Email for Etsy conversation found in SPAM folder

[WhatsOnTheShelf]

This is so strange.  I noticed an email that was labeled as an Etsy Conversation (10:04 a.m. this morning).  I was able to read the message via my email account but when I went to Etsy to reply to this person, I was unable to find the convo.  I gave up but then got to thinking about it and tried again to find it.  I finally used one of the words in that message to search all of my convos...and there it was, under SPAM.  I didn't put it there and cannot figure out who and why it ended up there.  It appears to be from a legitimate buyer and they are asking for a reduction in price.  Surely that is for me to decide and not a trigger for it go to SPAM.  I plan on pulling it out of the SPAM file so that I don't end up docked for being non-responsive and also because I feel terrible for (what I'm sure appears to the potential buyer) "ignoring" their message.  Unless anyone can think of a reason not to.   Am I missing something?  

[PillowDetails]

This is a recent thing - most likely an attempt to screen out the scammers.  There have been other posts about this recently- makes me want to remember to check my spam folder on a regular basis, just in case.

[audreytherese]

Does there happen to be a link in the message that supposedly goes to your listing they're asking on a price break on? These are often not actually going to the listing, but may instead be an attempt to get you to a different site. If that's the case, Etsy may have seen this link and flagged the message. Especially if the account was sending them out to numerous sellers. 

[WhatsOnTheShelf]

Interesting point--but just checked my Etsy convo (not the email) and it does go straight to my own listing.  As far as I can tell, it really should't be in Spam.  I'll wait another hour or two just to see if anyone else has any ideas but it looks like I'm probably going to pull the convo out of Spam and tell them the $5 discount they asked for works for me.    It's just so strange!!  Definitely going to be watching my Etsy Spam folder from here on.

[BagmakerSupply]

@WhatsOnTheShelf: Etsy seems to often have a "better safe than sorry" attitude which tends to create a high number of false positives (i.e. listings deactivated in error) and presumably this is happening with Messages being incorrectly marked as SPAM.

[WhatsOnTheShelf]

It's nice that we have some protection but this was a potential sale being turned away.   If I have one, there are most likely a few others just like it.  I'll be checking my spam folder daily from now on!  

[ZehOriginalArt]

Etsy needs to fine tune their spam filter. Until that happens, check your spam folder daily using a browser. There is another current post by a seller who did not see the message in spam until after 24 hours. His star sellers ratings were affected when he moved the message out of spam to answer the customer.  He spent an hour on the phone with Etsy support who does not seem inclined to fix his issue even though it is Etsy's fault.

[ShelbyGraffics]

I just had the same experience. Customer Support said it was Etsy's fault, there's nothing they can/will do to fix it, and it will continue to effect your Star Seller with those spam messages until they're out of the 3 month window. 

[ZehOriginalArt]

@ShelbyGraffics 

Nothing they can or will do to fix it? Unbelievable.

[WhatsOnTheShelf]

Okay, that's what I am hoping to avoid.  I hope Etsy takes a look at this problem.  Meanwhile, I will go ahead and take care of this one and definitely check daily from now on.

Thank you all for the responses!  It was just felt like such a weird thing but sounds like I'm definitely not alone. 

[WhatsOnTheShelf]

One more thought....based on what ZehOriginalArt said.  That other seller pulled the message out of Spam to respond just like I'm getting ready to do.  But because their message had been sitting there longer than 24 hours, that other seller's ratings were affected! SO, if anyone else is reading this and has a similar problem, they need to be sure that the message is less than a day old if they plan on moving it.   

My message is from this morning so no problem, I just moved it from Spam to the Inbox and replied. Someone with a message over 24 hours old could easily screw up their Seller's Ratings simply by moving the message!  If that's the case, I'm not sure if you can reply to them while leaving it in the Spam folder.  Maybe it would be best to just contact the person directly, apologizing for the delay in responding--leaving their message in Spam while using copy/paste of their message in your own.  

