Abbie Vowles, 23, said the tech firm shut down her store Abbie Rose Prints - where she sells handmade gifts - without properly investigating refund claims. Etsy introduced the Purchase Protection Scheme in 2021, which means customers can have a full refund if the item is not what they hoped for. As the American e-commerce company said too many of her customers had requested a refund, Abbie's account was suspended. After a social media campaign, Abbie's shop has been reactivated but she still feels that 'they don't care' about the sellers after her ordeal. She said: "It was a bit of a panic but it was more anger. If I was going to shut my shop, then I want to do it on my own terms and wouldn't want it to be ripped away from me. It's not like I was a really small business, I had been on there for three years and had paid a lot of money to them. It was like they didn't even consider it. "The only point of contact I had with a human was that phone call and the person didn't do anything to help at all. It came across like they don't care about who was selling what on their platform and what the consequences were for us sellers." Abbie received an email from Etsy on Friday, January 12, which said her account had been temporarily suspended and she had to fulfill all her pending orders to lift it. She was able to speak to a customer service advisor the next day, who informed Abbie that her shop could re-open in up to two weeks. But after she spoke to the e-commerce company, they psuddendly, permanently closed her account. Abbie, of Derby, said: "The more orders you get, then more people are going to ask for something for free or try and get a refund. There's been times when someone has messaged me about the size of an ornament and says the size isn't what they expected, even though it's very clear. "There's nothing I can do about this but then the customer have opened a case with Etsy and said they want a refund, which they've got. "I was shocked but I think after hearing other people's stories, I think it's awful how many businesses have been affected. Etsy are telling you to shop small but they aren't supporting the small businesses themselves." Abbie started her business in December 2020 and she creates personalised prints and scratch off cards to surprise someone with a holiday or a concert. Since then, Abbie Rose Prints has been her full time job as she's had 25,702 sales altogether. But the former Nottingham Trent University student says she 'didn't think' her small business would ever be this successful. She added: "I gave my mum a print for Christmas, she suggested I could sell them and I thought I maybe could go into it. Then my nan had given me £100 for Christmas, so as a broke student, I took the £100 and bought a printer and put it on social media. "I'm not sure if it was because we was in lockdown and people couldn't go to the shops, but it just blew up. "I got about 1,000 orders in the first month and by the end of my first year, I had made around 10,000 sales. It just kept growing and growing. I didn't think it would ever be this successful. "When I started, I was sat in the living room with my parents and I had an Apple Watch on my wrist. I put Etsy on the watch and I had to put it on silent because it kept pinging and pinging and pinging." Even though Abbie's shop has been reactivated, she has decided to close her business on Etsy so she can leave on her own terms. She's now created a new website where she will sell her products but she's 'concerned' that not as many people will purchase from there. Abbie said: "It's always been me - I literally do everything including the social media, the photos and just everything. It is a lot but I do it because people love the products. I'm hoping that people still love them even though it's on my own website instead of another platform. I think everything happens for a reason though and I'm grateful for the amount of sales I've had. "I'm not going to sit here and say it's a nightmare because I've still been successful with everything I've done already. But it is a bit concerning." You can support Abbie's new website here: https://www.abbieroseprints.com/
