![]() ![]() ![]() EDT - and given Etsy’s past difficulties enforcing its misinformation policies, it seems likely that a similar account could just as easily reappear on the platform. The seller of the items pictured above, COVIDid, sold “official” COVID-19 vaccination ID cards for $19.99, requesting that users provide their name, type of vaccine, date they were fully vaccinated, city/state, and a photo.Īdditionally, a label in the seller’s listing read “Ad by COVIDid,” which means that the seller purchased extra paid advertising and Etsy collected money through ad fees on the fake COVID-19 vaccination IDs.Īlthough the account has since been removed, it already had at least 34 sales as of June 2 at 3 p.m. In fact, the first results when searching “blank vaccination card” on Etsy yesterday were fake vaccination cards.Īlthough the specific accounts highlighted in Vice’s April report were removed, others have since emerged, such as the examples we highlight in this piece. The company responded to the article by noting that “fraudulent Covid-19 vaccine documents are strictly prohibited on Etsy.” Despite this, the sale of fake vaccination documents on Etsy has continued, with Media Matters finding examples available on the site as recently as June 2. The problem of fake vaccination cards on Etsy isn’t new a Vice report from April highlighted how easy it is to buy a fake vaccination card on the website. Fake vaccination IDs were for sale on Etsy as recently as June 2 Although buying or selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards is a federal crime, Etsy is still hosting fake vaccination documents for sale on its website - along with merchandise spreading vaccine misinformation and anti-mask messages. The “house rules” at Etsy explicitly prohibit “items or listings that promote or endorse harmful misinformation,” including “misinformation that endangers a member’s or the public’s health or safety” as well as “anti-vaccine claims.” While this policy should include anti-vaccination merchandise and counterfeit vaccination cards, it is abundantly clear that Etsy’s enforcement of its own rules is shoddy at best. ![]() In short, Etsy is making money from every listed item and sale on its website. The company collects fees from its users, currently charging a 20-cent listing fee, a 5% transaction fee, and a 3% plus 25-cent payment processing fee per item sold. The company has struggled to take down listings that violate its misinformation policies during the coronavirus pandemic, and the rising interest in forged COVID-19 vaccination cards shows this is a recurring problem that the company has yet to solve.Įtsy is an e-commerce platform that allows users to buy and sell products on its website. The stock hit a record high earlier in the after-hours trading session Wednesday before dropping to around $132 per share.Etsy is profiting from COVID-19 misinformation, this time in the form of illegal fake vaccination IDs and other merchandise with misleading or inaccurate anti-mask and anti-vaccine slogans. “While we have limited visibility for the fourth quarter, particularly related to macro trends and consumer spending around Holiday, our third quarter guidance clearly indicates very strong overall performance for 2020." TickerĮtsy stock closed at $135.52 per share, up nearly 4.5% at the end of Wednesday's trading session. “Events of the last few months have driven dramatic shifts in consumer shopping habits, which we believe will increase the total available market opportunity for Etsy, particularly given our powerful, purpose-focused brand, the agility of our vibrant two-sided marketplace, and our unique competitive advantages,” Silverman said. ![]() #ETSY MULTIPASS COVID FULL#Looking ahead, Etsy is not providing new guidance for the full year, but it expects year-over-year growth for its gross merchandise sales to be between roughly $2.2 billion and $2.5 billion, or 80% to 110% for the third quarter, and year-over-year growth for revenue is expected to be between roughly $366 million and $426 million, or 85% to 115%. ![]()
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