Message response - as a BUYER? star seller

[LazyTcrochet]

I didn't think anything of it when I left feedback for a gift I purchased. The seller sent me a message, glad they liked it etc.

I didn't reply because I didn't think I need to.

Now it's set me at 67% message response. LOL

This is ridiculous. I set it as spam, but I don't think that will matter at this point.

[BagmakerSupply]

@LazyTcrochet: Probably everyone in this forum can sympathize with you but as you will see by the innumerable threads about the exact same issue in this forum it is not likely to change.

Etsy has been very clear and consistent about messages / convos from the very beginning of the Star Seller program. Just to clarify so people don't think they have to respond to every message and it will be a never ending loop: 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. Help Requests always start a new thread. By the way, if you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, you still need to reply to the message. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory on those messages they consider to be a "new message" but should semantically be called a "new thread".

If you have not yet done so, you might want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

[JackisJustVintage]

From the Star Seller page:  Your message response rate is based on just the first message in a conversation, not ongoing conversations. This means you just need to respond to the first message within 24 hours. This applies to messages both from buyer and seller accounts. Messages from Etsy staff do not count toward your response rate, and neither do messages that you mark as spam. You can also now find a breakdown of your message response rate score by downloading a CSV.

[ModFabio · Accepted solution]

Hello, and welcome to the Etsy Community Forums!

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!

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