Bummer, your messages have been temporarily disabled.

[clipartland]

Hello,
I can't send messages:
Bummer, your messages have been temporarily disabled. Please contact support to have them reactivated. Also, see the FAQ and Community Guidelines for more info about Messages.

Now I’ve been losing clients for 18 days !!!

What should I do???????????

I write to support every day and no result...

[NanaLetha]

How have you been losing clients?

[clipartland]

Customers write to me with questions. Many people want to order a new set. But I can't answer!

[GlassyFields]

As far as getting Etsy support, have just one 'ticket' open. Keep responding to their form emails with 'I still need help'. Try to get on a chat.

As far as why your messages were suspended to begin with, were you sending unsolicited messages to potential buyers. That's a big no no in Etsy land.

Were you using the automated response which would result in a lot of duplicate messages?

I believe that when Etsy correctly (or incorrectly) detects using messages to send unsolicited messages, the punishment is a message time-out. I'm not sure how long it lasts, but it's not usually permanent.

[clipartland]

I did not sent unwanted messages. I wrote THANK YOU when customers left good review. 

Why support didn't tell me the reason and how long will be the messages turning off?

[GlassyFields]

Just guessing but a lot of messages with the same text may look spammy ... like a lot of thank-yous. 

If you send Thank you to someone who hasn't messaged you previously, that may be considered unsolicited. Etsy bots probably haven't been around long enough to learn that 'thank-you' is considered good manners.

And Etsy bots or whatever system they use to patrol the use of messages, probably doesn't look at the details of a link but assumes it's to take someone offsite for a potentially nefarious reason. when sending a link to someone,  

I do hope that you get the ability to respond to messages back soon. I get messages every day and it would make me nuts to be muted.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

Contact support.

Request a Callback

Submit a request – Etsy

And see the Community Guidelines for more info about messages, as suggested. Because of the current proliferation of spam on the site Etsy, is cracking down.
Etsy says .....

Messages may not be used for the following activities:

1. Sending unsolicited advertising or promotions, requests for donations, or spam;
2. Harassing or abusing another member or violating our Anti-Discrimination Policy;
3. Contacting someone after they have explicitly asked you not to; or
4. Interfering with a transaction or the business of another member.
5. Exchanging personal contact, financial or other information for the purposes of making an off-platform transaction, including phone number, address, email, social media handles, external URLs, instructions for money transfer, QR codes, etc.

[clipartland]

I haven't done anything from this list!

I only advised one customer to look for free information on youtube

because she wrote that she didn't know what to do with the files. Is this the problem?  

[OneEyeCatStudio]

Did you include a link?

If so, then that could be it.

[clipartland]

I'm chatting every day and nothing.....

[BagmakerSupply]

@clipartland: "I did not sent unwanted messages. I wrote THANK YOU when customers left good review." While this shows good manners, if the Message was not in response to something the buyer sent directly to you (such as an inquiry via a Message), then it is considered an unsolicited non-transactional message. Read that phrase as SPAM and therefore illegal in many jurisdictions, even if that was not your intention.

"Why support didn't tell me the reason and how long will be the messages turning off?" Because Etsy seems to feel that sellers should know and follow the rules. There does not appear to be a published time for how long messaging is muted and based on posts in this forum it can vary.

[GodsWordandWorld]

Since when did a Thank you for a good review become an unsolicited non-transactional message??? I've done it for years! I was raised with good manners! Etsy pushes us to send a message offering discounts to people who "favorite" our listings! When is that not an unsolicited message??? Potential customers are complaining about those and I know that because sellers who buy on Etsy have complained about that very thing here in the forums.

[BagmakerSupply]

@GodsWordandWorld: As I tried to make clear, I totally agree with you about it being good manners and good business. I probably should have worded "then it is considered" as "then maybe Etsy considers it".

[howtobooksandmore]

Etsy pushes us to send a message offering discounts to people who "favorite" our listings!

Then you need to sign up for this service through Etsy.  They know who has signed up to receive these messages and who hasn't.  Sending them to someone who hasn't signed up for this is considered spam.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

"Since when did a Thank you for a good review become an unsolicited non-transactional message??? "

@GodsWordandWorld   Since Etsy began penalizing us for not answering them.

And Etsy has given us the ability to respond to reviews without doing anything that could be considered spamming.

[AVAArtsSupplies]

@GodsWordandWorld The messages sent to those who favorite items are only sent to the people who request them. If you ask for them to stop, there is an unsubscribe button. 

[clipartland]

I think the problem is that I sent the customer a link to a free lesson on YouTube dedicated to working with files.
She bought the files, and then wrote that she didn’t know what to do with them! Oddly enough, in the age of high technology, many buyers are not only unable to unzip files, but even print unzipped ones. And that's why they write bad reviews and give one star!
There is one review I will never forget. The buyer wrote that the files are not compatible with her computer! When I saw this, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry...

[AVAArtsSupplies]

Maybe, but it's probably from the Thank You messages. I send stuff like that to spam. If several people sent you to spam, then it dings you and Etsy thinks you are spamming people. 

[clipartland]

By the way, lately they have given me one star, citing the fact that the site forces buyers to write reviews. At first I didn’t understand the reason, but when I recently made a purchase myself, I understood. I myself hate writing reviews and never ask buyers to do so! This may be stupid, but I do not send offers or advertisements and do not force my images on anyone. But if they write reviews and send their work, I consider it necessary to respond. Also, if buyers have problems, I try to help. Now I have problems because of this myself....

[clipartland]

As a matter of fact, I would like to know how long the “temporary” blocking of conversations will last and why my star seller was taken away, although April has not yet ended. Where can I find information about blocking periods? Sorry, I will never try to help anyone again.
Buyers write to me and ask for help, but I can’t answer. And Etsy writes that if I don’t answer,
buyer may be eligible to open a case. Why doesn't the site give the buyer information that the seller can't answer?

[howtobooksandmore]

Etsy doesn't want to take the blame for sellers not answering so they don't tell buyers the seller can't answer.  They would prefer to let the customer think the seller is at fault and in this case, you might be for violating the rules of using the messaging system.  The star seller badges were instituted to try and get sellers to answer messages because buyers were complaining about sending messages to multiple sellers and never getting an answer (kinds of like trying to contact seller support and hearing nothing).  Apparently sellers want these badges so they at least try and answer messages but the star seller badges really mean nothing in the long run.