Etsy Tests "From A Buyer Account" Tag For Messages In Continuing Fight Against Scams
Etsy is testing out a new tag for messages that informs the receiver the message came "from a buyer account" as struggle to fight spam and scams rages on but users worry the wording may be confusing.
Etsy seller and ecommerce consultant Cindy Baldassi posted about the messaging feature in the Etsy community.
I received a message late tonight that has a blue star and text in blue that says "from a buyer account"
It is indeed a buyer Message. Do you think this means Etsy will be counting buyer and seller Messages differently in the future? (Not just for Star Seller, but in general for the requirement we respond to Messages in a reasonable time.)
One problem I can see is that seller accounts can also buy, and AI might have difficulty figuring that out. If Etsy really cares about us responding to Messages about buying in a timely fashion, flagging Messages will have to consider the content of the Message, not just whether there is a shop attached or not.
After doing some testing with other Etsy community members though, it became clear that Etsy was not in fact doing any kind of complex assessment or using AI to determine if the message was really sent by or a seller - instead it appears Etsy is using the "from a buyer account" tag as a catch all for any message that is sent by an Etsy user rather than Etsy itself.
"so I think this is nothing to do with buyer/seller, but so people know it's not "from etsy"" If so, that's really a poor choice LOL
They could just say "this is not from Etsy" if that is the intent. Because now to someone unaware of other issues, Etsy's notifications look wrong, marking sellers as buyers.
If I were a newbie, would I trust this at all? Would I assume that real Etsy messages also would get this "buyer" tag, since sellers also do? On a site with as many bugs and errors as this one, this notification looks like just another mistake.
Etsy has been battling a massive wave of spam and scams targeting users with fake support links and other fraud attempts for months, leading to changes to how communication from Etsy appears in a user's messaging inbox.
Liz Morton
The changes Etsy made to the inbox apparently haven't gone far enough, prompting the company to announce they will be making most of their community forum private and restricting API access for certain third party programs to try to stem the tide of scams.
Liz Morton
Unfortunately, not only have the scams not stopped, Etsy's efforts to combat them often interrupt legitimate buyer and seller interactions on the platform, making it harder for real users to transact on the site.
For example, Etsy recently enacted a new policy that turns "marking as spam" into blocking all future communication - which could be a useful tool against the scammers but only if users are made widely aware of it so they can understand how to use it correctly and, most importantly, avoid the unintended consequence of accidentally blocking a legitimate user.
Liz Morton
The problem has gotten so out of hand, that Etsy is introducing new policies to "strengthen new shop onboarding and keep the community safe" - including a shop set up fee, seller ID checks requiring submitting government ID and a a selfie and delaying payment schedules for new sellers.
Liz Morton
What do you think of the new "from a buyer account" tag for Etsy messages? Will it help users avoid scams or just add more confusion to the mix? Let us know in the comments below!
