Messaging - Star Seller

[MMCreationsVB]

Extremely bummed that I lost my star seller status this month.  I was under the impression based on an email from Etsy that the messaging had been “streamlined”.  When customers send multiple strings, I responded to one and not all.  Don’t make that mistake!  Each message string counts, even if it’s from the same customer, same day, minutes apart. 🥺

[NanaLetha]

I respond to all messages or mark as spam.

[MMCreationsVB]

I definitely was doing that prior and will continue to do that moving forward.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@MMCreationsVB: Probably everyone in this forum can sympathize with you but a quick search would show you the innumerable threads about the exact same issue in this forum.

The Star Seller metric is that the FIRST message of a NEW thread must be replied to within 24 hours. It does not matter who sent it, the subject matter, if it is a duplicate or blank or anything else. If it is SPAM then it should be marked as such. Those have always been the rules. Subsequent messages from the same account (a buyer may have multiple accounts) are supposed to be combined into a single thread. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory on those messages they consider to be a "new message" but should semantically be called a "new thread".

Help Requests always start a new thread.

If you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, you still need to reply to the message.

Cancellation requests in a new thread must be replied to in the actual message - replies using the cancellation form do not count as a response.

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 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.

[MMCreationsVB]

Apologies, this is the first time using this forum.  I have no clue how I even got to the forum except by continuing to click “more help”.  I will continue to brush up on my skills here.  I have no clue how to search… but I will try to figure it out!

According to the updates via email from Etsy:

“We made it easier to stay on top of your messages by updating the Messages experience so that messages from the same buyer are combined into a single thread. To earn your Star Seller badge you still need to respond to initial messages from buyers within 24 hours, but in fewer threads than before.”

A message from the same buyer with the same information was counted as two separate messages.  I guess I misunderstood.  Lesson learned.  I will go back to being that annoying seller who over messages!

The customer was happy and left a raving review.  I guess that’s really all that matters at the end of the day!

[PrimFun]

@MMCreationsVB    Etsy did try and implement this but there are still flaws in the program.  As you have found it is best to resume answering or spamming first messages.  When Etsy introduces anything new it is best to err on the side of it may not work until you are sure it is working.

My understanding is there are colored dots that indicate messages combine.  I think someone said it is blue.  I seldom have messages of this nature so I may not be remembering correctly. 

As a 3 year member of Etsy, have you read the Our House Rules?  Learned about the shop manager and how to use Help?  It is a lot to learn but when I started I spent time learning the ins and outs of Etsy as well as keeping abreast of anything on the dashboard and in any articles.  I know it is daunting even if only on Etsy a few years.  The emails are not quite enough.  It's always a good idea to read the nformaton the email is based on.

I'm sure you can get your star seller back. You still have badges for two of the metrics.   

[MMCreationsVB]

Thank you!  Yes, I always try to research things.  But, clearly I dropped the ball here.  This is the first time I’ve encountered an issue. 

[TheTrollGardenShop]

This exact thing happened to me today and I've been crying about it all day......I worked so hard to be a star seller.  I talked to someone on chat about it and no one would help me.