Message Response Rating wrong

[GnarledBirch]

Hi - my message response rating says that I only have a 93% because one of my messages wasn't responded to within 24 hours. The customer that messaged me had messaged me twice, once directly and once via a help-request. I responded to the help-request immediately, but it is still dinging me for the first message. 

Can you please correct this so that I am not disqualified for Star Seller?

[Adorabilities]

You can mark the original message as spam, but it most likely won't change in time for the badge tomorrow. It won't count against you next month, though.

[JackisJustVintage · Accepted solution]

All messages need a reply or they need to be marked as spam. Doesn't matter where it originated. It is the way it has always been, as bots cannot tell that it is a duplicate. You can try marking as spam now, and your rate should improve in a day or so. It may be too late for this month.

[RocktheJewels]

I had a similar issue, where the Customer sent me a message on day 'A', so I responded within a few hours. Then I received the Exact Same message on day 'B', But this time Etsy put a note on Top of the message about how the Customer could open a Case if I didn't respond Quickly.

Well when I went back to my Messages to see just what had happed to the First message, it was Gone..... I keep All my emails though, so contacted Etsy help and sent them the 2 snapshots of the Separate emails I Had responded to. With the 'new message system' being put into place, I expect there Will be glitches.

Tonight though, just for a whatever, I checked my Star Seller Badge and sure enough, my 'message response' went from a '100' to a '98'. Good thing I'm only concerned with things I Can change..........

[BagmakerSupply]

Also @GnarledBirch these forums are seller peer to peer, not a way to contact Etsy if that was your hope.

[GnarledBirch]

Thanks for the info. The help center said that if there was a mistake on seller rating to post it here to technical support... Not surprising it's not actually an Etsy support forum.

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

There is nothing for anyone to correct.  There is no mistake to fix.

The program is running exactly the way it was designed to run.  The mistake or problem is that too many sellers failed to read the rules and thereby did not conform to what they didn't read.

All messages need to be dealt with either by answering or sending to spam.

[hopeandjoystudios]

I think they tell people to come here just to get rid of them. They won't fix SS data even if there's an actual glitch. They just want people here to deliver the bad news that it is not a mistake and tell you to spam it. Not sure why they don't just say that themselves. 

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

Does anyone actually know the amount of time you have to spam something before the strike becomes permanent on your account?

I have heard that you have to send it to spam within 24 hours but then other posts suggest that it's an indefinite amount of time.

Would be nice if Etsy would clarify this so that we don't keep telling people to spam it if it is too late and doesn't do any good.

[hopeandjoystudios]

it is more than 24 hours but not sure how long, I know you can even spam it in the next month but then it won't retroactively give you a star. Once the month closes, that is that. It will come off your 3 month total though.

[mommawhazelsquilts]

Good to know although I don't plan on deliberately ignoring any messages!

[GnarledBirch]

I marked it as spam as you guys suggested and today my rating is back to 100%. That message was from several weeks ago.

[mommawhazelsquilts]

Also good to know but I suggest answering - just to be polite!

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello there,

Since all incoming message threads count towards your Response rate, we'd recommend replying to duplicate message threads with a response along the lines of "I'm responding to all questions in the original message thread." This will help to keep correspondence in a single thread. Just be sure to respond to each thread within 24 hours so that they count positively towards your score. Sellers are re-evaluated on the 1st of every month, so in case you won't obtain the Star Seller badge for the month, your shop will have opportunities in the coming months.
 

We understand that multiple or duplicate message threads can be challenging to manage. To help with this, in June 2022, we introduced a new-and-improved Messages experience that will start to combine messages from the same buyer into a single thread. You can learn more about that and some other exciting changes here.

Additionally, messages that are marked as spam cannot retroactively give a seller the badge. As an example: you missed the ability to get the badge on July 1st because of the spam messages, and then on July 2nd, you go back and mark these messages as spam. You still won't get the badge for July but the spam messages won't count on your current review period and you may be eligible for August 1st.

Thanks!

[SupplyEmporium]

I have downloaded my messages so far in October which is giving me a 94% reponse rate with 8 NOs.

ALL of them with the exception of 1 which is a customer responding to MY message to them with a corrected shipping address, are requests for cancellation.  I put a message in the cancellation box CANCELLED PER YOUR REQUEST.  Some of those 8 answered back, and yet, a 94% rating.   I would like Etsy to please review them and change rating accordingly.

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello there,

We suggest using the Forums' Search function prior to posting (just be careful to not bump an old thread that hasn't seen any activity in the last months/years), as questions regarding the Star Seller Program have been extensively covered by our fellow members since its launch, as well as our official Star Seller Guide, which contains in-depth answers to some of the more common questions regarding Message Response Rate, Shipping, Local Pick-Up, Digital Orders, and other topics. You can check it out here:etsy.com/starseller.

Having said that, and since this thread does not pertain to a technical issue, it will be closed to prevent it from going off-topic.

Thank you!

[BagmakerSupply]

@SupplyEmporium: As has been covered in innumerable threads in this forum unfortunately Etsy had made it clear that they will not manually adjust Star Seller data. The Star Seller metric is that the FIRST message of a NEW thread must be replied to within 24 hours. It does not matter who sent it, the subject matter, if it is a duplicate or blank or anything else. If it is SPAM then it should be marked as such.

At least for the time being, it appears that marking an unanswered message as SPAM (even after the 24 hour deadline has passed) will cause your reply percentage to change in a day or two if the original message was within the current star seller period.