Why am I getting so many unsolicited messages after starting my Shopify store??

[busybeeapiaries]

Why am I getting so many unsolicited messages after starting my Shopify store??  They are all from people wanting to help me improve my marketing and how to use social media better.  Very annoying, I'm getting emails to my personal email address, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp.  Is there anything I can do to stop these messages??

[Pamela_Ponsart]

Yes, I was experiencing the same thing when I had the Shop Messenger installed.  So, I uninstalled it. I never had one interested purchaser try to communicate with me.  

And, I'm finding the same darn thing with my attachment to Instagram!! And some of those folks are sending 'porn'. 

I'm sick of it too!

[Satyaroy]

What happens if I uninstall the app. Does it mean my customers can't reach out to me for refund requests, etc?  What are the other perks that go away with it?

[ce7351]

Happened to me too.  I paid Fiverr to help get followers for women’s clothing and they added everything that doesn’t relate to my niches and now the followers are messaging and and want to send me **bleep** and others thinking it’s a dating site.  Hard to keep going when you can’t trust anyone to help or who’s actually following you. 

[Pamela_Ponsart]

I use Seguno within the Shopify App Store to help me promote and like them
a lot.

[ProteanLife]

I just opened a shop and gotten several emails this afternoon! I have added this blurb to the Contact Us information. I don't want to remove the company email, in case customers with questions or concerns can still contact us. Hopefully it helps settle some of the spam messages coming in! 

Important Notice: No Contact or Solicitation Requests for Goods and Services

At [SHOP], we respect your privacy and want to ensure a hassle-free experience for all our users. Our primary focus is on providing exceptional e-commerce solutions and support to our valued customers. Therefore, we kindly ask that you respect our preferences and refrain from engaging in any form of unsolicited contact. Please note that any attempts to solicit us for goods or services may result in the termination of communication and potential legal action, as deemed necessary.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter. Thank you for being a part of the Shopify community.

Sincerely, The [SHOP] Team

[TotalToneAttire]

Thank you!!!

[Pamela_Ponsart]

If it's coming from Nigeria, it's 'spam'.
I just deleted the App - that's all I ever received.
Good luck to you.
Pam

[celstone]

I don't even have that app! I'm getting these through my business email and there doesn't seem to be any way to stop them!

[DavidBelongSLO]

Same here. Today I started with ads on FB and suddenly I receive a lot of email from people first asking If they can speak with the owner and I thought they need some help on my site. Than they compliment my site and all. And then they started to asking me If they can help me with store improvement and collaboration so that I would have more sales. They understand I just started and I told them Its in a beta version and I am still learning and that I have low budget 🙂 and then they stop. Well one is still trying 🙂

The one still trying:

Since you have been running ads for the store I don't want you to waste your money on ads without getting results from it...what-if I started working on the store then you pay me once I'm done with the full revamp and integration of all the elements and key plugins including the marketing and you really like how the store later looks.

and now I stopped answering 🙂 But they were all nice to talk to (I was in my car waiting for a friend and I had a lot of spare time and It was fun talking to someone 😄 lol)

[awashphotosales]

Did this approach 

[celstone]

While it is a good idea in theory, I don't see how that blurb is going to work since the majority of these annoying emails are the result of bots. 

[Pamela_Ponsart]

I had to delete that app entirely. It was so annoying.

[ce7351]

I had just opened my store in February and getting marketers wanting to discuss their concern and help as well.  But lately my inbox is flooded with their messages.  It is annoying cause I’m still working a full day and have no time to answer to them, but Shopify kept notifying me to replay to the customers but it’s the marketers.  How do I send them to spam or junk mail? 

[Jalbdiaz]

I'm having the same issue. Mostly scammers from India asking me for help with their new "store" and then they give me someone else info for me to contact them. Allegedly they're are e-commerce experts who wants to help me with my store. 😡

[Pamela_Ponsart]

I know what you mean. It's disgusting. Just delete that app; it's worthless.

[NewWorldScott]

Glad to hear I’m not the only one who is experiencing this. Most of them are from Nigeria. Does anyone have a solution.

[Pamela_Ponsart]

The only solution I can think of is to uninstall Shopify Chat.

