Lost star seller due message in from a purchase

[HandmadebyZaraCo]

I bought a doll pattern from my daughter and received a message from the seller with a poor image of my receipt. Totally unnecessary so ignored it. 
Now I’ve lost star seller as they counted that as not replying to a message and I didn’t mark it as spam. 
etsy chat then told me to post here as they can’t help but it will flagged up here. Which I’m quite sure is a joke! 

[OmasFabricStash]

It was a message so of course they counted it as a message. You were dinged because you didn’t respond to all messages or mark it as spam as you are supposed to. Etsy explains it clearly in the rules for Star Seller. 

[HandmadebyZaraCo]

Not clearly enough as I’m here. And this is where Etsy told me to post for technical help! 

silly me! 

[BootifulLabels]

The rules clearly state that all new messages require an answer or to be marked as spam within 24 hrs in order to qualify for SS. It doesn't matter who they are from or what they are about, no-one reads your messages, the system is automated and simply compares the time-stamps for receipt and response to determine compliance. If you mark that message as spam now, it should update your stats within a day or two, but it will not help with the badges already awarded.

If you don't want your purchases to affect your SS status, you have a couple of options.

1. You can use Auto reply to send a "thank you" or an "I'll get back to you shortly" message. This counts as a response for SS, but needs to be reset every five days.
2. You can create a few snippets with various messages and send quick responses that way in just 3 clicks, Snippets/Select/Send.
3. You can create a new, buyer only Etsy account and keep all your purchases separate from your shop.

Number 3 is the easiest option, once your buyer account is set up it requires no ongoing maintenance and you never have to worry about messages from sellers interfering with your SS rating.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

This is a peer to peer forum so I don't know why the chat agent told you to post here. We can't fix this for you.

Star Seller has been in effect for two years. Sellers have been required to respond to the initial message on all messages during that time, regardless of whether they're from a buyer or seller. If you don't want to respond you need to mark it as spam. If you don't respond within 24 hours or mark it as spam, it counts against Star Seller. 

[bradgoodell · Accepted solution]

Etsy Chat sends sellers here because they can't do anything and want to move on to the next Chat.  

They can count on other sellers to do a better job explaining the issue.  

[HandmadebyZaraCo]

Yes this is the only reason I posted this in here as I got the hurry up from the chat agent. Knew it wouldn’t be the case! 

I was a star seller which in my mind has nothing to do with purchase. 

I’ve been schooled by everyone on here and they’re oh so helpful comments! 

I shan’t darken this doorstep again! Silly me! 

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

Etsy needs to train their chat agents better or give them more abilities to actually help sellers.

Yeah, I know that's asking way too much. We'll see how the holidays go with their "24/7 support."

I'm thankful I've only needed to use Etsy support a couple of times, knock on wood. I needed tech help once and I ended up fixing the issue myself. I never got a response from the tech team.

[bradgoodell]

Sorry this caught you by surprise, but yes, you need to respond to all messages, whether from buyer or seller.  In the future, just say "thanks".

If you mark it Spam now, your Star Seller rating may adjust in time for you to get it for October.  But we are very close to the cutoff.  

Good luck!

[JudyStalus]

Etsy doesn't read the thousands of messages sent every day. Sellers are often also buyers. Etsy has no way to know whether that seller was thanking you or asking about one of your products.