My initial contact response in chat disappeared, which is negatively impacting my Star Seller status

[ArdentPlanners]

On September 19th, I received an order. The following morning (on September 20), I received a message from the buyer in Etsy chat, but strangely, message was not attached to the order in the Esty Seller app. The buyer asked for me to cancel the order. I responded (within the required 24 hour timeframe) and let her know that the order was already in the mail. She can return it once she receives it for a full refund.

On September 24th, I noticed my Star Seller rating for the response category was lower. So, I looked for the source of the problem. As it turns out, the original separate chat message from September 20 is completely gone. Instead, the original message was integrated into the order via the chat feature, per normal procedure. And the September 20th response from me was missing.

So on September 24, I sent her a follow up in the chat apologizing for the mix up and letting her know that she can return the item if she's unhappy.

On Sept 25, I reached out to support to report the issue, assuming it was a glitch with the app.  They researched it, and because they couldn't find my response on September 20, they believe that I didn't respond within the 24 hour required timeframe. They only saw my response on September 24. *sigh*

When I tried to follow up to explain that my September 20th response is gone, Etsy Customer Service recommended that I report the glitch in this forum. I'm really hoping that they can validate my original response on September 20th so that my Star Seller status is not affected. I believe it was a glitch in the app.  Thank you! -Sunny

[ArtDollsbyJD]

Chat has the habit of sending people to the forums when they don't have an answer for the question.  Sadly most times us fellow sellers cannot help.

Just for clarity we are talking about the message system? Calling it chat is confusing.  It is possible if the buyer had never contacted you before that you did not accept the new message?  When you sent the reply message did you not see it in the stream of messages?  Did you check her message for the reply in a browser?  If you didn't see it, did you try again using a browser and then contact Etsy?  I would do so through email if this is a technical glitch. 

Did you receive a Help request or just a plain message?  Did you check the CSV to see if the message was there?

It is possible there was a problem with your phone and service that the message did not go forward.  Kind of why I use the app only in emergencies.  I prefer browser myself even on a phone for Etsy.

[HomespunTales]

@ArdentPlanners 

Hi- more clarification I think is needed.. the customer could have sent you a “help request” AND/OR they could have sent you a convo. CHAT per se is only for the Etsy help desk.. so it is confusing to use it to describe how you got the message from the customer.

So the Star Seller rules are quite clear.. you need to respond to all messages.. that includes as a regular convo OR as a help request— they are 2 separate things. Looks like you missed one of them? 

If you pull up your CSV ( that is on the star seller page in your dashboard) it will tell you what you missed.

[BagmakerSupply]

@ArdentPlanners: "... message was not attached to the order ..."  Unless there is a new glitch, Help Requests NEVER attach themselves to an order (they always start a new thread). Only the 'default' Message thread will be seen on the order.

Usually you situation could be explained by the buyer sending two Messages - one a regular one and one a Help Request, but if both were a new thread then both should show up in the CSV file.

There have been other reports of replies made through the app disappearing.

[ArdentPlanners]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so very much for replying to my post.  I really appreciate you taking time to help.

To answer your questions, the customer sent me a message, not a help request. And the message was received separately outside of their order, which was odd. My response disappeared when the message was integrated with the order.  When she initially messaged me, I thought it was odd that it wasn't connected to her order, but I didn't think to screenshot my response or to see if my response was there in other browsers. However, I did review my response after I sent it to insure the message and tone was customer-friendly.  So, the system did accept my response at the time.

Also, I did review the CSV and it did not include my Sept 20th response. It reflected my Sept 24th response and indicated that I did not reply within 24 hours, which makes sense since the system didn't capture my Sept 20th response.  Also, the CSV did not reflect a help ticket from the buyer.  

I hope I answered all of your questions. Thanks again for taking the time to help. I appreciate you!

[artcrafthome]

This exact thing has been happening to me and I’ve missed out on 2 orders because of it.  Apparently some weird glitch going on because my initial responses to new convos is just disappearing- making me look like I never responded.  Customer service was of no help whatsoever.  I’ll delete and reinstall seller app and just keep checking back to ensure responses are going through.  I’ve started taking a screenshot of all of my initial responses as insurance since it is affecting my star seller rating!

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