Etsy sellers who advertise their listings ran into a problem last week, reporting suspicious activity on their Promoted Listing ads that had all the earmarks of click fraud. As we reported on the AuctionBytes Blog, sellers said their daily budgets were being used up in an hour or two due to a large number of clicks on their listings – but with no associated shopping behavior such as sales, favorites, or add-to-carts, leading them to suspect some sort of bot attacks.
On Saturday, an employee from Etsy’s Trust & Safety team confirmed the incidents and said Etsy had credited sellers accounts for those who had been impacted:
“Corinne here from the Trust & Safety team. I want to provide a bit of information about the recent abusive clicks on certain Promoted Listings.
“We take these violations seriously and our team is actively investigating these reports. We’re applying credits to accounts that have seen malicious clicks. If we confirm that your campaign has received malicious clicks, you will be proactively credited for fees incurred. Please know our teams are working diligently to resolve this issue.”
Note that click fraud is not uncommon across the web.
You can find the discussion along with Corinne’s response on this thread on the Etsy boards.
And leave a comment (or see what others had to say) in last week’s AuctionBytes Blog post.
That is amazing but check out this thread as well.
https://community.etsy.com/t5/Bugs-and-Technical-Issues/Shocked-to-find-Martha-Stewart-s-website-listing-my-items/td-p/126390037
I kept wondering why my items kept showing as on People and Real Simple?
Now on Google Shopping I have one item showing and instead of Etsy it is going to a Sold item on Ebay.
My other shop shows under Google Shopping but under it has a bunch of other listings not even close.
That a shopper May Like?
With no way possible to get back to my items.
IMHO they have copied everything so basically no longer need the real Vintage sellers.
Sandy
GracefulAntiquesVtg
GracefulVtgClothing
Now Etsy took almost $30 EXTRA in a fee for a sale of my product.
That’s JUST the sale, not the other 3 reasons to take money from me.
That’s a BIG damn mistake.
Greedy Morons.
Guess they didn’t think I’d notice.
Here’s Etsy’s BAD MATH :
$552.00 -$16.81 $506.69
That’s not what I get when I do the calculation…..
Can you believe it ?
What a scam …..
Ina and David ;
Please give us the ability to add screen shots and to edit our comments….
Thanks :o)
Etsy has NOT answered my email as of today.
It has been 24 hrs so far…….
Friday thru Tuesday June 4, NO RESPONSE from Etsy.
Well,
Looks like no number to call and get service.
Etsy stole my money and won’t return it.
SOLVED ! ! !
Etsy does NOT have the illegal TAX on the item deducted in a separate line in the payment account.
THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN RIGHT NOW.
Otherwise Etsy will be getting unnecessary emails with the same concern.
So right now, Etsy has NOT completed the required bookkeeping routine in our payment accounts.
The illegal TAX MUST BE CALLED OUT SEPARATELY.
Hello!
Can you please follow-up on the link left in the comment from GracefulAntiquesVtg at
https://community.etsy.com/t5/Bugs-and-Technical-Issues/Shocked-to-find-Martha-Stewart-s-website-listing-my-items/td-p/126390037
This needs media attention, now!
thank you
Lorelei Gumbiner
Etsy Shop Owner
Yes, would be nice to have follow up on this.
Downright comical seeing how Google shows my 2 shops on Etsy.
On this main one it is books related to Antiques that are not mine.
On my vintage clothing one there is a book from another Etsy shop as top listing under the shopping feed.
Maybe I should go into books more? I do have a bunch of Antique books but not listed and they would not be on my vintage clothing either.
On phones with my items they always have some rude reference about President Trump as similar items
above my listings.
I am keeping screenshots for fun!