Marking messages as "spam" and effecting Star Seller.

[ShelbyGraffics]

This is ridiculous. My Star Seller status was impacted this month for messages that were legitimate but replied to within the 24 hour time frame. But then Etsy decided to mark it as "spam" so it doesn't count towards you total message response. And after a lengthy and confusing conversation with customer support they told me there's nothing they can/will do about it but complain to the forums. 

So essentially we're being punished as sellers for an algorithmic problem they refuse to fix or do anything about. Has anyone else come into this extremely frustrating/stupid issue with messages? Because it may seem little to them but it does directly effect our bottom line. Star Seller impacts how the Etsy algorithm pushes our sales/stores yet refuses to take acocuntability for an error they caused and seem to continue to cause. Their only response seems to be shrugging their shoulders and blaming us for their mistake. I don't get many messages so one mess up from them severely impacts my status. 

[CryzalisDesigns]

I replied to another message earlier today (9 minutes after it came in) when this person replied again it was in the spam folder. I have taken a screenshot of the times the message initially came in and the time of my reply. (before it was moved to spam by Etsy)

I will be checking my stats in the morning to make sure they are still on 100%, if not I will join you in shouting

Many are now reporting it is affecting their stats

[CryzalisDesigns]

Update:

I have just checked my stats this morning regarding that message from yesterday.

initially it came into my inbox, I replied within 9 minutes from it arriving and remained in the inbox.

When the "person" replied a 2nd time it was obvious that it was spam but the system must have detected this as it was automatically transferred to the spam folder once they replied.

This message thread does not appear on my stats, nor has the 1st reply been registered before it was moved to the spam folder by Etsy.

It has not affected my stats overall as they remain on 100%

So this glitch is not affecting all sellers

[SeasideRoseCreations]

MANY of us have used chat and received different responses.

The response I received was that they are aware and are working on it.

He couldn't manually fix my issue (similar to yours) but said to keep checking my SS status and that's how I'd know it was fixed (site wide).

Hopefully, my rep was giving out accurate info.

[BagmakerSupply]

@ShelbyGraffics: "... Etsy decided to mark it as "spam" so it doesn't count towards you total message response ..." I must be misunderstanding what your issue is, because Etsy not counting the first message of a new thread would only negatively affect you if you needed it to offset new threads which you did not answer or answered late.

[ShelbyGraffics]

So I responded to a legitimate message that was in my normal inbox within the 24 hour window. Then the Etsy spam checker moved my conversation to the spam folder after my response. Because Etsy moved it without permission to the spam folder  I lost that message counting positively towards my Star Seller status.

[BagmakerSupply]

@ShelbyGraffics: "I lost that message counting positively towards my Star Seller status" Have you confirmed using the CSV file on your Star Seller page that the first message in the thread is not being counted? (Keeping in mind that new threads are not included until after the 24 hour reply window has passed and Star Seller stats and the CSV file only seem to updated once per day.)

[ShelbyGraffics]

I did check it, still didn't show up there either. This was the first time the customer contacted me so there wasn't a new thread being created. The person on the Help chat confirmed it was sent to spam and it will not count as a message that was responded to in 24 hours. She also said there was no solution that would be provided by Etsy or ability to have my Star Seller status updated to show the proper number of answer responses. She also also told me the only thing I could do was write on the forum and then she quit the chat. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@ShelbyGraffics: "This was the first time the customer contacted me so there wasn't a new thread being created." This is exactly when a new thread is created. Unless you need answered on time new threads to offset any new threads which you answered late or did not answer at all, this issue will not affect your Star Seller stats.