My Star Seller Rating is Wrong. How do I dispute it?

[MGsCustomCreations]

My rapid response rating is low because of one message that says i did not reply within 24 hours. That was a message that did not require or need a response. Because of this I don't qualify for star seller status. I need this fixed.

[anythinggoeshere]

Your stats are not wrong.  Even if something does not require a reply you either have to reply or put the message in spam.  One or the other.

[MGsCustomCreations]

The message was a response to a question that I had asked. Thats why I'm disputing it. It is a legitimate mistake on Etsy's part and there should be a way to correct it.

[BagmakerSupply]

@MGsCustomCreations  :  If you sent the first message in that thread and the response was in the same thread, then you are correct that it is an error. Are you basing your post on the appropriate CSV file (in case Etsy thinks it was some other message that was not responded to)?

Unfortunately, Etsy has made it clear that they will not manually adjust Star Seller statistics but (at least in the case of tracking) the Etsy people who read this forum have been able to correct the underlying data and then Star Seller auto adjusts itself.

Hopefully one of the Etsy people will see this post and look at your message history.

[PristinityJewelry]

To qualify for star seller, *EVERY* message must be responded to.  Or marked as spam.

[GlassyFields]

mark the message you didn't respond to quickly enough as spam. Your stats will update ... may take a few days. 

[MGsCustomCreations]

I guess I'll have to do that, but it's a shame that I have to do that to get it removed.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@MGsCustomCreations: Based on your post, there is nothing to fix. 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.

If you have not yet done so, you might want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

[MGsCustomCreations]

As I've responded to others, the problem is that the message in question was her response to a question that I had asked. I Hate to have to respond to their answers when its not needed. Sometimes the customers are super friendly and they can keep a thread running just by being polite!

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello @MGsCustomCreations,

We've double-checked the message that has affected your Star Seller and it appears that the buyer has sent you a Help Request message. However, you've responded via normal messaging which is why it has created a new thread. Messages from the same buyer will now be consolidated into fewer threads. However, when a buyer reaches out via the Help With Order request, a new thread will be created. You'll then need to respond to this specific message thread for it to count positively towards your Star Seller. New threads will now have notification badges showing if a message is a buyer’s first time contacting you, or a new help with an order request. 

For more information about this, you may check out the Message Response rate section in this Help Article.

Thank you very much!

[PrimFun]

@MGsCustomCreations   Was it on a new thread?  Then it needed a response or spam.  The information on this program is under the star seller in the shop manager.  It explains much.

[GlassyFields]

the first message from someone must be responded to or marked as spam 

[LeParisMetro]

I am sorry you learned this the hard way. Make sure to read all the rules for star seller if you truly care about it.  The rules have clearly stated for over a year now that ALL messages must be responded to. 

[MGsCustomCreations]

Lesson Learned!

[audreytherese]

Sounds like instead of responding directly to you, they started a new thread, which is why it would require a response. Etsy had supposedly started combining these multiple threads to make it easier to keep track of, but I don't get many messages, and have never had a customer start a second thread, so I can't confirm if that's how it's working. 

[MaynardMillinery]

Did you ask your question whilst going through checkout, in the Message to Seller box?