Message log issues? Responded to another seller, responded to a buyer with a special order.

[FamilyFineGoods]

Was rather surprised to see star message response rating drop even though I did respond within the same day. I contacted Etsy support about this and they mentioned two conversations. 

One was message was from another seller thanking me for a purchase. I responded but somehow that was not logged as timely. Looking back, both received message and response say "5 days ago". The support person said there was nothing they could do about this. 

Another message was from a buyer with a question. I responded with a special order for items that they wanted. They purchased the items and I shipped them. I am confused as to how setting up a special order is not considered a response? I later thanked them for the order via  message, however Etsy also sends thank you responses when an order has made and again when shipped. 

Etsy chat person encouraged me to setup an automatic reply. I have done so, but this is a lot of inefficient conversation. I am not happy that they couldn't fix the badge for me. Rather bummed that the system works against a shop owner recipient if they don't respond to a "Thank you". (and I DID respond). Thanks.

[NanaLetha]

Etsy support desk has no ability to change anything on Star Seller. The criteria says you must reply to ALL messages or mark as spam. 

[mommawhazelsquilts]

Setting up a special order is not a response.  A response is reading their message and replying to it with an appropriate answer.  It sounds like you need to figure out what messages are and how to respond to them.

If I send you a message that I would like a certain item and you simply create a listing for it - that's not replying to my message.  To reply would be to reply to the message sent with a "yes, I will make a listing for that."  Everything has to be done "within" the messaging system.

If Etsy tried to fix all the SS missed responses (because of non-reading of the rules) it would take a lot of hours better spent elsewhere.

The rules (when read) are explicit and now, the blue highlights make it even more explicit.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@FamilyFineGoods: As mentioned, if you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, you still need to reply to the message.

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. Those have always been the rules.

Subsequent messages from the same account (a buyer may have multiple accounts) are supposed to be combined into a single thread. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory (blue banner on desktop, and a blue dot on mobile) on those messages they consider to be a "new message" but should semantically be called a "new thread".

Help Requests always start a new thread.

Cancellation requests in a new thread must be replied to in the actual message - replies using the cancellation form do not count as a response.

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. Note that subsequent messages from that account may go directly to the SPAM folder.

[FamilyFineGoods]

So I will mark the seller's acknowledgement of my purchase as spam. That is easy to do. Not sure what to do about the buyer who made a request which I answered with a special order. I did not respond with a separate message, The special order included the information they needed. They bought the item and the transaction went smoothly.

[FamilyFineGoods]

My confusion is that the feed showed the special order and I thought that was considered a response.

[HazelsOldiesNGoodies]

That "special order" did not go thru the messaging system.

If I send you a message thru the messaging system (it shows up as an orange dot notification and is highlighted in blue) and ask for a special order, you have to reply to me within the messaging system in addition to making the "special order".

The rules have been clear since day 1 that we have to answer the First Message in a thread.  Sending an invoice for a special order is NOT replying to the message.