Message response rate has affected my star seller status

[Omzigcrafts]

I’ve been downgraded from star seller because I didn’t respond to a customer request for a refund within 24 hours. 
I can quite clearly see the customer message and the refund were made on the same day. 
How can this be rectified . 

[CappuccinoLace]

You must also reply to the message.

Refunding and the message you send with that, is not counted as a message response on the message thread.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@Omzigcrafts: "How can this be rectified ." It cannot ...  Did the customer send the refund request as a Help Request? Help Requests always start a new thread and a message on the cancellation form does not count as a reply.

Probably almost everyone on this forum can sympathize with you but as it says right on your Star Seller page, you need to reply to the FIRST message of EVERY NEW INCOMING THREAD for Star Seller. 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.

If the unanswered message is not a Help Request, at least for the time being, it appears that marking an unanswered thread 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.

[bradgoodell]

Was it a "help request"?  This is what trips people up.  You need to respond to the help request first.  Then do the refund.  If you sent the refund with a message, that message wasn't a part of the original "help request" thread.  it is considered a separate message thread.  Etsy won't rectify these situations, sorry.  

[Omzigcrafts · Accepted solution]

Thanks everyone. I realise that’s where my mistake was, I initiated an immediate refund with a message and not on the actual initial help request. 
lesson learned. Although I thought Etsy would have a system where they could link all messages! 

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

That would require them to read the messages and I don't think any of us want that.

[rust2retro]

This also happened to me. A buyer sent a help request to cancel their order. I did that and sent convo telling them that the order was canceled (within the 24 hour timeframe). Somehow, this is a NEW AND SEPARATE thread, so I got penalized for not responding the to help request convo (even though I actually DID)! Now, I won't make Star Seller -- even though I thought I did everything I needed to do! This is WRONG!!!!!

[ShellyBeesShop]

I am not as concerned about the removeable as much as the why. And I was never told it was removed or why. I can move some stuff over to another selling site or fix it, but still a pain in the butt.