Need Etsy Help with Star Seller Status

[BluebirdCtCreations]

The message response rate download only shows that I had 12 messages for August and September and I actually had a total of 23 for those two months.  I only had one I didn't respond to in time, due to misunderstanding that it was someone I purchased from and they went to my shop to say thanks for purchase and didn't realize I needed to respond.  At any rate, I didn't make star seller status because says I had 91% when indeed the percent is much higher.  How can this get fixed?  I cannot find an email address to contact etsy for this issue.

Thanks

[Deb

[audreytherese]

There is nothing to fix. You have to respond to all messages or mark them as spam. 

[NanaLetha]

Etsy support has no ability to fix anything for star seller. You must reply to all messages or mark as spam.

[HunnyBMarket]

Was that 23 new messages or 23 total messages within that timeframe?

[BagmakerSupply]

@BluebirdCtCreations: The Star Seller metric is that the FIRST message of a NEW thread must be replied to (or marked as spam) 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. Subsequent messages from the same account (a buyer may have multiple accounts) are supposed to be combined into a single thread.

The CSV file appears to contain only the first messages of a new thread as that is all that is used for calculations.

Help Requests always start a new thread. By the way, if you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, you still need to reply to the message. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory on those messages they consider to be a "new message".

Unfortunately, Etsy had made it clear that they will not manually adjust Star Seller data. And the October star was based on July, August, and September.

[BluebirdCtCreations]

Thanks for that info,  but I am aware it's only first messages.   I had 23 messages from 23 separate people.  There were far more conversations of I were to add all messages from each person.  What can be done in this case?

[BagmakerSupply]

@BluebirdCtCreations: "I actually had a total of 23 for those two months." But Star Seller is for three months (July, August, and September for the October star), so how many new threads were there and how many were not answered within 24 hours during that period?

[ReImagineBrewing]

Truthfully, just don't care about it. It is a little symbol. Don't stress. Take that energy and use it to promote your shop instead. Etsy gives you a little badge but nothing other than that. Who knows how long it will last too. Over the years the "bumps" in results never lasted. Diversification across selling platforms is key to succeeding. 

When Etsy has no way to rectify an error they might make on their end...why truly care. You care more than they do or they'd have a way to fix any odd errors that might happen. Confusing but true.

[Flora3DPrints]

I just had a similar issue. I bought something from someone and didn’t respond to their message. I didn’t think it would factor into my Star Seller metrics because I’m the customer.

[audreytherese]

Unless you have a separate account for making all your purchases through, Etsy doesn't know the reason for the message. So yes, it counts.

If you search the forum there are literally a thousand+ posts about exactly this. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

Etsy says EVERY new message thread

and marks the ones you have to reply, with a big message in blue and says you have to reply,

so you have to reply to those

[JackisJustVintage]

Were any of the messages the last two days of September? They will not update for star seller until this month.

[DogwoodandCardinal]

I purchased an item from another shop and got an automatic message I did not reply to (it didn’t require one) and yet that still goes against my star seller rating? This doesn’t make sense since it doesn’t have anything to do with being a seller. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@DogwoodandCardinal: Probably everyone in this forum can sympathize with you but as you will see by the innumerable threads about the exact same issue in this forum it is not likely to change. How is Etsy supposed to know the nature of a message? Do you want some bot reading every one of your messages and guessing? How many threads would there be in this forum that "some bot incorrectly classified my message"?

[DogwoodandCardinal]

I mean, some bot DID incorrectly classify my message. That’s all it is that’s “counting” the messages.It’s fine, I don’t believe buyers look for a star seller badge anyway. It’s just ridiculous that it’s a sellers badge and there’s no way to separate it from times you’re a buyer. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@DogwoodandCardinal 

there is no "classification" of message threads

you either reply, or don't

if you don't reply to them, you are dinged for star seller

your choice

[sarahsmemory]

I set up the "auto-reply" for my messages.  Auto-reply counts as a response and covers me if I'm not able to reply in a timely manner, whatever reason.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

there is an auto reply for 5 days, then you have to reset,

there have been people here reporting, that were using it a lot, then etsy changed their auto reply, and now they can set it for ever, but only a max of 12 hours a day, there has to be an 8 hour window, every day, where messages are not auto-replied.

so be a bit careful using this all the time, as it was not designed to be used that way, and etsy seems to be changing it, for those that do.

[tonic360]

Just mark the message that the seller you made a purchase from as spam and your Star Seller will recalculate/update within a day or two and you'll get your Star Seller badge back.

[DogwoodandCardinal]

Oh really? Interesting. Does that affect the other seller? That’s a good idea. 

[SugarTaffySoap · Accepted solution]

Many have done the same thing you did (not respond). Here is what Etsy Staff says: 

"The Message response rate counts initial messages from all Etsy members, both buyers, and other sellers. This is because fellow sellers could be potential buyers for your shop. If it's not a spam message it requires a response within 24 hours. If it is a spam message you can mark it as such and it won't count towards your score."

Here's what a Community Specialist has posted in several threads recently regarding Star Seller:

"We suggest using the Forums' Search function prior to posting (just be careful to not bump an old thread that hasn't seen any activity in the last months/years), as questions regarding the Star Seller Program have been extensively covered by our fellow members since its launch, as well as our official Star Seller Guide, which contains in-depth answers to some of the more common questions regarding Message Response Rate, Shipping, Local Pick-Up, Digital Orders, and other topics. You can check it out here:etsy.com/starseller. "

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello @BluebirdCtCreations,

We've double-checked the messages you received last August and September, we can then confirm that only 13 messages were eligible for the calculation of the previous review period. The other messages were an ongoing conversation before July 1(the start of the previous review period), some messages were received on the last 2 days of September and some messages were initiated by you.

Please note that only the messages you've received from the three months evaluation will be included in the Message Response rate. Also, 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.

Additionally, the Message response rate will only count the messages initiated by your buyer and not the messages initiated by you(seller). You may double-check the messages that weren't counted towards your Star Seller.

Thank you very much!