Etsy DOES know when a first message to a seller is from a purchase

[ZehOriginalArt]

Perhaps this has been discussed and I missed it, but I always see people say that Etsy has no way of knowing if a message is from another seller or from a buyer. When sellers are also buyers, they do indeed know as I found out this morning. I received a nice thank you message from a shop I purchased from. The email to me about this message says nothing about me having to respond, so I can see how sellers think they don't have to respond, especially if no response seems needed. But being a forum regular, I know better, so I came to check my messages.

Lo and behold, the message has both the banner across the top of it saying they are reaching out for the first time and I must respond within 24 hours to show my top notch customer service, and also the banner across the bottom of the message saying "Need help with your order? Send the seller a help request..." So much for the fact that Etsy does not know.

I see this as a technical issue. It would be helpful for Etsy programmers to look into this and remove the requirement for sellers to respond to messages from sellers they have purchased from. I know I could set up a buyer-only account, but that is inconvenient for many especially if they have multiple seller accounts. What do you think?

[BriarMoonBeads]

Hmmm that sounds like extra effort, Etsy don't like that LOL I think they'd just as sooner leave it and keep us all on our toes in answering convos, buyer or seller. After all a swift message can lead to a sale, and Etsy likes sales.

[ZehOriginalArt]

@BriarMoonBeads 

Ha! Yes, Etsy likes to keep us on our toes.

[FeltOnTheFly]

I just think that it’s not that difficult to respond to any message. 

[ZehOriginalArt]

@FeltOnTheFly

I agree that it's not difficult to just respond with a few words. I do happen to know that I will need to respond, but seeing the email, even I almost did not think to do it.

One must actually know that the message requires a response. If a seller is busy and does not go beyond seeing the message in an email, it can be very easy to overlook. This does not reflect in any way on the shop's customer service, yet it affects their customer service score.

[dayspringcollectible]

There are numerous things like this that Etsy knows the difference but chooses not to address it.  They prefer to do the simplest program they can that accomplishes what THEY want or gets them off the hook.  They prefer to put all the responsibility on the seller rather than take any themselves.  

It is the same issue as their bot removals.  Their own figures show that literally 95% of them are false and have to be re-instated.  That is a lot of extra work they wouldn't need to take if they just programmed the bots correctly in the first place.  But they prefer to do things in a way that takes extra work on our part.  Maybe they are afraid we'll ignore our shops if we don't have to constantly contact them about something.

[ZehOriginalArt]

@dayspringcollectible 

Yes, this appears to be the case. They do sometimes fix things... eventually. I am remembering back when Etsy actually used to ask sellers for input and if something seemed reasonable, they would say that they needed to wait until the next big change to do it which only happened maybe twice per year. Perhaps it is still that way and why it can take so long.

[BagmakerSupply]

@ZehOriginalArt: The "problem" is deciding the nature of a message. What about a situation where someone who you have purchased from subsequently buys from you and sends you message. Is that then a message from a buyer or a seller? The "solution" would be for Etsy to read every one of your messages and guess. How many threads would there be in this forum that "some bot incorrectly classified my message"?

[ZehOriginalArt]

@BagmakerSupply 

In that case, if the seller bought from me, I would not get that message about Needing help with my order. Which would show that Etsy knows the message is not about me buying from some other seller.

Since Etsy does know, it would be ideal for this to be fixed, because it impacts the buyer/seller's customer service score and it should not.

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

What is so hard about replying to a message?

I, myself, find it much easier to go along with the rules than to try to get Etsy to change them to suit my purposes.

I find it much easier to answer a message than it is to post in the forum.

[ZehOriginalArt]

Thank you for your thoughts @HazelsSewingSupplies 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

Etsy doesn't know what the message is about, they could be saying

- thank you for your purchase, now I've seen your shop, I think xxxx is lovely, can you add 2 rabbits to the nursery painting, instead of the turtles?

[ZehOriginalArt]

That is something I had not considered, but does that really happen? And how often, if it does, I wonder?

