Gutted I lost my Star Seller badge due to test

[#1]

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?

[JunkLoveVintage]

@BagmakerSupply I don't think so because they say: "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."  

[Adorabilities]

They're right though -- it's not that message that affected your star status, it was a message prompted by that message that affected your status. 

Obviously a message sent by you (really by Etsy) wouldn't affect your star status, so I'm not sure why they mentioned that at all.

Sorry this happened -- it's a ridiculous situation. 

[sharonjenkins1]

I’m sorry, I don’t understand all the hullabaloo around star seller.  It hasn’t been fair from the beginning and still sellers seem to think it’s very important that they have it.  Just a way to cause discord among sellers like the offsite ads.  While I have 5 star reviews, ship promptly, and respond right away to messages, always, I will probably never have it since I don’t make enough sales or revenue to keep Etsy happy.  Does Etsy not realize that we are not in control of how many sales we get?

[maggiemaybecrafty]

There is no way to change that. I lost my star seller due to not enough in sales revenue, the other badges all qualify. Hopefully sales will pick up soon, altough sales have been down for so long it is doubtful it will get any better.

[TastefulArtisan]

I have gotten many of those "sent by Etsy but pretending to be sent by the shop" messages lately. Nearly every shop I buy from but not all thank goodness. It's confusing. My message stream is filled with "offers" sent to people who ordered from me in the last month or so. Color me confused when I saw a message yesterday that said "Thank you for your purchase!"

And it appeared that *I* am the one who sent it. That order was from 3 weeks ago! I'm sure that client won't be returning because it make me look desperate and idiotic.

I get the reasoning behind it but it's misleading at best. Looks like spamming and that always has the opposite effect. 

Turned all offers off. Had disabled coupons quite awhile ago due to coupon scrapers.

If I am wanting to offer a discount, which I rarely do, I would prefer to do it myself. The whole affair just smacks of desperation and not a great look for Etsy shops.

[DragonflysDance]

Honestly, I disagree with the system.  I work so hard to make sure everything I do is exactly as it should be.  I, as a CUSTOMER, asked a seller a question about shipping.  I received an automated message, assuming she would get back to me as her message stated.  She did not and I forgot all about it (since it wasn't a question of great importance).  I lost my star seller rating because I did not reply to the automated message.  What was I supposed to say?  Thank you for not answering my question?  Thank you just in case you decide to answer?  Did she get penalized?  Just because she had an automated message, she got a pass and never answered my question - which in my opinion is NOT good customer service.  She won and I lost.  How is that fair?

[Amaradorn]

@DragonflysDance are you sure it's definitely related to that message? You should not have your response rate reduced for not replying to the reply, unless it somehow started a new message thread. Maybe something is broken.

[FleursEnFrance]

I am sorry for you and sorry for myself. I reply to every message, new or 2nd time around within the prescribed time and I always ship well before the due time and both my badges for these criteria dropped below the threshold. There must be something wrong with their algorithm. I do not know how to contact Etsy to rectify the situation. I will never get all three badges at this rate. I believe it is very frustrating and discriminatory. Let’s know how you get on.

[SunnytyDE]

@JunkLoveVintage  I'm sorry that happened to you. Can I ask if the 'you're welcome' from the customer opened a new message thread or was ist within the first one? Was there a blue banner on top?

I ask because I still have the offers turned on and I do get a bunch of replies thanking me for the coupon but I don't usually respond unless they have other questions besides. And so far that hasn't counted at all.

Did you download the CSV to see if it was actually that particular messages that did this to your star seller?

I wish you many sales ( and messages to make up for that one) and I hope you get it back next month.

[SugarTaffySoap]

@JunkLoveVintage   75% seems rather low for one non-reply message. Did you download and review your message history to make sure that's the only non-reply message?

You can request a call back through your shop manager dashboard (eastern time) and also move the reply message to Spam since it wouldn't make sense to reply to a "You're welcome" message. 

[JunkLoveVintage]

@SugarTaffySoap I think 75% seems accurate with four messages total, one not responded to within 24hrs. Thanks for the suggestions.

[SugarTaffySoap]

@JunkLoveVintage  Thanks for your reply. Can you clarify? 

"lost my Star Seller badge this month over one message that did not warrant a response." (thank you coupon message)

Your original post says you responded to the other messages within 24 hours > so I still don't understand why it's at 75%. How do the responded messages factor into your lower percentage?
 "I got a 75% rating having responded to four other messages within 24 hrs." 

[JunkLoveVintage]

@SugarTaffySoap Sorry! I had 4 messages total; I meant to say I responded to 3 in 24 hrs. I can see why that was confusing!

[MadewithlovebyNtouka]

Try to mark that message as "Spam", so it won't count any more. At least that worked in tha past.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

I  really wouldn't do that,

they are already a customer, if they contact the seller again, that message will go straight to spam, they may lose a sale, or worse, get a case opened against them, that they miss

It's really not a good idea, to mark your real customers messages, who have bought something from you, as spam, they aren't, and it can come back and bite you

[MadewithlovebyNtouka]

I thought it is only that mail marked as spam, and not all further mails from the same customer.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@MadewithlovebyNtouka 

it's all future messages from the customer, 

just like e-mail

[IDEASBYNANA]

I’m getting the same problem! They won’t do anything about it!

[SugarTaffySoap]

@CraftyCornishMaids  My spam places a number next to it indicating there is a message in spam. I don't remember it doing that before so maybe it's something new.  I usually re-visit my spam anyway just in case. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

You do need to be on top of it, as, if you don't reply to the help request, and they open a case, the buyer is automatically refunded , whatever the situation

[PersonalizeStation]

"This will move the message out of your inbox and into your Spam folder. However, you will continue to receive emails about new replies in that message."

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000343128-How-to-Handle-Spam-and-Suspicious-Messages?segm...

I'm reading that as sellers who are opted-in to receive emails for all things shop-related will still receive an email that a message has been sent (spammed or not). 

While I could not find this in the handbook, I have known sellers to receive messages after marking as spam when a new thread has been started.

Help requests come in as new messages and do not link to previous messages. This has been the case for me, at least. 

I'm not saying I'm for or not for marking any and all messages as spam. I'm simply relaying general information. 

[CarpetCollectionAU]

Email "Spam" depends on how the email inbox is configured. It has nothing to do with Etsy Message "Spam".

If you rely on email notification to alert you to new Messages, it is highly probable that you will miss a new Etsy Message because marking a sender as "spam" in Messaging does not mark it as "Spam" where the email notifications are concerned.

[FeltWithAHeart]

Don't "be gutted". I've seen etsy shops with the Star Seller badge that are doing everything against what the rules say you need to get one, so how much can it really mean? Especially if it has so many sellers nervous about every little thing they do in running their own shops.