Chapter 4

Safety First: Maintaining Your Privacy and Safety on Etsy

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Understanding Etsy etiquette

Bullet Maintaining your privacy on Etsy

Bullet Shoring up your account’s security

Bullet Staying safe and avoiding scams

On Etsy, as in life, safety is paramount. Just as you wear a seat belt when you drive, a helmet while on your bike, and knee pads during roller derby, you must take the appropriate steps to remain safe on Etsy. In this chapter, you discover the precautions you must take to ensure your security and maintain your privacy on Etsy.

Oh, Behave! Adhering to Etsy’s House Rules

Every Etsy member must peruse the site’s Our House Rules page (refer to Figure 2-1 in Chapter 2). This page links to everything you need to do to avoid committing a potentially embarrassing gaffe on the site. To view this page, scroll to the footer area on any Etsy Marketplace page and click the Policies link in the About section.

The Our House Rules page contains a link to the site’s terms of use (see why they’re important to know and how to locate them in Chapter 2) and its privacy policy (discussed in the next section of this chapter). In addition, you see the following links on the Our House Rules page:

Buyers: Click this link to access policies that pertain to shopping, ordering, communicating with sellers, engaging with other site members, and more. These include the Buyer Policy, Anti-Discrimination and Hate Speech Policy, Community Policy, Privacy Policy, and Sanctions Policy. There’s also a Round Up Donation Feature Terms and Conditions link.
Sellers: To see seller policies, click this link. These policies include the Seller Policy, Advertising & Marketing Policy, Anti-Discrimination and Hate Speech Policy, Community Policy, Etsy Payments Policy, Fees & Payments Policy, Google Shopping Incentives Policy, Handmade Policy, Intellectual Property Policy, Pattern Policy, Privacy Policy, Prohibited Items Policy, Purchase Protection Program for Sellers, Sanctions Policy, Sell on Etsy App Policy, Seller Referrals Policy, and Shipping Policy.
Third Parties: This link provides access to policies for intellectual property (IP) holders, API developers, affiliates, and others. They include an Affiliates Policy, Anti-Discrimination and Hate Speech Policy, API Terms of Use, Etsy’s UK Tax Strategy, Privacy Policy, Requests for Information Policy, Submitting a Regulatory Request to Etsy, and Supplier Code of Conduct.

Private Party: Guarding Your Privacy on Etsy

Just because you’re on Etsy doesn’t mean you want everyone there all up in your business! Fortunately, Etsy takes your privacy seriously.

If you’re particularly concerned about maintaining your privacy, consider using a post office box as your address when conducting business on Etsy. That way, even when you buy or sell an item on the site, your home or work address remains private.

Understanding Etsy’s Privacy Policy

Like all reputable websites, Etsy maintains rigorous standards with respect to privacy. Etsy outlines these standards in its privacy policy, which you access by clicking the Privacy Policy link on the Our House Rules page.

We’re not lawyers. We don’t even play lawyers on TV, so we can’t get too deep into the specific legalese contained in the privacy policy. But in general terms, the privacy policy covers the following main topics, each with its own dedicated section:

Information Collected or Received: This covers what personal data you must provide to the site. It also details data-collection practices employed by Etsy and its advertising partners, vendors, and suppliers to collect and analyze information about you and your activity on the site.
Findability: This relates to the ability of other people to find you on the site.
Messages from Etsy: Here, Etsy spells out the circumstances under which it may contact you, and the communication channels it might use to do so. It also guarantees your ability to opt out of certain types of messages from Etsy, such as marketing emails.
Community: This pertains to Etsy’s Forums and Teams. The key point here is that any personal information you share in these community spaces can be read, collected, and used by others.
Information Uses, Sharing, & Disclosure: In this section, Etsy relays the circumstances in which it can disclose your personal information to others. In some cases, your consent is required; in others, it’s not.
Transfers: This section has to do with what protections apply for your data if it is transmitted to another country. Essentially, local laws apply.
Security: This is where Etsy explains its security practices in general terms — for example, its use of encryption to protect credit card numbers and of two-factor authentication (explained in “Making your account more secure,” later in this chapter) to prevent unauthorized users from signing into your Etsy account.
Retention: This section covers how long Etsy may retain your personal information.
Your Rights & Choices: In this part, Etsy lays out what choices you have with respect to your personal information, the use of cookies (not the yummy kind), and how you receive communications from Etsy.
Your Responsibilities: Here, Etsy explains your responsibilities with regard to the privacy of others if you sell on the site.

