Recieved a SPAM message

[Propsoflovebylinda]

We have 2 issues that we would like to get your thoughts on.

1.  We received a message from a lady, who was not a customer of ours and who we had had no contact with, however, she sent us a message asking us to please send a gift or contribute money towards her new baby shower. She sent an address where we could send our donations. We did not feel we should answer such spam and not encourage this kind of request so we just deleted her. We now see that we have lost a valuable point on our star seller scale, which we think is unfair.

2.  We lost, yet again a valuable point on our star settings as we had a frightening experience when I had to go to the emergency room for treatment after heart problems. With all that going on, my daughter did not respond to a message from a customer. ER took priority. Surely there has to be some leeway in a situation like that. Star settings are very important to our little business.  Comments are welcome, please!  

[anythinggoeshere]

Try marking both messages as spam.  No leeway from Etsy.  When my blood pressure was over 200 the last thing I did before leaving for the emergency room was to put my shop on vacation mode.

[ChillwolfArt]

Definitely Mark Messages as Spam. I'm sorry about your heart problems, and the fact their isn't any leeway (Etsy doesn't make adjustments for things like that).  Last Summer/Fall, there were 4 times I quickly Deactivated my items as well as put an Auto Reply Message (that's the only time I used Auto Reply; I wasn't here to answer).

I hope your health is better, and that this is helpful to you.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

If I have a major health crisis I fully expect to lose Star Seller status.

I don't care.

[anythinggoeshere]

Got it.  I went on vacation to stop people from buying.  Nothing to do with star seller status.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

And I would make sure that every buyer was taken care of eventually, to their satisfaction.

Nothing to do with star seller status.

[bradgoodell]

1. You can set up auto-reply and continually renew it every 5 days. 
2. When something is Spam, mark it as Spam

Doing those 2 things would have prevented these issues.  Etsy has tools that work with Star Seller. That is the leeway Etsy provides.  It is up to you to use those tools.  

[vintageNCtreasures]

@Propsoflovebylinda 
As to the first message, you don't have to answer spam BUT you need to mark it as spam so it won't count against you.
You can go back and mask as spam and see if it updates and doesn't count against you.

As for the second message, you could mark a spam even though it wasn't and see if it updates.
And the SS badge would be the last thing I'd worry about with a health scare. 

[PillowDetails]

@Propsoflovebylinda   I hope you are feeling better!

In a family health emergency, nothing else matters at the time.  I urge you to seriously reconsider the weight that the Star Seller badges carry, in your shop, and others.

It's an automated bot-driven "reward" system like gold stars we got in nursery school, except it doesn't take into consideration extenuating circumstances, and there is no forgiveness for when we trip up.  What's more, some shops with purple badges get away with re-selling mass-produced items, (or infringing items), while some other long-time legit shops find it impossible to maintain their SS status, for a variety of reasons.

Etsy's slogan to "Keep Etsy Human" rings hollow in light of an automated system that is not fair across the board.

[Propsoflovebylinda]

Thank you all for your replies and your help. I appreciate you all. Thanks

[Hertfordweaver]

Try not to worry too much about Star Seller status. It isn't worth the anxiety. With the advice you've received, you'll have it back again.

[AnnaleasFinest]

@Propsoflovebylinda 

I hope you are feeling better now.

Mark those messages as spam and it should update over night. Never just delete them, this will count against you.

ALL messages either need a reply, OR, they need to be sent to spam.

All messages means:  from buyer or seller.