family health situations compounding unexpectedly. Brilliant podcast concept! And I have an old Etsy situation of my own to resolve, so could probably use a fresh pair of eyes on it. Happy holidays. 💖🎄

So sorry to hear this, Vlad. I can relate 100% because I was also a Star Seller on Etsy when they suddenly suspended my account two weeks ago. I was doing great numbers (4k a day) and all my customers were happy. When I woke up on a Sunday morning and wanted to check my shop, I saw a banner saying the shop was suspended. I then appealed and after a week, it was rejected. I'm still in shock because I still don't know why they suspended the shop or denied my appeal. I also had the feeling that no human actually read it. Like yourself, I was providing for my family with this shop and I never got to know what caused the suspension. It's really a nightmare. Please let me know if you find a solution. I keep my fingers crossed for you.

Hi Vlad, you helped me so much in my Etsy journey. I always checked your shop to see how you're doing to motivate me during days when sales were low. I was shocked to see your account suspended. I've had 1 account suspended before and it was a horrible feeling. Wishing you and your family the best

YIKES! I am appauled that they would suspend all of your shops for something from an unassociated shop... Come the hell on, Etsy! Really sorry to hear that it happened, especially when your personal life was ballooning in crisis like that. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on what's to come for you! Merry Christmas xx

THIS is why you don't put your entire business or income under the authority of any other entity, like Etsy, Amazon, Facebook, or whatever. YOU have no control and they are too big to resolve any issue quickly, if they ever do. My wife had a successful KZfaq channel and had her account cancelled due to false copyright claims. Fortunately, we did not rely on it for income. My wife sued the false claimant and won her case, but her channel was never recoverable along with all her subscribers. Don't put your future in the hands of companies that can wipe you out anytime, for any reason. Unlike employment at a company, you have ZERO rights on these services.

I'm so sorry for EVERYTHING that you're going through, it's truly heartbreaking. I hope that your MIL improves quickly and your daughters are so lucky to have such loving parents. You are absolutely right, that is all that matters 😍I hope everything else can get resolved quickly for you.

That is absolutely a horrible feeling, my shop only gets 30-60 sales the entire week and I would cry myself to sleep for days probably, and I am 44, I don't care, it's an awful sinking feeling. I am really sorry you are dealing with this; I agree, they should have a human look at things like that.

Sincerely sorry for ALL that you and your family are going through. I hope that you can get your business flowing again. And my heart goes out to your daughter and mother-in-law.

Thank you so much for sharing this video- I went through my other etsy shops I don't really use and found a small fee outstanding so quickly paid it! So grateful you shared why your shop was suspended. It looks like your shop is back up and running now- I hope so! Keep us updated. All the best :)

I'm so sorry this has happened to you. Thank goodness you have other outlets set up. Glad you shared this with us. I hope things change for the better for you and your family soon.

I can't believe you're so calm and understanding of Etsy - my reaction would definitely not be that level-headed!🙂 These suspensions with no explanation are absolutely out of control. Most wouldn't happen if actual humans reviewed the situation. You know, like that improved customer service we're supposed to be getting from the fee increases? 🤔So many horror stories lately. I don't understand why they can't just reach out about the issue and give you, a seller that clearly makes them money, a chance to rectify the problem before escalating to a complete shutdown of your livelihood over SEVEN dollars? At peak season! Yet the the Disney infringers and drop-shippers live on to sell another day. Such utter nonsense. I'm so sorry this happened to you - sending prayers for your family and for a successful resolution to this situation. 🙏

That is crazy! Sorry this happened to you, your family and staff. This happened to me on a much smaller scale when a real Etsy employee use to respond. It was a temporary suspension until the bill was paid and yes for a very small amount of money. I'm surprised you don't have your own Shopify store with that kind of monthly income from Etsy and have a reserve to pay your staff for a few weeks until this is sorted out. Your business sounds like it is successful all year long due to the pet industry. I'd call the media an let them know - I'm sure this would get resolved real fast once Etsy sees the bad press. You may get national attention for this. * and to add I'm sure the investors in a publicly traded company would be very upset to see that kind of profit loss due to your shop being suspended during the busiest time of the year.

