Getting your Etsy Shop suspended is probably one of the most terrifying things that can happen to a seller. Especially when it happens with absolutely no warning and no reason.

How do I know this because it’s actually happened to me? I’m going to share the top 14 reasons of an Etsy suspended account and what actions you can take in order to get your account back if it has already happened to you.

Reasons of Etsy Suspended Account

Over the years I’ve read countless stories about sellers who have had their shops deactivated for seemingly no reason. You may find a big red suspension banner while login to your seller dashboard you may be wondering what you did wrong.

I opened a new Etsy shop for the sake of running some keyword experiments. I got a big red suspension Banner within11 hours of opening the account.

1. Suspension Is An Instrument To Reduce Scammers

The top reasons of new Etsy suspended account for no reason are many. But don’t panic if this has happened to you. Earlier Etsy replied me over email that this was a bug but after seeing it happen to hundreds of new sellers over the past two years I personally speculate that Etsy is just trying to reduce the number of scammers who join the platform.

If your new shop gets deactivated right after opening don’t panicked. Just contact Etsy and let them know what happened and ask them to reopen your shop.

2. Payment Processor Verification Pending

Reason number two that shops get suspended for not verifying their payment processor. In September Etsy began emailing sellers requesting that they verify their Bank information through two services called Integrated Paypal & Standalone Paypal.

3. Payment Processor Verification Pending

Few sellers assumed that this email was a scam and totally ignored it and over time as sellers did begin verifying their banks PayPal had a ton of issues. Long story short if you received an email about verifying your bank with PayPal or if you have a notice on your seller dashboard requesting that you verify your bank with PayPal, it’s legit and ignoring this message can get your shop suspended.

If you have issues verifying your bank with PayPal or if you’re mistakenly suspended you can file an appeal by visiting the community page and help tab of your seller dashboard then clicking contact us.

4. Incorrect Account Details

Another most common reasons I see sellers on Etsy get suspended is incorrect account details after getting married. This sounds pretty crazy but if the legal name on your banking information and tax information doesn’t match up to the information that Etsy has on file Etsy is likely to suspend your account.

The same goes for moving especially when you’re moving out of the country where you set up your shop so when major life events take place be sure to take the time to update your Etsy account as quickly as possible if you are suspended due to incorrect account information you should be able to easily appeal the suspension in order to get your account restored .

5. False Representation As A US-Based Business

So you can update your information when you join Etsy as a seller it’s important to ensure that you’re being honest about your location even if you ship through a print-on-demand company over the years.

Many sellers outside of the US have attempted to hide their location by utilizing a VPN then setting up a print-on-demand shop that ships from the US in order to make it appear that they are a us-based business.

But this can get your account permanently suspended with zero chance of recovery so always be honest when filling out the essential and legal details of your account if your shop is shut down for this reason. Unfortunately it’s very unlikely that appealing the deactivation will help.

6. Due of Fee Payment

Before listing product on Etsy it’s essential that you know what to expect in terms of listing fees and sales fees for a full breakdown of Etsy’s current fees in current year.

Each month as an active seller you’ll likely accumulate fees for your listings and any sales that you’ve made you have the option to pay these fees manually or enroll in Auto billing to keep things easy. If you don’t pay your fees Etsy will suspend your seller privileges until your bill has been paid. So be sure to opt for auto billing if you’re worried that you may forget to pay your bill on time.

7. You Don’t Ship Orders

Etsy takes overall customer experience of its platform very seriously which means that sellers who frequently break Etsy’s rules or on the risk of being permanently banned from the platform.

This includes cases such as repeated reports against the shop, disrespectful communication with customers, or not shipping your orders if you’re banned from Etsy for any of these reasons it’s likely that you’ve been IP banned which means that you can no longer buy or sell on Etsy and you will have no option to appeal.

Honestly if you’re not willing to ship items to your customers and you act like a bully , probably Etsy isn’t the place for you.

8. Trademark and Copyright Infringement

Whether you like trademark and copyright rules or not the laws are clear and I’m just the messenger. You cannot legally sell anything from movies, television, books, music , products with celebrities pic, video games or famous characters of any sort unless they are in the public domain or you have purchased a license to sell them.

