Missing Etsy Message + Reply From Message History Download

[OghamArt]

I had a message plus reply on October 30th that did not make it to my message history download.  It was a first-time message initiated by a potential buyer and I replied while it was still October 30th (in any/all U.S. timezones).  I know the last day of the month doesn't count toward the Star Seller progress but there are 31 days in October. 

It's now November 3rd and the message still has not appeared on my message history download.  Has anyone seen this before?

I have been a Star Seller since the program began, earning the badge as soon as I was eligible.  I missed one message last month due to COVID and a death in my family so this missing message from the 30th would have made the difference. 

I appreciate any feedback while I think it's a little lame for Etsy to tell us, " If you think your Star Seller score was calculated incorrectly," complain about it to other sellers who can't do anything but commiserate.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

It depends on the time zone you are in when the changeover to the 1st.  So it can be 1 day or 2 days.  It can be 36 hours. 

Etsy uses UTC time for the star seller program.  So the message on the 30th may not count for November but will count for December. 

Also depending on how many messages you get, getting one new message may not bring the average back up.

[OghamArt]

Thank you for your reply.  I finally see the "missing" message with my December messages. 

[WitticismsRus · Accepted solution]

@OghamArt 

"  I know the last day of the month doesn't count toward the Star Seller progress.."

It's actually the last 2 days for messages according to help center. Also note that star seller bits are in UTC time zone not any US time zone which means the system could be counting it as the 31st if it was later in the day and it was the 31st in utc time.

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller-?segment=selling

"Messages sent on the last two days of the 3-month review period may be excluded from the current review period and counted towards the next period instead. This is to allow Sellers a full 24 hours to respond and not be penalized for messages received late on the final day of the review period"

Its highly likely that the message from the 30th wasn't counted for last review period but will be counted in this current review period (the one that awards stars on Dec 1st)

I had a similar issue early on in the program with a review that was submitted on the last day of the month that should have fallen off the calculation with the new period but didn't because it was submitted on the 1st in UTC time. It took me weeks of back and forth with etsy support trying to get help with it before someone finally told me it was because of the UTC time zone issue. While the review was dated on the last day of the month it was submitted later in the day and in UTC time it was the 1st.

I know it's super frustrating especially since they fail to mention the time zone issue anywhere in the star seller info (at least they had not the last time I reviewed it)

[OghamArt · Accepted solution]

Thank you so much.  I read so many articles but missed that one!  The "missing" message also just showed up tonight.