A closer look at Gorgias collision detection: How it works and its limits

Let's be honest, this has probably happened to you. Two of your support agents, both eager to help, grab the same urgent customer ticket. They both investigate, they both write a thoughtful reply, and... they both hit send at nearly the same time. Suddenly, the customer has two slightly different answers, your agents are bumping into each other, and everyone's time has been wasted.

If you're nodding along, you've met the infamous "agent collision." It's a classic headache in any shared inbox, and it only gets messier as your support team gets bigger. This is exactly why helpdesks have features like collision detection, it's the first line of defense against this kind of chaos.

In this article, we’ll take a good look at the Gorgias collision detection feature, talk about where it hits its limits in the real world, and explore a smarter, more automated way to stop these collisions from ever happening.

Understanding Gorgias and its collision detection feature

Gorgias is a customer service platform designed specifically for ecommerce brands. The whole idea is to pull all your customer conversations, from email, live chat, social media, you name it, into a single, organized helpdesk.

Its real standout feature is how deeply it connects with ecommerce platforms like Shopify. This link gives agents a full view of a customer's order history and lets them do things like issue a refund without having to switch tabs. It’s all built to make support faster for online stores. Naturally, it has all the core tools you'd expect, like ticket management and automation, and collision detection is one of those key pieces meant to help teams work together without tripping over each other.

A screenshot of the Gorgias dashboard, showing its deep integration with Shopify and how customer data is displayed next to a support ticket.

How does Gorgias collision detection work?

The goal of Gorgias collision detection is pretty straightforward: prevent two agents from replying to the same customer at the same time. It handles this with some simple, real-time visual cues that anyone looking at the inbox can see.

Here's what happens when another agent is looking at a ticket you're viewing:

• You'll see a little orange eye icon next to the ticket in your main list.

• An orange bar will appear at the top of the ticket itself, telling you, "Viewing: [agent's name]".

The system flags an agent as "actively viewing" as long as the ticket is open in one of their browser tabs. It’s a clear signal that someone else is already on it, giving you a heads-up before you dive in.

What's good about Gorgias collision detection?

This approach definitely has its perks, especially for smaller teams that are just starting to feel the growing pains of a busy inbox.

• You see what’s happening in real-time: It's an instant, hard-to-miss sign that a teammate is on the case. This helps you avoid stepping on each other's toes.

• It’s incredibly simple: There’s nothing to set up. The feature is just there, and it's intuitive. An orange bar means stop, it doesn't get much easier than that.

• It stops duplicate replies: Fundamentally, it does what it's supposed to. It helps you avoid that awkward situation where a customer gets two different answers from two different people.

The real-world limitations of Gorgias collision detection

While it’s a helpful feature, a simple detection tool has some practical limits, particularly as your team and ticket volume start to grow.

• It's reactive, not proactive: The warning only shows up after two or more agents have already opened the same ticket. By that point, some effort has already been wasted. Both agents have paused their work, switched contexts, read the customer's message, and maybe even started thinking about a reply. The tool stops the final collision, but it doesn't prevent the duplicated work leading up to it.

• It relies on people paying attention: In a busy support queue, it's surprisingly easy to miss a small icon or a banner at the top of the screen. The system is completely dependent on your agents noticing the signal and acting on it. If they're moving fast or juggling multiple tabs, that little orange warning can get lost in the noise.

• It tells you there's a problem, but doesn't solve it: Gorgias collision detection flags a potential issue, but that's where it stops. The next step, figuring out who should actually take the ticket, is still a manual process. One agent has to back out, or they have to start a quick chat in internal notes or Slack to decide who owns it. This adds a bit of friction and an extra step to the workflow.

Moving past collision detection: Getting to the root of the problem

Simple detection tools are really just a band-aid for a much deeper issue. To truly solve agent collision, you have to look at why it's happening in the first place. It's about shifting from just detecting collisions to actively preventing them.

Why do collisions happen even with collision detection?

Agent collisions are often a symptom of a messy workflow. They tend to pop up when:

• Ticket ownership is a mystery: No one is quite sure who is responsible for which ticket.

