tl:dr — Watch out for emails from Google regarding your own sign-in activity, as these security emails contain a button that if clicked, will delete all of your App Passwords that allow your consignment/resale software to send email.
App Passwords aren’t new, but they’re something more and more people are having to use as of the recent Google security requirements for sending email.
Never is it that someone went into Gmail > Manage My Account > Security and deliberately (or even accidentally) deleted the App Password. Always is it that a recent email from Google regarding “account activity” arrived in the inbox (typically after signing-in to Gmail again, even on an existing device) with a button (the one that says, ‘No, secure account’) that if clicked, will delete all of your App Passwords from Gmail:
Do not click that button! It’s as simple as that! 😀 If you or someone clicks that button, it instantly deletes all of your App Passwords:
So it’s an easy fix — just make a new App Password and re-enter it in your consignment/resale software:
If you’re running Peeps’ Software, that’s a simple change on one computer and you’re all set. Other consignment/resale software systems require your email settings be entered on each and every device in the store, so you could be copying/pasting on device after device.
The key takeaway here though is that the Google App Password for your email will essentially work forever and ever, unless it gets deleted. And since someone going and deleting it is rarely the cause, letting employees and staff know to keep an eye out for this email and to check before making changes to your Google account is important.
If you investigate that email message further, you’ll typically see the location the activity was from your area — typically your own town, or a nearby town (just how Internet stuff works). Never/rarely will it be some odd location that clearly isn’t you.
There are even memes making fun of how trigger-happy Google is with legit sign-ins:
So keep an eye out for that security email — it’ll take your consignment software emails from working to not working in one click.
Dean
I am a Software Developer, System Administrator, and consignment software specialist. I currently manage hundreds of consignment workstations, point of sale systems, and database servers all across North America and I am the developer of Peeps' Software, Peeps2Go, and Peeps' Consignor Login for iOS and Android. I've been helping consignment & resale store-owners since 2003. I started The Computer Peeps in February of 2010. Peeps' Software launched in 2016 and is now on hundreds of systems all across North America. I have successfully converted dozens of stores from all of the major consignment software systems. After 20 years of working with consignment stores, I understand the unique challenges consignment & resale store-owners face. From electrical issues in old buildings or strip malls, to advocating for them when their old consignment software keeps crashing.