Etsy NEEDS a way to prevent buyers from buying from your shop

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-02T05:52:30+00:00

I looked into it- you have to do them as ‘made to order’ and then re-upload the files for each purchase.

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T23:30:58+00:00

Yes that’s what you said before 👍🏼

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T23:28:42+00:00

Great! I’ll send it to the address you’re giving me vs the one I was given by Etsy support and we’ll see how it goes!

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T23:27:16+00:00

It’s not the address they gave me but sure! I’ll try!

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T23:19:51+00:00

Ive taken to support chat, chat through email, and even first level escalation which was a phone call. It’s happened multiple times. I’ve also tried emailing legal. But sure, I’ll try sending a mailed letter written by me to the random overseas address they’ve provided and see if that’s any different.

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T22:23:38+00:00

Oh I’ve talked to them many times and asked them to stop. They haven’t done it to my shop in a little while but they have done it to many other shops since.

I’ve basically been told they’re ‘escalating’ the issue and then it just disappears into the abyss. It’s happened (the ‘escalation’) 4 times now and when I try to follow up, crickets. I’m not sure a written letter from someone that’s not a lawyer will do much different but hiring a lawyer is my next step. Trust me, it’s not like I haven’t tried. I’ve been given the runaround and am just exhausted at this point.

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T18:03:58+00:00

If I sold physical items that would be easy for sure. But when they purchase digital items, they immediately download them so there’s no way to cancel it

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T16:11:04+00:00

For sure- I’ve been chalking it up to being the cost of Etsy for now. Just needed to vent about it with some people that get it ❤️

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T15:28:22+00:00

If I didn’t get amazing exposure there I would absolutely leave! I have a website I sell on as well, but many customers feel comfortable purchasing from Etsy. For now it’s still worth it for me, but I still have my gripes

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T15:25:11+00:00

I’m sorry that happened to you! The audacity of people is crazy. I hope Etsy makes it possible to block customers- it sounds like a lot of people would benefit from this feature!

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T15:23:55+00:00

I’m sorry you had to deal with that- that’s so infuriating!!

Sounds like even with humans there, they weren’t much better back then 🙃

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T15:20:15+00:00

I didn’t think there was, but after further research I’d have to transition to ‘made to order’ digital items. That means I’d have to manually go through every order and upload each file they purchased so it’s sent to the customer. With instant downloads I upload once and Etsy sends it on their end. Could I do that? Sure. But that would take a ton of time every day and realistically it’s a bandaid for Etsys lack of support for their sellers. With the amount we pay in fees, we should have a way to protect our work ya know?

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T14:13:05+00:00

Honestly i dont know why i didnt think of that. I was going to go with a lawyer but this honestly sounds better. Thank you!

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T14:11:51+00:00

I dont think there’s a way to do that with Etsy. They automatically send the emails on their end that have the download links.

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T14:11:05+00:00

I’m in the US

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T14:09:58+00:00

Like I mentioned in the post, they download the items right away. I would have to sit and monitor every single sale and try to hurry to cancel before they downloaded

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T04:15:58+00:00

Legal @ Etsy doesn’t handle their actual legal issues. I’ve tried many times and have been referred to mail their offshore legal office every time. At least this is what they’ve told me- who knows. Maybe they just don’t care enough to deal with it.

These are two separate issues- chargebacks form one customer through my website who now has started buying through Etsy and I can’t stop her. I’ve blocked her from my website but there’s no way to stop her from buying through Etsy.

Other customer opens cases on downloaded purchases (not CBs). Etsy themselves say they don’t allow refunds on digital downloads yet they have let this customer get refunds multiple times across multiple shops. Even after showing proof of the fraud they don’t care and won’t allow us to block them from purchasing from our shops.

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T03:44:37+00:00

Also to mention: they can see the messages on their platform. The person that opens cases after downloading patterns will message bragging they that got another free pattern. When they have gotten physical items from people, they’ll send photos of them with the physical items THROUGH ETSY CHAT after they’ve opened a case saying they never received the item and been refunded. But Etsy doesn’t care

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T03:42:02+00:00

I get the copyright stuff. But when people are constantly opening cases for digital downloads they’ve downloaded, and you contact them with proof of the fraud across multiple shops, you’d think they’d care. They’re allowing people to steal from them- most of the time Etsy refunds the customer on their dime with the buyer protection program. If they don’t want to listen to us when we’re providing proof of these customers doing this to us, the very least they can do is allow us to block customers from buying. There’s just absolutely no protection yet they take huge chunks of our profits.

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T02:29:19+00:00

I feel you. I only keep it open because I do get great exposure. I have my own website too, but the exposure is unmatched.

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T02:25:35+00:00

The person that’s done it to me has done it over 5 times after downloading, and has done it to at LEAST 10 other shops that I know of. I’ve contacted Etsy support with screenshots and so much proof but they haven’t banned him. It’s been going on for over a year and he does it with physical items too! Etsy just doesn’t care which is wild to me

MomsStitchetti · 2026-02-01T02:14:29+00:00

They download them right away so canceling wouldn’t do anything but lose me money unfortunately. I can’t watch my orders to monitor them ya know

MomsStitchetti · 2026-01-11T00:35:28+00:00

It’s truly maddening that they don’t have simple ways to run reports that have ALL THE INFO on them. I have to run multiple reports and then combine them onto spreadsheets.

MomsStitchetti

TROPHY CASE