Shoutout to the guy who told me to ignore community guidelines on Etsy

I was selling handmade knife sheaths on Etsy last year and got a warning for listing a "weapon accessory". A buddy in a leatherworking forum said just ignore their policy emails and keep posting. I shrugged it off and followed his advice against my gut. Three weeks later they suspended my shop for 60 days and I lost $1,200 in Christmas orders. Has anyone else had platform rules that seem fake but actually bite you?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_park921mo ago

Had a buddy selling handmade leather wallets on Instagram who thought he could get around their "weapons" ban by calling his knife rolls "tool rolls". They caught him anyway, banned his account for good, and he lost five years of followers overnight. Their payment processor rules are even worse than the platform ones, so messing with those gets you blacklisted everywhere.

the_olivia1mo agoMost Upvoted

Did your buddy ever try to appeal it or did they just ghost him completely? I'm always curious how those bans actually go down because a lot of people say they got no warning and no chance to explain themselves. Makes you wonder if there's even a real human looking at those appeals or if it's all just an automated bot running the show. Five years of followers is brutal though, that's basically his whole business wiped out with zero backup plan. I've heard similar stories from people selling custom knife sheaths and they all say the same thing, once the platform decides you're breaking their rules you're done.

leehall1mo ago

I don't know man, "lost five years of followers overnight" sounds a bit dramatic. Instagram doesn't just vaporize your whole account for calling a knife roll a tool roll, they might shadowban you or hide your posts but a straight up permanent ban with no warning? I've seen way worse stuff on there that stays up for months. And payment processor blacklists are real but they're usually just for the really obvious stuff like weapons or drugs, not some leather pouch that could hold a screwdriver. Feels like your buddy might have left out some details or maybe he was pushing it way harder than just changing a product name.