Confused and paranoid

bcaww · #1 02-01-2017

Ok I have been planning to open an Etsy store for over a year now, but not until this April. Last year I opened a store in my partners name as we were going to run it together, but soon after opening it, I realised the shop would be his only if we were to ever encounter a relationship break up.

So since then, I planned to open my own Etsy shop this year. The shop in his name is jewellery and gifts asembled with charms and hand stamped parts.

My own new shop will be.. take a guess .. jewellery and gifts assembled with charms but my shop will not include any hand stamping (I'm not much good at it anyway).

My fear is that these shops will be seen as multiple shops as they will both be selling charm jewellery with initial discs (in his it is a hand stamped disc and in mine it will be a disc I buy as charms already stamped)

We both live at different addresses and I planned to use a separate IP address in form of a dongle as I already figured that if either of us got in trouble, we would both get closed. But I am also worried that the shops could be seen as multiple shops when they will in fact be technically different products with different branding.

I realised last night that I had opened a shop previously but I never actually sold anything (totally unrelated) and I have closed this down, however the username remains along with the credit card shipping address which I also deleted.. so then I got paranoid that Etsy would link this credit card shipping address along with the IP address of my partners shops as I have logged in using the same IPs.. so therefore my new IP address I intend to use with dongle with my new shop in April will get linked together as the credit card shipping address will be the same.

Argh.. I feel like I'm going mad with all this, when simply I just want to open a shop which initially was my idea with my own products. I would not consider sharing an Etsy account with a partner in case the relationship broke down.

Sorry this has been long winded, but the paranoia and complication of it is driving my crazy, when I just want everything to be above board!

Thanks for reading, and sorry it has been a long one!

zenohki · #2 02-02-2017

Hey there,

So from what I understand you've never been suspended from Et.sy, you just want a second store as a back up should things take a turn for the worse. Good choice, it always helps to have a back up plan.

I think the major issue for you would be, how similar exactly are the products going to be? If you can keep the two product ranges different enough, and photograph them differently, I don't see why you should have a problem. A lot of people sell the same things on Et.sy. You are not the only person in the world buying the supplies that you do

Keep descriptions written differently. Try and use different tags and titles. Just try and be separate. If Et.sy do ever question possible links, you could just say it's an ex partner who stole your business because you'd been a fool and put it in their name and that you don't have any ties to them. To be honest if you practice everything above board I don't see any reason they should flag your account anyway.

Try and tone down the paranoia, I've been there myself and honestly this will be much easier than you think. Just bite the bullet and get it done, there's no point spending time questioning back and forth if ultimately the main thing you want is to sign up and open that shop. You wont know until you try.

bcaww · #3 02-02-2017

Thanks for the reply.

I hear what you're saying and I'm probably getting myself worried about nothing regarding the multiple shops issue.

I didn't want to make the post too long, but I'm also worried about the fact that 18 months ago I opened a shop, listed some products in draft mode but never did anything with it, never opened it as I didn't have time then, everything was left in draft mode. I forgot about it, and just remembered the other day, so I logged in and realised I had added my old debit card and billing address to set up the shop. I have now closed this shop and account.

So now I guess as I have submitted my full name and billing address when I set up this shop I never used last year.. I was using the same IP address as where by partner's Etsy store is accessed and again the same IP address when I logged in last week to close the account... so my worry is now my full name and address is now linked in with his shop even though we have different physical addresses and no plans to live together or share a new business either. So when I open my new shop that I have planned to open next month using a different IP address as I plan to use a dongle.. I will still be linked because of the shop I closed had my full name and billing address... which means I will always be at risk of my shop being suspended if his ever is.

Am I right in thinking Etsy will have linked my full name along with billing address already, so when I open a new shop even with a different IP address with dongle is pointless.. we will already be linked and always be linked forever more??

MM78 · #4 02-02-2017

This seems to be getting more complicated than it should, here's how it's done correctly:

1. New IP
2. Different Address (One that's never been used before)
3. Different Name
4. Different Phone
5. Different Credit Card
6. Different Bank
And So on.

Gladiator · #5 02-02-2017

If your store was closed by you, or not used...etsy doesn't care. If you were not suspended, it's nothing to focus on or worry about.

Now, what I do suggest is that if you are concerned about anything with your partner is to seek legal advice and have a business contract wrote up. That way no matter what happens you both would be protected.