thread Re: Back in March we lost our IG account. Here's how I got it back. in Retail & eCommerce

Back in March we lost our IG account. Here's how I got it back.

alexandriak — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 23:13:32 GMT

For the last four years IG has been taking down consignment pages left and right for "copyright/trademark infringement". In some cases I'm sure these account deactivations are valid, BUT in the cases that I personally know about (and experienced), they're not.

From March to June I did all of the things I could think of. I purchased meta verified for my personal accounts, didn't work.

I chatted with meta business advertiser support. Didn't work. This was probably more frustrating than anything as they kept going in circles.

I contemplated hiring a hacker.

I figured out the emails for the entire IG corporate team and emailed them once a week for a few weeks.

What finally worked was a two part process.

Part 1:

I contacted our attorney on retainer. Why I didn't do this sooner than June I couldn't tell you. I explained the situation and sent them a template that I know had worked for a few others in the past. Once they had that ready for me I moved to part 2.

Part 2:
I wrote a 4 page letter to the meta legal team talking about my business. How it started, how we authenticate items, what companies we use for authentication, what we do with counterfeits, etc. I talked about filming content and photographing items. I made sure to mention that we were in good standing with all state and federal agencies. That we were a registered business.

In the letters I made sure to mention commercial damages, and that they had gotten a report made in bad faith, which was an abuse of their systems.

I printed out my attorney's letter and mine along with proof of over a dozen authentications and mailed them out myself. My attorney also sent a copy of their letter on their own.

Shortly after the letters were sent I randomly realized one day that our account had been reactivated! 3 months and 10 days later.

My advice to anyone who is dealing with this is to contact your attorney immediately. Have them prepare a letter, and also write your own letter.

Re: Back in March we lost our IG account. Here's how I got it back.

maxpete — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 00:05:44 GMT

What a wild ride this has all been @alexandriak!

I'm glad that you finally got your account back and thank you for sharing these tips with other sellers too!

Here's to no more meta fires 🙏

Re: Back in March we lost our IG account. Here's how I got it back.

alexandriak — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 15:37:08 GMT

Fingers crossed! Shortly after getting our account back they rolled out the meta verified for business pages. I did sign up for that so I'm hoping it's extra insurance but who knows

Re: Back in March we lost our IG account. Here's how I got it back.

maxpete — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 15:43:06 GMT

Keep us posted on this!

Re: Back in March we lost our IG account. Here's how I got it back.

DinaLRosenberg — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 00:46:15 GMT

We once had our account taken down and we were freaking out- we got ours back within the week. I'm so sorry it took you so long but am happy you have it back. Definitely gonna put your advice in our back pocket.

Re: Back in March we lost our IG account. Here's how I got it back.

alexandriak — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 22:39:04 GMT

I'm so glad it was only a week for you!

I know of some store owners in my business space that lost theirs for 6 months or longer. Crazy.

Re: Back in March we lost our IG account. Here's how I got it back.

Dayfivenick — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 08:59:45 GMT

Sound advice.