Completely agree with you! Closing all your shops, automatically, because of a 7 dolars debt is nonsense from Etsy. Also, I find it outrageous that we need different emails to open different shops. It would be so much better for everyone if it was only one email centralising everything: for Etsy to understand the seller reach, for sellers to have a quick overview of all products and messages, etc. So many things could be better on Etsy and it saddens me that they are rellying on bots and automations to simply close shops withou any warning, without properly pointing whats the issue, without even giving a chance to someone to learn and improve.

Bro that nuts! I hope you can recover it all. Unfortunately, this is all because of corporate greed, putting their own interests above the customer (you) It is illogical and shortsighted to not have a real representative speaking to you when a large store has a critical issue like this- and instead they dump you like nothing. These types of companies believe they are infallible, and I hope new competitors take their place that do the right thing. This is a case of stepping over a hundred dollar bill to pick up a nickel - horrendous and stupid short term thinking on their part.

I just read an article yesterday that Etsy layed off about 225 employees %11 of their staff. I was flabbergasted at first because I've heard so many stories similar to yours that people struggle to talk to a real person about their account. I'm sorry to hear about the struggles your family is going through. As a parent I can only imagine the struggles. While you are working so hard to provide for your family, time will fly by! Don't forget the importance if spending as much time with your kids as you can. They grow all too fast ❤ maybe it's a blessing in disguise, so you can spend closer time with your family.

So sorry to hear that! Vlad, these challenging times will pass, and you'll emerge stronger. Your dedication and love for your child and your business are clear, and these qualities will guide you through.

I have been your follower since you first started your channel. Can’t wait for your amazon handmade!! You motivate us a lot. Please don’t stop

I am sorry your family is going through all of this. As far as Etsy, sometimes things happen to shift our focus and direction. Best of luck on the podcast and consulting business!

I am so sorry to hear that. You are a generous man who shares from your heart all your hard fought wisdom. Blessings to you as you embark on the next phase of your journey.

I’m so sorry to hear this has happened to you. A similar thing happened to a couple that me and my wife know. They lost their seller status for a few weeks till their shop gets evaluated again. They said they will lose around 20k in the next 30 days. This happened right before Christmas due to a few packages arriving late due to the post office. Being at the mercy of these big companies just stinks. I’ve sold on eBay before but just small stuff and haven’t in a long time. Amazon has gone way down hill. Orders are now taking up to a week to actually ship. I now order from companies as much as I can or actual stores even if the price is a little higher. I hope you get things straightened out. Good luck.

So sorry this has happened to you and your family. I hope this gets resolved ASAP. You don't deserve this.🙏

I saw you on upflip and was immediately admirable of your energy, work ethic and business mindset. It encouraged me to start my own business. I planned to expand onto Etsy next year but wow this saddens me to see your business shut down in peak of Q4. It’s right before Christmas and they’ve suspended your account for a measly $7?! That’s horrific! Etsy needs to get a grip! I’m sending prayers to your family you all are going through so much. I hope your mother in law and little girl are recovering 🤗

Vlad I’m so sorry to hear about everything your family is going through 🙏💕. My son has epilepsy so I know what you’re going through it’s horrible to watch your child go through this. Prayers for answers for her and your mother in law to get better. Also for Etsy to get its 💩 together and get your shops back open. Hope your family has a good Christmas 🙏.

Really feel for you, we had our Etsy shop suspended then it came back have also had products taken down and put back, it’s horrible that they have that kind of power hope it get sorted for you. Definitely without a doubt to everyone don’t make Etsy your main source at a drop of hat it can be taken away

I have a 6 figure Etsy shop and my store got suspended couple days ago. It’s devastating especially for the holiday season 😢 I appealed but still don’t really know the real tigger was for the suspension

TL:dr - The suspension was triggered by an unpaid $7 balance on an old, closed Etsy shop, leading to all connected accounts being suspended.

