Etsy marked messages as spam

[ChuckPetersonDesigns]

I just found 2 messages in my spam box from 2 weeks ago. It says Etsy marked them. They sound like good customers to me. I contacted the customers, probably too late. What is this?

[LastCentury]

out of curiosity, did it affect your messages star seller rating by contacting them way after the 24 hour deadline?

[dayspringcollectible]

It should have.  Once a message is marked as spam it shouldn't be changed.

[dayspringcollectible]

Etsy is constantly messing up such things.  It is nice they want to protect sellers from spam messages, but only if they get it right.

@ChuckPetersonDesigns   What made you think they sounded like good customers?  One of the things the spammers do is try to sound that way.

[bradgoodell]

I've had a few that sound legit, but once you've messaged them back they are actually trying to sell services.  Or the question was really vague and I answer immediately, and get no response.  I can't help but think those were intros into a scam.  

[bradgoodell]

@ChuckPetersonDesigns  It pays to check your spam filter regularly.  Most often than not, the messages are actual spam disguised as a buyer inquiry.  But occasionally legit messages get caught in spam.  

[LikeNewCollectibles]

Or sometimes you might get a message from another store, and its taken as spam while the sender never intended it as spam

[HomebodyAccents]

I disagree. They are almost always marking legitimate messages and costing me business.

[ChuckPetersonDesigns]

They sounded as legit as any customer. Wanted a quote on a bronze plaque.

[mypartydesign]

I've gotten a few legit messages marked as spam. The last one was a customer replying to an earlier convo! No idea what would have triggered the spam bots with that one.

I got into the habit of checking the spam folder often, but unfortunately sometimes I miss these messages for a couple of days and they do count towards the star seller rating. I wish we could opt out of this and mark spam messages ourselves.

[BootifulLabels]

I wish we could opt out of this and mark spam messages ourselves.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.  At least they are trying to keep us safe.  Checking my spam folder is my first and last task of the day.  How many newbie threads do we see each day asking why their  "customer orders" are disappearing?  IMO better a confused newbie than a ripped off one blaming Etsy when they fall for a scam.  Better still that sellers check spam folders regularly so they catch any orders that are misinterpreted as spam in time to meet the response deadlines.

[ChuckPetersonDesigns]

I had already been in a conversation with one when it disappeared. I posted that yesterday. Today I found them in spam.

[HomebodyAccents]

Etsy continually does this to me and it is costing me business. I was in the middle of a back and forth discussion with a customer about a $600 order. I don't hear back from them, then 5 days later their MANY messages asking me to please get back in touch with them show up. It's not acceptable. Is there a way to have Etsy stop this?

[PrimFun]

@HomebodyAccents   Check your spam folder at least once daily.  We all have to do this.  Etsy has an algorithm that is sensitive to a lot of messages from one person in a short period of time.  It is instructed to throw the messages into spam.

There is nothing Etsy can do since it is one of the ways they control the spamming that has been happening.

So my take is to simply check the spam folder daily. 

[ZehOriginalArt]

@HomebodyAccents 

The only thing that you can do other than what @PrimFun recommends is to contact Etsy through their email option and let them know this is happening. When you do, send them a link to the messages affected and give them as much info as you can about it. I did this when a back and forth conversation ended up on spam. This helped for the most part, but still I found a non-spam message in my spam folder many weeks later. So, unfortunately, we have to check daily.

[HomebodyAccents]

Thank you, Zeh. I did, actually, take the steps you just suggested. I better check the SPAM folder every day.

HBA

[Sassydoggs]

It is very unfortunate that we have to check our spam folder daily.  I recently had a message marked spam when I was in the middle of answering a question from a legitimate potential buyer.  I was able to catch the mistake in time to complete the transaction.  Because I was expecting an answer from the potential buyer, and it did not come, I went to the spam folder to check, and fortunately the buyer had sent a message, but Etsy bots marked it as spam.  This is a consequence of dealing with a venue that uses AI and bots, so sellers have to be aware and stay on top of potential issues.

[Releas3DPrints]

If you find a message in your Spam folder that you did not put there, in my experience it means that Buyer's messages have been marked as spam by enough other users that Etsy is pre-emptively flagging them for you.  I've had a message from a seemingly legit customer go immediately to spam, but I noticed they began by saying they wanted a discount.  That alone won't get you marked as a spammer, but if you do it enough?  If they have a habit of always asking for a discount before any purchases are made, perhaps they've earned themselves a reputation with the algo? Maybe Etsy doesn't look at how often that person has been marked as spam, maybe they just look at how often that person's messages have been ignored when deciding whether they're a spammer?