[rachaeljean]

my store is around 2 years old but just over a week ago i created and connected a new domain. since 3am this morning i have received messages non stop from folks in nigeria saying they are shopify help merchants. i contacted shopify support and the chat support person seemed to know nothing a thing about this, or didn’t want to say so.

i kept asking “how are they getting my information?” and this was the best answer i was given: “07:41 Kurt (Support Advisor): I see, well Rachel here in Shopify we do have Shopify Partners who are developer and partners of Shopify who are helping merchant to improve their stores.”

i then asked one of these help merchant people messaging me about where my information was obtained from and they said that shopify partners are supplied with lists of new stores (and ones that seem new due to new domains, i’m assuming). 

all in all, the answer i got from my shopify chat support person was: 

07:53 Kurt (Support Advisor): Well it is also stranger that a lot of people who is saying that they are from shopify messaging you because it should be the merchant who's reaching out to them. Don't worry I will do my best here to stop this and help you out. What I will do is I will report this incident to our Accounts Security Team so that they can investigate what is really happening and I will also extend my help my personally monitor your account and once I get a response from our Accounts Security, I will update you right away via email.

07:54 Kurt (Support Advisor): I also understand that is very urgent as it may affect your business in the future. Rest assured that I will help you with this and I will do everything here on my end and you can count on me with this.

 i was told to block them or uninstall the chat program, but it’s a rather valuable app for my store so i’ll be blocking them until my store is replaced with others that are more “new”. 

im sorry we’ve all been bothered by this and i hope the messages have stopped for you all. disappointing that shopify doesn’t have cam opinion, stance, or way to resolve this though. 

rach xoxo 

[candymeecrazy]

I was dumb enough to think they were contacting me to provide assistance. I just started my shopify account 2 weeks ago and got my first couple solicitations tonight.

[Pamela_Ponsart]

I had to uninstall my app.  This happened to me a year ago or so and I uninstalled it and was happy, Then, Shopify nudged me to re-install it. So, I did and right away I had unsolicited mail from Nigeria, etc. So...I have uninstalled it again. What a disappointment! That app is useless!

[LiveLoud]

Thanks for this! I recently launched my store and was wondering how these people found me. I assumed somehow shoptify has our stores out somewhere 

[TotalToneAttire]

I removed my email from my online store and only left the contact us form. I also included the Solicitation Blurb below to my contact form. I haven’t received anymore emails yet. I hope this helps! It’s sad that we have to go through this though. 

[cwayne]

same thing with me.  how do you know whos legit and whos not.  one person that i was told was sent to me is wanting to charge me and to send money for her to do marketing

[rachaeljean]

none of them are legit. no shopify expert will send unsolicited messages or emails. 🙏🏻✨ now that shopify have cracked down on them sending messages within the messaging app, they are using emails and also the ‘contact us’ portion of one’s website. i wouldn’t trust any of them. 

[cwayne]

If someone is a legit rep from Spotify, will they ask for money, or are the real reps that say they are here to help a courtesy helper? is there a way to confirm if they work for Shopify?

[rachaeljean]

a real deal shopify expert won’t reach out to you. the ones inboxing you, sending messages, they’re scammers. if you do want a shopify expert,

you can find them from the Shopify Partner Directory site - it’s an offical part of Shopify. 

[Pamela_Ponsart]

That App is useless! I uninstalled mine because I never got a valid inquiry.

[GlitzandGlamour]

I want to know the same thing? It is happening to me. Does anyone know why?

[rachaeljean]

they're scammers who aren't affiliated with Shopify Experts. I've been told
by Shopify support that no one from the expert section will ever send you
an unsolicited email. goes against their policy.
they are best to be ignored and blocked.

if you're needing help with your store, it's best to use a service like
fiverr as they at least add a layer of protection to the agreement made
between yourself and the freelancer.

[awashphotosales]

They are getting even  more aggressive. I get messages on the app, email, and social inboxes, so disabling chat will not necessarily help me.  I am so frustrated that I am seeking a developer to develop me an independent site.  It's just too much- all day everyday. Can't focus on the store for this madness.

[Pamela_Ponsart]

If you installed the Shop Chat app, that is what you will get. I
uninstalled mine. I never got anything useful. All I ever got was 'spam'.

[rachaeljean]

i’m getting the same thing. social media and my email that’s listed on my site. i know scammers are a problem everywhere but i think shopify need to step in and at least show they’re doing something. it’s only happening because we’re linked with shopify 

[sithembiso]

same here they even message me on WhatsApp I can only guess that they have some type of software that's able to find every new Shopify store or they buy emails to contact or something along those lines.

