Horrible Experience with Paper Built and Subsequently Etsy Staff

I am going to begin this post by stating three very important things.  First, I love Etsy.  I have built a successful business in Etsy's marketplace.  It has allowed me to stay at home, and turn what I love into a business.  Second, almost every buying experience I have had on Etsy has been great.  Third, I would not be writing this review had my voice on Etsy been heard.

When my son decided he wanted a train themed birthday party, and after my very good friend, and extremely talented photographer Gaby Olsen of Aries 70 Studio (www.aries70.com and on Facebook as Aries 70 Studio) agreed to document the day and provide some entertainment for our guests I found these photo props designed and sold by Paper Built: (https://www.etsy.com/listing/156359170/train-party-photo-booth-props-train?ref=shop_home_active_17).  They were perfect, and I couldn't wait to see the pictures. 

It was my intention to use my Silhouette Electronic Cutting machine with the props to achieve a professional result.  However, after purchasing the props, I discovered that the seller sends a password protected PDF file and if you have any plans of using your expensive cutting machine with this product you're out of luck.  I contacted the seller, explained what I wanted to do with the files (explaining that I completely understood that these files were her intellectual property, and that I was planning on using them for personal use), and asked for one of the following: 1)  jpg versions, 2) the password to the pdf file so I could convert the document to jpg and load it into my Silhouette software and have it print the registration marks on the pages; or 3) any other help she could provide so I could use my cutting machine.  This was the seller's response:

Unfortunately I am not comfortabel releasing unprotected files as I have had some of my designs stolen.  I don't mean to make a judgment on your character at all...

So... needless to say this was really disappointing.  Looking at the photos in her Etsy Shop (www.etsy.com/shop/PaperBuiltShop) it is obvious that she uses an electronic cutting machine to achieve superior results over hand cutting.  It seems odd that she would deny customers with access to these machines the ability to use them?  So, to make things even more disappointing, because I had to hand cut the props I only used about half of them.  Even following the directions, it was impossible for me to cut out the lenses of the glasses and have them look decent -- and this is from someone who sews for a living and cuts patterns all day long.  Needless to say, I can cut accurately.

The second disappointment really came from her response to my plea for help.  She treats her customers as potential theives.  Really?  2/3 of the students at our local high school could hack this password in the time alloted for them to travel from one classroom to another between periods.  The attempt at protection is weak at best.

Lastly, and the main reason for this blog post is because I posted feedback to her store, and she had it removed.  I left one star (1) because I couldn't use my toy (and yes, I'm being a bit bratty here); and (2) because she wouldn't help.  She chose to protect her files.  In my review I wrote: "files cannot be read by Silhouette software.."  This is when she perhaps did the most dishonest and insulting thing of all.  She relied on the ignorance of those who review feedback on the Etsy Trust and Safety Team and had my review removed because it mentioned a third party.  The review was perfectly legitimate.  It is reasonable that people with electronic cutting machines would want to use them with her product, and instead of looking at the feedback as an opportunity to improve her shop and product she skulked behind a loophole and squashed my voice.  So... this is what I tell her potential customers.  Buy the product, and if you want to use your electronic cutting machine download one of the programs that recovers "forgotten" passwords, or have your 10 year-old hack the file for you, and use your cutting machine.