Message response rate

[RachaelLeeDesigns]

I have been getting so many messages from random people with incorrect spelling wanting donations for school fares. I was under the impression that if I marked them as trash it would not affect my star seller rating. It definitely has and now I am going to lose my badge! 

Are others experiencing this issue and how do you flag these messages without losing your rating

[TheWestcountryWitch]

You need to mark them as spam. Deleting them/marking them as trash doesn't count. I also use the automatic message system which saves me having to always have my phone handy to mark such messages as spam. 

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

Read the rules again.  It says to "spam" the messages - not send to "trash".

It would help so many if the rules were just read so that they know what to expect and what to do if they want this purple badge.

[SVGRox]

Yep they definitely need to be marked as spam it would also be helpful if Etsy allowed sellers to report spammers or block them as I guess they don't have resource to sort these messages out.

[audreytherese · Accepted solution]

If you are using the app you will not have the 'mark as spam' button. You need to do this on a browser. Because as everyone else pointed out, they do need to be marked as spam and not trash to not affect your rating. 

[bradgoodell]

Go back, pull them out of the trash and mark them Spam.  Your account should adjust in about 24 hours.

You can also sent up a snippet that says a polite no, along with a message that says that soliciting on Etsy is against Etsy's policies and also violates the CAN-SPAM Act.  Then when you get those, you can just click the snippet and be done with it.