Etsy Ratchets Seller Anxiety with Bank Verification Email

by: cheeky

This is all being done under the guise of money laundering....if so, why hasn't Ebay, Amazon, Posmark or Mercari done it. Some are speculating that it has to do with the Government and being able to have easier access to money going in and out for tax purposes. I know that sounds like a conspiracy theory....but you just never know, especially now that the IRS has changed reporting requirements for online businesses and are also hiring so many more IRS agents.

by: The End

Ya, when you hear "Money Laundering", they're look at the wrong party.
Frankly, it's an insult.
I work hard for mine.

by: postbuster

You know that it's corporate invasion of personal finances and information because this ''security'' measure, (given to the cheapest contract with a company that has a reputation for violations to privacy) is only affecting the sellers.  The ones who routinely need access for transactions because business depends on it.

Just look at how hard they are pushing this method with outrageous requirements adding the threat of not paying you YOUR MONEY on a bullhorn, and only whispering about the 5 day waiting period so one doesn't sacrifice delicate personal information.

The real concern should be from the random buyers, coming in and out and having all kinds of banks that they bring with them.  
What's wrong here is that etsy is inadvertently admitting that they can't (WON'T) handle its own security properly.

When you contract an outside source, you have already breeched yours and others privacy.

Do you really trust a company (like the other ones) that has been known to have the reputation that it WILL NOT BACK OR SUPPORT YOU IN ANY CASE OF FRAUD?

by: postbuster

You know things are really bad when all these executives are nothing more than just The Buttholes in our economic body.

by: The End

Everything is O.K. folks   :o)
It only took overnight.
2 - under a dollar deposits...boom.....boom....
and plug in the right amounts where they ask....
And you're finished connecting.
USE THE MANUAL SETUP ROUTINE.
Not the Automatic that could come back to bite ya ....routine......
Doesn't take 5 days.

by: The End

Strange how Etsy tried to scare people into the Dangerous Irresponsible "Automatic Connection to Plaid".
I've never seen corporate dance with such insecurity before....
Use the MANUAL option and Life is Good.....

by: The End

HMPH !
Just read it WILL take 5 days before we start to receive OUR Money.
That isn't right.....

by: The End

Seems they just added SIX new ways to pay.
Now there's 11 ways to pay,
and that doesn't include Checks and Money Orders...My absolute favorite  :o)

by: Snapped

The password option is ridiculous in this age.  An organization of any type that even considers offering it to be a good idea in this or any context deserves to have it’s collective business practices judged harshly.  That alone should disqualify them from even being considered by Etsy to “validate” anything.  And the fact Etsy has undertaken such a contract itself with such a party qualifies Etsy for consideration as an untrustworthy business as well.

Furthermore, if Etsy is “testing” this process on new accounts, then the five days is reasonable to establish fiscal trust.  However, holding money under any non-trade related pretext (bad enough they do any) for established and actively transacting accounts without duly proven cause is not remotely necessary to achieve satisfactory security justified “test” results.

It can only be concluded that Etsy is undertaking a business practice that is designed to economically disadvantage an undisclosed ‘portion’ of their captive ‘members’ for monetary gain, and has contracted with an equally unscrupulous business entity as their mechanism for achieving it.

Justice for this unearned ‘interest’ skimmed from the mere ‘existence’ of established membership accounts should be forfeit and payable to said guinea pig accounts.  And any damages or penalties provable should be subject to recompense with interest accruing from those points of impact.

Argue with that.

by: The End

When Elon Musk started the purchase process of Twitter, Twitter had to disclose the foney accounts.
Maybe Etsy is being sold so, they have to "Exorcise" the bad / foney accounts...

by: Gumball

It is bad enough to have one's info out there with the venue you are selling on. It does not need to be passed around to other companies. If Etsy wants to share your banking information with others than it should put in writing and send the email out to all sellers that they will pay all losses due someone wiping out the account because
Plaid or whatever company that gets involved got hacked.  

by: Marie

This is the same kind of stuff that happened on Ebay when Managed Payments came to town.  

Etsy is likely just trying to comply to the Federal Requirements to verify banking information.  It is something they must do by law.

And it is likely that these members that are having problems getting their accounts verified is for the same reasons some sellers had these problems on Ebay.

Make sure ALL information matches.

The name and address on your Etsy account must also match your bank account name and address.  No PO Boxes and the names must match perfectly, not even a single character difference.  

Hopefully Etsy is sharing this information with the sellers too.

by: Zigmund

why the hell Etsy continues to re-invent the wheel, then another wheel...and...????? Sounds suspicious, kind of like an episode of OZARK.
Thanks God I'm not in US. Bonanza should steal a couple executives from Etsy to help it grow.

by: Marie

@Zigmund

The same type of reaction happened on Ebay when Ebay did this.  As clumsy as they are, both sites were trying to comply with the Federal LAWS that they have to comply with as a Money Processor.  

Etsy has to do this, they can't skip it.

by: Cbaker

What an oxymoron!  The Federal Government is worried about citizens money laundering through a company comprised of mainly small business owners while the lawmakers routinely launder and squander our tax dollars for their own personal gain. 🤔

by: Vintagecat

This was the last straw for me in a long line of Etsy's serial ineptitudes and malfeasances. I'm pulling the plug on my shop. I opened a new Etsy bank account late last winter and it was verified by Etsy with my name and SSN/EIN matching my existing Etsy seller's account. Exactly what they said they needed Plaid to do to be compliant. So as an already legally compliant account you would think that I wouldn't be roped into Etsy's Plaid rodeo but I was in that first batch of sellers to be notified, "Use Plaid or else." so I'm taking the "or else" exit plan.

As an already legally compliant account, their excuse that this is a "money laundering thing" rings false. This is something else altogether. More like, this is a data harvesting thing which is an extremely lucrative underbelly of many tech businesses. I've contacted a national auction house to look at the top end of my collection and I'm leaving Etsy in two weeks permanently.

The fact that Etsy contracted with Plaid who was ordered by the court to pay a $58M settlement in July for data mining is the icing on this crap cake. Sadly many sellers are just going with the flow and submitting all of their user/password info and then hoping that changing their password will help. All of their banking and any linked data has already been scraped by the time they change their password. Sad is what this is.

by: JohnGermaine

Holy Jeepers!  I am still unpacking from my cross country move and did not get this notice.  I am technically shut down right now.  I think I don't want to play in the online selling game any more.

by: Stone Cutter

****PLEASE VERIFY****
Okay, so what’s the deal here? I did not receive any notice from Etsy that I need to verify my bank account.

Are ALL sellers required to verify their accounts?

Please advice.

by: Snapped

“ Etsy has to do this, they can't skip it.”

There will is no “law” that requires them to ‘hold’ payouts due to established accounts while they do though.  

by: The End

Stone Cutter  : Here's the basic Email :
Hi ,

To comply with anti-money laundering regulations, we’re required to verify your bank account to confirm that you own it.

Here's how to verify your info:

   On Etsy.com, click "Shop Manager"
   Click "Finances"
   Click "Payment settings"
   Then follow the instructions in the yellow banner

If you didn't get this email, You could wait out the time and see if you lose it, or I think you should confirm the old school way... routing number, account number, 2 deposits, wait a day....plug in the correct values, confirm, and you're done.