Etsy Sellers Face Creativity Standards Takedowns From Stolen Photos With No Appeal
Etsy sellers are increasingly receiving takedown notices of authentically handmade items for supposed Creativity Standards violations due to stolen images with no ability to appeal to have listings reinstated.
Ecommerce consultant and Etsy seller Cindy Baldassi is bringing attention to the problem after working with other sellers who have been impacted and experiencing a false violation takedown herself.
Cindy Baldassi
With recent changes to sellers' ability to appeal automated listing removals, Etsy's AI bots are now almost uncontrolled. While the process has never been easy, many Etsy shop owners are now being told there is no way to have actual human beings check the validity of the computerized flags that took down their handmade goods. This is leading not only to the loss of popular listings for some of Etsy's long-time sellers, but also to shop suspensions.
I have been helping sellers appeal these deactivations for over a year, and have tracked developments in Etsy's procedures during this time. Late last month, I was (un)lucky enough to experience the process first-hand, and now have proof that the corporation is making it almost impossible to get someone at Etsy to look at evidence the items are handmade.
Baldassi's LinkedIn post goes on to explain that in 2023, Etsy unleashed what many sellers call the "AliExpress Bot" - automated systems that are designed to detect images being used on Etsy that also appear on sites like AliExpress, Temu etc. in an effort to be able to say they are taking action against dropshippers and resellers who violate policies by listing mass produced items.
Unfortunately, Etsy does not seem to have accounted for the fact that a legitimate handmade seller may have their images stolen and used by sellers listing on other sites, leading to a lot of undeserved takedowns and collateral damage along the way.
Liz Morton
After some very large sellers who were incorrectly taken down gained some media attention, Etsy has felt the pressure to reassure investors that they have the situation under control with CEO Josh Silverman confirming sellers could appeal the process during the Q1 2024 earnings call.
You as a seller can appeal that, you can tell us how you made it yourself, and it still ended up on AliExpress. And by the way, that's true sometimes. You can appeal that, but our default now is we take that down.
But that's not how it is working now, according to Baldassi and others who have been denied the possibility to appeal in the last few months.
Baldassi says now sellers are usually told the following when they contact support:
- that they can’t appeal. Frequently, this is the only response, despite talking to multiple Etsy Support staff. Some sellers just give up at this point.
- more rarely, Support says that the problem has been escalated to the correct team (Trust & Safety), but the shop owner never gets a response, even after months. This often happens after the merchant posts in the Etsy seller forum, and a moderator closes the thread with a promise of escalation. That used to be one of the best ways to resolve an incorrect handmade deactivation, but now it is very hit or miss, even for long-time sellers.
- occasionally, sellers are advised to just take new photos of the product and make a new listing for it, which means that Etsy staff are acknowledging that there is nothing wrong with the actual item for sale. The only problem is the photo. When sellers follow these instructions, shoppers lose the benefit of the many reviews on the established-but-deactivated listing, and shop owners lose the benefit of search and other algorithm rankings that a strong-selling listing has.
- recently, Support is directly telling some people that their items have been removed due to the photos being found elsewhere, and may even link to the stolen image on AliExpress, Temu, etc. In at least a few cases, the other photo is not the same, and may not even show an identical product! It may be a hairbow made of complexly different fabric, or earrings made with the same charms but not the same hooks. And no, they cannot appeal.
She also goes on to describe her personal experience recently having a listing removed, she believes due to one images being stolen and used on Alibaba.
After spending over 2 hours painstakingly putting together "proof" the item really was handmade, including images of supply orders and a video of her making the item, Baldassi was told multiple times that there was nothing she could do to change their decision and her requests to escalate the issue to Trust and Safety were ignored - they never even looked at the video or other evidence she provided.
Days later, out of the blue, Baldassi says she receive an email saying her listing had been reinstated with a slight apology but no details about why it had been removed in the first place and more importantly, why she had been repeatedly told she could not appeal that decision.
Baldassi says her best guess about why it was restored is that she referenced Silverman's quote from the earnings call and/or that Etsy was trying to avoid having media and investor attention drawn to the situation - but she was also quick to note that many other sellers are not so lucky, especially if they don't have a platform to have their voices heard.
She concludes:
Etsy wasted years of great financial results doing very little about the reseller problem, and is now scrambling to repair its poor public image as the place to buy cheap manufactured goods at inflated prices.
Its handmade sellers - which now centre Etsy brand advertising - are the collateral. Etsy's AI is literally taking our jobs.
I couldn't have said it better myself! And if gaining media and investor attention is what it takes to get Etsy to address the issue on a broader scale, I'm happy to help with that effort as well, both directly and by encouraging readers to share Baldassi's original LinkedIn post across their networks.
Other sellers who have been trying to share their experiences in the Etsy community are being stifled, either by changes made earlier this year that removed most of the forum from public visibility or by moderators shutting down threads on this subject and closing them to further replies.
ThePinPrick
This is the THIRD time that Etsy's automated systems have wrongly triggered on 3 separate listings. The first was back in May, which Etsy responded to after a month, and acknowledged that this listing was incorrectly flagged, and had been reinstated.
In the past 2 weeks, two additional listings have been removed. With these two, I have received an email stating "Unfortunately, since your shop has multiple policy violations, you can’t earn Star Seller badges anymore. Keep in mind, if your shop violates Etsy's Creativity Standards again, your account will be suspended and you’ll no longer be able to sell on Etsy."
I only have original enamel pin design, use my own photography, list all production partners - yet this still happens. I run a decently large Etsy shop with 300+ listings and over 100,000 sales.
My designs are popular, and have been copied on sites like AliExpress, Shein and Temu - which I have ongoing takedown notices for. Yet, I'm being punished for being the original designer and seller, with each help request taking weeks to resolve. The onus should be on Etsy to prove that I am a reseller with issued warnings, and not to put me on the backfoot and prove my innocence.
Etsy needs to improve their detection systems, and have these MANUALLY reviewed before automated takedowns. Hugely disappointing and disheartening for designers and small businesses.
After only three replies, that post was closed by moderators with this note:
Hello! We're sorry to hear you're experiencing issues with your listings. We've forwarded your concerns to a specialist team. Thank you!
Please know we handle support inquiries privately per our Community Policy – we’re closing this thread, so you can get the support you need from us directly.
Etsy may prefer to try to keep these things quiet, but as the saying goes - sunlight is the best disinfectant.
If you're a seller who has been impacted by these Creativity Standards takedowns with no ability to appeal, I'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment below or contact VAR.
