Online marketplace Etsy says U.S. sellers must verify bank accounts

By Nivedita Balu and Praveen Paramasivam

(Reuters) -Etsy Inc stated on Friday U.S. sellers on its market will both must self confirm their financial institution accounts or do it via a third-party because it seeks to adjust to anti-money laundering and associated laws.

The sellers Reuters talked to and several other others on dialogue boards had been irritated over the transfer, saying the beneficial mode of verification concerned offering monetary know-how platform Plaid with their banking username and password.

“That is so typical of Etsy on any controversial topic however, when it has to do with our funds, it is unacceptable,” stated Dorothy Domingo, who has been promoting purposeful pottery on Etsy since 2008.

Plaid, which final 12 months agreed to pay $58 million to settle a case that alleged it used monetary info with out consent, stated it was “dedicated to offering a safe expertise” to customers.

Etsy has additionally supplied the choice to self confirm financial institution accounts, however a vendor who didn’t want to be named stated the method was tedious.

“Sadly, a historical past of less-than-stellar communication and customer support contributes to a normal lack of belief in Etsy,” stated one other vendor who additionally wished to stay nameless.

That is the newest in a sequence of points confronted by some sellers. A couple of went on strike earlier this 12 months to protest a rise in transaction charge at Etsy.

Etsy remains to be a key supply of earnings for its almost 8 million lively sellers, however some stated they had been contemplating exiting the platform.

“I have not totally reopened my Etsy store, as a result of so lots of my great prospects have been going to my web site to help me. However with this, I could also be pressured to close down my Etsy store completely,” vendor Kristi Cassidy stated.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Vinay Dwivedi)