Here, the IndieCommerce team provides an update regarding the issue of e-mail spam generated by spambots using forms on IndieCommerce and IndieLite sites.

[3]Following the July 19 Bookselling This Week article [4] about the IndieCommerce team’s effort to reduce spambot interference for IndieCommerce and IndieLite sites by changing the “From” address in transactional e-mails to “[email protected] [5],” several booksellers expressed concern that their customers could not reach them with questions if they used the “do-not-reply” address.

The “From” address simply identifies the URL that the e-mail originated from. This lets Internet service providers know that they can safely deliver this e-mail and that it is not spam or originating from some other nefarious e-mail source. This new “From” address will actually help get more of IndieCommerce sites’ e-mails delivered and keep them from ending up in a spam folder.

If a customer replies to an e-mail coming from “[email protected] [5],” the e-mail address will automatically change to the e-mail address that the originating store uses to correspond with customers. This applies to all transactional e-mails generated by a store’s IndieCommerce or IndieLite website.

Many customers who shop online likely have already seen a “do-not-reply” e-mail address in transactional e-mails sent to them following a purchase. This has become the default “From” e-mail address used by many websites. Customers can still reply to these e-mails, as a valid reply address will automatically populate the “To” field for them.

Questions about this or any other matters regarding IndieCommerce can be sent to [email protected] [6].