Outbound Messaging has been disabled - Help

[VibeWaves]

Has anyones outbound messaging been temporarily disabled? I am wondering why this happened and how it can be fixed quickly. It is affecting my Star Seller ranking, but there is nothing I can do if I can't send out a message. I contacted Etsy support and they said they need to look further into it, but I am just wondering what may have caused this so I can avoid it in the future. Thanks!

[PillowDetails]

If you have been sending 1st time messages to potential Buyers, this would account for you being limited in messaging.  

* Regarding Star Seller, you have to wait until 3 months from your first sale.  

[VibeWaves]

Thank you! I have not been sending out any messages unless they are sent to me. I did set up the Etsy suggested emails for abandoned cart, favorited items, and promo for buyers. Seems that would be silly to disable my messages if they send/suggest those!

[KKbraceletsandmore]

If you send messages to POTENTIAL buyers who have not contacted you first, this is considered spam by Etsy and can result in your messaging privileges being temporarily revoked.  You just have to wait for Etsy to restore them. 

[VibeWaves]

I have only set up messaging that ETsy suggested I do, so that would be odd if they blocked me for setting up feature they suggested I do.. Aside form that I have not been sending messages to potentials. 

[mommawhazelsquilts]

When you set those up - abandoned carts, etc.  Etsy is the one that contacts those - not the seller.

[ThePurplePuppy]

IT could either be a glitch, in which only Etsy support can help you or--if you have meesaged a lot of people rapidly and with the same message Etsy may have cut your messaging ability for "spamming"

Have you been contacting people who are not customers or buyers with unsolicited messages? IF so Etsy disables tour abilty to answer for a time period--it can be 1 week up to several months--there is no way to tell.

In either even you will need to contact Etsy to have your privileges restored.

[CatsBeadKitsandMore]

If you've sent messages to random people, that is considered spamming. Stop doing that, it's against the rules. Eventually your messages will work again. Could take a week to a month or longer to get them back.

[VibeWaves]

I have not been sending messages out to any potential customers. I did set up the messages that offer a discount code that Etsy suggested I set up for conversions. I doubt this would cause me to lose my outbound privileges if Etsy suggested me to set them up. It has only sent out about 20 so far anyways and they are different messages. I did contact Etsy support for help and they said they will get back to me, but I don't want to be stuck unable to create a reply. 

[YinVivoWeddings]

Keep us updated. It's a very naughty bot!

[leinweberstudio]

I can add to this that my usual order confirmation message I sent to a buyer yesterday did not go through, nor did the one I re-sent this morning when I discovered the previous one had malfunctioned.

And no, I'm not spamming; this is the same message I have been sending for 13 years w/o any problems.

[leinweberstudio]

UPDATE:

My problem seems to have been confined to that particular buyer as the message I sent just now to another customer worked as intended.

It is very strange.

[BagmakerSupply]

@VibeWaves: Exactly what error / advisory message are you getting, otherwise it is hard to help you and most people will assume that you have been sending unsolicited non-transactional messages.

[ColorfulCastAndCrew]

This other seller seems to be having the same problem. She say's she hasn't been sending spam messages either. Sounds like there may be a glitch in the system.

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Why-can-t-I-send-messages/m-p/144037824#M816754

[secondarycreations]

Another possibility mentioned in the thread ColorfulCastAndCrew linked to is that the person you're trying to send a message to is a scammer who has had their account closed by Etsy. Did the person you're trying to contact ask for your email address or any other information?

[ZehOriginalArt]

That is what this sounds like - an attempted scam. Etsy removed the scam account and blocked messaging with them.

[ColorfulCastAndCrew]

@secondarycreations -  I just saw those latest posts on that thread. I hope its the case that these are scam accounts that are getting flagged and shut down.