Despite being one of the largest e-commerce platforms out there, Etsy’s focus on handcrafted, vintage, and personalized goods makes it appear more humane than the competition. Authenticity sells, especially now that ads featuring mass-market, often poorly-made items are increasingly harder to avoid.
Etsy provides a genuine opportunity to turn true creativity and passion into a steady income stream. The platform takes protecting both store owners with one-of-a-kind offerings and the buyers who trust them very seriously. Suspensions for sellers who violate Etsy guidelines are swift and often crippling.
I’ve done extensive research on Etsy, why it suspends accounts, and what sellers can do to mitigate such suspensions. This guide is a detailed account of my findings and is worth reading if you’ve suffered a suspension. Better yet, do so preemptively to minimize the chances of getting one.
TL;DR: If you’re looking for a proven way to maintain good standing for all your Etsy accounts, you can watch this video instead. It talks about general multi-accounting, but the principles apply to Etsy accounts just as effectively.
What Causes Most Etsy Account Suspensions?
Etsy will sometimes suspend one’s account without stating an official reason. In my experience, this happens disproportionately to new sellers, which the platform scrutinizes for faults more and may ban via automatic review. However, most account suspensions happen due to the following reasons:
- Incomplete verification – Etsy requires that all sellers provide valid ID like their name, physical and email addresses, etc. Most importantly, the platform needs tax information for US residents and banking info for non-residents. Not providing these details results in being put into forced vacation mode or being temporarily suspended.
Etsy may also ask for additional information, like amendments to your store’s return policy, at a later date. Not providing it in time may trigger a suspension.
- Outstanding dues – Another reason I commonly see is sellers who get behind on their payments. There are many of these, from listing fees through shipping label and regulatory operating fees to Etsy Plus and Pattern subscriptions. Being on top of and having enough funds to cover all of these are essential.
- IP & trademark violations – While Etsy promotes bespoke and hand-crafted items, it has a strict policy against using trademarked content or designs and others’ intellectual property when making such items. Sellers who think there’s a loophole to exploit may be unpleasantly surprised and suspended.
- Selling prohibited items – Etsy keeps an extensive list of items you aren’t allowed to sell. Some are common to all the major online marketplaces. Things like drugs & alcohol, live animals, and dangerous or illegal items. Etsy has no tolerance for items that promote hate or incite violence. Nudity and sexual themes are also prohibited.
- Customer dissatisfaction – Etsy expects stores to offer excellent customer service and keep shipping times low. It may suspend a store if customers consistently lodge complaints.
- Repeated policy violations – Disregarding or trying to circumvent the Seller Policy is a common yet vague reason. You’ll usually receive a warning to stop activities like keyword spamming. More serious violations, like getting buyers to pay off-platform, result in swift and more serious actions.
- Trying to open a new store after a suspension – A classic blunder that disproportionately affects new sellers again. Providing the same legal and financial info for a new shop, even if you use a different email address, will result in the immediate termination of the new store and any subsequent ones.
Using multiple accounts
It’s possible to sell on multiple accounts. If anything, Etsy is one of the most lenient online marketplaces I’ve encountered concerning this. There’s no limit to how many shops you can open, as long as each has a unique email address and branding and offers different merchandise.
While great in theory, the reality for sellers isn’t as rosy. You need to inform Etsy about every new shop. Each shop’s About page also has to disclose that you operate the others. Most importantly, all shops become linked to your identity and bank account.
That means a single account suspension can trigger scrutiny of and even lead to a temporary or permanent suspension of all others. Risking the impeccable reputation of your main stores that took years to build up over a late policy update or unknown copyright infringement in a newly opened one isn’t worth it.
What Happens to Suspended Accounts?
I’ve researched and written about account suspension consequences across online marketplaces, and the severity of Etsy’s isn’t as strict as some. It’s not as stringent as Amazon’s restrictions, yet harder to appeal than eBay’s.
Even so, suffering a suspension will severely affect any Etsy store. On the bright side, sellers can still access their shops to fulfill outstanding orders, communicate with buyers, issue refunds, and address issues.
