Is it common practice?

[Former_Member]

I've had this happen twice now. I like an item, and within a few minutes the seller sends me a convo letting me know they appreciate the like and telling me about a sale they have going. I was always lead to believe that doing this was against the Etsy rules and considered spam. Is it a common practice now?

[JustForGiggles]

Totally against the rules :~/

[BonitaBellita]

Unfortunately there are still a lot of shops who do that, but it's against etsy rules. I know when a shop sends me that, I reply and remind that exactly that.

http://www.etsy.com/help/article/483#conversations
If someone hearts your shop/item to mark it as a Favorite, that is not an invitation to send a Conversation to that person.

[Former_Member]

This is against the rules, and is considered spam. I would report the sellers to Etsy so that they can send them a note explaining the policies.

[PiecesofMeCardsnMore]

It's spam. You could respond and politely inform the seller that what they're doing is against Etsy rules, you could report it to Etsy or you could do nothing and hit the delete button. I'm glad I haven't dealt with that yet. It's kind of intruding if you ask me.

[Plektra]

I would ignore it but if they get too pushy, I would explain to them. I think a lot of shops, especially new ones, don't know that's against the rules. They consider it a gesture of appreciation....

[fireflygirl777]

It is spam and could get irritating.

[WithLoveFromLucille]

That's considered SPAM and it's tacky....if I didn't think it wasn't, I'd be doing it too.

[AdamRabbit]

It hasn't happened to me, but yes very tacky.

[Former_Member]

THanks for the feedback. I thought I'd read somewhere in the rules that it was a no-no. Its only happened a few times but yes, it does get intruding, especially this time of year when most of my convo's are about orders...

[MythOfTheWild]

It shouldn't be common practice, it's against Etsy's terms. Feel free to reply to the seller and let them know that doing that is violating Etsy's terms, as they may well not know. Perhaps they once favourited something, received a message and thought that it was a good idea to do the same thing, but for the most part, it's annoying and not well-received. Though I've not had it happen to me yet.

And I'd also say, if you do end up buying the item, DON'T use the code they gave you, as it may well only encourage them.

[TheCanaryBlossom]

I've had this happen a couple times. I simply sent the seller a polite convo letting them know that this is against Etsy rules and they had no idea. They were very apologetic and were glad I let them know so they didn't get in trouble in the future.