Non spam ends up directly in Spam folder!

[#1]

Wonderful, Etsy is doing something against all the spam we receive...

Sadly it is now completely getting out of hand as messages from potential buyers asking for serious information, can end up directly in the spam folder.
I just found a 2 day old message in the spam box from someone wanting sizing information about one of my items. 

Please be aware of this. 

[BakersDozenToGo]

I just found 6 customers in the spam folder. I'm really angry that I missed these sales!!!!

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

It would behoove Etsy to back out this code, dump it in the trash and start again. Next time using proper procedures, documentation and testing.

[DougsVintageStore]

I just checked my Spam Folder after seeing several posts about this.

Sure enough I have one from a buyer back on Jan 12.

Thankfully it was nothing serious about the sale, I just reach out before and after the sale to touch base.

I dont remember if it affected my Star Seller Status back then.

I sell vintage and sales have been dismal so far so I was negligent about prowling thru the message folders, spending most of my time re-doing tags and listing titles.

[LeLightFantastique]

deleted as nested in wrong place

[TwiLdCapitHog]

Well it appears to be getting worse!

I had a customer message, which I replied to. That seemed to be the end. Now I have discovered that the customer replied to my reply, at which point the entire thread of messages was moved to spam. 

This needs sorting! 

[LeLightFantastique]

@TwiLdCapitHogI had one of those a few days ago too. A thread where a potential buyer kept adding new questions, which I dutifully answered very promptly, until yet another question which I missed as the whole thread ended up in spam.

[GrizzlyWorksRC]

Well, seems like this might be effecting more people than Etsy cares to admit. I've had multiple messages for the past few weeks do the same. with new, previous, and potential customers. I've also had new messages from people I have open threads with got to spam then when taken out of spam it created a new message thread. The list of annoyances keeps getting longer.  

[MurphyGardens · Accepted solution]

Thank you for reporting this! We’re dedicated to keeping your accounts and the Etsy marketplace safe and secure. 

We’ve been making improvements to help you better identify authentic messages from Etsy. Recently, we’ve worked to reduce the noise in your Inbox by automatically moving potentially suspicious messages to your Spam folder (which you can only check on desktop right now). 

As a result of this, some of your messages may have been moved to the Spam folder in error. We’re working to improve the accuracy of these measures and we apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this may have caused. 

We’ve also heard your questions and concerns about how this might impact your Star Seller eligibility, which we wanted to clarify. Messages marked as spam by Etsy will not impact your Star Seller eligibility. If Etsy has marked a message as spam that you subsequently move out of the folder, we’ve ensured that also will not impact your Star Seller eligibility.

You can learn more about how to stay protected from potential scams and suspicious messages here.

[VenusComplete]

This is very understandable. Issues sometimes arise and we know the changes are meant to benefit the sellers. 

However, I think what most of us are frustrated about is why there has been no communication for 3+ weeks since the first reports of authentic messages showing up in the Spam folder.

Especially when you have to be on desktop to even see that folder. Also, there has never been a valid reason to physically go check the Spam folder throughout the day, so the severity of this issue should have been quickly identified and steps taken.

A significant change, and one that is not full-proof, where potentially suspicious messages are automatically moved to the Spam folder likely should have been announced up front, but if not, definitely should have been once it was determined that even for some sellers, authentic messages were ending up there. This has cost many people sales and hits to their reputation.

[DigTheDesign]

Well Etsy does do vintage so why not have an antiquated email system that doesn’t quite function like every other tech companies modern version?

Why not reverse the bad change you have imposed on evryone until you have found a fix???? 

[ZealotGaming]

This is absolutely impacting my eligibility based on a falsely-flagged message that I rescued from the spam folder and converted into one of my largest single sales in my relatively short lifespan here.  And now it’s the one message that didn’t get a response within 24 hours.  How do we resolve this?

[DaysofYoreTreasures]

@MurphyGardens 

Thank you for the update.
There are many sellers waiting for news about this issue, and others who are not even aware of it yet.

May I please suggest that you put your update into a separate post and pin it to the top of Technical Issues, then post a link to it on our dashboards?

[Adorabilities]

@ZealotGaming 

Put the message thread back into the spam folder.

If the message found is over 24 hours old, reply directly from the spam folder. 

