My Star seller response rating has gone below 95 even though I replied to the customer immediately

[LCAcrylicArts]

I am very disappointed to discover, when I was on track for Star seller badge, I noticed that my response rating had suddenly gone below 95 percent, even though I have always replied immediately to my customers. On one occasion a customer message me when he made the order, because he forgot to add his flat number to his delivery address, I immediately messaged him back and the customer was very happy! Later on I received the same message via customer help, which I did not realize I needed to respond to, as the matter had already been resolved. I feel this is very unfair and my valued customer would also be disappointed with this. Please can you look back at my customers messages and responses, so my 100percent record can be restored. Thank you Linda Castle LCAcrylicArts.

[JackisJustVintage]

You have to reply to ALL initial messages or mark them as spam. This includes duplicate messages. It is the way it has always worked. Etsy will not adjust your stats. You can read all the requirements on the star seller page. Just reply to the duplicate with something like "already responded on previous message." Some will say to mark it as spam now, and your stats may go back up. 

[audreytherese]

The second request was a help request, which can not be marked as spam. 

Help requests are separate from the regular messages and do require their own response, it is not the same messaging system as far as Etsy's concerned. 

There is nothing Etsy can or will fix in this scenario. OP made a mistake in not understanding that the second message needed a response, even though it was a duplicate. 

[howtobooksandmore]

The forums are other Etsy sellers offering help when they can/  They are not Etsy staff and cannot see your messages or change anything in your shop.  You need to contact Etsy through the help section but they will not and have never fixed this issue for anyone.  If you are on track for this month, just work on getting on track for next month.  If you have the badge, there is nothing that says you just got it this month but not last month.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@LCAcrylicArts: Unfortunately, Etsy has made it clear that they will not manually adjust Star Seller data, plus as it says right on your Star Seller page, you need to reply to the FIRST message of a NEW INCOMING THREAD.

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.

If the message is not a Help Request, 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.