22+ hour Delay receiving Customer Message email from Etsy

[PrintablePlanning]

This may have been a one-off glitch, as I've been receiving all of my other emails from Etsy (I hope!).

I have a few shops, so some of them I do not go into daily to work, however whenever I receive an Etsy email that a customer message was received I always log in and respond in a timely manner. I reply based on receiving those emails!

Today I received an email notifying me of a customer message during dinner time, so when I was done I logged in to reply to the customer as I always reply within 24 hours, often within an hour or two. I get into my messages only to see that it wasn't 2 hours since the message was sent. It instead said "1 day ago"!

The message was sent at least 22+ hours BEFORE Etsy sent me the email! I'm really hoping I don't lose my Star Seller badge for messages over this.

I don't think it can be my email provider as I received every other email for that email address from Etsy right when I should have without delay. I also did NOT get an Etsy app notification for this message. In fact, it seems like these notifications today have been arriving AFTER my emails (for my other shops). 

Not only do I hope this gets looked at in case it wasn't a 1-time glitch, but I also want everyone else to be sure they're logging into their shops to make sure you're not missing a customer message.

I just want to help!

[TheArtfulTwig]

Was the message from a buyer you were already communicating with?  I had something similar happen, although I got a notification on my phone on the app.  I replied from the app within minutes, but unbeknownst to me, the message from the buyer came through the "help with order" link. 

At the time, replying from the app took me to the ongoing convo thread associated with the order that I already had going with the buyer (which to me, makes sense since the order info is in the order convo thread). 

Since the new message came through the "help with order" link from the buyer, it opened a new message thread, which I learned the hard way.  I did reply to the message in a timely manner (minutes), but not to the appropriate thread on Etsy.  Now, I know.  

I lost my star seller status over this one message because I don't get many messages and it dropped my message reply rate.  Also, I had to reply a second time to the buyer to close out the second message thread, which I found to be unprofessional in terms of being repetitive with the buyer.

I can also say that the new app on my phone is never accurate about orders or messages. Even if I've replied to a message or shipped an order, it shows still open unless I actually go into the app.  I work primarily from my computer.

I'm sorry this happened to you!!  

[AmysCoffeeMugs]

@TheArtfulTwig 

No, this was the first time the buyer reached out to me. I did not get a notification from the Etsy app and the email was at least 22+ hours late getting to me.

Although it did not give me the "good job replying with 24 hours" popup it usually gives for responding quickly, this morning it looks like my reply rate is still 100%, so perhaps it still made it within the 24 hour mark?

I'm happy for that, but still concerned in case this happens again and I don't see it in time.

[TheArtfulTwig]

That is very strange.  Did you download the CSV to see if that message shows up?  It will show the date and time of the message and whether Etsy thinks you replied within 24 hours.  

I'm always concerned about message alerts now, especially since the app isn't working so well at least on my phone.

[PrintablePlanning]

@TheArtfulTwig 

Okay, so I checked this morning, and it did bring it down, so this glitch or whatever it was did in fact hurt me. Thankfully I'm still at 96%, which is above the 95%, so as long as it doesn't happen again I'll be okay. I just hate being hurt by it in the first place since it was not my fault.

[cindylouwho2]

Lots of us no longer get certain types of emails from Etsy; their system is broken. 

Unfortunately, you need to check your shop at least twice a day, if the Message score is important to you. 

[MoldCreationsNmore]

it shouldn't be this way, here we are accepting that the system is broken and just let it go at that, it is a HUGE problem for me I don't receive any notifications whatsoever for the past 3 weeks. Wish more people would complain instead of accepting perhaps Etsy would pay attention and do something about it.

[cindylouwho2]

@MoldCreationsNmore "Wish more people would complain instead of accepting perhaps Etsy would pay attention and do something about it." I've filed tickets on this topic for years; Etsy just doesn't care. I no longer receive important emails such as legal policy changes, but they can't fix it. I even changed my email address to my paid domain, and I still am missing the exact same emails, but they will not fix it. 

Maybe if other sellers also complained back when I and others started multiple threads on this issue, there wouldn't be new sellers suffering from it. 

[BluKatDesign]

I rarely get message or transaction emails from etsy, you just can't rely on them. I don't know why Etsy refuses to fix the problem! I even changed emails to see if that was the issue. Sometimes my comcast email can be down, the longest was 22 hours about a month ago!

[PrimFun]

I have not experienced any problems with messages.  If you are talking about the notice of the message via email, some email providers depending on their servers capabilities can delay sending through emails.   It's not always Etsy.  It can be outside of Etsy as well. 

[PrintablePlanning]

@MoldCreationsNmoreAgree. It definitely should be able to be replied upon. We should be getting emails! 

@cindylouwho2I hope they start taking this seriously. I am by no means a new seller, but this is the first time it's happened and hurt me in 10 years. It seems often the message notifications from the app can be delayed a little, but I've always been able to reply on the emails to help manage my 4 shops. In fact, I don't clear an email from my phone notifications until I've addressed either the sale or the message from that particular email. It helps keep me organized! I'm sorry you and many others have experienced this issue more!

@BluKatDesignI couldn't imagine! That's how I stay organized are through the emails I receive. It helps as I have 4 shops and the emails all come into my phone where I can keep them in one place as I work on things.

@PrimFunThe only reason I have doubts about my email server is that I received every other email from Etsy during that time and on time for that particular store and for marketing. That just happened to be the only buyer message I received during that time, and the other emails didn't require me to log into that store during that time, so I continued the work I was doing in my other stores until it finally came through.

Thanks for everyone's replies and input!