50% response rate against me due to duplicate messages from seller

[CCCVDesigns]

So I'm a fairly new shop and am trying to work my way up to star seller. I always make a point to respond to customer inquiries immediately. So I was shocked to find I had a 50% reply rate. Upon further research, the fault seems to lie with not responding to messages from sellers I'm purchasing from. I wasn't aware that this counts against you, but even still, the messages that dinged me seem to be duplicate messages, hence the reason they did not receive responses. I received four duplicate messages from a seller as a response to a request I submitted for help with my order (I think what happened was I must've accidentally sent four help requests due to the app glitching out). Naturally I did not reply to them as they were duplicates; the seller and I communicated via one of the messages out of four. Is there anyone I can reach out to at Etsy to correct this? I feel this shouldn't count against me given the circumstances.

[KGarnerDesigns]

You can mark those as spam. That's the only way to avoid being dinged.

[bradgoodell]

Etsy won't get involved in changing this.  When you can do is mark the duplicate messages as Spam.  That counts, and your Star Seller number will adjust in 24-48 hours.  

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

You need to reply to all messages no matter who they are from as the bots just see unanswered ones.  If you sent 4 separate messages to the seller then the seller was obliged to send 4 messages back (it's a bit ridiculous I know!).  If you go back and mark those unanswered messages as spam then your score might recalculate if it is not too late to do it. 

[GlassyFields]

just mark the messages you're getting dinged for as spam. The ss stats will update (sometimes it takes a couple of days) and those messages will not count against your message response score.

[JackisJustVintage · Accepted solution]

Just remember any time you get a new message, the initial message needs a reply or be marked as spam. The bots do not know they are duplicate messages or from a seller etc. Reply or spam.

[BootifulLabels]

Plenty of good advice above, just to add though...

The rules clearly state that all new messages require an answer or to be marked as spam within 24 hrs in order to qualify for SS. It doesn't matter who they are from or what they are about, no-one reads your messages, the system is automated and simply compares the time-stamps for receipt and response to determine compliance. If you mark that message as spam now, it should update your stats within a day or two, but it will not help with the badges already awarded.

If you don't want your purchases to affect your SS status, you have a few options.

1. You can use Auto reply to send a "thank you" or an "I'll get back to you shortly" message. This counts as a response for SS, but needs to be reset every five days.

2. You can create a few snippets with various messages and send quick responses that way in just 3 clicks, Snippets/Select/Send.

3. Mark duplicate or unsolicited messages as spam so they don't count for SS.

The best option in your situation is to create a new, buyer only, Etsy account and keep all your purchases (and purchase related messages) separate from your shop.