Unannounced Etsy Messaging Change Blocks Communication Between Buyers & Sellers
Etsy made a stealth change to their How To Handle Scams and Suspicious messages policy last week, causing confusion and concern as communication is cut off between buyers and sellers.
The current help article includes a new section on blocking messages from members that makes it clear marking a message as spam will now prevent further communication from the send.
How to block messages from a member
If you receive a suspicious message, you can block further communication from the sender by reporting the message as spam. Do not respond to the message. Etsy does not recommend engaging with suspicious messages for any reason. Responding will encourage the scammers and cause you to receive further scam messages.The mark as spam feature is not currently available on the Etsy Seller app.
If you receive a suspicious message, you can block the sender by:
- Sign in to Etsy.com and go to Your Account.
- Go to Messages.
- Select the suspicious message from your inbox.
- Choose Mark as Spam.
This will move the message out of your inbox and into your Spam folder. You won’t receive any new messages from that member, and they’ll be unable to reply to messages in an existing thread. However, blocked members can still purchase items from your shop.
To send it back to your inbox, go into your Spam folder and select the message, then choose Not Spam. This will unblock the member and allow them to message you again.
The change appears to have been made between February 9-10 from looking at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine but critically, Etsy failed to make an announcement or provide any notice to either buyers or sellers that hitting that "spam" button will now come with additional consequences.
That's especially a problem because many sellers use the spam button on messages that don't need an immediate response in order to try to maintain their Star Seller status, which requires them to respond to initial messages from buyers within 24 hours.
Users shared their confusion in the Etsy community as the impact of the change became apparent.
I placed an order with a shop, had what I thought were very pleasant business related exchanges with the owner (I asked about the weight of the fabric I was ordering, and if would be possible to combine shipping for multiple items purchased). I placed my order, got my products, no problems.
I then placed another order this week, and went to send the shop owner a message about when she could ship my items, and was unable to send a message and an error popped up telling me that I'd been blocked. If I go to the Help Center and try to open a case or request a resolution to a problem, it won't send the message. I've tried multiple ways to contact the seller about my current order, and am unable to reach her at all.
The seller even sent me a message via Etsy to tell me that my address needed correction, and I've been unable to reply to that message at all to offer a solution.
I feel quite at a loss. I've been blocked from messaging the seller, but not blocked from purchasing from her? And now if I have any issues I am unable to communicate them or open a case of any sort? Honestly I'd rather just cancel my order and take my business elsewhere, but apparently I can't even cancel my unshipped order without her consent, and am unable to communicate with her at all to request it.
this is what happens when Etsy makes changes w/o announcing them
I have a feeling the seller moved one of you messages to spam. Once upon a time that would do nothing. Starting yesterday it blocks you from sending them messages.
But you have their email so should be able to sort it out that way.
This hurts sellers and buyers ... unless they know about the change. Sigh.
I am in the same situation - but as the seller. A customer bought a digital product and left a bad review, even though it is my best-selling product with high ratings. He sent me an unsatisfied message, but I cannot respond, and he wants a refund, even though digital products do not necessarily have to be refunded.
In the end, I have no solution other than to issue a refund, because I cannot write to him in any way. In some ways, I feel punished. And I think that the buyer did it purposely; he blocked me to keep both the product and the money.
i placed at order from CRC beads and received a damaged item. I’m trying to reach them about Replacing the item and I found out they have blocked me. So I can’t send them any messages can you please help me with this? I have a good relationship with them as I have used them many many times before.
When star seller first started, before they grouped threads, I had buyers start multiple threads ... sometimes lots of threads. One of my loyal buyers would initiate a custom order and send a dozen or more messages with links to listings that showed colors she liked. I'd group her messages and respond once. I got dinged on star seller. Found that sending all those messages to spam fixed star seller. She kept sending messages and I could go to the spam folder, read and respond.
Now that Etsy groups messages, that's no longer an issue and I haven't needed to send a missed message to spam for a very long time. But this thread makes me realize it is not longer a work-around. I would have hated for any buyer, especially a repeat customer to thing I'd blocked them.
I think it's a good change though, even though it closes a star seller loop-hole.
Does anyone see this as a problem? I'm not saying I'm against it, but right now, if you receive a message that you don't want to answer and you don't want to count against your Star Seller numbers, you're told to put it in Spam. But sometimes those messages are just Thank You's or whatever. I'm not sure all of those people SHOULD be blocked.
I noticed this just today. I had a scammer send me a convo and I dumped it in my Spam folder, then I clicked on their user name to find out if they were still around and it said 'unblock this person'.
I thought that was pretty alarming given how hopeful star sellers are told to send things to spam if we don't want/need to answer them. Now suddenly who-knows how many innocent users are blocked from people they're supposed to have a buying relationship with. Send your messages to spam to keep SS, then remember to look through them, unblock them to reply....?
Honestly someone's getting the wooden spoon for this change. Ugh.
Etsy is likely taking this action to combat ongoing and serious account security and user safety issues from large wave of spam and scam attacks that have mainly targeted new, inexperienced sellers.
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
And now we have even stricter action being taken with this 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.
What do you think of Etsy's new spam blocking procedure? Let us know in the comments below!
