Lost my star seller for not responding when I purchased items

[SarcastiqueDesign]

Hi, I’ve lost my star seller badge for not responding to messages within 24 hours when the reason I didn’t was because I had made an order and that seller had the last word so all was well with the order.

Ive got no real reason to have lots my star seller badge, this must be a technical error. How do I get it back please? 
thank you.

[AnnaleasFinest]

@SarcastiqueDesign,

you have to reply to all INITIAL messages, also if you are the buyer, if you purchased with your seller account,

but you don't have to have the last word, or else, one of 2 conversation partners would always lose.

You find the rules to the starseller system in your dashboard.

As a remedy, some sellers recommended to mark the message that caused it as spam and it should restore the starseller count over night.

In your dashboard:

Reply to the first message within 24 hours

Just the first message in the thread counts, not the ongoing convo.

Messages that you mark as spam don’t count.

Set up an auto-reply when you’re unavailable. It counts as a reply.

Best wishes!

[BootifulLabels]

It is not a technical error.  The rules quite clearly state that all new messages require an answer within 24 hrs or to be marked as spam, regardless of whether they are from a buyer or another seller.  The program is fully automated and no-one reads your messages to determine if you needed to respond, you either meet the criteria or you don't.  

You can set up auto reply for 5 days at a time so that you don't need to worry about responding on those busy days, or you can create several snippets with key phrases that you can use to reply in just a few clicks.

If you don't want the work involved in setting up and maintaining those methods, you can create a new account as a buyer only and use this for all your purchasing activity.  You can use a different browser for that account so you don't need to keep logging in and out of your shop.  

Star Seller is an aspirational program, if you want the badge you have to put in the work to ensure you meet the criteria, it is that simple.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

if you buy from someone, your shop is on their radar,

they could have looked at your shop, and decided to ask a question about one of your items, as a potential buyer

unless etsy reads every single one of the millions of messages a day, they won't know if they are contacting you as a buyer or seller

which is why the rules say you have to reply to each new message thread once - so just follow the rules

it is not a technical glitch, it is working as specified

[BagmakerSupply]

@SarcastiqueDesign: "this must be a technical error" As it says right on your Star Seller page and elsewhere, you need to reply to (or mark as SPAM) the FIRST message of EVERY NEW INCOMING THREAD within 24 hours. It does not matter who sent it, the subject matter, if it is a duplicate or blank or anything else.

"I didn’t was because I had made an order ..." Your Star Seller page even specifically states that "This applies to messages both from buyer and seller accounts." under the section 'What messages count towards the message response rate?'.