Etsy Suspending Seller Accounts? 3 Main Reasons (Solved)

Losing your Etsy store to a suspension can be catastrophic for small businesses – especially if it is your sole source of income.

What are the reasons for getting your Etsy account suspended?

An Etsy account can be suspended due to customer or seller policy violations on your account. This suspension can be temporary or permanent, disallowing you from continuing to sell or operate on Etsy.com. You can appeal your account to try and get it running again, but Etsy can deny those requests.

Keeping your shop from being suspended is actually very easy to do.

If you follow Etsy’s “House Rules” for Sellers (see references below) and make sure not to do anything illegal or inappropriate, you should be fine!

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See our guide below for more information on Etsy account suspension:

Can I Reopen my Store After Being Suspended?

If you have violated rules or regulations put forth by Etsy.com or have been reported by a customer and are under suspension and review by Etsy.com, you should have received an email from the site.

This email will explain that you were suspended and give you an update of what that reason was and the suspension processes.

If you did receive that email, you have an option to respond immediately and request that the shop be reopened. Once you have done that, Etsy Support and administration will review or investigate the circumstances in which your shop was closed and make a decision from there.

If you have any outstanding problems or issues, such as open cases or unpaid balances that Etsy requires your cooperation on, those outstanding problems will prevent the reopening of your shop by Etsy’s team.

Make sure to be cooperative and patient with Etsy in order to get your shop up and running again. In the meantime, reach out to your social media or fanbase platform to let customers know that you won’t be selling for a little while, or are on hiatus.

Can I Close My Store Myself?

It is a little known fact that you, the seller, are able to close down your shop if you want to take a long hiatus from the business or start a new one on Etsy.com.

If you decided that you would like to close your own store, you do have the option to open the store up later through your shop’s account settings.

Once you’ve reopened it, you can see all your information as it was before you closed the store. This makes it easy to take hiatuses from one or two shops that you own while you focus on a third or newer shop.

Furthermore, some shop owners will take hiatuses if work becomes too stressful, or if they take long vacations.

Can I Open a New Store?

If you are unable to get your shop reopened by the Etsy team, you may decide instead to start a new store with the same merchandise (provided that the merchandise wasn’t what got you suspended in the first place.

Opening a new store is very easy to do, and usually involves the same steps you used to open the first Etsy shop. You are NOT able to use your same account; however you can use the same credit card information.

You will then need to enter a new email address and login information for the new shop.

Once that is done, you can open a new shop as long as it follows the rules and regulations of Etsy’s guidelines.

How Do I Get my Account Reopened After a Suspension?

Now, if your account and priveledges were permanently suspended because you violated the policies or rules for sellers on Etsy.com, you will have to appeal to reopen your account and privileges.

Appeals are ways to give a description and information about you and your shop to try and overturn a suspension that you feel is unfair. You can give Etsy support specialists your side of the story and work hard to prove that you deserve to keep your shop.

Once your appeal is reached, it will be reviewed by an Etsy specialist. If the specialist determines that your appeal is worth keeping your shop open, they will lift the suspension via email, letting you know the details and circumstances.

It should also be noted that the decision of an appeal can take several weeks to receive an email from the Etsy specialist.

How Do You Appeal a Suspended Account?

To file an appeal with Etsy’s support services, you will need to contact the support team by signing into your Etsy account.

Once you’ve gone to your account, you can click “Reopening a Suspended Account.”

Through this process, you will be able to write a detailed message to the Etsy review specialist and include a description of yourself and your store.

You will want to include:

Description of yourself and business history with Etsy
The details of the events leading up to your suspension
Plans to modify your business practices and fix issues in your account
Details about your products and how your items fit within Etsy’s guidelines

Keep in mind that submitting an appeal isn’t always going to get your account back online. In fact, depending on the circumstances of your suspension, submitting an appeal may not do anything at all.

Some severe problems that Etsy stores have that cause a suspension are those with inappropriate content or are selling copyright or illegal products in their store.

If those policies were the ones that were violated and caused the suspension, an appeal would not get your store or account back online.

Furthermore, keep in mind that you can only file an appeal if your account was permanently suspended. Otherwise, you may still be in-progress.

How Do I Know if I’m in Danger of Being Suspended?

There are many reasons that could cause your account to go into a suspension.

As we’ve mentioned before in this article, inappropriate behavior and illegal products or items are guaranteed to get you suspended on Etsy.

But what constitutes inappropriate behavior, and what can’t you sell on Etsy?

We’ve listed a few categories that could cause a suspension or banning of your account. If you are participating in or violating any of these rules or categories, you could be in danger of being suspended.

1. What Can’t Be Sold on Etsy:

Items that can’t be sold on Etsy have prohibited items such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco, anything associated with drugs, or other such substances.

Then there are animal or human remains or products that are banned from the site, as well as hazardous materials such as chemicals and weapons.

Furthermore, you cannot sell items that spread a message of violence or hate, glorify hatred and violence or have racial or hateful slurs against members of any group.

Finally, anything that is adult in content, such as mature content or explicit or pornographic content is banned from Etsy.com.

(See reference links below for more information on what can’t be sold on Etsy.com)

2. Prohibited Services on Etsy.com:

Etsy is a site for handmade or tangible items that can be created, sold, and shipped to customers online for a price.

This means that intangible goods and services are prohibited from being sold online.

An intangible good is something that you sell without actually providing to the customer, such as “good vibes” being sent out through the universe. While customers may be willing to pay for that service you are providing, Etsy requires that something tangible is provided to the customer.

As an added notion to this rule, Etsy also prohibits the modification or tailoring of an item to be taken in by the seller and then resent to the customer.

This means that you cannot restore someone’s sweater or nightstand to its original glory and then send it back for a fee. This is considered a prohibited service on Etsy and will get your account suspended.

Finally, you cannot rent items or spaces online through Etsy.com. Items should be intended for a final sale unless returned for legitimate reasons, such as damage or having the wrong item sent to the customer.

(See reference links below for more information on what can’t be considered service on Etsy.com)

3. Inappropriate Behavior and Customer Complaints:

Customers are able to report your shop for any inappropriate communications that you may have with them.

They are also able to report you for any materials or products that were delivered that are inappropriate, illegal, or were not as described in your shop when they purchased it.

For example, if you offer to sell knitted hats, take the money but never send the product – as is the case of many online scams – customers can report you to Etsy services in order to get your account suspended or banned.

Making sure to operate professionally and honestly with your customers, follow all Etsy rules and policies, and pay your balances to Etsy.com will allow you to prevent a suspension of your account.

How Does Etsy Notify Shops About Suspension Issues?

Etsy will always notify shops about suspensions or bans via email.

Once you receive the email, you are able to respond to it and request that the shop be reopened. If Etsy reviews your case, they can choose to maintain the suspension or to reopen the shop after an investigation has taken place.

Make sure to keep up on your emails, and maybe even begin a new email specifically for your Etsy shop.

That way, you are always up to date!