Etsy reserves the right to amend or update its privacy policy, and it pinky-swears to notify you if it does.

Changing your privacy settings

Etsy’s all about do-it-yourself (DIY). That’s why it offers various settings to take control of your privacy on the site. These include the following:

Recently viewed listings: As discussed in Chapter 3, Etsy displays recently viewed listings on the home page. If you want to clear those listings (maybe you were looking for a birthday present for a family member and you don’t want to tip your hand, or maybe you’d rather not be reminded about that recent Barry Manilow–related search), you can easily do so. Your recently viewed listings will be removed, but listings you view in the future will be recorded.
Findability: You can limit your findability by hiding your info from other Etsy members who use Etsy’s Find Your Friends feature to find real-world friends on the site.
Personalized Advertising: If you don’t want Etsy to share your personal information with third-party marketing and advertising partners to serve up targeted ads, you can deselect this option.

You can also keep your Favorites private.

To access and change your privacy settings, follow these steps:

Open the Your Account menu in the header bar along the top of any Etsy Marketplace page and choose Account Settings.
Click the Privacy tab at the top of the Account Settings page (refer to Figure 2-16 in Chapter 2).
Click the Clear Recently Viewed Listings button.

Etsy clears your recently viewed listings.
In the Findability section, select the No option button.

Other Etsy members will no longer be able to find you on the site by searching for your email address.
Toggle the Personalized Advertising setting to the Off position.

Setting this feature to Off prevents Etsy from sending your personalized information to third-party marketing and advertising partners.
Click the Update Settings button.

The Privacy tab in Account Settings also allows you to download a copy of your personal data, as well as to permanently close and delete your account.

Safe Passage: Keeping Yourself Safe on Etsy

Since its inception in 2005, Etsy has grown like Shaquille O’Neal in the ninth grade — that is, a lot. Unfortunately, that growth has made the site all the more attractive to hackers, scammers, and flimflammers, not to mention just plain jerks. In this section, you find out how to keep yourself safe on the site.

Choosing a strong password

When you set up your Etsy account, you’re prompted to select a password to prevent others from accessing your account (see Chapter 2 for details). Unfortunately, many people choose lame passwords — their birthdays, their kids’ names, the word password, or something equally easy to guess. To ensure that no one but you accesses your account, you need to set a strong password — one that is at least eight characters long, doesn’t contain your username or your real name, doesn’t contain a complete word, differs from passwords you’ve used in the past, and contains a mixture of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, and spaces.

Don’t use the same password on every site. Otherwise, if someone figures out your password for one site, that person will have access to all your online accounts. For an added layer of protection, periodically change your password — ideally, every 30 to 90 days.

To change your password, follow these steps:

Open the Your Account menu in the header bar and choose Account Settings.

The Account Settings page opens with the Account tab displayed (refer to Figure 2-13 in Chapter 2).
In the Password section of the Account tab, type your current password in the Current Password field.
In the New Password field, type your new password.
Retype your new password in the Confirm New Password field.
Click the Change Password button.

Etsy prompts you to log into the site using your new password.

If you’re worried about forgetting your password, you can write it down — but make sure you store it somewhere safe and private. If you forget your password and where you wrote it down, you can enter the email address you used to set up your account here: www.etsy.com/forgot_password.php. If you forget your password and where you wrote it down and the email address you used to set up your account, first double your dose of Gingko biloba; then contact Etsy at support@etsy.com to ask for help.

If you’ve signed in to your Etsy account using a public computer — for example, one at your local library or in a hotel lobby — be sure you sign out when you’re finished. Otherwise, the next person who uses that computer will be privy to your account information.

Making your account more secure

In case you’re extra concerned about security, Etsy offers a few features to protect your account even more:

Two-factor authentication: This security feature adds a layer of protection above and beyond your password. Here’s how it works: After you enter your email address and password to log into Etsy, the site sends you a super-secret code by text, phone, or an authenticator app on your mobile device. You then enter that code on the site in the pop-up window that appears.
Sign in history: Anytime someone signs into your account, Etsy automatically detects when and where it happened and maintains a log of this activity called the Sign-In History. You can check this log if you’re worried someone else might be signing into your account. You can also use this log to close any open sessions — for example, if you signed into Etsy using a public computer and forgot to log off when you were finished.
Device history: Just as it detects when and where someone accesses your account, Etsy automatically tracks what device was used to do so. This tracking gives you yet another way to detect unauthorized logins.

To view your sign-in history and device history, follow these steps:

Open the Your Account menu in the header bar and choose Account Settings.
Click the Security tab along the top of the Account Settings page.

