Customer requesting verification of email for first sale ? Scam?

[MoonWaterMalas]

Hello, 

I received an email from a customer saying this … 

Email was from  Sven S….. can’t remember exactly. 

Hi, Etsy requires the seller's еmail address on the first sale, can you please send me the еmail address to place an order?

There is nothing I have read that indicates this and I have sent this email to trash to avoid being scammed. Is this legit or no ? 

I searched the forums and found similar scams appearing to be from Etsy support so to not affect my potential star rating I did not respond and sent it to trash.   

is this a valid request? Why would a customer require my email to purchase an item? 

thanks! 

[UppNorthEh]

not valid.  definite scam.  multiple forum post about this every day for months.

[MoonWaterMalas]

Thanks for the response! So sending the message to trash won’t affect my response rate/star seller rating? Not that I have one yet

[TheVintagePineapple]

@MoonWaterMalas Put it in spam.  Putting it in Trash indicates you're ignoring it and doing so will affect the Star rating.

[UppNorthEh]

yes, put it in spam for star seller

[DesertChains · Accepted solution]

This is a scam. Don’t respond or provide any personal or financial information. Send it to spam.

Make it part of your daily routine to visit the forums. You can learn so much about ongoing concerns, problems, glitches, and scams. Stay informed!

For the full discussion about recent scams, see here: https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/How-to-Spot-a-Scam-No-a-Buyer-Doesn-t-Need-Your-Ema...

[RtByA]

i have just received this message on my inbox and straight away i knew it was a scam. thats why i reached out to forum chat group. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@MoonWaterMalas: It is a SCAM - you might want to read the excellent post by @bradgoodell  in https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/How-to-Spot-a-Scam-No-a-Buyer-Doesn-t-Need-Your-Ema... and https://community.etsy.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Why-do-they-ask-me-for-my-e-mail-in-order-to-make-a-p...

There is also official information from Etsy at https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000343128-How-to-Handle-Spam-and-Suspicious-Messages?segm...

If you have not already done so, you may want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015710308-What-to-Do-After-You-Sell-an-Item?segment=selli... for an overview how orders work for sellers.

Be sure to mark the message as SPAM so that it does not affect your stats.

[MoonWaterMalas]

Thank You so much for this helpful detailed response! I will read up on those links. 

[ChillwolfArt]

@MoonWaterMalas  I'm sorry you were targeted by scammers.  There have been swarms of these jacka$$es. When you receive a TRUE sale, it will appear on the Orders & Shipping Page (in your Shop Dashboard). If it's not there, you don't have a sale. A Buyer will never need your email to make a purchase. Mark the Message as Spam (just so you don't get dinged for Star Seller).  I wish you had the option to Mark as Scam, but we don't. It's desperately needed though; Spam and Scam are very different things.

[MoonWaterMalas]

Thanks for the response. Sorry for the delay in replying. Im soo new to this I had trouble finding the thread again lol

I fully support the scam and spam button. Totally needed for sure. 

Yes, when I heard my phone ding, I got excited and read the message and for a full 30 seconds I thought I had my first order!! 

Maybe next time it will be a real order!! 

[CaptainBobDesigns · Accepted solution]

Scam. Buyer never needs your email. 

[BootifulLabels]

There is nothing I have read that indicates this 

Congratulations to you for being savvy enough to actually read up on how things work, far too many newbies don't.  These scammers target new shops precisely because, sadly, many just set up shop and wait for that first sale without bothering to spend some time reading and learning about the ins and outs of selling on Etsy.  I hope you get your first genuine sale very soon. *Off to check out what's on offer now, :o).

[MoonWaterMalas]

Hello, BootifulLabels, thanks for your response. I had a little difficulty finding this thread again so I'm sorry for the late response. I have read and read but still feel overwhelmed with Shipping, and printing/buying labels etc. It will be sheer panic when I do receive an order. I am trying to add new listings and this process does not seem very user friendly    But I refuse to give up!! 

I hope you liked my shop! I'm open to any feedback you have if you did visit. I am updating my drafts to be published but that is also a tedious process. Just tell me I will figure this all out?? ha ha 

[MoonWaterMalas]

Hello, BootifulLabels, thanks for your response. I had a little difficulty finding this thread again so I'm sorry for the late response. I have read and read but still feel overwhelmed with Shipping, and printing/buying labels etc. It will be sheer panic when I do receive an order. I am trying to add new listings and this process does not seem very user friendly    But I refuse to give up!! 

I hope you liked my shop! I'm open to any feedback you have if you did visit. I am updating my drafts to be published but that is also a tedious process. Just tell me I will figure this all out?? ha ha 

[SugarTaffySoap]

@RtByA  Good thing you knew. Don't give anyone your email. Etsy is the only one that has and needs it. By the way this is a really old thread.