How To Report A Review On Etsy

There is nothing fun about receiving a negative review on Etsy. In fact, How to report a review on Etsy is one of the most asked questions in my Facebook Group. Although Etsy does have the option to report reviews, it should not be your first option. In my experience, reporting a review on Etsy has a little-no chance of getting the review removed and is often a waste of time and energy.

Before you report the review on Etsy

As mentioned, reporting a review should not be your first option when receiving negative feedback. I have written an extremely detailed article about what to do when you receive negative feedback on Etsy, which contains examples about the steps you should take before reporting an review.

The first step you should take is to reach out to the customer, offering a fix or solution to their feedback. If they do not provide feedback, this is an opportunity to gain some. Again, the article linked above has a number of approaches and example messages that should help in this situation. 

More times than not, reaching out with a solution is enough to make the customer happy, and gives them a chance to edit the review. This is a great opportunity to not only remove the negative review, but also has the added bonus of changing the negative review into a positive review.

When can you report a review on Etsy

You must only report a review on Etsy if you believe that a review violates Etsy’s policies. According to the Etsy seller handbook: Etsy will remove a review only if we determine it violates Etsy’s policies. Reviews that are negative, but that comply with Etsy’s policies won’t be removed. Reviews violate Etsy’s policies if they:

• Contain identifying private information
• Contain obscene, racist, or harassing language or imagery
• Violate our Anti-Discrimination Policy
• Contain prohibited medical drug claims
• Are solely advertising or spam
• Are only about things outside the seller’s control, such as a shipping carrier (mentioned by name), Etsy, or a third party
• Contain threats or extortion
• Include shilling or otherwise falsely inflate a shop’s review score

If you report an Etsy review that does not go against any if these policies, Etsy will ignore it. If you do this often, Etsy may limit your ability to report reviews. It is also important to understand that a review cannot be deleted once you have responded to it.

How To Report A Review On Etsy

The process for reporting a review on Etsy is quite straight forward on both desktop and mobile:

How To Report A Review On Etsy (Desktop)

1. Go to your shop manager and click on your shop name
2. Click on your star rating on your page, or scroll down to the bottom of your Etsy shop to your reviews
3. Find the review you wish to report
4. Select the policy the review violates
5. Write a detailed description about why the review violates the policy
6. Click report this review

How To Report A Review On Etsy (Etsy Seller App)

1. On the new Etsy Seller app (Blue Icon), click the More Tab
2. Click on Reviews
3. Scroll to the review you wish to report
4. Click on the button with the three dots
5. Click report review
6. Submit all the necessary information (detailed below)

What information should I include when reporting a review on Etsy

Your goal when reporting a review on Etsy should be: Make it as simple for the Etsy staff member to agree with you, that the review violates Etsy’s policy. For this reason, you should include the following information when writing your description:

• What the review said
• Which policy the review violates
• How this review violates the policy
• The steps you have taken to address the issue(s) as the shop owner. (Optional)

If you cannot, at the least, provide this information – chances are the review does not go against Etsys policies, and therefore you should not be reporting it. I know it can hurt to read a negative review about your products – but Etsy will not just remove the review for the sake of it.

Example message to include when reporting a review to Etsy

Hey there. I am writing to report a review which I believe goes against Etsy’s review policies. The review in question was posted by {REVIEWER NAME} and says the following: {TEXT INCLUDED WITH REVIEW}. I believe this goes against the {POLICY} for the following reasons {STATE WHY THE REVIEW VIOLATES THE POLICY}

Thanks in advance for your help

{YOUR NAME}

Will Etsy Remove The Negative Review After Being Reported

If you are successful, Etsy will remove the negative review. However, do not get your hopes up. In 3 years as an Etsy seller, I have reported dozens of reviews with clear policy violations. I have only been successful 2-3 times. 

They have a lot of caveats in their reporting policy. For example: “A review can be removed if it’s solely about the actions of a third party, but a review that mentions a third party alongside a review of the item or service provided may not qualify for removal.”

There is a reason I will always recommend reaching out to the customer before reporting: You have a much higher chance of the customer editing the review, than you will have the Etsy team removing the review.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS