Merged messages feature did not apply to one of my threads.

[NndoHuni]

I sent a message to my customer to Thank her for placing an order and she replied on a new thread which was not merged to the original one. Now the message is counting as not responded within the 24hr period. To: technical support, I'd appreciate it if you can fix this issue. Thank you!

[ChillwolfArt]

Hi, We are other Sellers here in the Community; we can't do anything do fix this, sorry. And I'm sorry to say, Etsy won't either. The way the SS Metrics work; you must respond to every Message within a Thread, where you are not the Initiator in that Thread. And you're right; because your Customer started a new Thread to respond to you, it still requires a Response (or Mark as Spam). 

Just for future; you may one day receive a Message from another Seller whom you are friendly with ("How's it going", for example). That still requires a Response (or Mark as Spam), because you did not Initiate the Message.

Hope this helps you in some way.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

not all messages from the same person are merged

"help requests" are separate, as they start the clock ticking for the 48 hours to open a case, so they have to be separate, and they have to be replied to.

Etsy says reply to each new message THREAD, so just do it.

[NanaLetha]

They will not fix it since the buyer started a new thread. You should have replied.

[BagmakerSupply]

@NndoHuni: Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done. The Star Seller metric for messages is very simplistic and binary - either you replied to (or marked as SPAM) that first message of a new incoming thread within 24 hours or you did not.

As mentioned, not all messages are merged into the default thread with that account. For example, Help Requests ALWAYS start a new thread.

"To: technical support, I'd appreciate it if you can fix this issue." Just so you know, even if Etsy Support or the Help Pages sent you here this is a seller peer to peer forum, and should not be considered a way to contact Etsy, if that is your hope (although Etsy does sometimes read and reply to posts).