Potential customers

[FingerFurniture]

Good evening /morning all.. I truly need help.. I used to send a message to potential customers, how ever just resently I'm unable to as their is no means of contact.. If a person either favourited or like my shop I could just send a note to them just say "thank you & I'm here to help.. Now I can't... Please help as this did bring in orders.. Thank you for you're time.. Best wishes Mark 󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 

[AAANativeArts]

You have never been allowed to do that. Sending people messages when they haven't given you permission to contact them is spam, no matter how innocent. You are only allowed to contact them if you need additional information for an order, or if they have initiated the conversation.

[JustMeToo]

@FingerFurniture   It is considered spam and you are not allowed to do it.  I would be VERY upset if I favourited something and then was contacted by the shop.  I would immediately stop "favouriting".

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

That’s illegal in most countries so you should never have been doing that. It’s also very intrusive. Set up a coupon for Etsy to send to those who have opted in to emails from Etsy. That’s the only way you can contact anyone prior to purchase 

[Natalya1905]

You may want to read this:

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/Did-Etsy-remove-the-ability-to-message-new-potentia... 

[BagmakerSupply]

@FingerFurniture: "... potential customers ..."  First off, they are not your customers, potential or otherwise, until they have actually purchased from you. Until they have purchased from you, they are Etsy's prospects and customers. Secondly, as mentioned by others, sending unsolicited non-transactional Messages or eMails is the very definition of SPAM and at the very least can get your Messaging disabled or your shop closed.

[cutebutton]

This is exactly the reason that I have my favorites set to private.

[nineteen27]

the last time a seller did that to me.

i removed the item from my favorites.

i reported them to etsy.

i marked their message as spam.

i blocked them from ever contacting me again.

[CorvidCreationsShop]

Uhm.... You shouldn't have been doing that in the first place, as it's:

--Spam 

--A complete overreach of the "potential customer"s privacy

--I'm pretty sure it's actually illegal

--Definitely getting you blocked by a lot of said "potential customers"

[TBQSC]

@nineteen27 -- I do the same, and also add them to my "do not sell to" list!

[MinnieMaudsAttic]

@FingerFurniture   You are in the UK where that sort of approach is illegal.  It might seem a restriction on your ability to promote your business but it’s against privacy rules.  

Etsy gives sellers some tools to approach potential customers and you might find it useful to use those.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

If you had written your legally required GDPR policy for your shop, you would understand you shouldn't do what you were doing

more info from etsy here, on writing a gdpr policy

https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/59160674124

whilst you are there, you can also add your legally required right to withdraw policy, your address and e-mail address in sellers details, and add 30 day return policies to all your listings.

It may be wise of you to read up about selling inline, and legal requirements