Message response rate for star seller

[CreationsByAmber95]

This past months I was not given star seller due to not responding to messages promptly. I received 2 automated messages from people I bought things from and so I didn't respond to them. Because of this I was robbed of star seller for the month of March 2023. Is there not a way for the program to figure out what the different types of messages are and not ding us for something like this?

[ThePurplePuppy]

From the very beginning Etsy has said we must respond to ALL  first time messages. They do not distinguish  between who they are from or what they concern.  IT has been this way since the beginning of Star seller--which was in 2021.

[ChillwolfArt · Accepted solution]

Hi, the way the SS Metrics have always worked; any time you are not the Initiator of a Message, you must Respond or Mark as Spam.  This could include a Message from another Seller about your Order (in my opinion, this is not Spam).  I use the same account for buying and selling.  Should I receive a Message from another Seller, I would Reply, "Thank You" (even before the SS Metrics came out).

Should someone truly Spam me, "Hey, buy my gems 30% off" for example, into Spam it goes.
You may receive a friendly Message from a Seller that you know ("How's it going"?).  The same applies to this.  You did not Initiate the Message, so you must Respond to it or Mark as Spam.

Hope this helps you.

[OmasFabricStash]

You weren’t really robbed, you received 2 messages that you didn’t reply to or send to spam. If you had replied there wouldn’t have been a problem. That’s the way it works and has always been that way. 

[mommawhazelsquilts]

Not a robbery - a giveaway.

[ZillasOldiesShop]

Yeah, I feel your pain. I had a message requesting to cancel an order, which I did promptly. I did not respond to the message - just forgot - since I gave the refund - and got bumped back to 86% which now I won't be a star seller in April. And I do not get messages frequently so no telling how long it will take to be a star seller again.  

[BootifulLabels]

Etsy will not make manual adjustments.  The rules are clear, ALL new messages need a response (or to be marked as spam) within 24 hrs.  The automated system simply compares the time stamps for receipt and response to determine eligibility or otherwise.

If you don't want your purchases to affect your SS status, you have a couple of options.

• You can use Auto reply to send a "thank you" or an "I'll get back to you shortly" message. This counts as a response for SS, but needs to be reset every five days.
• You can create a few snippets with various messages and send quick responses that way in just 3 clicks, Snippets/Select/Send.
• You can create a new, buyer only Etsy account and keep all your purchases separate from your shop.  This is the simplest option.
• Before purchasing, log out and buy as a guest, so that the purchase is not ties to your seller account.