Messages Are Still Not Working Correctly

[BeaconwoodDettman]

As of 8:17 AM CST, I am still seeing a blue "*First message from a potential buyer" notification below a message that I've responded to already. I see this on the etsy.com site and also on the app. I've exchanged several messages with this person and noticed it also gives me the "Nice Work!" message for every message I send (it should do this just on the first response I send). 

I think this started a week or so ago and noticed other posts mentioning the same. Sellers are understandably concerned about impact to Star Seller. 

My messages are actually getting to the buyers but the blue message creates confusion. 

@thatregina @FabioMcMustache Is there a way the mods could create a pinned post in the forum to alert sellers? I'm thinking the Etsy tech team is already working on this, but I'm sure Etsy Support is getting multiple contacts about it - that's a waste of Etsy's time and money, and also a waste of sellers' time and money. Some sort of alert with updates would be more efficient for everyone. 

[ButterflyFeetDigital]

I have this as well - the "potential buyer" flag still shows on an ongoing conversation. And I keep getting the "nice work" message when I reply.

[TheCraftyLittleBug]

I've had that issue, and what is also frustrating is that the people messaging me weren't getting my replies. I had a message come through several days ago and I replied within a couple hours, but it didn't take away the notification. I followed up a couple of days later and she said she never got my initial message!

This is also happening with the help requests we get through the message center too, I had a help request from someone who ordered something from me, so I replied, and I emailed seeing as I had her email from the sale. At least that was taken care of, but I still had the blue notification as if I hadn't replied at all.

[pennyemporium]

this is happening in my shop.  i had a lovely chat with Etsy help, and they advised (paraphrasing): "Etsy is running a test, and sellers can check if a message has been sent by checking their star seller message chart, and downloading the grid that shows what messages were received and the date of response."

however...... the chart only updates AFTER 24 hours.  and if you wait to see if your message was sent past the 24 hour mark, and you find out it was not sent.... DING!  bad seller!

how bad is it, that when Etsy advises me that i "will not be affected by this test".... i oddly find little comfort in this statement.  and now have to put this customer message into my spam folder "just in case" the reply was never sent.  and then fish it back out again if the star seller chart says the reply WAS sent, but only after 24 hours are past?

this is no way to run a railroad.

[pennyemporium]

also..... there are peeps who are taking SCREENSHOTS of their messages so they can PROVE to Etsy that they sent said messages.  

WHY would we sellers have to do that?  this is beyond crazy!

[BagmakerSupply]

@pennyemporium: The  response you received sounds like an artificial intelligence (AI) generated one. And we have to remember that when AI cannot find an answer it will often 'hallucinate' (make up) one.

[LynnsLittleShop]

Good grief!!

[OneEyeCatStudio]

Etsy is broken again.

[LylaSupplies]

Beyond frustrated by this. I've repeatedly sent the same reply, hoping the dreaded blue writing would go away. It's as if I'm spamming my cusomters. It may be a coincidence, but also, my sales have dropped. Am I being dinged because etsy Bots think I'm not answering messages? 

[HeartstringsByMorgan]

I'm seeing the same thing. A notification regarding this issue would have been nice. This is so frustrating!

[Cathyscomfortcorner]

Why is Etsy doing a test on that. It is working fine. They need a massive sign in the board room and every other room a headquarters that reads,”IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT!”

[GreenMountainMutts]

curious if anyone isn't getting their email notifications that they have a message? I didn't get emails from 2 messages yesterday...

[BeaconwoodDettman]

@GreenMountainMutts As of yesterday, I was getting those "Etsy Conversation with ____" messages in my Gmail. 

Gmail just recently bundled these types of emails into a "Updates" category within my inbox. 

[GreenMountainMutts]

@BeaconwoodDettman thanks for the suggestion, I just checked there and didn't see any missing messages. Last message I received was the 19th from my returning customer, nothing from yesterday or today from the same new buyer...

[BeaconwoodDettman]

As of 11:40 AM CST on 8/24, the blue messages are gone, so maybe fixed?

I haven't gotten any messages since yesterday afternoon, so not completely sure. 

[pennyemporium]

@BeaconwoodDettman:  with your permission,  i would be happy to send you a message  (and post here that i did so) and when you rely back, i can let you know that i received your message? and we can see if the blue banner shows up?

i also have not received any new messages so can't advise on the "pesky blue banner" situation.  i am worried about my star seller stats as the two messages i sent yesterday are NOT showing up in the star seller grid.  

[BeaconwoodDettman]

@pennyemporium Yes, please message me so we can test the Pesky Blue Banner (PBB) - thanks!

I did get a message this morning from a customer, I replied, they said "thanks", but I am still getting the PBB. Let's see how it goes with your message. 

[pennyemporium]

@BeaconwoodDettman :

i'll send you a message right now, and i can pretty much guarantee that the PBB will show up.  and we'll compare notes.  

it seems that the PBB will remain on the message thread for 24 hours, no matter how many messages you send, and then vanish.  (working theory)

please do not put the message into spam or trash, what we are trying to see is if the message will show up on the 'star seller message grid' as being sent, usually after about 24 hours.  (spam messages do not register on the grid)

[cutebutton]

Ok I am noticing something SO weird.  I have not been penalized for not answering those messages but I never received responses back to my response (which I assumed that was just because many times that happens) That's not the weird part though.  I noticed when I look now at the messages under their user name on the side bar it says "this buyer hasn't messaged you before" ummmmmm say what?  It's literally saying that ON THE MESSAGE THAT BUYER SENT ME.

something is weird and hopefully they actually got my response to their message and don't think I'm ignoring them.  No way to know I guess. 

[WildflowerWhimzy]

same here, and I lost my star seller badge. I contacted Etsy Help but I was just told that I can mark the messages as spam later on to remove them from the stats. Not sure it worked..

[BagmakerSupply]

@WildflowerWhimzy: Star Seller stats (and the CSV file) seem to be updated only once per day so there may a delay of a day or two before the results are known.

[fineartstoneware]

I just had a message and replied, and it is still happening here. Still seeing blue, even though I got the "Nice work" tag.

[BagmakerSupply]

@fineartstoneware: Based on the numerous threads about this in this forum, the new message banner not going away appears to be only a user interface glitch which is not affecting any stats such as Star Seller. There have, however, been reports about other Message issues that are impacting a shop negatively.