Message response

[WatusiBirdSilverWork]

I received a message from a seller requesting a review on a purchase I made from that seller. I had already submitted a review, so I ignored the sellers request. Etsy docked me one star from my five star seller badge for the month of June because of this. I have been going back-and-forth with Etsy via email about this for two days. I cannot get it resolved. Etsy has advised me to reach out to the seller and let them know that I have already responded with my review. That does not help the fact that I will not have a 5 star shop for the month of June. Just plain wrong. How can you dock my shop for not responding to a seller who is asking for a review? How can you dock my shop for not responding to a seller PERIOD??? This doesn’t even make sense. This is clearly an error that needs to be addressed, but I cannot get assistance.

[NanaLetha]

You must reply to ALL messages or mark as spam. There is nothing for Etsy to fix.

[WatusiBirdSilverWork]

I now understand that those are the rules but I don’t agree that there’s nothing for Etsy to fix. I think that should definitely be fixed. I think it’s unreasonable. But that’s just my opinion.

[WitticismsRus · Accepted solution]

@WatusiBirdSilverWork 

"How can you dock my shop for not responding to a seller who is asking for a review? How can you dock my shop for not responding to a seller PERIOD??? "

Simple answer - because that is just how it works. You could have and probably should have marked it as spam and it wouldn't have been counted as a missed reply. Since you didn't it is being counted.

Detailed answer- 

Etsy is pretty clear about how the message response rate is calculated in help center here https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

There is a highlighted bit under message response rate info that says "The Message response rate only applies to the first message in a thread. Initial messages from both buyers and sellers on Etsy are counted towards the Message response rate. "

That means ALL messages. It also means each individual message thread so if someone sends you 5 different messages with 5 questions instead of putting them in the same message chain you need to respond to all 5 of them. The system is completely automated computer program and doesn't know if the message is from a buyer or another seller. It isn't reading each message and making a decision if it's from a buyer or seller.  It just sees a message and calculated the response time. That's just how it works.

The info is also right there on the Star Seller page in shop manager. Just go to shop manager > star seller. Once there scroll toward the bottom until you find "Questions? We've got answers." Then click messages. The very first question there says

"What messages count toward 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."

You can try marking the message as spam now and it should be removed from the calculation in a few days.

If the star is important to you then it may be a good idea to read or review all the info Etsy provides about the star seller program.

Bottom line...you have to either reply or mark as spam.

[WatusiBirdSilverWork]

Thank you for taking the time to break it all down for me. I work a full-time job and have my Etsy shop on the side so don’t really have a lot of time to research things like this any further than I thought I already did. It still doesn’t make sense to me that a seller could message me and ask me for a review and it come through on my Etsy shop account when I actually made the purchase from the seller from a separate account. Which is my buyer account, if you will. Or at least that’s how I thought it was set up because I use a totally different app to make my purchases from Etsy. But anyway, thanks again. I appreciate it. 

[dippeldiundscribble]

@WatusiBirdSilverWork 

„because I use a totally different app to make my purchases from Etsy“

Do you use the same login details for both apps? If yes, you don’t have two separate accounts.

Every new account requires a different email address.

[WatusiBirdSilverWork]

I replied to your comment, but it looks like it posted it as a reply to my post. Obviously don’t know what I’m doing here. But let me try this once again. Thank you for breaking that down for me. I appreciate your help.

and it just did it again. So I’m trying to reply to the original responders comment. And every time I do, it populates, as what appears to be a comment regarding my original post… it even has the button below it to accept as solution. I give up.

[BootifulLabels]

The rules clearly state that all new messages require an answer or to be marked as spam within 24 hrs in order to qualify for SS. It doesn't matter who they are from or what they are about, no-one reads your messages, the system is automated and simply compares the time-stamps for receipt and response to determine compliance. If you mark that message as spam now, it should update your stats within a day or two, but it will not help with the badges already awarded.

1. 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.

2. You can create a few snippets with various messages and send quick responses that way in just 3 clicks, Snippets/Select/Send.

3. You can create a new, buyer only Etsy account and keep all your purchases separate from your shop.

[WatusiBirdSilverWork]

Thank you for the information. I actually do have a separate account as an Etsy buyer and that’s the one I used to purchase from the seller. That’s why I was confused when the message came in as a message on my Etsy shop account.

[AAANativeArts]

This is posted to the forum every day, sometimes multiple times. People need to take the time to read the instructions. It says right on the Star Seller page in your Dashboard that  you have two choices: 1)Respond to EVERY MESSAGE at least once, or 2) Mark it as Spam. 

There is no use contacting Etsy about it, because that is how it is supposed to work, and they won't change  your rating.

If you mark a message from a Seller as Spam, they won't know you did that. If it just happened, you may be able to go mark it as Spam now, and your rating will go back up after a couple days.

[ThePhantomPoodle]

Are you certain this message was in fact from the seller? Etsy hounds buyers unmercifully to leave reviews.  

[WatusiBirdSilverWork]

Yes, I’m certain it was from the seller. I have been in communication with the seller via email regarding the matter. The seller has apologized.

[ChillwolfArt]

In addition, just so you are aware.  You may receive a friendly Message from another Seller ("How's it going"?).  That still counts as a Message you must respond to or Mark as Spam.  Any time you are not the Initiator of a Message, you must Respond or Mark as Spam.  I've always used the same account for both buying and selling.  If a Seller Messages me about an order, I will say Thank You.  Now, if someone says "Buy my gems 20% off" for example, that goes into Mark as Spam.

Hope this helps.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

@WatusiBirdSilverWork It seems you are unaware that in order to have a separate buyer account, it has to be under a new email.  It cannot have a shop associated with it,

So any purchases you make on this account which has a shop requires response.  The other seller did nothing wrong.   

Also to make sure, call messages 'messages' and not email.  It can get confusing if using the two terms interchangeably. 

[WatusiBirdSilverWork]

Well, the messages that I’m getting from the seller now are via email. I have marked their message as spam in my Messenger folder. But the seller is communicating with me via email now. So I don’t think I’m using the wrong terminologies.