BE AWARE: Star Seller message penalty

[TheKitchenImp]

Ah, yes. In its further quest to determine that the rules for us do not apply to them, I've just discovered that - despite the fact that we are penalized if we don't respond within 24 hours - Etsy WON'T COUNT responses that sellers make to messages 24-48 hours before the end of a month. So if you're teetering on the edge of 95% and a few customers contact you, Etsy will not count them and you'll lose your badge.

I'm so dang tired as a shop owner who's been on Etsy, and making money for Etsy, for over a decade, of Etsy taking advantage of us. Their rules are capricious and inconsistent. The ironclad rules that apply to us do not apply to them. They do not respond easily or promptly. We cannot count on flexibility or helpfulness. And when we provide wonderful customer service, we're sometimes penalized anyway. They could be making SO much more money of of sellers if they were less punitive and rigid. I know so many wonderful, successful small businesses who have decided that Etsy is just too much hassle and doesn't justify the work required. They leave and go elsewhere. We are beginning to wonder if they're correct to do so.

Edited to add: when I attempted to post this, I received the ridiculous, prudish message, "You used a bad word, d*mn, in the body of your post. Please clean up the body before posting." What delicate flowers. "Bad word"?!? What are we, preschoolers? As if this site doesn't market sex toys and all sorts of items containing expletives. So silly.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

The information is posted someplace about the last two days.  I have read it but can't find it at the moment.  Etsy works on UTC time so the last two days of the month aren't taken into account for next month but do appear for the next three months for the following.  So the two missed days don't count towards January but will count for February. 

This is the way the program has worked for months.  If you have not read the information on it, it does help to do so. 

Yes the system is designed to request certain words be changed.  Frankly even though I have sworn at times, it is good that it does so.  Not everyone likes swearing and we should be writing posts for all to read and not be offended. Swearing without a real good reason and this is not one of them in my less than humble opinion is just tiresome at the least.   

[TheArtfulTwig]

@TheKitchenImp 

I feel your frustration.  I didn't realize that help requests open new message threads, and replied to the message within minutes on the convo thread of the order so I could see what the buyer needed.  Etsy dinged me because I didn't reply on the new message thread. I had read that messages and order convos were being merged, so I thought I was fine until I got a prompt from Etsy to reply to the help message (which I had already responded to).

It felt stupid to have to reply to the buyer twice just to meet Etsy's communication response requirement.  And in the end, because of what you posted about month end message replies not being counted, I lost star seller status for the first time because they didn't count those last few messages at the end of the month.  

@ArtDollsbyJD 

It's OK to learn as we go, but Etsy clearly states on the star seller status page that they are counting messages from the first of the month to the last of the third monthly  period, with no mention of UTC time.  Their communication is misleading to sellers.

[SimpleTreasuresLAURA]

I was qualifying for the Star Seller even up until yesterday, it was telling me I was on track. Then today I check and it dropped my percentage 2% and I haven't even had any messages since yesterday. Clicked on the link to see  and it only showed 2 months of messages, not three, so it didn't count the 8 messages from October?! I am so frustrated with Etsy and that Star Seller badge...even when I qualify, they take it away?!

[TheArtfulTwig]

@SimpleTreasuresLAURA 

Exactly!!

And there is no recourse on Etsy's end, even if the error is on their side.

[Former_Member]

@SimpleTreasuresLAURA You have the star this month.  It counted your messages from October.

You must be looking at the current period.  October fell off for the current period.  The current period is November 1 to January 31 for the February star.

[audreytherese]

It says you're a star seller for January though, so I assume it just hadn't finished calculating (it says to give it 24 hours after the turn of the month to finish). 

[audreytherese]

Ah, as Zinnia mentions, sounds like you're looking at the next period already (which is issued February 1st, and only has 2 months and 1 day of data so far). 

[audreytherese]

It also works the same with orders at the end of the month. If you have a processing time of 3-5 days and receive an order on the 28th and ship it on the 30th before the month ends (as I've seen people close to the 5 order/$300 minimum, hopeful to get their counts up, do), it's not going to count because the formula only looks at the last ship by date, which would be in the new month. 

