I wanted to share something that happened to me today in case others have experienced the same issue.
A buyer placed a new order in my shop today. When I checked my Messages, I saw what looked like a brand-new conversation from this buyer. It was marked unread, bumped to the very top of my inbox, and stamped as 6 hours ago. Since the order had just been placed today, I assumed this was a fresh message connected to that order.
When I opened the thread, I was shocked to see that it was actually a message from over a year ago, along with my reply from that same date. There was no new message from the buyer, just the new order activity.
At first this was very alarming because it looked like:
The buyer had just contacted me today, in connection with their new order.
Someone else might have replied on my behalf.
Or that I had promised something for this order and forgotten about it.
I even thought for a moment that my account might have been hacked.
I double checked and took screenshots. In my inbox, the conversation showed at the top, marked unread, with the incorrect timestamp 6 hours ago. Inside the thread, the buyer's actual message is clearly dated from last year.
This system behavior is very misleading and caused me a lot of anxiety. A year-old message should not appear to be brand new or directly connected to a fresh order. At the very least, Etsy should distinguish between order activity and an actual new buyer message.
I have reported this to Etsy Support to ask whether it was a glitch or just the way the system is designed to work. Either way, I think it is important for other sellers to be aware of this so you don't panic like I did.
Has anyone else experienced this?