However, the store and existing listings disappear from the search. It becomes impossible to make new or edit existing ones. Funds get put on hold, and Etsy services are disabled. In short, business is put on hold until you resolve the issue that led to the suspension.
How long do suspensions last?
Sadly, there’s no clear answer. I’ve seen accounts reinstated 30 minutes after the seller contacted support as well as ones where the resolution for the same violation took weeks. What we do know for certain is that there are two suspension types, and some suspensions are easier to resolve than others.
- Temporary suspensions are usually the result of either late payments, ID verification issues, or minor yet repeated rule violations. The affected account enters forced vacation mode with all the above restrictions and will exit once the issue is fixed.
- Permanent suspensions happen if an account is found in serious violation, like selling illegal items or continually disregarding the rules even after warnings. While the account becomes inactive, one may still appeal for it to be reinstated.
- Finally, account termination happens either immediately, e.g., when Etsy links a new account to an existing suspended one, or once the appeal is rejected. Terminated accounts can’t be reinstated and essentially impose a lifetime ban on the affected user.
How to Reinstate Your Account?
Compared to most other platforms, I’ve found Etsy’s reinstatement process to be both straightforward and limited.
Temporary suspensions are relatively easy to lift. You get an email from Etsy explaining what the problem is, and you may take steps to address it. Shop owners who update their ID or tax info, bank accounts, etc., can typically resume selling and other activities within 24 hours after processing.
Appealing shouldn’t be necessary in such cases. However, following up with a human customer service agent may speed up account reinstatement.
Permanent suspension is trickier. You’ll first want to check the suspension email and any messages in the Shop Manager dashboard to confirm the nature and reasons for the suspension. If these indicate that an appeal is possible, do so. If not, the account will likely be terminated, and there’s nothing more to do.
How to File an Appeal?
Since sellers are expected to take remedial actions before submitting the appeal, it’s wise to step back and assess your situation. The reason stated in the email is a good starting point. Determine what in your shop’s operation could have triggered the suspension and act on it. Maybe someone filed a copyright claim or a customer refund is long overdue.
Writing the appeal letter
Etsy’s appeals process goes as follows:
Start the appeal by acknowledging the suspension and your understanding of the violated rules. Offer an explanation for the root cause – mistaken use of third-party content, quality control issues, etc.
Next, outline the steps you’ve taken to remedy the situation. In my experience, it helps to mention any listings you removed, issued refunds, or changes made to the store’s policy.
Finally, and most importantly, outline what you plan to do to preempt future incidents. This can vary. Using copyright checking tools, switching to faster delivery services, or creating a store FAQ page are good examples.
The appeal’s tone needs to be professional. Make the contents concise and action-driven, focusing on proactive measures and commitment to current and future excellence.
It takes up to two weeks for a specialist to review the appeal. Favorable decisions result in account reactivation. Unfavorable ones lead to its termination and are final.
How to Avoid Account Suspensions on Etsy?
The best way to stay on Etsy’s good side is to use the marketplace as it was intended. That means using original designs and photos, paying your bills on time, promptly addressing customers’ issues, and having a complete seller profile.
Then again, you could be doing everything right and still get suspended out of nowhere for no or flimsy reasons, like these Reddit users:
In my research, opening accounts tied to different people, banks, and addresses is the only way to run several separate stores. Since their owners are recognized as different Etsy sellers, suspending one store will not impact the other. If they don’t also have less obvious traits in common, that is.
Etsy can easily link accounts operated from the same internet connection or device. The former will have them use the same IP, while the latter creates a distinct browser fingerprint. I’ve tested several methods that promise to make each account truly unique, and only one delivered.
Proxies
Each device that can access the internet does so through an IP address, normally assigned by an internet service provider. Etsy will tie your account to a specific IP or a narrow range of IPs based on your geographic location. That’s why something as innocent as logging in while vacationing abroad can trigger anti-tampering measures and suspensions.
Tying an Etsy account to an IP supplied by a proxy fixes this. Residential proxies are the best option since they source their IPs from real users across the globe and don’t arouse suspicion. Proxies might solve the IP issue, but that still leaves device fingerprinting on a deeper level.
