Two weeks ago, we filed formal complaints with the Federal Trade Commission about being forced to use Plaid.  We have yet to receive any information about whether they are taking on the case - but there is another option we can pursue while we wait.

The FTC is a federal organization dedicated to protecting America’s consumers.  There is also a State-level place to file a complaint - your State Attorney General’s Office.  To find this, google “File consumer complaint (your state) attorney general”.

The process to file a complaint on the state level is a little more involved, but you’re also more likely to get a personalized response from your state.  People who have done it so far have reported filling out a form with a name, address, and phone number, both for themselves, and Etsy, followed by a spot to write the specifics of the complaint.  Etsy’s corporate address, according to one of their recent Security Exchange Commission reports, is:

117 Adams Street 
Brooklyn, NY 11201

The phone number to this corporate office is listed as: 
(718) 880-3660

Brooklyn is in Kings County, NY, should you need that information also for your state’s form.

Finally, here is some sample text to help with filling out other areas of the form to explain the situation:

Consumer Complaint: Etsy forcing me to give up private financial data to a third party

Hello,
My name is (name) and I run a shop on the e-commerce platform Etsy. To continue using their service, Etsy is forcing me to use a third party, Plaid Inc., to verify my bank account. Plaid has faced class action lawsuits for alleged user privacy violations, and Plaid’s privacy policy, which I must accept to keep using Etsy, states that they may collect private financial data from my bank account and share it with partners:
https://plaid.com/legal/#consumers

According to Etsy’s own help pages, they offer non-Plaid, manual bank account verification for sellers outside the US:
https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015775908

As a seller in the US, I have reached out to Etsy support to ask for an option to verify my account without use of Plaid.  They have not provided an alternative. Instead, Etsy has advised me that if I do not share my sensitive financial data with Plaid, then I may be barred access to my own e-commerce shop hosted through the Etsy platform as well as any money owed to me by Etsy.

Is it legal for them to force me to give up my private financial data?  Are there any provisions in (your state) law to protect me from this?

Thank you very much for your time,
(your name)

You will most likely hear back from your State Attorney General with a specific response on the situation.  Please let us know what they say!  Every state has different laws in regards to privacy.

Thank you for joining us in this fight. #indiestrong!