Etsy is updating its seller policies, which will go into effect on February 23, 2021. We posted information about the new payment holds (which Etsy calls “reserves”) on the AuctionBytes Blog, “Etsy to Hold More Funds due to Increase in Disputes.”
The following is the fulltext of the letter Etsy sent to sellers on Tuesday – note that it references additional policy changes it’s making:
Subject Line: Important info: We’re updating our seller policies
Updates to Etsy’s seller policies
Etsy’s policies (we call them Our House Rules) are the terms that apply to just about everything that happens on Etsy. We occasionally make updates to those policies and as an important member of our community, we’ll let you know about significant changes that might affect you. Read on to see our latest updates before they go into effect on February 23, 2021. We’ll keep the jargon to a minimum.
Extra protection for the Etsy marketplace
More and more people are doing their shopping online and millions of new buyers have recently discovered Etsy, but that also means some sellers are seeing an increase in customer issues. To keep buying and selling on Etsy safe and easy for everyone, we’re introducing payment account reserves.
What’s a reserve? It means that sellers who meet certain criteria will have a percentage of each sale held before the funds are available for deposit. For now, this means some sellers may have a reserve placed on their account for a short period after their first sale. You will not have a reserve placed on your account at this time because you made your first sale more than 90 days ago.
We don’t expect you to be affected by this change, in fact fewer than 1% of Etsy sellers will be affected by this change right now. However, we wanted to let our entire seller community know about this added protection.
Learn more about payment account reserves in our updated payments policy.
In addition to the changes outlined above, we’ve made a few small adjustments to our seller policies. We’ve also added a bit more information about your responsibility to follow local tax laws and clarified that Etsy may take action against your shop if you’re not adhering to those requirements. You’ll receive additional info if these changes affect your shop. Read our updated policies.
These updates take effect on February 23, 2021. If you keep using Etsy after that date, you acknowledge and agree to our updated policies. You got this email because you’ve made a sale on Etsy in the past two years. You may have opted out of Etsy’s marketing emails, but we’re required to send you these policy updates. Got more questions? Check out our Help Center.
Leave a comment on the AuctionBytes Blog.
Etsy is Nothing More than a venue.
It doesn’t influence my business.
I won’t allow it.