Sorry to hear mate! Hope everything gets better and i'm sure it will! 🙏🏻

Dude I feel you! I'm suffering major depressive disorder and PTSD and my ETSY shop is the main reason why I'm moving forward but my ETSY shop got suspended for no reason at all and now I'm back to zero in my mental health

Ahh Im so sorry to hear this for you!! I hope this gets resolved fo ryou soon! I just started mine and ive been suspended for no reason. Looks like a common thing.

I think the suspension or termination of ANY account should be a decision by a human, not just for big accounts. And they should give a warning with the details of the problem so the person can correct it if possible. I lost my KDP account a little over a year ago and it was a truly horrible process, appealing the decision for 6 months (for the first few months I didn't even know the reason), until I finally gave up. These large organizations cross the line from cruel and unusual to actually Evil with the way they treat their users sometimes.

In the last year I've seen story after story about etsy shutting sellers down. This past black friday they shut down tons of shops. Then after black friday and cyber Monday they said oops, here's your shop back. After their standing was completely ruined. Smh...just sad. The few that got their shops back had to completely redo them ,everything was gone. And half their products they tried to re-upload wouldn't upload. Just sad. I really hope everything works out for you.

Your videos are so helpful, I can’t believe this 😮 I am so sorry that this happened to you!

Really sorry to hear all that has happened to you in these recent weeks, Vlad. It is insane that Etsy just lets AI bots make these reckless decisions that can have huge impact on people's lives.

Sorry to hear about your family troubles. Thank you for sharing!

I'm sorry that you had to go through so much at the same time, the sun will come out again and you'll be stronger than ever. Blessings to you and your family, wishing a fast recovery. Merry Christmas 🎄

Oh this sucks to hear. I feel so bad for you. I hope you recover well and fast from this.

I am so sorry that you have had to experience such inhumane treatment from Etsy during your personal challenges. If I have an Etsy store in the future, I will be heavily diversifying because they are risky business.

That's very sad to hear. My Etsy shop was shut down for 3 days because I updated my banking info. I reached out to Etsy right away. When you get their response, I got mine within 2 days if I remember. I responded right away. The whole back and forth probably took 5 emails. If you take one day or half a day between each email, they may assign new people to help you and it'll take time for them to understand what's going on. Which stall the time for when they could return your shop. It took 1 hours for everything to return back to normal once they decided to return my shop. Don't freak out if your seller dashboard isn't available to you right away. Some items in your draft may also be published so you want to check that

I'm so sorry to hear about this! Hopefully you'll get it sorted with them. I wanted to check this for myself but do you need to click the "Close Shop" button to check if there's any outstanding balance or does it show up after you choose a reason for closing the shop down? Was there any other indicator on the old shop for the outstanding balance on the payment account tab or financial statement tab?

This is my first time seeing your page but I want you to know you are not alone. So many of us are struggling despite doing “all the right things”.

I am so happy to see your shop is back up Vlad! ❤️ I hope life quits throwing you curveballs now 🙏

I’m so sorry to hear that happen to you. I hear an off a lot of that happening and it is definitely deterring me from opening the new shop. I don’t like the way they treat people shutting them down like that. That is so unfair. Good luck. I hope everything works out OK.

I'm in the process of setting up a shop and now I'm rethinking. Unfortunately, you are not the only person I've heard this from this week alone. I'm so sorry. I hope everything works out, I'm sure it will.

Wow! Just subbed. I came here from another Etsy seller video. I think you were mentioned in her video. This has been a problem for years, and with AI, it's only going to get worse because ultimately, lazy (and/or greedy) humans will blame it on 'HAL' lol. Best of luck! I was also thinking about setting up an Etsy shop but the heck with it. Especially if they've been holding up to 75% of sellers funds also!? No way!

