From the “You’re Kidding Dept.”

My Etsy store is currently suspended. Here’s why.

So, after many back-and-forth emails and lots of vague accusations from Etsy about fee avoidance on my part, it turns out that what’s really bothering them is that, in the listing photograph above, on my packaging, you can read the URL of my online shopping cart. Their assertion is that I’m avoiding their 3% final value fee by redirecting customers using this photograph.

They shut my shop even though they were incapable of articulating that this was the exact problem, or with any evidence that their accusation of redirection is valid. This is why we need outside dispute resolution. When an unnamed worker at Etsy has the right to take away revenue from an individual and wholly interrupt their business without being required to express why, independent oversight is needed.

In other words, I can’t walk into Etsy and pull the plug on their operation when I have a problem, but it seems they can do that to me without penalty. This must be remedied.

UPDATE: after reviewing Google Analytics, the only “traffic” that was “redirected” from Etsy to POTUS31.com in the last 30 days was a single visit today, oddly enough, while my shop is shut down. Only an Etsy employee could have done this, which brings into question any visits from Etsy that they assert are “redirects.”