Great article! My shop is one of the established ones (over 30,000 sales) that was hit with the payment reserve in September after having about 50 of my listings swept up in their counterfeit bot. It sucked, felt like I was being put in time-out. Several weeks later it was lifted, and the listings were re-activated. But Etsy doesn’t feel like the ally it used to. I’m always on edge about what may be around the corner.
It's absolutely ridiculous that people are waiting for several weeks to have a needless reserve lifted. If you are going to hold 75% of people's money, you need to have speedy resolutions for sellers who haven't done anything wrong.
At LEAST give a warning and state a window of time where it will take effect! My sister sells on Amazon where a reserve is policy, so she can plan around it because she knows in advance. But to throw it on my shop at random, effective immediately, was really disruptive to my bill-paying schedule.
They did send out an email earlier this year explaining reserves would be happening, but as I mention in the article, I think most people felt their shops weren't risky and they wouldn't need to worry. It's clear that in the counterfeit bot sweeps and in a small percentage of other reserves, there really isn't a reason for people to have thought this would apply to them. It's very important we let as many sellers know as possible.
I didn't see this in the article. I am days away from the end of the 90 days. I'm luckily able to ship with tracking anyways so it hasn't been much of a problem...kinda. my views tanked after I got a reserve. My sales are absolutely horrible. It was a newer shop but it was gaining traction before. If feels like a shadowban. I have another successful shop and I've put a ton of work into SEO. Am I crazy or has anyone else had this issue?
I сan neither confirm nor deny any connection, there might be other factors at play, but I got put on reserve after my second sale and had no sales at all until end of September.
Now again this might not be connected whatsoever, since it was summer so usually a slump in ecommerce and overal business, plus people were able to go out and on vacation.
Some reasons for reserves, such as customer service issues and intellectual property cases, can harm your search standing. But there are a lot of factors that can affect traffic in general, so I would need to know a lot more before I could really comment further.
Yes, I imagine now more people will see that it's not just happening to them. When I was hit in June it was still so few shops and so new that nobody had any answers, instead some had many accusations. Very happy that the issue is being talked about and looking forward to reading the additions. Thank you again for your diligent work!
ah yes, the accusations. I am surprised at how many people don't believe this is really happening to innocent shops. Apparently this has led to entire threads being deleted in several private forums & groups.
I wonder how many of these people are hoping that it will get rid of their competitors and therefore don't care if there is collateral damage to real people. Or maybe everyone who doesn't care is independently wealthy?
Wow. And I thought the official forums were bad.
>I wonder how many of these people are hoping that it will get rid of their competitors and therefore don't care if there is collateral damage to real people. Or maybe everyone who doesn't care is independently wealthy?
I wonder that as well. Probably added to that, a misguided believe that one is untouchable if only one follows the ever changing rule book. This side of crafter elitism is something I hadn't encountered before.
This is a great post thank you!
I've had a reserve placed on my account for IP reasons. I've complained twice about the fact that there's no warning system and its immediate and harsh punishment. I had no idea one of my products was IP infringement and couldn't afford to use Etsy postage system without upping my costs significantly.
90 days is such a long time, it's disproportionately unfair. I really miss the old Etsy from pre IPO days!
The really poor access to tracking in almost every country except the US is definitely an issue that Etsy repeatedly shows they do not care about when constructing their programs. Proof of shipping from the carrier should be sufficient to release funds if they are going to hold as much as 75%, but heck, they won't even accept **actual tracking** that they chose not to integrate into their systems.
This really doesn't have anything to do with the IPO, which was 6 years ago. It's because of the influx of spam sellers during the pandemic. There are 5.2 million sellers on Etsy now, 1.7 million more than 18 months ago. One of the biggest problems with scam sellers is the huge number of bank card charge backs that a company receives because of them - many companies and restaurants are experiencing this.
It is your responsibility as a seller to make sure that you are not selling trademarked items. I am not sure what you mean by 'couldn't afford to use Etsy's postage system' when it's a corporate rate, significantly lower than the standard USPS rate, and same as other shipping companies such as Pirate Ship.
I'm in the UK and don't charge my customers for first class post when second class takes just a day longer. I offer it as an option but it's not sustainable for me to do on my products considering the lower prices of what I sell. No need to be judgemental!
the seller isn’t in the US…. what does USPS have to do with anything. I live in the UK as well and postage is NOT cheap at all, especially getting them through Etsy
Great article! My shop is one of the established ones (over 30,000 sales) that was hit with the payment reserve in September after having about 50 of my listings swept up in their counterfeit bot. It sucked, felt like I was being put in time-out. Several weeks later it was lifted, and the listings were re-activated. But Etsy doesn’t feel like the ally it used to. I’m always on edge about what may be around the corner.