Using a different device for each account
Etsy may also link accounts if it determines they’re accessed from the same device, even if the IPs differ. Let’s say you run a shop from a desktop PC. Hardware specs like the video card and RAM, along with the browser, its resolution, fonts, and many other factors, create a unique fingerprint that serves as a reliable identifier.
It makes sense to get as many physical devices as you have accounts and run each through a proxy or VPN. While that does work for an account or two, it’s not practical at scale.
You’d have to buy a new device for each account. Even if that’s only a low-quality $50 phone, we’re talking about an up-front investment of $250+ for five devices, not accounting for proxy costs. Juggling all these phones for account management is also impractical and time-consuming.
Anti-detect browsers
In the end, I determined that selling on Etsy through multiple accounts is only feasible and safe through an anti-detect browser. Essentially, such browsers create unique virtual fingerprints for each profile indistinguishable from separate physical devices and combine them with IP masking through proxies.
This lets sellers tie each anti-detect browser profile to an Etsy account and run them all from the same browser. Since all possible associations are severed, they appear as completely unrelated Etsy stores.
Anti-detect browsers might work, but there are significant differences between them. I’ve tested and reviewed over a dozen, and GoLogin proved to be both the most effective and intuitive.
Download GoLogin for free and manage multiple accounts without bans!
Running Multiple Etsy Accounts with GoLogin
Usability was a high priority during my anti-detect browser assessments. GoLogin proved itself with a quick setup and an onboarding process that familiarizes new users with its interface and capabilities. A 7-day trial activates automatically, which allowed me to experience GoLogin’s unrestricted feature set without commitments.
The dashboard is deceptively simple. Minimalistic at first, it can offer detailed information on single profiles or provide a broad overview of dozens of profiles with a few tweaks.
Creating profiles
GoLogin has a profile-based workflow. Each profile is a self-contained browser instance complete with unique fingerprints and a separate IP address, provided you choose a proxy during setup. A click on the Add profile button initiates it.
Each profile needs a name. A new folder can be added during creation for easier sorting as well.
It’s important to associate the profile with a proxy to avoid account linking. GoLogin offers native access to proxies in ten countries. Residential ones are the most reliable for avoiding account detection. If your Etsy business is based in Brazil or another currently unsupported country, it’s possible to use third-party proxies instead.
Testing the proxy ensures it works correctly and ties the account to an IP address. Advanced users can tinker with various aspects of the randomly generated browser fingerprint or import bookmarks. It’s not necessary, as the profile created by clicking on the eponymous button at any time during setup works well.
Linking profiles to Etsy accounts
A profile becomes active when you select the Run command next to its name. This opens its browser instance, complete with separate bookmarks, extensions, and browser fingerprints. The instance behaves like a standard browser window.
Simply logging into an Etsy account connects it to an active profile. GoLogin will remember the login details, cookies, etc., for each profile and account pair and keep them isolated from one another as well as your physical device.
Repeating the process for each Etsy account was straightforward after that. Soon, I had an entire list with distinct accounts. Since I use a desktop PC, running them all simultaneously isn’t resource-intensive.
Stopping profiles
Once work for the day is done, you can stop a profile by hitting the button beside its name or exiting its assigned browser window. Running the profile again conveniently restores all open tabs.
It’s possible to link accounts for other online marketplaces and sites that would benefit from multi-accounting, or you can create separate profiles for them for easier navigation. Apart from names, tags, notes, and folders will help set them apart.
Conclusion
Permanently losing an Etsy account hits especially hard. Sellers with suspended Amazon or eBay accounts can always try their luck on a different platform. On the other hand, a lost Etsy account is a lost once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect to and grow from a niche audience that genuinely believes in supporting smaller creators and unique voices.
Rather than give in to the uncertainty of vague violation accusations and unsupervised expert appeal reviews, grow your Etsy shops wisely by cultivating each one separately. GoLogin is the most intuitive and effective tool out there to help you accomplish this.
Try GoLogin out and don’t leave your creative or entrepreneurial future up to the whims of others.
Download GoLogin for free and manage multiple accounts without bans!
