Message response rate incorrect on my star seller

[SRQPlants]

I have been in communication with a customer already. Then Etsy docked my response rate percentage because there were two separate message threads. 

I was in full communication with the customer through an already existing message. I should not be getting docked star seller percentage when my communication with my customers is superb. I also dont believe in sending the same message through multiple threads or spamming my customers.

please advise on how to have this corrected so it does not affect my star seller/ business.

[PalettePoint]

I'll one up you. I made a purchase from another seller and they sent me a thank you message. Because I didn't reply to the thank you message within 24 hours, my response rate dropped....

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

The rules for responding to messages have been set out on the star seller dashboard for two years.  To answer these two points raised:

1. You have to respond to the first message in every new incoming thread, even if it's from the same person.

2. Message from both buyers and sellers count towards the metric.

If you don't follow the rules, your percentage will drop. 

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

I have to ask - what is so hard about this that so many people fail to understand it?

This is the only one of the 5 that we can control.  Surely we should be able to control that one thing!

I, for one, find it hard to be sympathetic in these cases.  Be polite - answer the  message - it's really not that hard to do.  That's one of the things we learned in kindergarten - be polite.

[LynnsLittleShop]

you can try sending the message to spam ( the customer won't know this) and in a few days it might bring your number up but no guarantee. The rule is basically you must answer first messages from anyone, customer or not, within 24 hours. 

[hopeandjoystudios]

Put the extra message in your spam folder and it will come off your totals in a couple days. Note in the future you need to respond to every new/separate from the original message or spam it. If it is a customer. I'd just reply Thanks or answered in other message. The message bot sees every new message as a message, It does not differentiate that it is from someone you are already conversing with  or another seller or it is a message to you as a buyer or it is spam..you need to sort that yourself.

[SRQPlants]

Hazel, I dont find your response to be polite. You clearly are trying to attach some silly dig or insult of my intelligence regarding my kindergarten education. But ill be polite to you in return- I hope someone is nice to you today, have a great day!

To the rest of you, thanks for your helpful responses. You are appreciated.

[mommawhazelsquilts]

I'm sorry you took my response that way.  It was not necessarily aimed to you - it's aimed to all the others that come daily to the forum wanting Etsy to "fix" their stats when it's really so easy to do this 1 part of star seller.  We have no control over the other 4 but this one thing we can control and it's not hard to do.

The rules have been in effect for better than 2 years now.  It has nothing to do with our intelligence - mine or yours - it's whether we read the rules and live by them or we don't.

Hopefully in the future you will note the blue message and realize that we have to reply to them.

Back in my day - late 1930s, there was no kindergarten so it was just a reference to things that we learn while we are young that we should carry with us the rest of our lives.

I meant no offense - hopefully your stats will improve with time.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

@SRQPlants @PalettePoint    The rules on this are clear.  It is stated drectly that all NEW messages have to answered, either by a written reply or spam.

Etsy does not distinguish between buyer and seller.  So all NEW messages must be handled as above.

The rules are clear on this and easily found in the shop manager.

[dippeldiundscribble · Accepted solution]

@SRQPlants, @PalettePoint 

Go to your Star Seller page and scroll down to the Q&A section.

https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/me/star-seller

Questions? We’ve got answers. -> Messages -> What messages count towards the message response rate?

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.

Questions? We’ve got answers. -> Messages -> What happens if I’m getting messages from the same user through multiple message threads?

If messages are appearing in separate threads in your inbox, then as it stands today you’ll need to respond to the initial message of each thread. One idea to help mitigate this in the interim is to set up an auto-reply or to create a Saved Reply for multiple messages from the same user that don’t need individual responses.