It happened to me at the beginning of October and I'm still not back. I was doing 5-6K most months and 9K for Nov Dec (Christmas) usually. Down to 2.5-3K for December. So sad and I still don't know why. Feel for you Brother. Devastating 😢. Your chat is disabled when they suspended

I understand your problem with your daughter perfectly. My mom also has the same illness. Personally, I used to be (I am not anymore) a First Aider at my workplace, and I had a case of a person with epilepsy. In a very short time from taking care of the "client" (it sounds harsh), to the arrival of the emergency medical services, this person had 5 seizures. It happened very quickly.

Mine was taken down just before Christmas. Over 13 years on there with a ton of sales. I am so disappointed in Etsy. No help at all to fix the problem.

Brother man, your a kind man, your words touched me, I need you to know that you can build an email list off your customers from etsy, and then do email marketing to them and sell on a website of your own in addition to etsy so that you don't fully rely on them

Omg 😮 I can’t believe they have done this to you. I’m gobsmacked. 😢 I too am an Etsy seller and they locked my shop in early September and it destroyed all my ranking and I’m still trying to recover from it. I hope you can recover from this. Sending you all the positive juju I can muster.

Etsy has always been like this, I had my account suspended in 2013 for no reason and I was never able to speak to a human being about it. It’s a shame how they treat their sellers.

What an awful story. My profound sympathies for you and your wife and most especially your little girl. I know as a parent how agonizing it to helplessly have to witness the suffering of your child. I'm just entering the Eetsy arena, first shop, first product, and your video has been enlightening. I know times are tough for you right now but you;re a powerful and enterprising young man and you will not only survive, you will thrive. Keep the Faith!

This is so unfair. I cannot believe everything you have gone through in this couple of weeks. My prayers to you and your family. ❤

Sending positive vibes your way for a quick reinstatement of your accounts 🙏🏻 and also for the health of your loved ones ❤ blessings during the holidays and always 🌈🎄❄️

How does Etsy expect to get more sellers after this? If I was a beginner, I'd seriously reconsider having anything to deal with Etsy after hearing what happened to you. I hope everything gets resolved soon!

I'm so sorry this happened :( It's unbelievable that Etsy does not treat its top sellers better. How come other big companies appreciate their top sellers and have special perks for their top sellers but Etsy just treats everyone like shit. And then their CEO wonders why their sales are down... DUH?! Maybe because all your top sellers are living in fear their shops will be shut down at any moment and spending half of their energy building other revenue streams and shops elsewhere?!

My shop was just closed to a hacker essentially money laundering on an old account. I lost thousands in revenue over a 5 day period. I had a full out panic attack. I hope you take this time to rest and care for your mental health. Things will resolve.

I just subscribed to your show and I hope things have gotten better since you and your family released this video.

this prompted me to check my old accounts and found two with unpaid fees totalling just over $7! thank you for the reminder and I hope you get yours sorted soon

I’ve been suspended from Etsy too. Some digital files were sold that covered my fee plus Etsy’s fee and I still can’t get unsuspended. I discovered today that I can’t even buy anything from a shop on Etsy! I feel your frustration.

Praying you got all this resolved and prayers going out for your family.

I subbed and will be following your future success. Good luck my friends.

Imagine being you're own boss, owning your own business and still getting fired. Hopefully you didn't have all your business in the hands of etsy. I personally use etsy as a marketing avenue. Learned long ago that you simply can not depend on a 3rd party host like etsy. Situations like this. Stay strong and hope you get thru this!

Oh man sorry to hear that, I was looking for someone to learn from how and what to sell on etsy and found your stroy hope u get soon your shops back!? And hope your mother on law gets better sorry to hear that my friend 😢

Thank you for sharing... sending you positive vibes... we all need money, shop suspensions never happens at a good time, especially when it's also supporting our family... same here... we are 5 living on our family business. But HEALTH... is soooo important... maybe it's a call to see what comes next... you will grow from these events, don't see them as mistakes... see them as ways to bloom from them. Wishing you luck, and health to you and your family.❤

Just want yo say thank you. I have learned so much from you graciously sharing and teaching. Your drive and ethics have been an inspiration. I have learned a lot about the nuts and bolts of running an online shop from watching your well done videos. Thank you Sir.

