Being harassed by Etsy to leave reviews

[GreyhoundCleyhounds]

Has this happened to anyone else? For quite some time Etsy stopped annoying me to leave review for purchases there even though I have made purchases over the months from fellow Etsy sellers. I thought good, they stopped pestering customers. Today I saw 10 on the bell in my account and I thought cool ten sales! Nope. Ten requests to leave reviews. UGH! I really think this is something they should not do as it can really annoy people. Well it does me anyway. I will leave a review when I can. And maybe I was not happy with something so rather than lie and rave about it, or hurt a small business, I choose to say nothing. I do not like having large numbers near my "bell" not knowing if it is sales from my shop or just being harassed to leave reviews. This had not gone on for I would say months, and not it is back again. Anyone else have this situation?

[audreytherese]

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/Forcing-Reviews/m-p/137357118

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/Forcing-reviews/m-p/137442470

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Is-leaving-reviews-for-purchases-is-mandatory-now/m-p...

[UniqueGiftOrnaments]

This is something new and yes, most of us have it. Very annoying, but the orange can stay there as far as I'm concerned.  First they go after the buyers for reviews and now us. It never ends.

[ThePurplePuppy]

Has this happened to anyone else?

NO--it has happened to EVERYONE else!  Etsy's now standard procedure

[MaynardMillinery]

As 5 star reviews are a mandatory metric for the SSP then of course they want as many reviews left as possible.

Unfortunately, this is backfiring as less than happy buyers are feeling compelled to leave a review on something they might not have done and therefore dropping the sellers Star rating by leaving less than 5 stars because Etsy said they "should do". 

[SimpleSilverAndGold]

@MaynardMillinery 

I recently had a VERY good customer go from guest to member back to guest in fairly short order. I suspect Etsy's harassment was the cause. I'm fortunate she didn't blame me, and is still buying.

[ruthkim]

It's almost as if nagging and pestering doesn't work.

[Former_Member]

Is it a test?  I don't have it on my bell, but I do have the reminder on my purchases page.

[UniqueGiftOrnaments]

That's it. You do have it.

[Former_Member]

Thank you.  I rarely look at that page unless I'm checking for shipping updates.  As long as it stays there and they don't start annoying me anywhere else, I'm fine with it.

[Former_Member]

Update.  Today I have the annoying number over my profile.

I need to remember to use my buyer only account, or to check to see if the seller is selling elsewhere before purchasing.

[LuckyCharmsUSA]

etsy is encouraging buyers to leave reviews and at list for my shop this practice paid off because I noticed lately an unusual increase in reviews for my shop. This all started after I got a 100% score for shipping on time and 98% on responding to convo under 24hr (which initially was like a poor 88%) . My reviews score was 92%  and after the avalanche of reviews it finally today got the 95% I needed to qualify next month to be a star seller.

lets be honest if etsy allowed me to ask customers for reviews I'd do that with each customer, so instead they are doing it for me and its convenient for me. Is it going to deter customers from shopping on etsy ? I doubt it! I believe etsy has its finger on that pulse and they will adopt accordingly.

[Adorabilities]

All reviews won't be 5-star reviews, though.
It's better not to get any, than to get 18 5-stars and 1 4-star review.

[MaynardMillinery]

Yep, best not to poke the bear. You won't get the 5 stars you were after! 

[GreyhoundCleyhounds]

If you reached out to ask me for a review it would annoy me. When Etsy does this to me it annoys me. I buy frequently on Etsy. Sometimes if I am less than thrilled I just say nothing at all rather than hurt a shop. If I had a big issue I would message the seller for resolution. Now Etsy keeps at us to leave a review. I do not want my customers bugged to leave a review. If they want to, they will. Usually if they are really thrilled they do! If they are not I prefer they message me to solve any concerns rather than trash my shop for all to see, and bring down my stats. Well just my opinion. Everyone has different feelings about things.

[TheDancingCrystal]

As a buyer I am ok with one reminder for a review. After that I consider it harassment. As others here mentioned if I don't review an item there is a reason.

[StonesAndLeatherUS]

Ya good idea, make the customers mad. I wished they would spend time on removing all cheating lying shops that are mass resellers of alibaba. That stuff makes the customers mad too. Etsy is pushing the customers away in more ways than one.

[dayspringcollectible]

I would call up Etsy and tell them you are reporting harassment.  When they ask for details, tell them it is THEM.

[PristinityJewelry]

So, so annoying!  I imagine it annoys customers too.  Many customers probably think it is the individual sellers prodding them...and I definitely do not like the thought of a customer, now in an  "annoyed" kind of mood, writing a review.  Seems counterproductive.

[dayspringcollectible]

This discussion on reviews is interesting.  A couple mornings ago I woke up to three of my reviews being gone, just disappeared.  I don't know which ones since no notifications were sent, but my total number of reviews was three less in the morning than it was the night before.  I've never had that happen before.  No idea what is going on, but it makes me wonder if it is somehow connected to Etsy's harassment.

[ruthkim]

I've had at least 10 reviews removed with no notice.

[FeltWithAHeart]

It doesn't bother me in one way, because I do always leave reviews. But it does bother me that it keeps up, because yes, if a customer isn't one to leave a review in the first place, they might think it is us, the sellers, who are bugging them, and that could backfire against us, which is totally unfair. A lot of times when I get a review way after the sale, I wonder if they just did it to get the harassment to stop. 

[ChantillyAvenue]

I don't know if they've been switching it on & off, but it went away for a while & is now back with a vengeance.  I'm just ignoring it.  I click on the bell occasionally, just to make sure I'm not missing any messages, etc.  But I'm not leaving any reviews until they turn this crap off again. 

[ViennaSugar]

Same here. I'm also not making any new purchases through Etsy. I already found two of the shops I regularly purchase from who have their own sites so I can still buy what I need.

[CatsBeadKitsandMore]

I ignore most of etsy's 'helpful' suggestions.