Message response clutch

[BumblePatch]

I am writing to report an issue with the star seller messaging KPI. I received an order from a customer, they messaged me to ask if I could send to a different address, but they then sent a second message with exactly the same question. The updated rules of the star seller messaging KPI say that you now no long need to reply to every single message, as long as you answer the earliest message the customer sent. I responded to the first message received within an hour of receiving it, but didn’t respond to the second message as it was a duplicate and the new policy stated this is not necessary. The second message has been recorded as an unanswered message and I have not received star seller for December (and it will also affect Jan and Feb). I realise now that this is because the customer started two separate messages, but the new policy suggests that a reply to the second message is no longer required.  I am a bit miffed and can see that it’s an error that other sellers could easily make, but there’s no right to appeal. I think that messages from buyers should automatically be grouped to the same thread as they would with iMessage or messenger etc, to avoid the situation of buyers sending multiple messages, which could trip sellers up when they take great care to offer quick replies. 

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@BumblePatch: Were the two messages in the same thread or two different threads? "The updated rules of the star seller messaging KPI say that you now no long need to reply to every single message, as long as you answer the earliest message the customer sent.". It does NOT say that.

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 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.

If you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, you still need to reply to the message.

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.

[BumblePatch]

Thanks for your feedback. Etsy suggest that any feedback about Star Seller issues is left here. I already acknowledged that I misunderstood the meaning in the policy, I wasn’t asking for you to prove this to me. Although you have changed some of the wording to bold and capitals, they are not written like that in the policy, so it’s not as blatantly obvious as you have suggested. I wasn’t asking for advice from users, just pointing out to Etsy that there may be a need for a tweek in the way the messaging collates into a thread, so that others aren’t caught out like I was. This is how Etsy advise I should leave feedback on the subject. 

[WitticismsRus]

@BumblePatch 

I know that the phone support and live chat support folks tell you to post here for help but it's just us sellers here. The live chat and phone call back support people are just a call center folks. They are very very limited in the issues they can help with and pretty much just repeat what's in the help center articles. Unfortunately the Help Center article says the same incorrect thing- to post here.

Here is the link https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

it says "Etsy Support can’t make changes to your Star Seller data or manually award Star Seller badges. If you think your Star Seller score was calculated incorrectly, you can let us know in the Technical Issues forum."

But they changed this to a peer to peer support forum a few years ago so it's just us sellers here sadly. Occasionally an admin will pop in if there is a major issue going on but generally it's just us sellers. If you need more help from etsy support you will need to contact them again but this time use the email option. That is the only one that will get you to an actual etsy employee vs the call center folks.

[BagmakerSupply]

@BumblePatch: The prime culprit is the way that Etsy words things - our intention was only to clarify and help anyone who may stumble upon this thread.