• Routing is inefficient: All incoming tickets get dumped into one giant, unassigned pile.

• The inbox is a "free-for-all": Agents are left to pick and choose tickets, which often leads to a race for the easy ones and confusion over the complex ones.

As a support team gets bigger, these issues just get magnified. A simple visual alert can't really keep up with the volume, and you end up with more wasted time and frustrated agents.

Smart, automated triage: A better alternative

The best way to stop collisions is to make sure they don't have a chance to happen. Instead of just flagging when two agents are on the same ticket, you need a system that automatically gives the right ticket to the right agent the moment it comes in.

This is where you might need to look beyond the standard features of your helpdesk. A tool like eesel AI can connect directly to a platform you already use, like Gorgias, and add a layer of intelligence to solve this problem for good, without making you switch to a whole new system.

eesel AI's AI Triage doesn't just detect collisions; it prevents them. It works by reading every incoming ticket to understand its intent, sentiment, and key details. Based on that analysis, it can automatically route, tag, and assign the ticket based on rules your team sets up.

For example, you could set up an eesel AI agent to automatically assign any ticket mentioning a "refund request" from a "VIP customer" straight to a senior support specialist. The ticket goes immediately to the best person for the job, leaving no room for another agent to accidentally jump in and create a collision.

A quick look at Gorgias pricing

When you're looking at any tool, it’s important to understand if its pricing fits your business. Gorgias uses a ticket-based pricing model, which is pretty different from the per-agent pricing many other helpdesks use.

Here’s a quick breakdown of their plans:

Heads up: These prices are for monthly billing. You'll pay overage fees if you go past your plan's ticket limit.

The catch with ticket-based pricing

While this model seems simple on the surface, it can cause a few headaches for growing businesses, especially in ecommerce.

• Costs can be unpredictable: Your ticket volume can swing dramatically depending on the season. A big sale or a holiday rush like Black Friday could push you way over your ticket limit, leading to surprise fees that make budgeting a real challenge.

• It kind of penalizes efficiency: In a way, the model punishes you for doing well. The more customers you have and the more they talk to your support team, the higher your bill goes. It might even make you think twice about proactive outreach, since every conversation counts toward your monthly total.

• Add-ons can pile up: It's also worth noting that some key features, like more advanced automation or voice support, are often sold as separate, paid add-ons. These can add up and increase your total cost quite a bit.

A more predictable alternative

This is a big contrast to the model used by platforms like eesel AI. With eesel AI's transparent pricing, plans are based on a set number of monthly AI interactions (like an AI-powered reply or action), not a per-ticket fee.

The big win here is predictability. Your bill doesn't suddenly jump just because you had a great sales month. Costs stay stable and clear, so you can grow your support team without stressing about hidden fees or surprise invoices. Plus, flexible monthly plans that you can cancel anytime give you the freedom to adjust as your needs change, without getting locked into a long-term contract.

It's time to shift from detection to prevention

So, let's wrap this up. Gorgias collision detection is a solid, standard feature for any modern helpdesk. It does its job of preventing the immediate problem of sending two replies to one customer.

But at the end of the day, it's a manual safety net for what is really a workflow problem. It's a reactive signal, not a proactive solution. As support teams grow, they need more than just alerts; they need smart, automated workflows that get ahead of problems before they start.

The best way to manage a growing inbox and get rid of issues like agent collision is to stop them in their tracks. That means using smart, AI-powered triage and routing to make sure every ticket lands with the right person, every single time, with no manual effort needed.

If you're starting to feel the limitations of basic helpdesk features, eesel AI is a logical next step. It works with the tools you already use, like Gorgias, and adds a layer of intelligence that solves the root cause of collisions and other workflow bottlenecks. With eesel AI, you can go live in minutes, bring all your scattered knowledge together, and even test your setup in a simulation mode before it ever goes live for your customers.

Ready to stop just detecting collisions and start actually preventing them? You can try eesel AI for free or book a demo to see how it can streamline your support workflows.