A buyer on Etsy accidentally placed an order with my shop. They instantly requested a refund for the order, which came through in the form of a help request. I refunded the order right away, but didn't respond to the "message" as it was just a request. I was docked on my response rate (heavily) because I never typed a message.
I find this to be a super unfortunate flaw in the Star Seller system, as I did what I should have, but was docked for it.
It's not a flaw. The star seller criteria is very clear - respond to all messages or mark as spam.