Since the pandemic led to a number of job losses and a lot more time spent at home, millions have taken the plunge and started their own business. And given that 3.9 million people host their small businesses on Etsy, it’s clear that the online marketplace is one of the dominant hubs for folks to create bespoke, meaningful products for buyers.
But now, some of Etsy’s most loyal sellers are finding themselves thrown off the platform for seemingly no reason. TikTok user Hattie (@hattie.bunn), who sold Harry Styles-inspired stationary and digital artwork, shared her frustration in a now-deleted clip after discovering her Etsy store was closed down the night before she was expecting a “new shipment” of orders.
“It is about quarter to midnight right now, and Etsy just deleted my shop which means I can never sell anything on there again,” she said in the video. “I have a massive, massive shipment of new stock coming in tomorrow. The most expensive one I’ve ever done, and I’ve got nowhere to sell it. “
But it wasn’t just a marketplace that Hattie lost. By deleting her store, the TikToker explained that she’d also lost the history and reputation she’s built over the past three years.
“They’ve taken all of my reviews,” she added. “I had nearly 900 reviews. So I now have no proof to show anyone that I’m a legitimate seller who sells five-star products. I had over 3,400 orders, that’s gone. I can’t even show anyone that that’s true. They just deleted my shop.”
According to Hattie, this was the final straw, as she claimed that “Etsy has been horrible, horrible hosts.” The worst part, she added, was that the online marketplace didn’t even give her any notice. “And to not give me some sort of warning to say, ‘If you don’t do X Y Z, we’re deleting your shop,'” she said. “They’ve just deleted it.”
In the comments section, countless viewers said they could relate to Hattie’s plight. “Same thing happened to me, destroyed my whole life,” one former Etsy seller wrote. “5 years of work and thousands of customers [gone].”
“Sounds like Etsy, the same thing happened to me,” another added. Other viewers advised Hattie to “not put [her] eggs in one basket,” suggesting alternatives like Shopify, Vinted, or her own website.
Meanwhile, other commenters suggested that Harry Styles-themed merch stores specifically were being targeted by Etsy, as one commenter pointed out how “a ton of Harry merch and related stores are now off Etsy, especially over the last month.”
This isn’t the first time an Esty seller has publicly blasted the company for shutting down their shop with no warning. In 2019, Etsy seller Ryan shared a saga on YouTube documenting how Etsy shut down his shop of 3,000 sales for “IP infringement.”
“There’s nothing for me to do as a seller to fight it, unfortunately,” he claimed in the video.
Hattie didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via email.