[yourcase]

most of them are from nigeria and i dont know where they found our information , i ask one of them where he got my info , he said Bootleads . they asking to help you get sale and everything, i ask one why don’t you open your own store and make this money that you say you can make me do, he said shopify limit them from having a store on nigeria , i told him im not paying a dime for any services, if he can make me doing sale we’ll be partner , i’ll give him limited acces  to do what he said he can do and if he can make sale as he said i l’ ll give him 30% of my net profit, don’t judge me i was desperate .lol i gave him access dude ask to install 2 apps, install a new theme . i just installed one cuz i didn’t want my store to be slow and the second one i had the same type of app installed, all set , new app new theme, ps : theme was premium but he couldn’t even customize it as a pro , i customized my store with his theme, he did nothing now im on my second weeks, he have acces , but i cant even have one sale, i even give him acces on my ads manager as collaborator, Nothing. when he realised that he cant do sh*t he said oh the theme is premium you would have to pay for it , i say nope, as you agreed that you will be my partner consider this as your investment in the business. he beg to have even 30% of the theme price, the theme is 300$. i said no.

so now imagine if i gave this dude my money with hope that will make sales, i would pay for a 300$ copy theme and for an inexistence  service. just don’t care about them, they can’t do nothing, if they could , they would open their own shopify store and make good money.

[Pamela_Ponsart]

I'm so sorry you got sucked in!
That channel shouldn't even be allowed to show.
I deleted it a long time ago because of the scam.

[JDMorrison75]

Yeah I am getting them as well and it's very annoying.  Mine are all coming from Facebook and Instagram.  I but no soliciting on my website and on my fb and Instagram messaging reply. But they just ignore it and message anyway.  They even continue to message after I say I'm not interested even argue with me.  

[Pamela_Ponsart]

Ah, yes! And, where Instagram is concerned (for me) I have the problem with
***bleep*** being sent with the messages. I am sooooo disgusted and I don't know
where to go to get help for this problem.
They talk about FB and Instagram harming kids with images but the rest of
the population and us business owners are being harmed too!
What a mess!

[ce7351]

Happened to me too so I had to delete the contact button so now even customer can’t even message.  And I don’t trust anyone to even get help promoting my store. 

[Pamela_Ponsart]

Oh, gosh, I didn't think of deleting the contact button. Otherwise, there
are some reputable apps in the Shopify store that can help you get the word
out.

[Aphorial]

It's ridiculous. I'm getting spammed by everyone except customers. I'm getting pretty mean and nasty to them, I know it's unprofessional but so are they. And I block them. Does anyone ever get freelance work this way? I wish it would stop. 

[Pamela_Ponsart]

It won't stop - just delete the app associated with it.

[Aphorial]

In my case, it's coming through my marketing channels - Facebook and Instagram messages. I am publishing my products to both Facebook and Instagram.
I took a friend's advice and took off my contact email off the shop, and that helped reduce the emails. I also installed Shopify Inbox, which is a chat - and I did get SOME spam from that but since it asks the user for an email (something an actual customer would give) I haven't gotten much noise from that. 

[Pamela_Ponsart]

Oh, I see ...
Where I am concerned...I don't dare read any messages from my Instagram
business account because so much of it contains **bleep**ographic photos!!!
The only thing I can think of is that through the years I have employed
apps with developers from Nigeria, etc. and I think some 'bad actors'
created some 'bad connections'.
It's all a mess as far as I'm concerned. And, it's a real shame because I
really do need to make sales but these social media avenues are not the
answer.
Good luck to you.
Pam

[MyGlowingEra]

This is happening to me as well, i announced my store a few months ago and i got like 10 messages a day. I still get them and they are very annoying, i just ignore them. There is not really a way to stop this.

[Pamela_Ponsart]

The only way to stop it (from my experience) is to uninstall the app.
Good luck.

[MBMW]

I’ve just read through a lot of the replies looking for an answer to the same problem, most people seem to have new Shopify sites but mine is not new and I haven’t recently installed any apps. Like others they are contacting me through every platform, what’s app, instagram and Shopify. I wonder if not replying has any impact on any algorithms (clearly I don’t understand these things) I recall seeing somewhere something along the lines of “usually replies within an hour” does ignoring these bots impact this? 

[Pamela_Ponsart]

I usually make them 'spam' and send them on their way.

[MBMW]

Yes of course, thank you. 

[BuddhaSixNine]

The same thing is happening to me except it’s through Meta’s messenger. I’ve had four people this week start conversations that seem sincere asking about what marketing strategies I’m using etc, then all of them try to steer me to another person on Instagram who is supposedly an ‘expert’ in marketing. 
This is my first store so at first I just thought they were trying to network but then I saw a pattern and now with this blog, I’m convinced it’s a scam of some sort. Learning everyday!