Messages incorrectly counted against my Speedy Replies badge, Lost Star Seller

[DiamondArtsEmporium]

After reviewing the CSV there are 2 messages with no response at all, those were adequate for removal of the speedy reply and star seller badges.  Both were counted in error.  I am not terribly clear on what I can and can't post here regarding customer names, contact information, etc.   I can try to do this with initials, and see if someone can understand which persons I'm referring to with the CSV and my message history. 

Line 4 -- from NC -- no message, just an image from a listing on my pattern site.  Waited to see if anything further was going to arrive, one hour later contact from an individual I had already had contact with CR -- confirming she sent the image, she was responding to a second contest that had been posted on a YouTube content providers channel page.  She indicated that she had sent the image, obviously from a different email account, my reply, "Hi ******, Yup, thats the challenge this time, and yes, you're a winner again! I've got your address from the recent mailing label, so I'll get the cover minders out to you , probably tomorrow morning, I'm glad you found my shop too. By the way, the picture you sent, the dog is my FB profile picture....hehehehhee"  Not a first contact, exempt.

Lines 9 (no reply at all) and 10 (previous day contact)  Name on both messages are identical, I had already responded to the potential customer hours earlier regarding a listing I was reactivating because inventory had arrived that day.  Customer was having issues logging into Etsy and sent a frantic message at 230am (customer is PST) and the next morning, I was able to see she finally got logged in, made the purchase, and we communicated more the following day.  Contact from the same individual, regardless of the logging of the message as new, it was not and is exempt, not a first contact.

I would like these messages removed from the calculation and my speedy reply and star seller badges reinstated.  The technical issue is counting messages as new simply  because the customer was not logged into the Etsy account I had previous contact with.  When I was clear on who sent the messages, I deleted them because they were not first contacts and wouldn't be a problem, apparently that was incorrect.

[Adorabilities]

No one here can see your messages or change your star seller status. We can try to help you determine why you lost the badge, though.

I don't really understand what went on in the messages you described, but the only important thing is: did you answer each new message (no matter the subject, sender, etc.) within 24 hours? What does the CSV show?

[DiamondArtsEmporium]

Why would Etsy tell me to post here if no one here can make that call.  What a waste of time.  Thanks.

[BagmakerSupply]

@DiamondArtsEmporium: You can make your own inferences as to why, but support and the Virtual Assistant appear to be trained to send people to the forum as soon as 'Star Seller' is mentioned as they do not have the authority or ability to manually adjust Star Seller stats.

[BagmakerSupply]

@DiamondArtsEmporium: Unfortunately Etsy has been very clear that a seller needs to reply to (or mark as SPAM) the FIRST message of EVERY NEW INCOMING THREAD within 24 hours. It does not matter who sent it, the subject matter, if it is a duplicate or blank or anything else.

[DiamondArtsEmporium · Accepted solution]

The messages were not new incoming threads, they were continuations from a customer who was not logged into Etsy when sending the message, My contact was within an hour or so of this message, just happened to be a logged in message.  It really doesn't matter to post or debate it here, Etsy won't do anything and I'm chasing my tail.  Thanks for the reply.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

@DiamondArtsEmporium  Were they actually continuing in the same thread or were they marked as new even if the buyer was continuing a conversation.  Messages as guest and then messages in an account don't link together.  If the buyer first contacted as a guest and then later under an account the messages would be considered new.   

[BootifulLabels]

ALL newly received messages require a response within 24 hrs for SS.  It doesn't matter if it is a duplicate, or if you think a response is not needed.  You either need to reply or mark the message as spam within the 24 hr window.  Even if your assessment is correct and Etsy has incorrectly counted a message it should not have, the best you can hope for is that Etsy will coreect the calculation in time for net month's badge assessment.  As a rule, they do not retroactively reinstate badges.

[DiamondArtsEmporium]

So perhaps you could point me to a location that I can request the calculation be evaluated?  Etsy says post it here, another reply says no one here can do anything.  I am trying to run a business and someone is splitting hairs -- I've gotten 3 different interpretations of "first message" and I'm guessing there may be more by morning.  I have no hope that Etsy will do anything.  I will continue to operate my business as efficiently as possible, star seller or not, I can't spend hours chasing dead end suggestions from Etsy any more.  Thank you.

[OmasFabricStash]

The call center in a way isn’t really Etsy. Etsy just hired them to answer the phone. From what I have read it seems like they look up a question closest to your question and then just read the response that’s there. 
I think the forums know more about it because sellers with that problem are sent here and we old timers figured some of it out long ago. 
I don’t think I have ever heard of Etsy changing anything on the Star Seller. 

[JHFabricCreations]

I had a similar thing and had to wait out the 3 months for the glitch to drop off and get my star seller back.  I didn’t bother trying to get it resolved because I knew Etsy wouldn’t do anything.

[NoFrogsAllowed]

@DiamondArtsEmporium 

My gut feeling is you do not understand what a new message thread is.  It has nothing to do with first contact.  If someone sends you a message and you reply back and then they reply back, you don't need to reply, however, if they send you a message and you reply back and then they send you another message in a NEW thread (your previous back and forth is not a part of this message) then you have to respond to it, because it is not a part of the previous exchange, even if it is on the same subject, from the same person.   I could message you 10 times in an hour and if I started a new thread each time, you would have to respond to each separate message within 24 hours to maintain star seller.

[LiftRunAndHike]

Hello, i have similar problem. At my end it looks like the replies in mobile app are not counted into the speedy replies. I reply within minutes but i dont see any progress in speedy replies.