Sellers Abandon Etsy: Facing Suspensions and Lack of Support

Etsy's negligence and bot-driven suspensions are endangering sellers' livelihoods, prompting many to seek alternative platforms.

### Etsy's Decline: A Seller's Journey and the Shift to Independent Platforms
* 🚫 After achieving significant sales as a star seller on Etsy, I have decided to **completely sever ties with the platform** due to its **poor support and account management practices**.
* 📉 My experience began with a sudden suspension of my shop, where despite my efforts to appeal, I received **no support or explanation**, highlighting Etsy's **disregard for its sellers**.
* 💔 After attempting to re-establish my shop with a new account and investing considerable resources, I faced another **unexpected suspension**, reinforcing my decision to **leave Etsy behind**.
* 🌐 Instead of relying on Etsy, I have transitioned to selling on my own website using platforms like Shopify, which offers **better control and customer trust**.
* 🛒 I recommend using a DOT store domain for better visibility and marketing advantages, as studies show they **significantly outperform other domain types in attracting clicks**.
* 📊 The situation is not unique to me; many sellers have reported similar experiences, with some **losing their livelihoods overnight** due to unexplained shop closures.
* ⚖ There is growing discontent among sellers, leading to discussions about a **potential class-action lawsuit** against Etsy, although their arbitration agreement complicates **accountability**.
* 💡 For those looking to escape Etsy, alternatives like **Hostinger, Stand Store, and Gum Road** provide viable options for establishing an online presence **without the risks associated with Etsy**.

After making tens of thousands of dollars in sales, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm completely done with Etsy. I'm not selling, I'm not buying, and I'm not even recommending them anymore. I honestly think they could be out of business in a few years and are probably going to face a class-action lawsuit soon. The lack of support, random account suspensions, and complete disregard for the people who built their platform is really going to cause some major problems very, very soon. But before I break down the reasons for that, let me just give you some backstory. I was a star seller on Etsy from 2020 to 2021. I was averaging about $100 a day selling digital products, specifically my ebooks. Without warning, I logged in one day to find my store had been completely suspended. I didn't even get an email saying what happened, and when I tried to appeal this with Etsy, I was met with crickets—literally like I had zero support. I tried for years to get my shop back where Etsy was treating me like an

annoying. They were ignoring my messages. I tried to get in contact with them through calling, through emails, through forms. They didn't even give me a reason on why they suspended my shop in the first place. From that interaction, I found out like Etsy really does not care at all about its sellers. But like stupid little me, I went crawling back to them. Okay, two years ago, I created a new account. I was selling new things, and last month, I decided, you know what, I'm going to start making more listings on Etsy and really push this and really build this. But it's like your friends told you, don't go back to him, right? I did it, and look what happened. I'm the fool. Okay, I will take that out. They suspended my shop once again. There were no violations that they told me about or that I could point out myself. The thing that made this so devastating is that I spent hundreds of dollars pouring in and investing into my shop. I was up so late creating completely custom designs for my shop.

only to have all of that hard work completely go to waste again. I went through the process to contact them for an appeal again, but nothing. There's no response, there's zero customer support, and Etsy truly, once they suspend you, they do not care about you from now on. I'm suggesting everybody sell on their own website. It is a lot more work, but the thing is with Etsy is like if you're a new seller, a lot of times Etsy won't really push you, so you have to bring in your own customers anyways. So if I want to bring in my own customers, I'm going to do it on a platform that like I can trust, like my own website. After Etsy's been in my account twice, I knew I couldn't rely on their platform and needed to get my own. I decided to switch completely to Shopify, but if you guys want to switch, you guys can use anything like Shopify, Squarespace, or Hostinger. And while yes, the website itself is important, so is the domain that you choose. That's why I

choose to go with a DOT store domain. These domains are specifically designed for online stores and can actually help you sell more. For example, in a recent study, it was shown that DOT store domains get two times more visibility on Google and 87% more people choose to click on a DOT store domain compared to a domain. Big names like Rihanna, Shakira, and even Mr. Beast have store domains because they're better at telling customers exactly what they're getting, which is an online store. Like, if I see dogs.com and dogdogs.store, like, come on now, 2 plus 2 is 4. Plus, if you get a store domain, then you get access to some really cool discounts. For example, for DOT store users, Elevate store offers $2,500 in discounts on tools like MailChimp and QuickBooks compared to just $1,600 for other domains. And to make this even easier for you, I partnered with DOT store domains to get you guys a really special deal. So you can get your DOT store domain for just 99 cents for the first year. All you

need to do is use my link in the description and use the code energy at checkout. Thank you so much to do store domains for sponsoring this part of the video. So this whole Etsy issue, some might say conspiracy, isn't only happening to me. It's happening to thousands of sellers, and that's why there's been so many complaints. People are really losing their incomes overnight. For example, one seller lost 90% of her income with absolutely no warning. Another seller allegedly was making $100,000 a month and logged in one day, and it was all just gone. I've seen countless other stories like this, and you might be like, Oh, energy, is this just the new shops? Like, no, there's a seller who's been on there for 15 years on the platform and no longer has the store that she worked for years to build. And you might be like, Well, energy, well, I'm making handmade stuff. I'm not using print on demand, man. I'm not doing anything else. Well, it's happening to handmade sellers as well. One seller

