New Message from customer disappears and then reappears two days later

[ShopClementine]

I got a Etsy Conversation email two days ago that, when I clicked on it, opened to the Messages dashboard instead of to the body of the message, as it usually would. I checked the Messages dashboard for any new messages and there were none, so I assumed that the message must have been spam that was deleted before I opened the email, which happens occasionally. I forgot all about it until today, where there was suddenly a two-day old message in my Messages dashboard that I hadn't opened or replied to, and it was the same message that I'd tried to open but been unable to locate two days ago. 

This not only directly affects my Star Seller rating, it also means this potential customer, who reached out to me two days ago, has likely moved on after not hearing back from me. 

Another seller reported the same issue two weeks ago and the thread was closed:

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/No-Message-From-Customer-Despite-Email/m-p/14620557...

[HomespunTales]

I had a similar problem on my other shop.. Where when I checked my CVS because my star seller number had dropped.. it showed I had a message that I did not answer… YET I had NO notification of that message at all..  the only place the message was, was in the CVS file.. it was not in my Spam or my regular convos. And I get copies of notifications sent to my email of all messages..And nothing there— yet I was dinged for not responding to a message. I did manage to put that one message into SPAM from the CVS file.. and mind you I had another message that same day that was answered in time.. I contacted Etsy and complained. It was taken care of.. now it is not on the CVS file at all. I took screen shots of everything.

~~~~~~

Now on this acct and frankly my other one.. My messages are not being recorded for star seller at all. They are on a CVS but not counted towards star seller.

SO on this shop I had a message yesterday morning— which I answered within an hour… then I got another notification of the the same exact message— saying it was a new person reaching out.. that was 5 hrs later.. I responded to that one Also just saying sorry to bother you but Etsy is not recording my response from 5 hrs ago..( I took screen shots also).. and now this morning— that same exact message with my 2 replies is back saying this customer is reaching out for the first time—I am not going to bug that potential customer again with saying that Etsy is not recording my responses.. So I will likely get dinged for not answering a message on time. And I honestly don’t know if that person even got my 2 responses either.. they have likely moved on and decided I was a flake for either keep responding or just ignoring them.

I really think if Etsy wants Star Seller to be important- the least they could do it fix their darn system and make it work correctly. OR just scrap it altogether and fix impt things on this site instead!!

[LoonMtEmbroidnCrafts]

I too have found I am not getting informed that I have any messages. I also sent one last night to a buyer that evidently disappeared. Looking for a reply this morning I found 1 message from Etsy back the end of June! Since my shop had not indicated there was a message, why would I look there? I had my shop on vacation mode the month of July. Not happy with this. 

[HomespunTales]

@LoonMtEmbroidnCrafts 

What I resent now is that I need to take screen shots to cover myself in case of this sort of thing.

IMO They need to get their act together or just get rid of the whole SS program. 

[BeaconwoodDettman]

I'm not having the same issue that you're describing, but I noticed today that the blue "First Message from a Potential Buyer" alert is still under a message that I got last night. I sent a reply earlier this morning saying I would check on the question they had, and then responded again with a few pictures. However, the blue message is still there - last I remember, that should go away after you respond. 

[ShopClementine]

So it sounds like Messages are pretty buggy right now!

[MaylineConfection]

Same kind of problems here.
I exchanged several messages with a new customer in less than 30 minutes and the blue banner of the contact in 24h is still active.
It's true that it's annoying to be penalized as a top seller for technical problems by Etsy.
And it's so difficult, if not impossible, to contact them.

[HomespunTales]

@MaylineConfection 

If you have StarSeller then you have Chat on your dashboard and then it actually is quite easy to contact them.. But I agree without that SS— then you don’t have access to chat and have to go thru the rabbit hole to try to get a call back or email. I have 2 shops— this shop will likely never be SS-lol… but the other one is and I can get thru to Chat that way.

There is no reason they can’t have a capable customer service dept For Everyone!