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@ZehOriginalArt 

It doesn't really matter how often

with millions of buyers, and millions of sellers, it will happen

no person at etsy reads all the messages, the bots say it's a new message thread, so you have to reply

[ChillwolfArt]

Before the Star Seller came out (and after), I've always used just one account as a Seller and Buyer.  And when a Seller Messaged me about my order, I would just Respond Thank You (or something similar).  So when the SS Metrics came out, nothing changed for me in that respect.

I do have concerns however, about the still large amount of new Sellers coming to the Forum, and reporting being scammed thru Messages (links within them). 

[ZehOriginalArt]

@ChillwolfArt 

Yeah, the ongoing scams are still an issue. I thought that the warning in messages would help, but since that is new and took a while to be rolled out, it may be those who have been scammed had not seen it yet.

[PriddeyThings]

I genuinely don't see what the problem is.  It takes 30 seconds to say 'thank you', 'you're welcome' or whatever is appropriate and you're done. In the time it's taken me to read this thread and type this, I could have responded to 10+ messages.  I'd far rather have it the way it is than some complicated programming to ascertain the exact nature of each message, which would result in dozens more threads here about how this person was, in fact a seller not a buyer etc ad nauseam.

[Girlfriendnecklace]

Honestly I don't even know anymore if having a star seller badge help that much but it's clear you better have a buyer account and a seller account. If you buy using your seller account don't ask any question otherwise the seller will answer on and on until one give up. Any Etsy should repair this issue. 

[PriddeyThings]

That's not how it works. You just need to respond to the first message of each new thread. The rules are clear and have been on the star seller dashboard for over 2 years.

[ZehOriginalArt]

@Girlfriendnecklace 

I agree that it can be simpler for some to have a separate buyer account to make things easier.

Etsy does not actually make you keep responding, though. Only to the first message and in that case, you will get a banner to notify you it is the first message right on the Etsy message. This does not seem to appear in the email, however.

[GlassyFields]

I've had buyer's reach out with a new request that is NOT needing help with their purchase.

And have buyer's who send me a Help Request that is really a thank-you. I have to assume they just clicked on the Help Request button because it was there - not because they needed help.

My preference would be is for Etsy to stay out of our shops - not attempt to interpret what something means based on a couple snippits of information.

In the meantime, I'll respond with a smiley face or whatever else is appropriate.

[ZehOriginalArt]

@GlassyFields 

I think from reading some of the posts that I failed to explain what I was talking about very well.

What I am saying is not messages from buyers, but messages from sellers to me, as a buyer. As we know, Etsy expects all first messages to be answered if you are a seller, regardless if you are the buyer in this case. And many sellers have said it's because Etsy does not know when a message refers to me as a buyer or seller.

But they do know. That is all I am saying.

When I look at the message I got from the seller I purchased from that exhorts me to answer within 24 hours at the top of it and then at the bottom tells me I can open a help request for my purchase it is just so obvious that this could easily be fixed without any further interference in our shops on Etsy's part.

[GlassyFields]

@ZehOriginalArt

You're right - Etsy knows if the message is from someone who has purchased.

And I think you explained it fine. It just got me thinking about what Etsy doesn't know - whether or not the message requires a response.

[JDTotesnDolls]

Sorry to burst bubble but when I get an message from another seller when I have bought something I get the same message about responding to the message as if it is from a buyer.

Programming for this would be a something I would not want Etsy to spend time on.  I can handle the incoming responses I get from other sellers.  I would rather Etsy spend time on other things much more important. 

[BootifulLabels]

Star Seller is fully automated.  It only looks at accounts with shops.  It doesn't differentiate between your selling activity and your buying activity.  As a seller every message counts for SS.  If you choose to use your seller account to buy from others,  that is your choice, but the automated system won't make allowances for that.  In business you have accounts receivable, and accounts payable, and those are generally accounted for separately.  If you choose to mix them on Etsy, by using one account for both, that is your choice, but it is not Etsy's responsibility to then separate them for SS assessment.  

The best solution is to keep your purchasing activity on a separate account purely for buying.