Fake users and fake likes

[#1]

I’ve brought this up before with no resolution. I go through several weeks at a time where hundreds of fake Etsy users all like the same item - every day, every few hours. They add to cart, favorite my shop. They’re not real users and all they have in common is they consistently like the Same bridal party robes, and other mass-manufactured items with very little variation. It’s been going on for months. Sometimes it’ll stop if I deactivate the account (vacation mode) or the item. The time passes and they hit a different item.

I’ve contacted Etsy and they blew me off. The response was, maybe it will help you. It hasn’t. And that they’d tell a manager or something. 

The response in forums was that I shouldn’t worry about it (which is kind of rude since I deserve the same account features as everyone else -including an accurate representation of my account stats), and no these aren’t “teams playing games.” They’re genuinely not real people. 

[JanesAddiction]

She answered your question the first time you asked.  

"It’s listed aa recent activity on your dashboard. I don’t know if this is different in the app. I use my browser. "

[GroundZeroCreations]

I know this might not be what you want to hear, but it might be best to stop checking every time someone favorites a listing or follows your shop. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to prevent this kind of activity. Sometimes, I’ll notice an unusually high number of views or visits, along with a lot of favorites being clicked. It used to stress me out, but now I just try to ignore it.

I’ve also had items sitting in carts with 20 faves at a time—some of them sold, while others didn’t. Some of the sales were from people that had no information in their profile. With millions of online shoppers, it’s entirely possible that more people are naturally being drawn to your shop. For instance, when I search for “possum bag” on Google, I see an Etsy offsite ad featuring a photo of one of your listings. It could be that people are clicking through from ads like that.

On a personal note, another thing I’ve noticed is I get a fair number of "secret admirers." Like you, I wish there were a way to manage or control this type of behavior, but I don’t see how Etsy could effectively address it.

[Marmalady]

@GroundZeroCreations 

A "secret admirer" is just someone who prefers to keep their favourites private -- nothing nefarious or underhand about it

Amongst other reasons, having your favourites private means that sellers who do not know or just disregard the rules cannot bombard you with spammy offers enticing you to buy their product

What I favourite is no-one's business but my own

[GroundZeroCreations]

@Marmalady Yes, I knew what secret admirers are. I just mentioned it because it is another source of "unknown" faves, etc. Like I said, I don't pay much attention to how many people fave my listings or my shop.

[JenMRamosHandmade]

One thing that you said seems really odd. I don’t pay for offsite ads. 

Besides that, I don’t have notifications on. I don’t check every time someone favorites an item. I check the shop every few days like a Normal person with an active account hoping to sell something. 

[RHLJewelry]

@JenMRamosHandmade & @JanesAddiction ..  Thanks for both of your answers!  I did not see the first reply because I'm a scatter brain..  sorry.

[JenMRamosHandmade]

Just want to follow up with how I resolved it (again). I deactivated the listing for about a week. After that, the non-stop shop and listing fav’ing stopped. Back to normal (for now). I reactivated the listing and it’s still showing it’s in 20+ carts but I guess at some point that gets reset. 

this wasn’t the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Again, it seems it is intended to throw novel items into a collection of favorited items that are otherwise all sold by the same few sellers, all selling bridal robes and related jewelry. Every single time this has happened over the past year.