Response Time

[JillscustomcraftShop]

I am upset that I lost star seller this month because I didn’t respond to a message of someone I purchased from wanting me to rate their product. It wasn’t even someone that purchased from me. Doesn’t seem fair. 

[vintageNCtreasures]

The rules for the star have been clear from the beginning, over a year now.
You have to reply to ALL NEW messages or mark as spam. 
There's a gazillion threads about this.

Etsy can NOT tell if the message is from a customer, another seller, a friend.

This is noted on your dashboard and on the help pages.

Reply to the first message within 24 hours

Just the first message in the thread counts, not the ongoing convo.

Messages that you mark as spam don’t count.

Set up an auto-reply when you’re unavailable. It counts as a reply.

[vintageNCtreasures]

From the help pages:

The Message response rate only applies to the first message in a thread. Initial messages from both buyers and sellers on Etsy are counted towards the Message response rate. 

How to Become a Star Seller – Etsy Help

[cutebutton]

Fair or not etsy has made it clear that in order to meet the message metric you have to respond to ALL messages or mark it as spam.

There would be no way for etsy to know what the subject matter of any message is since they don't read the content.  Sellers are also buyers.

[OmasFabricStash]

I think this is the second or third one today about not responding to a message. There are usually at least 4 or 5 a day so it looks like a lot of sellers didn’t really read the message on what the SS is about and what the rules are. 
You get a message, any message, for the first time and you respond to it or mark it spam. 

[audreytherese]

How would Etsy know the difference? A message is a message, as is clearly laid out in the program details. Don't want messages from sellers you buy from to count? Then create a separate account that is for only for purchasing. 

[VINTAGEbytheMAGPIE]

To be blunt Etsy doesn't care that you think it is unfair . The messaging rules are the rules and are published here for all to see .

It is up to you to follow them or not . If you do wish to follow them then Etsy has given us access to tools to help manage our messages , you may wish to activate the auto response messaging options in the future . 

[BagmakerSupply]

@JillscustomcraftShop: Fair or unfair is immaterial. A quick search of this forum would show you innumerable threads about this very issue. Etsy has been very clear and consistent about messages / convos from the very beginning of the Star Seller program. The Star Seller metric is that the FIRST message of a NEW thread must be replied to 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. Those have always been the rules.

If you have not yet done so, you might want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

[JillscustomcraftShop]

You don’t have to scold me. I am new and didn’t know. Just stating I don’t think it is fair. That’s all. Have a nice day!!

[BagmakerSupply]

@JillscustomcraftShop: It was not scolding and we apologize if you took it as that. Perhaps because those of us who try to help fellow sellers see the exact same issue hundreds of times at the beginning of the month our responses might get a little terse. Whatever we think about Etsy and the Star Seller program, the information has been out there, the rules are displayed all over, and Etsy is now even putting a blue text warning / advisory (blue banner on desktop, and a blue dot on mobile) on those messages they consider to be a "new message" but should semantically be called a "new thread".

[OmasFabricStash]

I did a search in the forums for messages not replied to and got 101 threads in the last week. There were maybe 2-3 that were not about sellers getting dinged for not replying to a message because it was from another shop or from a shop they bought from. And that’s not counting other sellers that added their problem with the Star Seller not responding to messages. People don’t read, it’s not just the buyers that don’t read it’s a lot of sellers. If I was still selling I would probably be in the group that scanned it but didn’t really read it enough to understand it.