Visitor Messaging

Visitor messaging lets people contact you directly from your public shop pages. When enabled, a floating contact button appears on your shop page, opening a modal form for visitors to send you a message.

Enabling Visitor Messaging

1. Go to Account > Manage > Preferences
2. Toggle Enable Visitor Messaging on
3. Save your changes

Once enabled, a floating Contact button appears on all your public shop pages.

How It Works

For Visitors

1. A visitor browses your shop page at /shop/{shortCode}
2. They click the floating Contact button (bottom area)
3. A modal form opens asking for:
   • Name (required)
   • Email (required)
   • Subject (optional)
   • Message (required)
4. They click Send
5. A confirmation is shown

For You (the Seller)

1. The message arrives in your Inbox (/inbox)
2. A new InboxThread is created with:
   • The visitor's name and email
   • Source type: shop
   • Source ID: the shop's short code
3. You can read the message and reply directly from your Inbox
4. Your reply is emailed to the visitor

Rate Limiting

The contact endpoint (POST /api/inbox/contact) is rate-limited to prevent abuse. Visitors cannot flood your inbox with messages.

Shop Top Bar

When visitor messaging is enabled, the sticky top bar on your shop page shows a Contact link alongside the shop name, star rating, and product count. This provides a prominent way for visitors to reach out.

Disabling Messaging

To stop receiving visitor messages, simply toggle off Enable Visitor Messaging in your account preferences. The contact button and form will no longer appear on your shop pages.