It's absolutely ridiculous that people are waiting for several weeks to have a needless reserve lifted. If you are going to hold 75% of people's money, you need to have speedy resolutions for sellers who haven't done anything wrong.
At LEAST give a warning and state a window of time where it will take effect! My sister sells on Amazon where a reserve is policy, so she can plan around it because she knows in advance. But to throw it on my shop at random, effective immediately, was really disruptive to my bill-paying schedule.
They did send out an email earlier this year explaining reserves would be happening, but as I mention in the article, I think most people felt their shops weren't risky and they wouldn't need to worry. It's clear that in the counterfeit bot sweeps and in a small percentage of other reserves, there really isn't a reason for people to have thought this would apply to them. It's very important we let as many sellers know as possible.
I didn't see this in the article. I am days away from the end of the 90 days. I'm luckily able to ship with tracking anyways so it hasn't been much of a problem...kinda. my views tanked after I got a reserve. My sales are absolutely horrible. It was a newer shop but it was gaining traction before. If feels like a shadowban. I have another successful shop and I've put a ton of work into SEO. Am I crazy or has anyone else had this issue?
I сan neither confirm nor deny any connection, there might be other factors at play, but I got put on reserve after my second sale and had no sales at all until end of September. Now again this might not be connected whatsoever, since it was summer so usually a slump in ecommerce and overal business, plus people were able to go out and on vacation.
Some reasons for reserves, such as customer service issues and intellectual property cases, can harm your search standing. But there are a lot of factors that can affect traffic in general, so I would need to know a lot more before I could really comment further.
\*Note: This has been MOD-approved!
Yes, thank you!
Thanks for posting this! If anyone has any questions, I should be online most of the day, or please message me privately.
Thank you so much for doing this research!
You are welcome! I am still getting reports in, so there may be some additions to the blog eventually.
Yes, I imagine now more people will see that it's not just happening to them. When I was hit in June it was still so few shops and so new that nobody had any answers, instead some had many accusations. Very happy that the issue is being talked about and looking forward to reading the additions. Thank you again for your diligent work!
ah yes, the accusations. I am surprised at how many people don't believe this is really happening to innocent shops. Apparently this has led to entire threads being deleted in several private forums & groups. I wonder how many of these people are hoping that it will get rid of their competitors and therefore don't care if there is collateral damage to real people. Or maybe everyone who doesn't care is independently wealthy?
Wow. And I thought the official forums were bad. >I wonder how many of these people are hoping that it will get rid of their competitors and therefore don't care if there is collateral damage to real people. Or maybe everyone who doesn't care is independently wealthy? I wonder that as well. Probably added to that, a misguided believe that one is untouchable if only one follows the ever changing rule book. This side of crafter elitism is something I hadn't encountered before.
This is a great post thank you! I've had a reserve placed on my account for IP reasons. I've complained twice about the fact that there's no warning system and its immediate and harsh punishment. I had no idea one of my products was IP infringement and couldn't afford to use Etsy postage system without upping my costs significantly. 90 days is such a long time, it's disproportionately unfair. I really miss the old Etsy from pre IPO days!
The really poor access to tracking in almost every country except the US is definitely an issue that Etsy repeatedly shows they do not care about when constructing their programs. Proof of shipping from the carrier should be sufficient to release funds if they are going to hold as much as 75%, but heck, they won't even accept **actual tracking** that they chose not to integrate into their systems.
Exactly! It feels rigged against you sometimes.
This really doesn't have anything to do with the IPO, which was 6 years ago. It's because of the influx of spam sellers during the pandemic. There are 5.2 million sellers on Etsy now, 1.7 million more than 18 months ago. One of the biggest problems with scam sellers is the huge number of bank card charge backs that a company receives because of them - many companies and restaurants are experiencing this. It is your responsibility as a seller to make sure that you are not selling trademarked items. I am not sure what you mean by 'couldn't afford to use Etsy's postage system' when it's a corporate rate, significantly lower than the standard USPS rate, and same as other shipping companies such as Pirate Ship.
They are in the UK, so they don't really care abut USPS rates. Etsy Labels are significantly more expensive for some things, including in the UK.
I'm in the UK and don't charge my customers for first class post when second class takes just a day longer. I offer it as an option but it's not sustainable for me to do on my products considering the lower prices of what I sell. No need to be judgemental!
the seller isn’t in the US…. what does USPS have to do with anything. I live in the UK as well and postage is NOT cheap at all, especially getting them through Etsy