[BagmakerSupply]

@WhatsOnTheShelf: "... leaving their message in Spam while using copy/paste of their message in your own."  Interesting to see if that will work or not because Etsy says that if you put a message into SPAM "You won’t receive any new messages from that member, and they’ll be unable to reply to messages in an existing thread." https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000343128-How-to-Handle-Scams-and-Suspicious-Messages

[irmaKdesigns]

@WhatsOnTheShelf "Maybe it would be best to just contact the person directly, apologizing for the delay in responding--leaving their message in Spam while using copy/paste of their message in your own."

Unfortunately, you can't initiate a message if this person never bought anything from you.

I would unspam it just to respond and tell them to contact me directly (email or website), and then send it to spam again. The response rate will bounce back in a few days.

[HauteVintageJewels]

You can reply from the spam folder, which I just discovered, but when I moved one that I had responded to from the spam folder to the inbox, it will not clear the Etsy message that I need to respond to a new buyer.  I sent another message from the inbox to clear it, and it will not go away.  I may have to send it back to spam.

[WhatsOnTheShelf]

Hmm!?!?!  Maybe you'd have to actually delete the Spam message?   Hopefully, whoever has this problem (message over 24 hrs in Spam) lets know what they ended up doing.  

[ThePurplePuppy]

@WhatsOnTheShelf 

If you do that and it is an honest convo you have cut that potential buyer--or real buyer off forever,  as once in the spam folder they will be unable to contact you again--FOREVER if you leave them there or delete from there. 

I would rather lose a "star" percentage than lose a good customer. I have had the star seller badge almost constantly since it started and except for "chat" being available (which IMPO) is useless I have seen no benefit.

I guess it boils down to which you would rather keep--the star for one's ego ego or the buyer for the money they generate.

[irmaKdesigns]

@ThePurplePuppy "I would rather lose a "star" percentage than lose a good customer."

The problem is that we don't know which message is from a good customer. I'm not too attached to my Star, but why lose it if it's just a window shopper. Most of mine are, looking for discounts (that I don't offer).

[ThePurplePuppy]

@irmaKdesigns 

The problem is--one never knows until a couple of messages go back and forth.

I don't normally have buyers ask for discounts. My biggest problem is people who do not send measurements , even after repeated requests and having to cancel and refund.

However--one never really knows with that first message

[HauteVintageJewels]

Okay, so you made me look at my messages and I too had a legitimate customer query in my spam folder.  Thankfully, it was only there for a few hours, but I would have missed it completely if I hadn't read this thread.  I noticed when I responded to it, I got the "Nice job responding..." pop up, so Etsy had to know it was a first time reaching out message.  Also, I marked it as Not Spam and when I looked at it in my inbox, it said "a potential buyer is reaching out for the first time" even though I had answered it from the spam folder.   I have now answered it twice, and the blue message that says I need to respond in 24 hours will not go away.  I better not get dinged for not replying.  If they are going to rely on bots to determine what messages are spam, they need to go back to the drawing board and fix this ASAP!  

[ZehOriginalArt]

@HauteVintageJewels 

The blue message not going away is not just happening on messages that were moved from Spam. It is happening for many sellers on normal messages as well. This is a bug that Etsy is supposedly working on.

[audreytherese]

I don't believe it's a bug and I don't believe it's anything Etsy is planning to change right now. In the browser (not seen in the app), it specifically tells me that the blue message is purposely staying there for a couple days to remind me that the message is from a buyer account, not from Etsy. 

I don't currently have any new messages with this or else I'd copy and paste exactly what it says, but I did copy it into another post the other day. 

[ZehOriginalArt]

@audreythereseHave you seen anything that says it does not affect a seller's rating if it continues to be there? That was a question sellers had and I have not seen an answer yet.

[audreytherese]

It didn't specifically mention the response time, but for any messages I did get where it stayed, as long as I replied within the first 24 hours I still got the 'nice job on a quick response!' note, and it didn't hurt my response time, even though the message still showed in blue. 

[audreytherese]

I had a couple new conversations this week where the blue notation stuck around for a couple days. I just checked and that did not affect my response rate, it still shows as 100%. 

[ZehOriginalArt]

@audreytherese 

That's good to know!