Message Response Rate

[ErynMakesDesigns]

Hello,

I have just had a frustrating conversation with Etsy chat who advised me to come here to make a complaint.

I had a back and forth conversation with a customer, via Etsy messages. I responded to her initial message immediately, as I have the out of hours reply set up. The customer and I then chatted back and forth while I resolved her issue. She was very happy with the result. Her last message was a thumbs-up emoji. I didn't reply to this because the conversation had come to its natural end and it would have been strange for me to carry on.

Etsy is saying that I failed to reply within 24hrs, even though I replied to the initial message immediately, and as they say, it is the initial reply that message response rate is graded against.

The chat centre person even acknowledged there was an error made by Etsy but that there was nothing she could do to change my rating back to where it should be. 

The only reason I am here is to log this complaint, as the chat support person advised me to do, in the hopes that technical support will read it and look into how these errors are being made.

[NanaLetha]

The last message must have been a new thread.

[ErynMakesDesigns]

Thank you, Do you know how I would know if this were a new thread when receiving messages? There is nothing that sets her last one apart from the others. To me, it just looks like it's another message in our conversation. 

[TheHomespunLoft]

@ErynMakesDesigns 

It looks like your customer started a new thread and that is the one you didn't respond to.. doesn't matter if it was about the same original conversation or not. The rules are ANY convo thread you have to respond to.. if your customer started a new thread-- then that could be how you missed it.

[ErynMakesDesigns]

Thank you, Do you know how I would know if this were a new thread when receiving messages? There is nothing that sets her last one apart from the others. To me, it just looks like it's another message in our conversation. 

Thank you,

Eryn

[GlassyFields]

Had to be a new thread ... that could only come from a different account. (I had that happen yesterday and noticed the same person messaging me from 2 different accounts.)

Now that Etsy has started blocking messages sent to spam ... it's risky, because the buyer might think they've been blocked. I might respond in the thread where you had a productive conversation with 'thanks for the thumb's up - let's stick to this thread for messages'.

It's still a bit risky. I guess it comes down to whether you value the star seller message badge enough to risk annoying a buyer.

[ErynMakesDesigns]

I also thought of se ding it to spam but she's a good customer and I'd worry she wouldn't be able to message me in future.

[JMOldeVintage]

This article from Etsy dated May 31, 2022

https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/exciting-updates-to-the-star-seller/1085067202187

It includes this: "In June, we’ll introduce a new-and-improved Messages experience that will start to combine messages from the same buyer into a single thread."

That said, if the buyer used the Help Request messaging format to contact you (from your OP - "customer and I then chatted back and forth while I resolved her issue.") - Etsy does keep help requests separate from the 'normal' messaging. 

If their first message to you was a help request & then they sent a regular message with the emoji when everything was settled, then yes, Etsy will see that emoji message as one that needs a reply. 

[ErynMakesDesigns]

Thank you, Do you know how I would know if this were a new thread when receiving messages? There is nothing that sets her last one apart from the others. To me, it just looks like it's another message in our conversation. 

Thanks

[JMOldeVintage · Accepted solution]

@ErynMakesDesigns  - From Etsy's article on How to Answer a Help Request:

"These messages will appear with the rest of your Etsy Messages but are labeled Help requests. You’ll also receive an email notification about a buyer’s request for help."

Though of course Etsy is in the process of making a number of changes to the messaging system so things can literally be changing as we speak. 

[ByzantineArt]

It was funny when I chatted with another seller, I'm a seller, he's a seller. I had spotted some photos that belonged to him and asked him not to use them without my permission. He understood, but each of us wanted to be the last message, for SS, of course, and the conversation was never ending. (SS by the way! I'm from Europe and SS sounds sinister to me, I instantly think of WW2).

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

Being the last messenger is not important ..it has nothing to do with SSB.

[ErynMakesDesigns]

Oh no, what a nightmare.

[BagmakerSupply]

@ByzantineArt: "... each of us wanted to be the last message ..." Keep in mind that the Star Seller metric is NOT all new messages but only the first message of all new incoming threads.

[ByzantineArt]

@BagmakerSupply
Yes, I found out in the meantime.  But I still remember how suckers we were, me and the other !
Thank you!

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@ErynMakesDesigns: Have you checked the applicable CSV file available on your Star Seller page to see which new Message threads Etsy thinks were unanswered or answered late? When you look at the file remember that that the dates / times are in UTC (not your time zone), only the first message of a new incoming thread is included (all that counts for Star Seller), and usually a new incoming thread is not included until after the 24 hour reply window has passed regardless of when you replied. Star Seller stats (and the CSV file) seem to be updated only once per day so there may be an additional day's delay. There is also a link to the actual message thread so you can verify if the data is correct or not.

[ErynMakesDesigns]

Thank you everyone for your replies. It would appear my customer's final message must have been sent as a new thread.

Does anyone know, when receiving messages from customers, how I would know if it were a new thread? There is nothing that sets her last one apart from the others. To me, it just looks like it's another message in our conversation. 

Thanks

[DesertChains]

It will have a blue label or be in bold text, I believe.

[NoFrogsAllowed]

@ErynMakesDesigns 

If she contacted you one of the times through help, I can't answer your question, because I have never been contacted through help.  However, if it was 2 separate regular messages go to shop manager and click on messages.  Her name should be in the list of messages twice if there were 2 separate threads.  On the right side of the message there is a small number.  If it is a 1 then you did not respond to that message.

There could possibly have been an error as the chat person said, but then again chat is not always a reliable source of information.

[ErynMakesDesigns]

Okay, I see her name there twice. It's the exact message as one of the ones she sent in the other chat that I replied to so I didn't even notice it. How frustrating.

Thank you.

[ErynMakesDesigns]

Thank you everyone. I have the answers I needed. What an incredibly frustrating system. Hopefully, the changes another seller wrote about will be positive ones that will prevent us from being penalised in situations similar to mine.

[PetandWildlifeGifts]

Only Etsy staff can change this. You would need to contact them from the Help-Contact Us form. I don't know why Chat refers people here as Etsy Staff rarely respond to posts here. The simplest thing would be to go into your CVS and find the one you didn't answer and mark it spam. Then it will likely come off your star seller record in a few days. The customer won't know you marked it as spam.

If it is a new message, it will be in a different convo thread than the original one. If it is the original thread, you should be able to see all the previous messages in that thread above the current one. If that is the only message in that Convo thread,  then the customer opened a new Convo.

[ErynMakesDesigns]

Have you had much luck using the help contact us form?

I used it once when Etsy kept refunding a customer who was trying to pay me for a download but I had no reply.