Why does Etsy suspend my account? – reasons and solutions

Etsy suspends sellers account. What to do to reinstate your Etsy business, and how to safeguard your e-commerce revenues.

Etsy does suspend sellers accounts for a few reasons. Reinstating your Etsy account is possible following the advice and links contained in this article.

The process requires patience and may take several weeks. During which your business will be blocked. This is why sellers should:

• Make a back-up of their listings
• Sell on more than one marketplace

Now let's see together how to face a suspension.

? Common Reasons for Etsy Account Suspension

1. Reselling Non-Handmade Items: Etsy requires that items listed on for sale on Etsy.com be handmade by the seller, a vintage product (older than 20 years), or a craft supply (i.e. something useful to make other goods, such paint, tools, or cloth on instance)
2. Prohibited Items: Etsy bans the sale of items that could endanger community safety, including alcohol, tobacco, drugs, hazardous materials, weapons, pornography, and hate items
3. Payment and IP Issues: Account termination can result from refusing a billing method. Using shared Wi-Fi or VPNs might link your account with a banned one, risking suspension
4. Intangible Goods and Trademark Infringement: Selling services not accompanied by a tangible item is forbidden, except for digital products. Unauthorized trademark use can lead to legal issues and suspension.

By adhering to Etsy's rules, the risk of suspension is minimized. However, errors can occur, so it's important to know how to address a suspension and potentially reinstate your account.

Please note that reselling items purchased wholesale is not permitted outside the limits above.

?? What you can’t do with a suspended account??

Once your account is suspended, you won’t be able to:

• Receive new orders and create new product listings. In fact, your shop will be removed from the Etsy search
• Cancel existing orders
• View reviews left in your shop
• Edit or modify existing listings

While suspended, you'll still have access to your Etsy account to read messages and issue refunds. Etsy will notify you of the suspension via email and inform you of any open orders that require shipping or refunds.

An important thing to consider is that, while suspended, you won't be able to download your products, and build a late back-up of them. Either manually or using a software like Nembol. You should therefore move in advance and keep a copy of your Etsy listings somewhere in the cloud or on your PC.

??? How to have your Etsy account back

• File an Appeal: Begin by submitting an appeal. Provide a straightforward and honest account of your business and the reasons behind the account suspension. It's crucial to stay calm and not place blame on Etsy.
• Patience is Key: After you've filed your appeal, be prepared for a waiting period that could last several weeks.
• Follow Instructions: If your appeal is successful, you'll receive an email with steps to regain access to your account. However, remember that the decision is final and not all appeals result in account restoration.
• Rules for Restarting: Should you get another chance, note that using your previous shop name isn’t allowed, though you can use the same credit card details for transactions.

?? Have you ever considered selling elsewhere?

While Etsy offers great opportunities, branching out to other online marketplaces can your reach and diversify your sales channels. While awaiting a response from Etsy, consider selling on platforms like Shopify, eBay, Amazon, or WooCommerce.

Bear in mind that you have to use tools like Nembol, to expand on more marketplaces before you get suspended. Once your marketplace account is blocked, you won't be able to copy your listings out of it and into something else. This may delay your recovery by several weeks, and put your business in dire straits.

?? How Nembol can help you in case of suspension

If you believe your Etsy account is at risk of being suspended, the best thing to do is to create a quick recovery backup. This ensures a quick set-up of a new Etsy account, reducing downtime and potential loss of revenue.

Nembol facilitates multi-channel selling by distributing inventory across several e-commerce platforms. This diversification not only protects your products, but also maintains your revenue stream, even if one channel declines.

Nembol also automatically creates a mobile-ready website out of your listings. This happens in the background and gives you an emergency outlet where you can point your customers and keep selling, whatever happens to your marketplace seller accounts.

Leveraging Nembol's multi-channel capabilities optimizes your e-commerce operations, allowing sellers to deal with potential suspensions with confidence.