I do not recommend using anyone else’s platform to be your PRIMARY source of income. Especially those platforms with very rigid and hostile approaches to keeping users in compliance on their platforms.
Compliance, that sounds good, right? Well, sometimes people use a platform and unintentionally break the rules but are good people. Hostile platforms treat you as a criminal versus assisting you with getting back into compliance. These platforms may ban your account without notice or explanation of what you did wrong or how to correct it and may give you one chance to redeem yourself.
It’s hard to redeem yourself when you have no idea what rules you broke. You can have your entire livelihood on platforms like Etsy, Amazon, and even Facebook. For instance, you can lose your entire livelihood in an instant when your account gets shut down for an unknown reason and your store is banned. Trust me, you don’t have to do much to make this happen.
Fortunately, Facebook has improved its policies dramatically but I recently had a very bad experience with Etsy.com . I made a store and made one product. I set it up which I thought was according to the rules of their platform. Bear in mind I am not a lawyer so being an expert at their rules is not my forte. Within 24 hours of opening my store, it was shut down and banned for reasons I have no idea why. The email simply said I had violated their terms of use or some other policy all of which I read but could not find the problem in any of the rules. The email said my account had been permanently suspended and was banned from selling on their platform and even making purchases but could file an appeal. I was like OMG!
When I got this email it makes me feel like I’m in criminal court fighting for my life and I’d already been convicted and sentenced for a crime I didn’t even know I committed. Now I am filing an appeal. This was so embarrassing and their entire approach was unnecessarily hostile and antagonistic.
It was my intent to follow the rules and be in compliance all the time. This was my first time using their platform to make a store so yes. I am naive to their ways and nuances but they should always take this into consideration when dealing with customers and use a softer hand to get their sellers back into compliance with their policies.
They said I have ONE shot at an appeal to fix this. Fortunately, I didn’t have any sales in the store or I would not have been able to address the needs and concerns of my customers. This type of thing is a seller’s nightmare. It reminded me of the reason I created my own platform to sell things and host my own groups. I still use Facebook but I have my own Facebook-like features and community on BaastBook. It’s why BaastBook came into existence. I told Etsy in the appeal to just delete the store and I regret ever making it on their platform. For all the headaches they caused I would rather just focus on building and growing my own store on my own website.
The lesson of the day is, if you put your livelihood on another platform they can take everything away from you in an instant. Imagine the people whose entire lives depend on their Etsy store and for some unknown reason or honest mistake they get their account suspended permanently.
The sellers on that platform have to live in constant fear and anxiety that they could get that email at any moment saying YOUR ACCOUNT HAS BEEN PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED. That’s no way to live and I am glad they reminded me why BaastBook.com has to always come first and foremost in my life.
SO ALWAYS REMEMBER. BUILD YOUR OWN AND YOU CAN NEVER BE KICKED OUT OF YOUR OWN.