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

[#1]

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?

[RoMarVintage]

Same issue just happened to me, as a BUYER (of a personalized item), not as a SELLER . . . "Star Seller" status not awarded for Dec. '23, even though I DID respond to the Seller, through my personal email . . . 'Seemed abjectly redundant to answer 2X! . . . Good. Grief, Etsy . . . Good Customer Service goes BOTH ways!!!

[CraftyCornishMaids]

you need to respond to the message thread, not personal e-mail

etsy won't know if the seller, as now found your shop, and is asking about something in  your shop, or about the item you bought from them.

so the bots check you have responded to each new message thread

so do it, like it says on the tin.

[thePaperFramer]

So???????  They don't care. As long as they have a rule that says "respond to ALL FIRST", you have to respond. Doesn't make a diff if they know it is from a buyer or not.  If you don't like it, create a separate buyer's account. If your purchases are personal, not business, your accountant will thank you. You can then ignore all messages and not affect your SS.

[RoMarVintage]

Yup, lesson learned ;II BUT, what an awful time, THE busiest shopping season of the year, to remove a Star Seller status . . . UGH!! I'm small potatoes and keep things simple . . . Again, lesson learned ;II

[GlassyFields]

mark the message you got dinged for as spam ... ss stats will recalculate.

not sure if you'll get a badge mid month but it's worth a try

[BagmakerSupply]

@GlassyFields: "not sure if you'll get a badge mid month" Star Seller star and badges are calculated and awarded only on the first of the month.

[junkbay]

The Etsy message system is far from perfect. I was tagged for failing to respond to a first reach out, when in fact I did respond and the message they tagged me on was the second message from the buyer, same day. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

If the second message came through a "help request" it's in a different message thread

It is separate, as it starts the clock ticking for a case to be opened,

you have to reply to each new message THREAD

[CuriousityShop]

I got a seller "thank you" (That assumed I knew nothing about Etsy) and just responded with "OK".

[AAANativeArts]

Whether they know or not is irrelevant. If you don't respond at least once to ALL messages, whether it is about something you bought or a duplicate post, they are going to count it against you. Only messages that you mark as Spam don't have to be replied to, or messages directly from Etsy themselves. It says so right on the Star Seller page and also in the Handbook.