Messages to me as a customer not a seller being included in my response rate

[TheRecycledHeartLady]

Hi - this has probably been covered before, but I seem to be being penalised for not answering messages that have been sent to me when I have bought something from Etsy - for instance, when I have bought something and they are thanking me for leaving a review - so I don't feel these should be a reflection of my customer service to my customers - is there a way to report this to Etsy - I work very hard to give excellent customer service and don't want to lose my star seller rating.

[AAANativeArts]

They always are. You have to answer ALL convos, or mark them as Spam. It has always been that way.

[WitticismsRus]

@TheRecycledHeartLady 

There is really nothing to report. That's how etsy has it set up so it's working as intended. 

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 and doesn't know if the message is from a buyer or another 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.

[UniqueGiftOrnaments]

There is nothing to report to Etsy. We need to answer EVERY new message, or put it into spam

[CatsBeadKitsandMore]

Read what it takes to become a star seller. It's all right there.

[BirdsongEmporium]

This seems to be taking so many sellers by surprise but it has been this way from the very beginning. So many sellers clearly don't follow the forums because this has been reported and discussed so many times. Etsy expects ALL messages to receive a response within 24 hours or be marked as spam. There is no distinction made as to the seller being a buyer.

To avoid this issue, sellers can either create an account that they only use as a buyer but they would have to identify that account in the profile bio of every other Etsy account they have. The easier step to avoid any accidental messages as a buyer coming to a seller account is to be sure to log out and make purchases as a guest.

[DesertChains]

Etsy knows. They designed it this way. Whether right or wrong, the program has worked this way for nearly a year!

Send the message to spam. Your stats will update in a day or two.

[bradgoodell · Accepted solution]

It's no fun to be blindsided by this, but as the others said, there is nothing to report.  If you want to "clean your slate" you can mark the message as spam and within 24-48 hours Etsy will remove it from the count.  

In the future, a simple "thanks" is all it takes.  If that is too much to do, your only other choice is to mark as spam.