Fake Business.

I'm getting hit with a lot of fake business-- and I could use your help!

“‘Imposter syndrome’ is on the rise because an unprecedented number of people are actually just faking it.” —Heather Heying

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Sincerely apologize for the intrusion into your Saturday via this Substack post— I know you’re all busy, you don’t work for me, and you’re probably just trying to achieve the impossible with your weekend: recover from the adrenal fatigue of living through a pumpkin spice latte-flavored apocalypse;)

I am reaching out to ask for a favor if and only if you have the time, capacity and honest inclination based on your experience with our Etsy shop, our decks, and/or our flower essences:

I am currently dealing with what appears to be a coordinated “shake down” effort on my Etsy Shop. For the third time in recent, successive history, someone has purchased our TOTEM Tarot Deck and then within seconds of it being delivered (I get the exact time from UPS, along with a photo) they start messaging me about how I’m a drop-shipper or they didn’t get the same product as everyone else, my other, positive reviews are fake (and that I paid for them— I didn’t) OR, and this is my favorite, they need time with me on video to TEACH THEM how to read the cards and/or provide them with a free reading.

Scientifically speaking, there’s no way they even a.) saw the package; b.) opened it; and c.) started using it by the time they start messaging me with issues and complaints.

What’s more: their “issue” with the product shouldn’t be a shapeshifting trickster from message to message, suggesting that something is seriously out of whack.

I spent all night messaging with one such person last night, offering a myriad of solutions and assurances— they claimed that my product reviews on Amazon were FAKE (which they aren’t— many of you wrote them so you should know), and then I woke up, of course, to another nasty public review written in the middle of the night.

As a one-off, I would chalk this up to the typical aberration, like that one person on Yelp that gives your restaurant a one-star review because the “fork made them angry” (that’s actually a reference to a real review written about my friend’s restaurant, for the record).

But this is a trend— and it’s gaining steam right ahead of the most critical few months of the year for any e-commerce shop or small business.

I’m currently working with Etsy to troubleshoot or resolve but, given that we’re heading into the holiday season, I’m getting very concerned that this nonsense is going to negatively impact my shop during the holiday season.

To try to offset the damage being done by what I believe to be bad actors (I know that sounds paranoid, but bad economies bring these people out of the woodwork!), I’m asking friends of TOTEM to consider sharing an HONEST review of our TOTEM Tarot Deck, TOTEM Flower Essence Deck, or TOTEM Flower Essences on Etsy or Amazon. Every little bit helps, and will prevent whatever *THIS* is from looking like a TREND— i.e. a steep drop off in quality in recent weeks.

Here is the link to our Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TotemReadingsATX

Here is the link to the TOTEM Tarot Deck on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1492934343/the-totem-tarot-deck

The TOTEM Flower Essence Deck on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1722481522/totem-flower-essence-deck

The TOTEM Tarot Deck on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578980126?ref=myi_title_dp

The TOTEM Flower Essence Deck on Amazon: https://a.co/d/hIz1hvB

Worth noting: I don’t expect my stuff to be everyone’s cup of tea, and I will gladly take an honest and non-shady critical review on the chin as a part of the price of doing business. But that’s just not what’s been happening to me in the last several weeks, and I don’t have a lot of confidence that Etsy Support is going to get to the bottom of it.

I have friends— and small business owners— that have had bot attacks swarm their Amazon page with negative reviews (all coming from the same IP address) and yet others that are getting reported to their local governing boards to have their businesses closed. In both cases, they learned this was done by a competitor who acted like a friend.

Yah. They like, knew these people. And had no idea they were the invisible hand behind the fuckery.

THANK YOU in advance for considering sharing an honest review to help us mitigate this damage heading into the mission critical holiday shopping season.

And, of course, anyone that helps me with this in the middle of their busy lives is going to get what I hope to be a thoughtful “thank you” in kind for the support: just email me at: rachel@totemreadings.com to let me know you shared a review and where (Etsy vs. Amazon) so I can say a proper THANK YOU.

And, likewise, let me know how I can similarly support you and your small business. We all need each other in these strange, strange times— or else we won’t have any cool businesses to shop at ourselves!

Also: enjoy the clip (above) of one of my favorite comedians, Tim Dillon, breaking down the world of “Fake Business”. It’s funny…but it’s also true.

And I, for one, want a little less fake business in my day;)

-Rachel