Message response rate....

[XquizitPrints]

I was contacted by a customer with a message that they opened...You need help with: I accidentally placed an order....Your ideal resolution: refund.   They also sent me an actual message through my store straight after.   I responded straight away to this message.   As I didn't respond to the initial return request, this has gone against my response rate for being a star seller.

This is not fair as I did respond and it would be non sensical for me to have responded to both messages with the same message.

I have spoken on the live chat and the person I spoke to told me that they can't change it.

So much for AI.

[PillowDetails]

Mark the unanswered message as spam.  In the future, all first-time messages must be answered, or marked as spam.  I've been seeing a blue banner - on laptop, and a blue dot on the apps - for first-time messages.  Hopefully this will avoid these issue for Sellers concerned about the Star Seller messaging metric.

[XquizitPrints]

Ok thanks.  I replied to the message with thank you before thinking I needed to at least reply to it, although it is a couple of weeks old.   I've clicked spam but it does nothing.   

[PillowDetails]

I did the same thing, the first few months that SS was out.  I buy a lot on Etsy, and there were several Sellers messaging me multiple times with delays and updates.

[DesertChains]

Your rating may take a couple of days to update.

[PillowDetails]

@DesertChains  I did the same as the OP (last year) - I didn't answer a message from a Seller, then answered two weeks late, then tried to spam it - didn't work.  Possible that's changed, but I don't think spamming a message that was already answered late will adjust for the SS.

[DesertChains]

@PillowDetails 

It worked for me.

Once, and only once, I missed a message. My rating dropped below the required threshold. I responded a day late and then sent the message to spam. My rating went back up.

[bradgoodell]

Star Seller takes 24 to 48 hours to update.  It isn't instant.

[HtoHdesign · Accepted solution]

Hi There,

The response rate includes duplicate messages, blank messages, or messages sent in error so if a member sends messages through multiple threads, sellers should respond to each thread within 24 hours, directing buyers to the main message thread for discussion. Unwanted messages may be marked as spam.

Marking unwanted messages at later date will not retroactively change the score from the previous evaluation.

This month of July we started a new-and-improved Messages experience that combines messages from the same buyer into a single thread. You can learn more about this and some other exciting changes here.

Thanks!

[FallenAngelBrass]

@HtoHdesign said:

"Marking unwanted messages at later date will not retroactively change the score from the previous evaluation."

Does this mean that marking as spam past 24 hours no longer changes the current percentage or does this mean that marking as spam does not change this month's star seller award?  

[HtoHdesign · Accepted solution]

Hey there!

Messages marked as spam cannot retroactively give a seller the badge. For example, one seller missed the ability to get the badge on July 1st, and then on July 2nd go back and mark old messages as spam. They still won't get the badge for July but may be eligible for August 1st.

The new change for messages will combine messages from the same member buyer or seller into a single thread. The only exception to the single-thread rule is when a buyer reaches out via the Help With Order flow, at which point a new thread will be created and clearly labeled as such.

Thanks!

[OneEyeCatStudio]

"This month of July we started a new-and-improved Messages experience that combines messages from the same buyer into a single thread."

So this is just buyers, right?
Not other sellers, friends, spammers, etc?

[cutebutton]

I had something weird happen.  Someone sent me a message like that and I responded to that message.  But the weird part is that my response showed up as a new conversation and then the original message that I responded to showed up as not responded to.  Luckily I noticed it and I just went back and put a "." in the other message which weirdly allowed me to respond to it that time.  I don't know if it was a glitch or what.

[HollywoodMemes]

I had the exact same experience, Replied to the customer but there was another message in the inbox with  the same question, asking to cancel the order. I replied within the hour. but never replied to the customer in the other message...it's a shame that they can't change our status or manually unmark a message response...it all happened on @HollywoodMemes, my shop. It would be nice to have our message response rate removed after each month. It seems unfair, that there is no resolution for this very simple problem. If I would have known I would have replied to it. I hope Etsy one day finds a way to oversee this problem, or at least be able to manually correct the problem. 

Mitch.

My Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HollywoodMemes

[printsbyjaneshop]

I received a random message from a shop I purchased from three years ago, offering me a 10% discount. It seemed like spam to me as it was a promotion for THEIR shop and not at all related to my shop. I didn't reply, and then my message response rate dropped, affecting my Star Seller rating. I don't receive messages often enough to get my response rate back above 95%, so this spam message basically just lost me my Star Seller rating for 3 months. Super frustrating that Etsy can't exclude messages like this from a seller's response rate! I shouldn't have to reply to spam or random offers from other shops to keep my own shop ratings up. 

[bradgoodell]

@printsbyjaneshop 

You don't have to reply.  If it was spam, all you needed to do was mark it as spam on Etsy.  If you do so, Etsy removes it from your response rate.  That is what the "spam" button is for. 

Sorry you didn't know this.  

[BagmakerSupply]

@printsbyjaneshop: If the unanswered message is not a Help Request, at least for the time being, it appears that marking an unanswered message as SPAM (even after the 24 hour deadline has passed) will cause your reply percentage to change in a day or two (but not retroactively) 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.

[printsbyjaneshop]

@bradgoodell thank you! I did mark it as spam and even spoke with Etsy support but they did not tell me that, basically just said I have to reply to all messages to keep the rate up. I wonder if they didn't agree that the message was spam. Anyway, I'll see if this works. Thanks again!

[printsbyjaneshop]

@BagmakerSupply thanks for the reply! Etsy support didn't inform me of that, but I'm hoping that solves it!