Cancelled Order, Technical Issue or Scam?

[AllMightCreativity]

Earlier today, I saw that my order count and revenue increased but no new order ever showed up. About mid-day, the order number and revenue dropped back down so I assumed the buyer cancelled the order. I checked my email (outlook) and I have an email from someone saying they placed an order on my shop but never received a transaction confirmation and she wants to know the order is processing. I find it out that she reached out via my email (which is not listed on my Shop) and did not send a message through the Etsy app. I’m hesitant to respond because it feels like a scam. Has this happened to anyone else? 

[UppNorthEh]

Scam.  Dont respond.  Its happening to lots of new sellers.  Search scam in the forums search bar.

Etsy likely deleted the message but it still shows in your email.

[UptownYvette]

It might have been a pending transaction that didn't go through. If you respond to her, just be sure not to give out any personal information and don''t open any links. I have had orders that were pending, but I can normally see them as pending and Etsy indicates not to ship the item until the order is verified or finalized. 

[CryzalisMasksUK]

There has been a noticeable uptake in these ghost orders in recent weeks.

The scammers have realised they can place orders with fake payment details and it will show in the dashboard as an order in every section, except for the order section. This now gives them a small opportunity to contact you to try and get you to click on links, images or screenshots and request you verify with your banking information, so they can take your money. Once the payment fails, the window closes and all the information in your dashboard goes back to what it was before.

This is however affecting some real sales, as one of my customers contacted me to say they tried to purchase but when they did, the item went on sold out and they had no confirmation (I could see the ghost order and the item went into sold out but no order details)

I requested he wait 10 min, then click refresh and try again once the ghost order vanished.

10 min later the item automatically went back into the shop and the sale details vanished from my shop, the customer was then able to purchase without any issues.

If a customer contacts you, you can usually tell the difference. Just be cautious and never click on links, images or screenshots or provide and financial or personal information, there is 0 need to provide this information via messenger to complete a sale.

[AllMightCreativity]

Thank you for the detailed response. This seems very similar to what o experienced but the part that’s really questionable is how she got my email address to contact me there and not through the Etsy app. Her message didn’t have any links or anything unusual. 

[ButterflyFeetDigital]

Any time you receive a message regarding an order you can always ask for the order number. 

Etsy does remove or cancel orders when the payment does not go through. 

Things to read:

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Announcements/Protect-Your-Account-From-Scammers/m-p/143158945#M1882

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/How-to-Spot-a-Scam-No-a-Buyer-Doesn-t-Need-Your-Ema...

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Announcements/New-From-Etsy-section-in-Messages/m-p/143722497#M1899

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000343128-How-to-Handle-Spam-and-Suspicious-Messages

[PrimFun]

Etsy sends a message to the buyer when a sale is denied.  They encourage the buyer to check their card and/or to use another card.

I would not contact except to direct them to Etsy.  Etsy handles the financials and we don't see cards or anything else pertaining to sales.

[ModAngie · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Etsy is actively engaged in preventing scammers from targeting our community members. If you receive a suspicious message, please proceed with caution, and do not click on any suspicious email links. Etsy Support will never ask you to provide personal information via Etsy Messages, such as your email address or password. Any legitimate message from us will show in your "From Etsy" folder.

If you receive a suspicious message, here’s how to report it:

1. Sign in to Etsy.com and go to Your Account.
2. Go to Messages. 
3. Select the suspicious message from your inbox. 
4. Choose Report.

You’ll find examples of common scammer techniques and phishing messages here in our Help Center. Read our Account Security Checklist in the Seller Handbook for more steps you can take to protect your account.

[AllMightCreativity]

The person did not contact me through the Etsy app and was not pretending to be Etsy. Instead, she sent an email to my outlook account about placing an order on Etsy and I’m wondering how anyone would get my contact information from my Etsy shop profile.