Incorrect Response Rate causes loss of Star Seller

[SparkleVita]

Someone wrote us a solicitation in our messages and we did not respond.  This one message too is from 100% response to now 80%.  Are we not protected from spam and solicitation messages?  This seems unfair and an incorrect calculation of score.  Has anyone else dealt with this and how can Etsy assist us in changing our rating?

[WitticismsRus · Accepted solution]

@SparkleVita 

Did you mark the message as spam? If not then yes, it will count against you for star seller. Etsy won't make any changes to the rating or make any changes to star seller bits. Etsy provides tools to manage messages. It's up to us to use them. You can either mark the message as spam or you can set up an auto reply (and reset it every 5 days since 5 days is the max for auto reply)

Note that the new sellers app does not have a button to mark as spam but the older app does and so does the full site on desktop/laptop or mobile browser. 

[FieldsofSpirit]

Yes I recently had the same thing happen to me. Won't get star seller back till next month. It is frustrating for 1 message to take it away for small shops as we don't get that many messages. I have learned you have to mark it as spam yourself or it will count against you as unanswered message. 

[Iprefervintage]

I don't worry about it. I lost my status a couple of times for not responding on the weekend. Although I responded the following day, I just missed the time frame. I'm not convinced customers even look at star status, but pay more attention to our feedback. A late response isn't going to hurt you unless it's a perpetual thing.