My name is Brooke, and I was an Etsy seller beginning in 2012. I sold vintage and handmade clothing and accessories. 

Etsy suspended my account for the first time in March of 2020, just three days after the world began closing due to COVID-19. At the time, I had thousands of sales under my belt, a 5-star average review, and responded to customers within 12 hours. 

They stated it was because my ODR (order dissatisfaction rate) was above 1%. There was no way to track that statistic, and only after prodding for more information, did they claim mine was at 2%. 

This destroyed me financially; I lost my home, my furniture, almost everything. Upon a request on my behalf, they re-opened my shop several months later.

I implemented a number of changes to my Etsy shop. I wanted to grow, but I also wanted to be assured this would never happen again. Beginning in June of 2021, my gross sales were reaching $4k, the most I’d ever made. July brought $6k, August brought $8k, September brought $11k.

Then, at the beginning of October 2021, I got an email stating that my shop was being put on “pause”, also known as vacation mode, due to having too many overdue orders (despite the fact I had updated all shipping/processing times, communicated with all of my customers, and was shipping out orders on time with what I had agreed upon with my customers. I was having supply chain problems, I made that clear to my customers and on a shop announcement. I gladly refunded anyone who could not wait, and kept the orders in cue for customers who did not mind a delay. 

I took the shop pause as a break. In three days, I took my shop order inbox from 170 down to 89 with no overdue orders. I then emailed Etsy to notify them, I’d completed what they’ve asked and I am ready for my shop to be taken off “pause.” The next email I received was “your account has been suspended.” 

Once again, I am in financial ruin. After doing independent research on other Etsy sellers’ experience, I read dozens and dozens of stories just like mine. Pregnant mothers having their sole income taken away, families losing their homes, many unable to pay their bills. It’s devastating that Etsy has the ability to do this. They hashtag all of their emails with #standwithsmall - It doesn’t get much smaller than a single woman running a business by herself. 

I began a Twitter account called @boycott_etsy, where I retweeted other sellers’ and buyers’ experiences. Every morning when I log on, there are hundreds of horror stories, people going through exactly the same thing as I am. 


I was encouraged to start this petition by a fellow seller who has her shop shut down. Her petition has garnered 21,000 signatures so far. She is requesting that Etsy provide better customer service.

Thanks to her activism, her shop was reopened and Etsy “seems” to be trying to make changes for customer service. However, sellers need protection, too. A website who was built on the backs of small artists should not be able to destroy them within one click of a button. 

I am requesting the following:

1.) Etsy makes public their criteria for selling on Etsy. Every bit of it. 

2.) Etsy change their criteria so that their guidelines are clear and realistic to follow during a global pandemic. 

3.) Etsy removes “star seller status” and tracking. This has been detrimental to all. People with badges and without badges.

4.) Etsy removes or greatly reduces the shop payment hold. Sellers cannot afford to have 75% of their funds tied up, with the remaining 25% being the only portion that can be used to pay your Etsy bills. People cannot survive 90 day holds on 25% of their income, minus all Etsy and shipping fees, or course.