I have an auto reply set up but I was still marked as not replying in time for 1 message. Now that 1 message cost me my star seller status.
What were your settings?
Auto reply is not permanent. It's only good for the amount of time set.
If you are saying the message shows an autoreply being sent than marked as no reply on 5 star contact Etsy support to resolve. If no message was sent its likely it was outside the timeframe of the autoreply
I believe if its a 'help' message, you have to respond yourself, auto reply doesn't count for that? I wish Etsy would EXPLAIN things in a better way and we didn't have to guess.