I know there are a lot of sellers who violate these laws but just as many sellers get shut down. I know a couple of sellers who was recently sued for selling Disney theme merchandise. Copyright and trademark violation is the most common reason I see sellers get suspended permanently on Etsy.

Accounts get rarely restored after being banned for this reason so when listing on Etsy make sure that you understand copyright and trademark laws. The best way to stay safe is to only list products with original concepts or designs that you’ve come up with yourself.

9. Selling Items With Restricted Category

Before starting an Etsy shop it’s important to understand what is allowed to be sold on Etsy and what isn’t allowed unless your item is handmade a tool or craft. Listing a vintage item that is at least 20 years old a print-on-demand product that you’ve designed or a digital item that you’ve created it likely cannot be sold on Etsy and even if your item does fall into one of these categories it still needs to abide by Etsy’s terms.

For example you cannot sell anything that represents hate, violence, drugs, illegal animal parts or items that promise metaphysical claims.

10. Mistakes Made By A Virtual Assistant

Sometimes as a seller it can be tempting to hire a virtual assistant to help with certain areas of your shop such as your SEO descriptions, listing items, order processing etc. But unless you’re working directly with a family member or close friend that you trust don’t let someone log into your Etsy account.

It can be dangerous especially when it comes to Virtual assistants who work with lots of other sellers. Just imagine you hired out a virtual assistant to help with your shop and she started selling Mickey Mouse greetings cards in any of her clients store.

The shop eventually gets shut down as the virtual assistant was working on everyone’s shop and all stores are connected to a dedicated IP address. Now Etsy connects the dots and spoof all shops connected by that VA’s IP gets shut down including yours

In my 10 years on Etsy experience as a seller I’ve seen this happen several times and most sellers do get their shops back after reaching out to Etsy and explaining the situation. But it can take a lot of time and explaining so even if you do work with a virtual assistant never give them your login information.

11. List Same Items on Multiple Shops

If you’re a seller who has more than one Etsy Shop it may be alluring to list some of your items in both shops in order to see which performs better. Unfortunately this is one of the lesser known reasons that sellers get banned from Etsy. While it may be possible to get your account back again it’s really up to Etsy’s discretion.

It’s totally fine to put two of the same item in the same shop in order to run tests and experiments like when trying to see which thumbnail photo performs better but when you run two Etsy shops just be sure to stay organized and don’t accidentally list the same exact item in both shops.

One thing that Etsy absolutely does not tolerate on the platform is a biased positive review by selling products to your friends, family or relatives. This falls under review manipulation. You cannot give free items to someone to get a 5 star review. Or else you cannot use a secondary account of your own to buy and review your own items favoriting your own items or shop.

12. Review Manipulation

Taking any other actions to artificially inflate the first Shop’s reputation is not allowed. If you have friends or family who genuinely want to purchase your items to support you that’s totally fine.

But they must do so with their own money and the reviews that they leave need to be honest. If you’re suspended on Etsy, it’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to successfully appeal the suspension.

13. To Skip Etsy Fee

Etsy fee avoidance by directing shoppers off the platform is another common reason that sellers lose their account without even knowing that they’ve broken the rules. For example some settlers will accept custom order slots by creating a listing at a low cost such as one dollar.

Customers can purchase in order to reserve the commission slot then the seller will communicate privately with the buyer to outline the details of the custom order and determine the final price. This is all fine to do on Etsy but once you determine the price for the custom order you cannot ask the buyer to pay for the custom order through an external service such as a PayPal. Instead you would need to create a custom order listing in your shop specifically for that buyer listed with the total cost of their order

14. Sharing Your Website Link With Etsy Customers

Additionally if you sell on your own website you cannot direct shoppers to that website from Etsy in order to make their purchases. This includes adding links to your website in your listing descriptions, listing photos, shop announcement or in private messages to buyers.

The only place where you can add a link to your website is within your about section where Etsy provides us with a designated place to do so.

Conclusion

Overall success on Etsy means taking the time to read Etsy’s all rules and terms to ensure that you are doing everything necessary to run a successful and sustainable storefront.

With a proper precautions, little research, some help from a trusted Etsy expert you’ll be well on your way to Etsy success