Ai Generated, Scam, Fraud royalty-free stock illustration.

Scams Every New Etsy Seller Gets (And How to Outsmart Them)

12. Oktober 2025

When you open your first Etsy shop, you expect questions about shipping, sizes, and colors, maybe delivery estimates, but certainly not mysterious messages offering “bulk orders for a wedding overseas.” and "urgent bank verification" issues. But every new seller eventually meets them: the scammers.

They show up in your inbox sounding polite, professional, even flattering.

They’ll say they love your work, want to feature your products, or need an urgent order.

They pretend they are from Etsy.

And because you’re new, hopeful, and probably not familiar with how a valid connection should look like, they hope you’ll take the bait.

Don’t feel foolish - especially if you are a new Etsy shop owner, they WILL find you. I don't know what kind of "newbie detector" they might have, but it happens to everyone.

The good news is that once you learn the red flags, you’ll spot them from miles away and you'll never doubt yourself again - without having to ask online or even worse - by learning it the hard way.

Let’s go through the classics first - the greatest hits of Etsy scams, and how to keep your shop (and sanity) safe.

There's always a pattern. Look close.

Below I'm attaching a few screenshots from my own experience with scammers as a newbie Etsy Shop owner, along with other scam attempts that were posted in public forums for reviewing. I will explain on the go!

1. The All-time classic “Account Problem” or “Verify Now” Message for an order that never happened

It's probably the first attempt against you.

The Trap: Pretending they contact you from Etsy, they tell you that there's a problem with your account. They usually say something about your bank, making it sound serious and urgent.

What they want: Next thing they do, is asking you to click their link to update your info.

DO NOT CLICK ANY LINKS FOR ANY REASON.

What to do: Report them to protect others, mark as Spam and move on with your life.

Here's the difference between a fake and a real message from Etsy in your seller's dashboard:

Also, you will receive an email at the same time - if it's a real communication from Etsy, you will be informed about this and that and guide you next.

Here is how authentic emails from Etsy look like:

Note that they always end with etsy.com.

So, your first thing to do, is to check sender's address.

How a FAKE order on Etsy looks like:

Note how they try to look legit. Now matter how well they do it, they always end their messages with a link (or clickable button) and this link is your red flag:

How an actual order confirmation email looks like:

Scammers will mimic logos and names: “EtsySecurityHelp”, “EtsyBusinessVerify” etc.

How to make sure you will NEVER fall in their trap:

1. No clicks on links for any reason.

I think I've repeated it more times than I intented to.

At least until you get familiar enough to read links and identify their source, it's better to be paranoid and safe than sorry.

Sometimes, a real person might approach you if you accept custom orders and might want to show you an image of a font, a design they have in mind, some social media post etc, and they might do it by pasting a link for it.

Unless you are super confident about confirming that the link is safe by inspecting it, just don't click it. Ask your potential customer to upload the picture directly. If they say that can't do it, then apologize for not being able to help them and move on.

(Yes, a sale is a sale and if you're new I totally get it. But, SAFETY FIRST).

Fun fact: It took me 4 full years to get confident enough to mark a link, a DM or email as safe or not safe, and even now, I proceed with extreme cautiousness.

It's okay to ask reddit or your LLM about it. I promise you that the time will come where you won't have to - you will know what to do.

(I noticed that this article's format doesn't want to behave. There are no spaces where I put them, and not enough space between photos and text. I apologize, but haven't found a way to fix it yet. Sometimes, things just have their own will :] )

2. Never accept ANY payments outside of your safe territory - whether it's your etsy shop or your own website.

No matter where they found you - through Etsy, through your contact form, or through your socials: NEVER accept.

They’ll ask for your email address, offer to pay outside Etsy, or say they want to use a “courier” or “payment method” of their own.

Let me show you my latest experience on Tiktok:

This is not the first time. They always start with a "Hi! Can I make a purchase?" or "Is this still available?" or "I like your work, where can I buy?" and so on.

I know immediately what they want, and I usually ignore them - but my Aries nature sometimes wants me to play along (guilty).

So, I pretend I'm dumb and naive, I remain polite and professional, I reply with a "blah blah thank you, my website's link is in my bio" or something similar, and I know what follows next:

- They will either say that they face some issues with their phone and cannot complete the order

- That they are not familiar with online shopping, but can happily pay directly or via Paypal

- That they had a previous bad experience and prefer it straightforwardly

(this is a new one :) )

The reality is:

Once you leave Etsy’s or your website's system, there’s no protection for you or your buyer. These scammers often send fake payment confirmations or overpayment tricks (“I sent $500 instead of $300, please refund the difference”).

That money never existed.

How to stay safe:

Keep every message inside Etsy. If someone insists on emailing, say kindly:

“For security reasons, all communication and payments must stay on Etsy. Thank you for understanding.”

If they contacted you through your social DM or contact form, it's still the same:

STAY WITHIN YOUR SAFETY ZONE. Never click ANY links.

Then block and report. No genuine buyer will rush you off-platform.

Even when you receive a message from someone that manages to pass all "Safety-Vibes" test, they will eventually get caught red-handed.

Check this one:

It looks like a genuine connection - with cute emojis, friendly tone, a little humor, breaking the ice and hopefully earn your trust. But in the end, here is the red flag:

The link.

See? There's always a pattern.

A sketchy sender's email.

An excuse to drive you outside of the platform/website.

A link.

2. The Overly Generous “Promoter” / Marketing Expert

"We will get you 100K followers in a week - only with 25$"

"I can help you rank higher in Google"

"I will raise your desired listings to the top"

And so on.

Here is one of those messages I got when I was a new shop:

Scam Attempt Example for Marketing Services

This specific message on how they do their magic makes no sense to me, or maybe my english are bad (? /s). Still, this is a common pattern:

- they appear as experts

- they promise things

- they want your money.

It can get even worse if you have your own website: they will ask you to give them access to work on your SEO.

Ha.

It’s not just Etsy.

Once you start selling, you’ll attract scammers through every possible door.

Let's summarize everything simply with infographics:

My new favorite thing to do in my spare time :)

The Scam Types

The Red Flags

5 Red Flags for Scam Attempts Infographic

🛡️ How to Protect Your Shop (and Your Peace)

Keep all orders and messages inside Etsy.

Never share your personal email or phone number with customers.

Never click suspicious links.

Use two-factor authentication.

Report suspicious messages so Etsy can warn others.

Create a “canned response” for these cases, like:

“Thank you for reaching out. Please note that I only process orders and payments through Etsy for security reasons.”

⚙️ If You Already Fell for It

First breathe. It happens to every new seller.

Change your passwords immediately.

Contact Etsy support with screenshots.

If money was involved, contact your bank and file a fraud report.

Learn from it, forgive yourself, and pass on the warning.

Every handmade seller has a “first scam story.”

What matters is what you do next.

The Handmade World Still Belongs to the Honest

Scammers will keep trying. On Etsy, they have an expiration date. It's still a mystery on how they detect new shops and how they detect when "it's too late, they've learned", but eventually, they'll stop.

(Truth is, they will find someone else.)

Every message you ignore, every report you file, every small warning you share keeps the handmade world a little safer.

Do not be discouraged: most people are still good. Most buyers are genuine, caring, and excited to hold something made by human hands. Don’t let a few parasites make you suspicious of everyone.

Stay kind, sharp, and keep creating. The world still needs what your hands can do.

Bonus Tip that applies in both life and business: If it has you questioning, trust your guts.

You might want to read next about How to Tell if it's Truly Handmade!

Thank you for reading and see you soon :)

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Scams Every New Etsy Seller Gets (And How to Outsmart Them)