Gutted I lost my Star Seller badge due to test

[JunkLoveTreasures]

Ugh I am incredibly upset to have lost my Star Seller badge this month over one message that did not warrant a response. A customer sent a message that said "You're welcome" in response to an automatically generated coupon that was sent to her. I got a 75% rating having responded to four other messages within 24 hrs. Had I known I needed to respond to this messages I most certainly would have!

Does Etsy ever give a one-time pass for something like this? I feel I'm being unfairly penalized due to Etsy testing sending out thank you offers, and specifically says it WON'T affect Star Seller stats. A little misleading don't you think?

[anythinggoeshere]

The rules are clear that you have to reply to every new message.

[bradgoodell]

Sorry no, no passes.  

[JunkLoveTreasures]

@anythinggoeshere @bradgoodell 

Well I think it's pretty crappy considering this message from Etsy at the top of my Messages page:

Your thank you offers are being sent in Messages

We’re testing a new way to send recent buyers your discount, so you may notice some messages that were auto-sent for you. These messages won’t affect your Star Seller stats.

[bradgoodell]

Not disagreeing with you.  

[BagmakerSupply]

@JunkLoveTreasures: "These messages won’t affect your Star Seller stats." Maybe in typical Etsy-speak they mean if you receive one it will not affect your stats if you do not reply.

[CatsBeadKitsandMore]

I got one of those messages too, they are ridiculous. I answered 'TY'. Easy enough to do, I wasn't sure it needed to be replied to but did it anyway. Better safe then sorry.

[PersonalizeStation]

Etsy's at fault. They should have made it clear and worded it in a way such as BagmakerSupply did.

Knowing the SSP guidelines, even I assumed any messages to or from for that test would not count....simply because Etsy was not transparent. 

Would I have responded, yes. I wouldn't have taken the chance. And no, I'm not blaming anyone who wouldn't respond based on Etsy's wording. 

ETA: Sorry if someone already asked this, but did the customer respond directly to the message that was sent or did it come through as a new message? 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

The messages don't affect star seller,

but if the person replies, then you have to respond, use an emoji

[JDTotesnDolls]

@JunkLoveTreasures   The buyer sent you a thank you for the coupon so you needed to spam or send a reply back.

As sellers are also buyers, the incoming of a coupon to the seller means no answer is required and will not affect star seller.  This is not the same thing as the buyer sending you a thank you.  A totally separate and new message that required an answer/

[anythinggoeshere]

That is a new feature and now I will have to remember to add that exception to my posts.

[PillowDetails]

Sorry that happened, it happened to me at the very beginning with multiple messages from a Seller I purchased from.  Luckily, it should never happen to you again, because now all first-time messages that require a response are highlighted in blue, and have a blue dot on the app.

And don't feel so gutted - come back in a month and tell us if it made any difference in your sales.

[BootifulLabels]

If the buyer replied to a message that is sent by Etsy through your account, that reply doesn't count because YOU (or Etsy on behalf of you) instigated the message.   However, if the buyer didn't actually reply, but started a brand new message thread to say thank you, it would count, and there would be a blue banner on their message in your inbox to tell you it needs a response.  Messaging is the one matrix that you can completely control, check your messages twice a day, and when you see a thank you message, listen for your grandma's voice in your head saying "if someone thanks you, always tell them you're welcome."

That said, the word "gutted" should never be applied to the Star Seller program, it simply isn't worth getting emotionally invested in it.  Your shop and reputation will not fall apart just because you didn't get a silly badge.  Especially when in some cases, achieving the badge can mean actually reducing your usual levels of customer service.

[JunkLoveTreasures]

@BootifulLabels From my understanding Etsy gives preferential treatment to Star Sellers. Sales are bad enough this year WITH a Star Seller badge. It's upsetting to lose it, and with it much needed sales. 