The Security tab opens.
Scroll down to view your sign-in history (refer to Figure 2-17 in Chapter 2) and device history.

To enable two-factor authentication, follow these steps:

Open the Your Account menu in the header bar and choose Account Settings.
Click the Security tab along the top of the Account Settings page.

The Security tab opens.
In the Two-Factor Authentication section, click the Authenticator App, SMS, or Phone toggle button. (See Figure 4-1.)

For this example, select SMS.

Etsy prompts you to enter a mobile phone number.

Source: Etsy.com
FIGURE 4-1: Toggle on two-factor authentication.
Type your mobile phone number and click Next.

Etsy sends a verification code to your mobile device and displays a pop-up window in which to enter the code.
Type the verification code in the pop-up window and click Next.

Etsy notifies you that you have set up two-factor authentication.
Click Next.

Etsy automatically generates a series of backup codes for you to download. You can then use these codes to log in to your account if you don’t have your registered device with you. (See Figure 4-2.)
Click Download.

The downloaded backup codes are saved as a text file in your computer’s Downloads folder. Be sure to store them somewhere safe, memorable, and accessible!

Snapshot of Download backup codes. — Source: Etsy.com
FIGURE 4-2: Download backup codes.

You can also generate backup codes manually. Simply click the Regenerate button next to Backup Codes in the Two-Factor Authentication section of the Security tab.

You turn off two-factor authentication by performing these same basic steps — only this time, you toggle the feature off.

Staying safe in Etsy’s public places

One of the great things about using Etsy is its robust community of interesting, arty folk. But as with any community — especially online — not everyone on Etsy is honest or sincere. For this reason, it’s critical to take steps to stay safe on Etsy’s public places, such as its Forums and Teams (described in detail in Chapter 18). Here are a few points to keep in mind:

Lurk before you leap. Before you jump into a Forum or Team discussion, monitor it for a while. See whether the people engaged in the discussion are ones you want to interact with.
Don’t hesitate to exit left. If a discussion goes south, simply disengage. Life’s stressful enough — why embroil yourself in a conflict on a site that’s supposed to be fun?
Limit personal information. Don’t share your digits or other personal details, such as where you live or work, on Etsy’s Forums, Teams, or other public spaces.
Avoid oversharing. Although participating in the Etsy community can foster a sense of closeness among members, avoid the temptation to overshare. If you wouldn’t be comfortable sharing something with, say, your grandma, it probably doesn’t belong on Etsy, either.
Think before you connect in real life. It’s not unheard of for Etsy members to become BFFs or even fall in love. Still, you should take care before you agree to connect with other Etsy users in real life. If you do decide to meet in person, pick a neutral public place — somewhere you’ll feel comfortable. Also, make sure a friend or family member is hip to your plans, and bring your phone in case of emergency.
Be nice. If you’re kind to others online, chances are, others will be kind back. Not only is it bad karma to knowingly insult or harass another Etsy member, but it’s against the site’s rules. Abusive behavior can get you kicked off the site for good.

Tons of people read Etsy’s Forums. If you’re not on your best behavior, it can cast a long shadow on you, your shop, and your business!

Avoiding scams on Etsy

Yes, Etsy is home to artists and crafters. But it’s also a target for con artists and shafters. So as you buy and sell on Etsy, you need to be on the lookout for scams.

Back in the day, a common scam was to purchase an expensive item on the site, settle up with the seller using a check or money order, and ask the seller to expedite delivery of the item — before the check or money order cleared the bank. Sometimes the scammer would even offer to pay more for the item if the seller fronted them some cash in the meantime. Inevitably, the check or money order would bounce, leaving the seller in the lurch. Nowadays, scams more typically involve shifty sellers who fence counterfeit goods, or who accept funds from buyers but never ship their items.

Etsy has taken significant steps to tackle these and other types of scams. For one thing, it no longer allows sellers to accept checks or money orders. Instead, all transactions must be handled through Etsy’s in-house checkout system, Etsy Payments, which protects both buyers and sellers from fraud. Another protective step is the site’s robust rating system, which gives buyers tools to assess whether a seller is on the up-and-up before they drop their dough in their shop. Also, buyers can report shops that list prohibited items. (We cover ratings and reporting in Chapter 3.)

Still, it’s wise to be wary. If you get a bad feeling from a buyer or a seller, trust your instincts. Assuming you’re not Billy Idol, those hairs on your neck are standing on end for a reason. Pay attention to them.