0% Message Rate

[sugahfairy]

hello, I’ve had an Etsy shop for about a year now, maybe more. I have noticed that my message rate online says it’s 0%. I think it’s a good thing to also let you know that I mainly use iOS mobile app but can also use my laptop. I believe on both platforms it says 0% Message Rate 24-48hrs for me. But after digging in and being confused, ALL of my orders I have responded to within 48 hours. 

I am very confused on why my message rate says 0%, even though I’ve had multiple orders, and I’ve responded all within the first day especially recently to get that stat up.

my message rate has said 0% for quite some time now, well over a month. I’m now reaching out because I’m not sure if this is a bug, because it’s not adding up to my end. There’s only one guest that i did not respond too within 48 hours, and it took me a week too but it’s because it wasn’t about an ongoing order. It was just a guest reaching out about a possible custom order that I did not know the answer to yet. (but she did not have ANY active order, so I don’t understand why that would pertain to my sale stats.) 

The 0% message rate says that it’s from the month of September 30 through July, And I looked at my particular orders that month, which was only two, and I responded the day of them ordering. So please get back to me because I’m very clueless on getting a flat rate of 0%, and I believe it’s hurting my visibility of my page.

[NanaLetha]

You must respond to messages not orders.

[GroundZeroCreations]

Message rate doesn't have anything to do with the orders. It is how quickly you respond to messages in your Etsy inbox. If you have 0% it is likely because you have not received any messages, so you could not respond to something you didn't receive. Again, it has nothing to do with your orders. 

[WitticismsRus]

" If you have 0% it is likely because you have not received any messages..."

Just to clarify for future readers- It will actually say --% if you haven't received any messages not 0%.

--% means there was no data (messages) to calculate.

0% means there was data (messages) to calculate. 

[BlushandRosie]

@WitticismsRus  Yup, as I have the --%.

Ive only had spam since I opened. LOL

[PristinityJewelry]

Messages are messages.  Orders are orders.  And are two totally separate calculations, talied and monitored by Etsy separately.

Recieving and shipping an order has nothing to do with your message response rate/percentage.

The reverse is also true.  Recieving and responding to a message has nothing to do with your "shipping on time" rate/percentage.

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

Just to add that for star seller you need to answer messages within 24 hours, not 48. And it’s ALL first messages, regardless of who they are from. So if you didn’t answer a message about a potential custom order for a week, that would count against you. 

You need to read the star seller criteria so you’re clear what you need to do.

[WitticismsRus]

Does it say 0% or does it say --%? There is a difference. 

[sugahfairy]

yes, it says 0%. I guess it may be because for this whole month of July and up to now, I’ve only had one person reach out to me. And that was my mistake for responding so late. I have reached out to guests regarding orders this month and responded on time, but if it pertains to someone reaching out to me first and responding, I miss that mark.

[NoFrogsAllowed]

The reason it is zero is because you got a message and you didn't  respond to it.  A guest asking about a custom order is the thing you should respond to and taking a week to answer  might have cost you your very best customer forever.

The rule is answer every first message within 24 hours, no matter who it is from even if it's from your grannies cat.  

If you message everyone who orders from you, then you might be messaging other sellers who might not be too happy as they will have to respond to you to maintain their messaging star. 

You have to reply to messages, you don't have to reply to orders.

[BagmakerSupply]

@sugahfairy: Have you checked the applicable CSV file available on your Star Seller page to see which new Message threads Etsy thinks were unanswered or answered late? If you had no new Message threads, your response rate would be --% (nothing to calculate) so if you are at 0% you have failed to reply to some Etsy Messages.

As it says right on your Star Seller page and elsewhere, you need to reply to (or mark as SPAM) the FIRST message of EVERY NEW INCOMING THREAD within 24 hours. It does not matter who sent it, the subject matter, if it is a duplicate or blank or anything else. If it is SPAM then it should be marked as such.

[NoFrogsAllowed]

@BagmakerSupply 

In the OP they said they didn't reply to a message for a week because it was just a guest asking about a custom order.  Those are the very people one should reply to immediately.  This seller obviously does  not understand star seller or messaging or common courtesy.

[sugahfairy]

yes, I just checked this. I downloaded my message history, and it says that I didn’t respond to one customer on time. I’ve only had one customer reach out to me for this whole month so I guess I missed the mark on that one. I don’t have customers reach out to me usually, they just either buy or don’t buy. 

so I find that hard to turn around, (because I’ve had other orders that I did everything on time, but they didn’t reach out to me first, so those wouldn’t count). I guess I will just have to wait until this month stats resets and never have this error again LOL. 

[GroundZeroCreations · Accepted solution]

@sugahfairy My apologies for my first response, I obviously did not read closely enough. To better understand the requirements, I suggest  you watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJG7xbNnMCw&t=23s

You said, "There’s only one guest that i did not respond too within 48 hours, and it took me a week too but it’s because it wasn’t about an ongoing order. It was just a guest reaching out about a possible custom order that I did not know the answer to yet. (but she did not have ANY active order, so I don’t understand why that would pertain to my sale stats.)"

You only have 48 hours to respond to messages. If you want to be safe, you can set up an auto responder so this doesn't happen again. However, that doesn't mean that you don't have to respond to messages personally. It matters not what the content of the message may be. You MUST respond to all messages within 24 hours. Again you only have 24 hours to respond to messages.

And don't confuse messages with orders and sales. Messages are messages...period. They require a timely response to ALL messages.

This link will have instructions for setting up an autoresponder for messages:

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015654988-How-to-Send-Messages-to-Buyers?segment=selling

[sugahfairy]

oh my goodness thank you for so many responses within the hour. All of this information out so much! guess I was wildly confused with the rules. I thought it meant to respond for all orders within 24 to 48 hours, not that you should respond to All and Any messages within 24 hours for star seller and a higher rate. 

Now that I’m looking back, in July was when I didn’t respond for a week to someone asking for something about my shop. I did not know it was based off of messages coming to me, I thought it was based off me reaching out to the customer & responding within 24 to 48 hours of an order. 

I was a star seller up until this little incident! And I also didn’t know we could set up automatic messages to customers! I will be doing that, but also making sure I still include a personal note because I like doing that for each and every customer. 

thank you again for all the help, but I was trying to connect to Etsy. Customer support through messages, no one would respond! Thank you it all makes sense now!

[NanaLetha]

@BlushandRosie  did you mark them as spam?

[BlushandRosie]

@NanaLetha  Yes or by the time I go to reply after I see my app alert the message is already gone.

Ive received a bunch with that fake picture thing claiming to be Etsy staff.

My shop is new so Im a target. LOL