[gallery28]

I had this exact same issue and the response received from support did NOT imply that my response score (that's what they call it) would be restored. In OTHER words....that response you gave implies that the response score will not be affected from messages etsy relegated to spam and not directed to the inbox....well, guess what? I did have such a message, it was from a buyer who had placed an order, so I DID respond of course, and because the message sat unseen in spam for four days, I have a dent in my "response score" regardless of what you are saying here on the forum. Get things straight, please.

[RieDesigned]

I had a message go to spam folder which I moved to my inbox and answered and my message rasponce rate has gone down to 93% from 100 so its unlikely I will now keep my Star Seller status.

[GrizzlyWorksRC]

This absolutely is impacting Star Seller eligibility. I went from a 100% response rate down to 95% after responding to multiple messages I found in my spam folder. Also, auto responses do not go out to messages that are determined to be spam so even that can't help cover this issue. For me, this started while my shop was in vacation mode with auto replies enabled. I was out of town and didn't even have access to the spam folder for almost a week due to not bringing a computer with me. How did anyone think adding this was a good idea if there are sellers who potentially will not have access to the folder or even the messages that are sent there? At the very least this should have been put on hold until there was a solution for app users. There is a very real possibility that there are sellers out there with mulitiple lost sales and missed messages from customers that they don't even know about. That situation could also effect the sellers' review ratings which would also negatively effect their star seller eligibility. To top that off, when it does inevitably cause someone to lose the star seller badge, if they contact support they will basically be told "sorry, better luck next time". In the end this may not seem like a big deal to Etsy, but when sellers are taking a hit for something we have no control over while being told it won't negatively effect us it starts to seem more and more like we're not actually valued as the reason Etsy is able to exists. 

[FunkyJunkyVintage]

@MurphyGardens 

Would  you please expound on the "Messages marked as spam by Etsy will not impact your Star Seller eligibility. If Etsy has marked a message as spam that you subsequently move out of the folder, we’ve ensured that also will not impact your Star Seller eligibility."

I'm reading reports that support did not get the memo, however, are we supposed to leave the wayward messages IN spam, I see that you do have that you could move it out of the spam folder and it still wouldn't impact one's SS rating, then report? Because sellers are reporting that they moved the message(s) out of spam, responded and/or reported to support and support is telling them there's nothing they can do and SS data can't be changed.

[PrintableEasy]

It happened in the last three days, two messages from two new customers and two sales... bye bye

Thank you Etsy

[VogueVixens]

Because of this thread and a few others, I looked in our Spam and discovered a message from a customer sent two days ago! 

[MagpieVintageJewelry]

Weighing in to say this has happened to us too! We lost a sale because someone was trying to get through, and we didn't realize it was in the spam folder! 

[ColleenMicheleDesign]

I recently had a customer who had already bought something from my shop send me a message about it - and her message was flagged as spam. I missed it and 10 days later, she left me a review for poor customer service stating I never replied to her message. (The only reason I even found out her message went to spam was I messaged her after her review, thinking she had maybe tried to email me or contact me through social media or something. She sent me a screenshot showing she clearly had contacted me through Etsy and only then did I check the spam folder.)

Now I'll be checking the spam folder regularly, but I agree we should have been given a heads up about this change!

[RefinedInspirations]

I received a potential buyer's message in my spam folder. Marked it as not spam and answered the message immediately. My star seller reply percentage went down because of this missed message that was not my error.

[botanicallampshades]

Two legit customer messages were mistakenly sent to the spam folder and I did not notice until the next day. I just chatted with support and was not assured that my perfect score would be restored. Just that this issue was still being investigated. Not good enough. 

[BloemLinen]

Not much change I fear. I just found two messages in my spam folder again.

Strangely, all messages that ended up automatically in my spam folder, are written in German... 

[ChillwolfArt]

@BloemLinen  May I ask you something. I usually Sign In once a day anyway. And have checked my Spam Folder just in case. *When you find a Message which Etsy has moved into the Spam Folder, is there any "notation" of that Message (as with other Messages) a "1" for example?

Another thing I don't understand. Etsy is putting some Legit Messages in the Spam Folder (obviously due to a glitch). And yet, I've seen Sellers report getting Messages which are from Scammers. Yet hose have not gone into the Spam Folder.