Lost my Start Seller badge without being at fault

[QraftedWorld]

2 months without my Start Seller badge, clear impact on my sales, without doing anything wrong.

I have my "Speedy replies" at 94% for a long time because 2 months ago, I messaged a customer and the customer replied by opening a request or something. 

I did not have to reply in 24h as it was not the first message. But because the system counts the request as a new message and I didn't reply in 24h, I got a penalized. 

But it's a snowball because without a badge I have less messages and in September did not have enough messages to recover to 95%. So I will stay without MY Start Seller badge during the next shopping season starting on the 23rd October and Cyber Week. 

Etsy support, "can't do anything" as usual. 

It's nonsense. I've never lost my Start Seller badge before, 100% of my reviews are 5 stars. Did nothing wrong. But Etsy takes away my badge. It does not help sellers even when it's clear this is more a technical issue than anything else.

[anythinggoeshere]

@QraftedWorld  Star seller worked as designed.  You have to reply to every first message in a new string.

[MarioTreasureChest]

Just put the message you did not answer in the junk mail, than that message will not count

[CraftyCornishMaids]

Absolutely do not do that, it was a help request message, which is what refunds are based on.

marking a help request message as spam, when it isn't , is an absolute no-no

[dippeldiundscribble]

Help requests are separate, as they are part of the case system. They always require a response.

Go to your Star Seller page and scroll down to the Q&A section.

https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/me/star-seller

Questions? We’ve got answers. -> Messages -> What happens if I’m getting messages from the same user through multiple message threads?

If messages are appearing in separate threads in your inbox, then as it stands today you’ll need to respond to the initial message of each thread. One idea to help mitigate this in the interim is to set up an auto-reply or to create a Saved Reply for multiple messages from the same user that don’t need individual responses.

[PiecesofMeCardsnMore]

*Star seller

We've always been required to respond to the initial message of a new conversation or mark it as spam in order for it to count towards Star Seller. It's been like this since Etsy enabled Star Seller two years ago.

[ArtByVictoriaSkye]

I made star seller every month as well. Then a customer ordered three items, returned saying none fit and was fully refunded same day, then left two *** star and one ** rating with no explanation.  Refused to answer my messages, too.  But as freaked out (and put out) as I was, losing star seller did NOTHING to affect my sales.  Thus, I no longer worry about achieving star seller. I don't need that Etsy-induced stress.

Also, just to be on the safe side, I reply to EVERY message, even thank you's. And of course I have auto-respond on.

[VintageRescueSquad]

As stated the Help request is a separate message and needs its own response. That is how etsy track's resolutions and is not considered part of the other message threads.

[mommawhazelsquilts]

Sorry, but not answering a help message is a fault - not Etsy's - but OPs.

The rules have been crystal clear from day one.

Isn't there a big blue banner on all messages that count?  There are on mine.

[CandeezApples]

I feel you! This is second time for me losing the star seller badge for reasons that did not happen—Etsy says I did not answer a message within 24 hours—not true and not fair!! Also watched my 5-star rating dip because of a very good review (verbally) that was marked with only one star. Geez 🤷‍