Punished as a SELLER for Not Responding to Message as a BUYER?

[AjLovesVintage]

I just discovered that I'm not hitting my Star Seller status because I never responded to a message I received back in August that was a simple message from another seller thanking me for my purchase. UHMMMM... WHAT!? I buy something, receive a message saying basically, "thanks so much for your purchase", and Etsy expects me to reply as the buyer to, what, thank them for thanking me? No one does that. But I'm now being punished as a seller because of it. Surely this can be fixed because it's clearly not fair. 

[NanaLetha]

The criteria is very clear. Either respond to all messages or mark as spam.

[PillowDetails]

Yes, I did that once too.  Only once.  Now I know.

[bradgoodell]

Sorry you were blindsided by this.  

Etsy has always said "ALL messages", whether from a buyer, a seller, or spam.  In the future, either reply or mark as spam.  

[DragonflyDreams1]

My stance has always been very clear, mark it as spam.  Was it a necessary communication? You bought something, Etsy sends you a purchase confirmation. Etsy sends you a shipment notification. There is NO REASON for a seller to send you a thank you message. Unless they need clarification for some part of your order, no message is needed.  Can you imagine if every website that you ordered from sent you a thank you message in addition to your order receipt? A seller can handwrite a thank you or have it printed on an invoice inside the package. Mark it as spam.

[ImperfectlybyLinnie]

I also get them as a buyer. I'm not interested in the stars so I've always let the other person "have the last say" so as not to destroy any star status that they have. That is until I learned you could put it in spam and that's what I do with the last message now - otherwise we would be tooing and froing forever lol.

[PillowDetails]

Well, except there is no need to to-and-fro, as only the first message needs to be responded to or spammed.

[ImperfectlybyLinnie]

oh @PillowDetails I didn't realise it was only the first message that had to be replied to, hence my thinking of the tooing and froing ..... my fault for not reading things correctly. That's good though.

[PillowDetails]

@ImperfectlybyLinnie  Oh, that's OK - I know I was under the impression at first too!  Luckily, we now get the blue notice on all first-time (or first in a convo thread) messages, and a blue dot on mobile.  That's your sign that it needs answering.  I hope they keep that - it really helps!

[ArtDollsbyJD]

Have you read the rules on messaging for the star seller?  We need to respond or spam all new messages even if the seller acted as a buyer.  I just send a quick thank you that takes care of it.

I sound like a broken record but it really does help to read the information Etsy puts out for any prgram or update.  One aspect of being a seller is keeping curent with new info and changes.

[Bonsaigifttogo]

I know this is quite old but I must say , according to what you’re saying to be a star seller you must reply to all messages , the seller has to reply to every reply from the buyer , hundreds of thanks messages replying to each other , otherwise when the system update for the new period only one of them will be a star seller which’s the one who responded last,  This doesn’t make any sense , what’s the point of reading if you can’t understand, what’s your goal here ? Trying to embarrass him , and you’re the good boy who follow the rules and keeping current with the platform policies, the question here is not about the rules ( even though doesn’t make any sense) weather those rules are fair and won’t effect the budge , this place supposed to be place where all seller come together supporting each other Expressing our opinions and criticisms the platform's policies which most of them serve the company's interests. Of course thanks to you and so many others like you it’s been 3 years I hope you are smarter now and humble 

[BeachPleaseCreations]

I’m not chasing after the elusive “star”! I’ll never reach the sales amount , so why stress myself out?All you need to concern yourself with is good customer service and a great product!

[VINTAGEbytheMAGPIE]

You are not being punished  . The star seller messaging criteria is very clear . The algorithm doesn't measure buyer or seller messages , it just measures messages.

If you  are concerned about missing future messages  , Etsy have given us all the ability to send automated messages by activating the out of office .

[CallunaMuse]

I don't think it's very clear.  I only knew about this because I've seen people upset about it over the last few months and post about it.

"Responding to messages quickly helps create a great experience for shoppers. To qualify for Star Seller, you need to respond to the first message on a thread within 24 hours."

That's what it says and personally that says to me - reply to a 'buyer' within 24 hours because a seller isn't your shopper, and a spammer isn't your shopper.  I think it'd take about five minutes for Etsy to put a small disclaimer right there just saying this - that would end about 90 percent of people being upset and not knowing.  I hope they do.

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

@CallunaMuse it actually says this on the star seller page in shop manager:

"What messages count towards the message response rate?

Your message response rate is based on just the first message in a conversation, not ongoing conversations. This means you just need to respond to the first message within 24 hours. This applies to messages both from buyer and seller accounts."

[AAANativeArts]

Yes, those are the rules, which have been clearly stated for some time. You must respond to the first message in a convo, no matter what it is about, or else mark it as spam.

[BagmakerSupply]

@CallunaMuse  :  Don't the various program informations from Etsy sound like they have been written by a lawyer whose primary intention is to make it impossible for us to ever complain "but you said ..."

[CallunaMuse]

It just feels like as usual it gives a general representation and then everyone says - well, you should know it's right there.  And in opinion most of the time it isn't.  And it's definitely not right there in this case, and this is why so many people are blindsided by it. I literally only knew because of the forums.  

Take a few minutes and add an asterisk message that says just that - one tiny line - this includes ALL messages.  THEN you can blast people for not reading or being a mind reader lol

[ChillwolfArt]

Just to let you know; if another Seller sends you a friendly Message (example: "How's it going"?), that counts as well.  Anytime a Message is initiated by someone other than you.

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