Does Etsy remove feedback extortion automatically if a buyer threatens a bad review?

Hi! Etsy generally won’t take action “automatically” just because a buyer hints at a bad review in Messages—if no review has been left yet, there’s nothing for Etsy to remove, and in most cases you’ll need to report it (or contact support) if you want Etsy to review the messages as possible feedback extortion.

A few practical notes for your situation:

• What Etsy can do: Etsy treats “threats or extortion” as a review-policy violation (for example, implying a negative review unless you refund without a return). But Etsy typically evaluates this after you flag something (most commonly, you report the review if they actually leave one).
• If they leave a review later: Don’t reply publicly to the review first. Report the review from your Reviews area and mention that the buyer demanded a refund without a return and implied a negative review. Etsy can look at the message thread when deciding whether it violates the review policy.
• Right now (no review, buyer silent): There usually isn’t a “remove extortion” action to trigger yet. If you want to document/escalate anyway, the safest move is to keep everything in Etsy Messages and report/mark the message as spam (and block the buyer) if the messages were abusive or crossed the line. If they resume pressuring you, that’s also a good time to contact Etsy Support and reference that the buyer is attempting review leverage.

You did the right thing offering a return/refund according to your shop policy—don’t feel pressured into a refund-without-return just to avoid a possible bad review. If you want, paste the buyer’s exact wording (no names/order details) and I’ll tell you whether it clearly reads as feedback extortion versus a general complaint.