I sell vintage designer clothing/second hand designer clothing on consignment, so I am quite annoyed to say the least that I have recieved this email 4 years after launching the website and to top it off have only been given 6 days to respond or I risk having my shopify website taken down. I am a paying customer, so it is disappointing to have “the finger pointed at me” for something that wasnt an issue when I launched the website selling vintage second hand branded goods.
I ended up ticking the box that said:
“The branded or trademarked products available on my shopify store are authentic used products”
This fully applies to my products however, how am I supposed to prove that these items are authentic if the items are 10-20 years old and do not always have a tag/receipt/proof of purchase/authentification card.
I have the same issue with Facebook removing authentic products from my page and I don’t even get the chance to contest it. My products are ALL authentic - very disappointed in Shopify
@mishasannedavis I think you are looking at it from a wrong angle.
Look, on my side, I sell new branded products and guess what? You will always find a nutcase complaining that it’s a fake or whatever other complaints, with the only scope to steal it from me (He complains, Amazon is siding with him and refunding his purchase).
The reality is that having used branded products, your chance of people complaining and putting chargebacks is higher. Basically, they want to avoid problems.
I think 7 days are more than enough to give them an answer like yes or no. They didn’t ask to prove anything. They just want us to assume responsibility for what we are selling. Reasonable.
I remember when I open accounts with Paypal, Stripe, Paybright or Authorize.net, all of them did risk management on me because I was in branded watches and jewelry, which is a high-risk segment. I pass it and everything is just fine. Take it like an audit, nothing more. Unless you have chargebacks, you should be fine, don’t worry.
Also, once you will answer that form, you can do a follow-up with them and they will let you know if they need more to be done. In my case, they told me that everything is fine, that’s it.
But I agree, the way they did it is very scary. I was in panic mode as well. First I thought that’s a phishing attack and when I saw that is actually legit, I can say that I was pissed off because of the approach because it sounds just bad.
I sell new jewelry also, however, there is no brand name physically on them… just a logo in the stock photos. So I did complete the form only choosing the reseller option as I am a consultant. I have had my shop set up for two years.
Yes, this would also apply to using brand names in your product details or marketing. The reason for this is that you are generating a profit in relationship to that brand/company/trademark. I would make sure to fill out your attestation form if you haven’t already and you chat with our trust and safety team some more about this if you have questions.
I would like to know if I decide to stop selling those branded items or to change the item name, will I still need to fill out the form? For example, I have a product on my website that I named “Vintage Round Harry Potty Sunglasses.” I named it after the Harry Potter character because the glasses are just round but aren’t a replica of the actual Harry Potter sunglasses. So, if I decide to change the name of the glasses, will I still need to fill out the form?
I can’t say for sure and your best option would be to change the product names and then reply back to the email you received asking that question. Our team can then review those products again and let you know if the attestation form is still required.
I would also recommend using a free tool like https://www.trademarkia.com/ to help you find trademarks and see if they would apply to the products you are selling. This includes contact information for the trademark as well so you can potentially reach out to learn more about it.
Wow, hit me aswell today. Dashboard locked for no reason. Im selling licensed fabrics among other fabrics. Now my dashboard was locked and the access disabled for about 2hours. Im happy that I saw the mail. As far as I can see, it was labeled as “infringement dispute”, which actually means, that someone has reported my store.
@Shay Is it possible that someone is reporting every store which sells trademarked products just for fun? I mean Im using shopify payments since a couple of years, only sell full licenced products and never had a problem before. And now somehow this topic is concerning more and more stores every day probably for no valid reason. Does shopify check if a report is valid before taking actions? I mean its not very customer friendly…
Got to say I am absolutely disgusted with Shopify for this. I’ve had my business for 10 years now without any word. I replied to the email explaining that I wasn’t selling branded products and received no reply beyond a form email saying that they were blocking access to my admin area.
I don’t want to sign any legal document that does not apply to me, and if Shopify are going to insist then they are going to have to explain why with some pretty substantial information rather than just threats.
I had to sign it, because of unfullfilled orders, that will be prepared for shipping today. But Im shocked how shopify treats us as long term customers (I started 2017). Its like: We block you, because we are able to, so take it or leave it. This is really a strange behavior I never would have expected.
I think I will have to prepare a second store as plan b somewhere else, just to have the possibility to redirect the URL, if necessary.
That’s not a bad idea, but what a wonderful time of year to have to consider starting something like that. Personally I think I will be investigating getting a pro rata refund for the period I’m being blocked.
I am in the same situation. I sell vintage and antique items only, and received the letter, thinking it was a phishing scam the first time, due to the embedded link and lack of a separate URL option.
I’ve contacted Shopify by phone and was advised to either fill in the form or reply to the letter. I’ve done both, however, the “Submit” button on the form does not work and am unable to provide the requested information.
I’m currently locked out of my Admin and was told by a rep that it can take 72 hours or so, for someone to address the issue. He also confirmed that I would not be able to fulfill any orders during that time, although shoppers could still place them.
72 hours is a very long time for resolution, especially over a matter that does not apply to vintage and antique sellers, since we are protected under the First Sale Doctrine – in addition to a faulty form with non-working “Submit” button.
There does not appear any way to resolve this issue in a timely matter.
I’d be interested to know if Shopify are going to accept responsibility for any charge backs that may be received by businesses that can’t see let alone process orders due to being locked out of their admin that they have paid good money for.
Without access to the dashboard I can’t even warn customers of any potential delays, or stop products from being available for sale. Talk about being held to ransom and paying for the privilege.
I have also a vintage webshop and got the same email 2 days ago. I am stressed out and don’t know what to do. I see that you can select the option “I sell used authentic products”, maybe is that an option for the vintage sellers? Please let me know if anyone has an idea..
I have also a vintage webshop and got the same email 2 days ago. I am stressed out and don’t know what to do. I see that you can select the option “I sell used authentic products”, is that a good option? Please let me know if anyone has an idea..
I also have the same problem! I’ve put years of work into my Shopify and they go and do this?
All my products are authentic and I’ve never done anything Illegal, I can’t understand why they didn’t do this one month into my business instead of wasting my time like this.
@bsfs Do you also have a vintage shop? I contacted a few people who study law.. Because it’s triggy to just fill in forms like that and give statements to big businesses as these.. Please send me a DM or something so we can talk quicker.. maybe we can help each other further in this case.. Please anyone who is in the same position as me send me a DM : Lunareneeofficial