actually made completely custom things, and Teemu, a big company, decided to rip their store off. But then her store was the one who got shut down because they're like, Oh, you're copyrighting. It's like, What? They stole my designs. Why am I getting affected? I've even seen stores who make engraved physical products get shut down, and they all say, like, There is no warning, and when they try to reach out to support to rectify the issues, support does help them. This is really so bad because most sellers on Etsy are just normal people trying to make a decent wage, not rely on a 9-to-5. And they did that for a while, and then Etsy just shut down their shop, and now they're wondering, like, How are they going to feed their families anymore? To me, that's not right, and this platform is really failing its sellers. And I feel like it's going to hell in a handbasket, to be honest. But, like, how did this happen? Why is this happening? What is going on here? I suspect, okay, allegedly, that this is happening because Etsy

just said that they are using a bot to shut down millions and millions of stores. As we've taken down, as we said in the call, millions of listings and tens of thousands of sellers. There's new technologies out there that make it easier and easier to spot. For example, does this same item exist also on AliExpress? And we assume right now if that item exists on AliExpress, we assume it's mass-produced, and we take it down. Now, this makes sense for stores who are having copyright infringement or something that's breaking the policies. But this bot has gotten so out of control, it truly has a mind of its own at this point, and is taking out people who are not doing anything wrong. Now, why is the bot even going so crazy? Well, I suspect, allegedly, it's because Etsy just laid off 11% of their staff. So, they don't even have people to manually review these things, which is why you could be reaching out for years and not get an actual response, or at least one that's not just an automated message.

know also allegedly their stock is completely plummeting, which is why I suspect that they're not really going to be around for very much longer because their stock has dropped like over 20% in just the last year. The sellers are getting angry; so many people are not wanting to be on their platform, and also the customers are getting annoyed. Like, I just recently tried to buy something on Etsy, and it was super annoying. And even like as a seller, there's so many spam people reaching out to you. It's a platform that is just like really decreasing in its usability and its user satisfaction. I've been active in different Etsy communities, and all of this drama around shop suspensions for no reason is really making people want to file a class action lawsuit because at this point, Etsy is putting a lot of people's lives and livelihoods at risk for no reason. I can understand if there is a violation, but a lot of people are not given specific reasons for why their shop is being suspended, so they

can't even rectify or verify any of that information, and I think Etsy does not give any reasons for liability concerns because then people could actually look into it and be like, All right, what's the truth and what's not here? But although hundreds of sellers are talking about filing a class action lawsuit, this most likely won't happen because Etsy has an arbitration agreement which says that you agree not to form any type of class action lawsuit, not to get together with other people to file a lawsuit against Etsy. So Etsy is really making it impossible to have them held accountable for anything. We'll have to see how this plays out, but in the meantime, you can actually opt out of that arbitration clause on Etsy, and I'll put the link to Etsy's website and how you can do that. So what are the alternatives? Shopify, number one. Shopify is the top site for e-commerce. They're going to have all the tools that you need. Is it a little bit pricey? Yes, it can be. I think it's like

$3 or $4 a month or something after the free trial, but the thing is, I'd rather pay $30 to keep my $20,000 a month business than to not really pay anything per month but have it shut down overnight. If you guys are looking for a more economical solution, I would suggest something like Hostinger. Hostinger, you can have e-commerce, you can sell physical products, digital products, all of that, but Hostinger has a really, really affordable price, and it is a lot more affordable than Shopify, but it is a little bit more limited in terms of the design options that Shopify offers. If you're like, Energy, I don't want to even set up my own website at all, then I'm going to suggest you to use one of these two, either Stand Store. Now, Stand Store is like a link in bio, like I've seen a lot of TikTokers use it and stuff, but you can host coaching, you can host products, you can add a lot of different things that people could click on from social media and just order.

directly. I do believe they have a monthly fee as well. I think it's $20 or $30 or something. I have to look more in depth because I'm doing a full complete video comparing the pros and cons of each of these, but I believe it's like $20 or something like that. And if you don't want to pay any fee, then you can use Gum Road. Now, I've bought a lot of things from Gum Road, so I can say on a customer side, I really like it. But it is like you're hosting your products on somebody else's website. But you can just put a link to your Gum Road store. I personally would say go through that initial work of building your own website just because you're going to look a lot more professional. But if you don't want to do that, then yes, stand store, Gum Road, something other than just having an Etsy store. Let me know your own stories down below, and I will see you guys in my next video.

It's Finally OVER for Etsy (Class Action Lawsuit??)

ENERGI

The author, a former star seller on Etsy, has decided to completely stop using the platform due to lack of support and random account suspensions.

After experiencing two suspensions and zero response from Etsy, they have lost faith in the company's commitment to its sellers.

The author is now advocating for others to sell on their own website and has switched to Shopify for their business.

DOT store domains are designed for online stores, offering double the visibility on Google and 87% more clicks compared to regular domains.

Beast, use these domains for their online stores.

DOT store users also receive exclusive discounts and a special offer of $0.

99 for the first year through a partnered deal.

Etsy has been shutting down stores, including those of sellers with custom designs, leading to confusion and financial distress for many.

The platform's use of a bot to identify and remove listings has been criticized for its aggressive and indiscriminate approach.

The situation has been exacerbated by recent staff layoffs at Etsy, resulting in a lack of manual review and support for affected sellers.

Etsy's Declining Usability and Seller Frustration

Etsy's stock has plummeted over 20% in the past year, leading to anger among sellers and frustration for customers.

The platform's increasing spam and unexplained shop suspensions have caused unrest in the seller community, with many considering a class action lawsuit.

Etsy's arbitration agreement makes it difficult for sellers to hold the company accountable, but there is an option to opt out of the clause.

After the free trial, it's better to pay a small amount to keep a business running than to risk shutdown.

Hostinger offers a more affordable alternative to Shopify for e-commerce, but with limited design options.

For those who don't want to set up a website, Stand Store and Gum Road are viable options for hosting products and coaching, with Stand Store offering a monthly fee and Gum Road providing a no-fee option.