[WitticismsRus]

The info is here in the Help Center

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller-?segment=selling

"Messages sent on the last two days of the 3-month review period may be excluded from the current review period and counted towards the next period instead. This is to allow Sellers a full 24 hours to respond and not be penalized for messages received late on the final day of the review period"

[TheArtfulTwig]

@WitticismsRus 

Thanks for sharing this.  I do find it entirely misleading, though, since they state on the Star Seller status page that they are counting messages through the end of the 3rd month.

For January's status, that showed as through December 31st.  However, they did not count the messages I responded to on the 28-31st so I lost my status for January.  I'm also aware of the UTC time issue, which is misleading to sellers.

To add insult to injury, I just now got an email from Etsy saying, "You didn't earn Star Seller for the month of January – but we're here to help you get back on track"

I was on track, they just didn't count the message replies that they stated they would on the Star Seller page.   At a minimum, it's misleading.

[TheKitchenImp]

If they actually wanted to "allow Sellers(sic) 24 hours to respond" then they'd exclude the last 24 hours only and not the last 48 hours. It's a bookkeeping thing on their end and they're just using that as an excuse.

[BagmakerSupply]

@TheArtfulTwig: Yes - they say all messages within the three month period but haven't you noticed that that do not specify anywhere if they use the message date time, the response date time, or the closing of the 24 hour reply window (which appears to be sort of the case). Our guess is that is in fact when they run a periodic update for messages that are past the reply window. And they don't clearly indicate that all dates and times (and subsequently the stats) are based on UTC not the shop's time zone.

[TheArtfulTwig]

@BagmakerSupply 

"And they don't clearly indicate that all dates and times (and subsequently the stats) are based on UTC not the shop's time zone."

Exactly! Nor do they mention the fact that they stop counting the replies prior to the last day of the time period stated. 

You only find out after it's too late.  This is especially rough on relatively low volume shops because it takes a lot of messages or sales to make up something they judge non compliant.

[WitticismsRus]

@TheArtfulTwig 

Yes, the whole thing is a mess of inconsistencies, missing or misleading info and just plain false information provided by etsy. It's a mess and they really should take some accountability for the mess that they have created and either fix it or scrap the entire bad idea all together. 

[OneEyeCatStudio]

"I'm so dang tired as a shop owner who's been on Etsy, and making money for Etsy, for over a decade, of Etsy taking advantage of us. Their rules are capricious and inconsistent. "

So ignore it.

Their rules could certainly be called capricious and inconsistent. And sometimes badly rolled out and badly managed.

I try to give the very best customer service I can to the people who like my stuff enough to buy it, and that is all that matters to me. And probably to them.   I don't need no stinkin' badge!

[TheKitchenImp]

Except so many of their capricious rules/decisions cost me money. And at the end of the day, much as I love this business of mine, I ain't doing it for free!

[CuriosAnCollectibles]

I doubt many buyers give a flying fig about this SS badge.

As for "Swearing" - crikey just how sensitive are the adults around here?

I had a post removed years ago, because I referenced the legendary highway man D*ck Turpin! Yet Etsy manage to act in the same way by taking sellers money on the pretext of looking after buyers. Double standards IMO. 

[TickleYourWitch]

There’s no reason why they can’t either cut off stat gathering at the 28/29 officially OR wait to award SS until all data is in. The current system is unclear and, if the forums are an indication, must results in dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of help calls at the first of each month. What a waste of support resources! And who pays? We do. 

[TheArtfulTwig]

@TickleYourWitch 

@WitticismsRus 

Couldn't agree more! In my case, they cut off well before the end of the month.  More than 24 hours.

Yes, either state it plainly or wait until all data is in so there is an accurate accounting.  

As for buyers caring about the SS badge, I'm a buyer as well as a seller, and I totally take notice of whether or not a shop is a star seller.  Now that I've lost my badge over an Etsy technicality that was not made well known, I will give more leeway to shops without the badge.