I’m so sorry about what your family has been going through. I will pray for you all.

Any business chat- When it's too polite & professional sounding - Dead giveaway it's AI & NOT a customer service rep🙇‍♀️

Thanks for share, may i ask a question? what about the outstanding balance there? I guess there are a huge amount of balance needed to be paid after your suspension, will you pay it or just leave it there? and what will the consequence if you don't pay? Thanks.

I just found you and finished watching this video and I have to say, this is terrible. I'm so sorry you're going through all this plus whatever medical issues going on with your family. And yes, it is worse that it's all happening during the holiday season! This, among other things, is why I never want to open an Etsy shop. After learning about some changes made on the site, it sounded pretty bad on how they're charging creative trying to get themselves out there and hopefully make a living with their business. However, what I don't understand is why are you still on Etsy when you make so much money already. You have enough, and I'm assuming more than enough to have your own website. Why not move to your own so you don't have to worry about anyone else's terms but your own? That way, you don't have to worry about this sort of thing happening again. You also never know if one day, for any and no apparent reason, Etsy could discontinue their business That would definitely hurt so many people, especially you since you rely on it so heavily. I know it's all up to you, and you're not obligated to, but whatever you decide to do in the future, I hope none of this happens again, and ideally anyone else. Sadly, there's no garantee for a platform like Etsy. Good luck, take care, and Happy Holidays.

How awful! Feel so sorry that you are going through this difficult time. Hope Etsy wakes up and corrects this stupid mistake.

I was planing on starting in Etsy but I’ve heard they suspend stores just for starting. So I’m probably not going to start a store anymore.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. You hear it all the time about new shops with their first sale getting suspended, and now it seems it's happening to a lot of established sellers. It's like Etsy only wants the IP infringers selling stuff.

I empathise with you. ETSY closed 2 of my 3 stores down as I was selling craft supplies and getting them from CJ Drop Shipping. I appealed many times. I was destroyed as this was my full time income. But they wouldnt reopen so now starting all over again. I couldnt pay my rent so now looking for a place to live... But I know its just another life hurdle.. I wish you well and 2024 will be great for all of us~

We had a similar problem in USA and they suspended all our accounts in USA and the Uk, the Uk business was a totally different legal entity but they still wouldn’t open the stores back up. They need more personal support for sellers, we live by the income and it ends overnight. I’m sure you will grow sales more, when you overcome the problem.

This is insane, Truly sorry that they did this to you and hope you find better alternatives in the future, to be able to provide for your family.

I'm so sorry to hear what you've been going through. My situation is almost identical to yours, youngest daughter with very rare seizure disorder, her sister, just fine. Life flips on a dime and goes in a completely new direction when you're experiencing 100 plus seizures PER DAY. It's crazy how life takes us down different paths, there is so much I could discuss......if you ever want to chat about things (I can offer help), just let me know. As for Etsy, I hope this resolves as well..... take care..... and thanks for sharing this personal video...

Wow 🥶 they can be cold. Thanks for sharing with us brother, we love you for that. ❤

This is so terrible & so sad to watch you go through this. I pray that your success is much higher in 2024 and praying for your families health. You have helped so many people and such a positive real person . Try to take each day at a time. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Take care.

I've heard so many horror stories about esty. Being newly retired and a crafter, I'm skipping the internet all together and going to local markets. Sorry to hear about your situation and hope it's resolved by now.

So sorry for so many problems at once. Good luck hope u get back to many orders again soon!

Sending you and your family prayers 🙏

Wow. You’re way calmer than I would be. I’d be on here lighting Etsy up with my frustration 😂 But this is so dumb! I see some major flaws in Etsy’s system and I have sooo many questions. 1 - how can you even close a shop when there’s an outstanding balance? 2 - where is the communication from Etsy to remind you to pay said balance? 3 - why on earth did they let it go this long before suspending you? 4 - why NOW? Ugh.

Reason #1,501 why Etsy sucks and you NEED your own store OFF Etsy.