[BootifulLabels]

Etsy's definition of "preferential treatment" is spurious at best.  The advantages you get with the badge are largely psychological. 
EG: one supposed advantage is priority access to chat support, which is hardly a priority when I can get the same on most help topics, and I have had the SS badge once only since its inception.  Another is the peace of mind that you won't get hit with an account reserve, but I have seen several forum posts recently from puzzled sellers who got hit with a reserve despite having the badge.  There are no tangible search advantages to SS, think about it, they can't put every SS shop ahead of the pack for placement in search, there are far too many.  Any "boost" you might get from the badge will be negligible.  

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@JunkLoveTreasures Whilst the advantages (or lack of) for any Shop with a SSP Badge may be questionable, one thing is certain and that is that SSP may give a Shop some level of "protection" where the Payment Account Reserve is concerned.

In the past, many have advised to "ignore the silly purple star" but the Badge/s are important because they indicate that the Shop is being manages according to Etsy TOUs and Customer Service expectations.

When Shops with SSP Badges are placed on "Reserve" there is usually another, very pertinent and obvious, reason why SSP was not enough to "protect them.

Whilst, personally, I lose no sleep over the SSP itself (as there are just some things which are sometimes beyond one's control) I would never downplay the regard in which another Seller holds it or their aspirations to achieve and maintain it.

[PinkBirdCottage]

I get how you feel because I too lost Star Seller due to one review. Buyer left glowing words but only one star. I did ask buyer if they meant to leave one star because it didn't line up with their words. She said she thought she did leave 5 stars and wrote me back to say she made sure she went back and hit all the stars....... but alas it's still only one star. Bitter pill to swallow especially before Christmas on something I did nothing wrong for. I even reported the review asking Etsy to please look at my messages from buyer because this is a mistake they can't rectify but Etsy still wouldn't/couldn't change it. I hate losing that Chat button. Oh well I have known from the beginning it's nice to have Star Seller but it's a very inequitable system on a number of levels. 

[JunkLoveTreasures]

@PinkBirdCottage That's awful! I'm so sorry that happened to you! A month is a long time to wait to get your Star Seller badge reinstated. Many sales could be lost during that period of time.

[PinkBirdCottage]

@JunkLoveTreasures 

Thank you, due to reviews dropping off every month it's likely I will lose SS for 3 months till that single 1 star drops off. I don't have enough sales to absorb it. There are worse things out there but I do get it's ok to be frustrated at life's bitter pills sometimes. We just can't stay in the frustration!  Onward and upward. Wishing you tons of sale. 

[Amaradorn]

I'm sorry that happened to you. But it is what it is - I don't think Etsy make any exceptions to the rules. I expect the person that received your coupon was another seller and so they replied because they didn't know it didn't count for star seller - but unfortunately (as you have found out) the reply did. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of that if Etsy continue that test.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

I hope you immediately cancelled those coupons.

Because that is what will make Etsy take notice of the problem, not posting your issue with it to us.

[GlassyFields]

@PinkBirdCottage

I had a glowing review with 1 star from a long time repeat buyer that I frequently message with. The buyer said they weren't able to leave 5-stars. I contacted Etsy - and they offered to fix the review. Before they could the buyer fixed. I do think that that it's worth asking Etsy to help when the buyer is clearly saying that that they're trying to leave 5 stars and can't.

[GlassyFields]

I don't like Etsy using our accounts' messages. Feels very intrusive.

But I can think of several hacks that minimizes the damage to star seller message response badge.

1. Set up auto reply so that all messages get an auto-reply.

2. Send the messages that you missed responding to within 24 hours to spam. Star seller will not count these. It works retroactively. I've seen it take days to update though.

3. Stop using the coupon codes.

[JunkLoveTreasures]

@GlassyFields Great suggestions, thank you!

[cutiegirlie]

great suggestions.  I look thru all my messages daily and if there are any that appear unanswered, I simply add a thumbs-up or heart.  It just takes a second.