Response to messages percentage is including response to items purchased by me from other sellers

[CassyCustomCreations]

I noticed my response to messages rating had dropped dramatically. I have figured out it has to do with my response time for messages concerning items I have purchased from other Etsy sellers! Not from buyers from my shop. Is there some way to rectify this? I dropped rom 100% to 91%! 

[Marmalady]

Etsy doesn't distinguish between messages to you as a seller and messages to you as a buyer

ALL messages must be answered (or sent to Spam) within 24 hours

[TheHomespunLoft]

Messages for SS has ALWAYS included ALL messages.

"Just the first message in the thread counts, not the ongoing convo." On your dashboard it explains it.

You can try to mark them as SPAM and it might go away in 48 hrs.. but does that ding the person you bought from? I don't know.

[BagmakerSupply]

@TheHomespunLoft  : I don't think that it dings them, but our experience that subsequent messages go straight to the SPAM folder.

[TinTeddy]

The information about Star Seller says that ALL messages count. There is no way for the system to tell whether a message is about something you bought, or from a potential customer.  So they all count exactly the same.

If the message is actually spam, you can set it to such, and it will not count. But only do this if it actually is spam.  In this case, it sounds as though it were a legit message from another seller.

[ClosetGothic]

No there’s no way to rectify it. We have to answer all messages without exception. All you can do is wait for the next Star Seller round. I found out the hard way myself - I sent myself a message to test an Etsy problem on Pattern. Then didn’t answer myself and got a star demotion! I put in an enquiry but no remedy from Etsy.

[CarpetCollectionAU · Accepted solution]

Goodness. This has been the case since SSP was implemented over 12 Months ago. Bottom line is Respond (or Spam) to 95% of new / first messages within 24 hours.

"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

[JackisJustVintage]

If you go to the star seller page, you can see all the requirements. This will prevent something like this happening again.

[BootifulLabels]

Yes it does.  The rules clearly state that ALL initial messages require a response within 24 hrs, regardless of the nature of the message or who it is from..  If you don't feel you need to respond, you can either mark the message as spam so it won't count going forward, or create a snippet that says something simple like "Thank you" and use that to send a quick response in a few clicks.  You can do this now with the messages you have been marked down on, and it will correct within a couple of days, but it will only affect the November badge, it will not change past badge assessments.

[BirdsongEmporium]

Well the way to rectify this is to answer ALL messages because the metric has always been set to look at ALL messages. It doesn't have to be a long answer. "Thank you" or even "TY", "received" or even just an emoji dropped in a message and sent counts as a response as long as it is within 24 hours. Or you can set up an auto response in messages if there are times that you won't be able to respond, overnight, weekends, holidays, etc. The auto response counts as a first response. If you receive messages that are spam, mark them as spam and those won't count towards your response rate.

This has tripped up so many sellers and been posted about so many times in the forums since star seller began. So I would also suggest more sellers follow the forums more regularly. Just a few minutes a day (business days, everyone deserves time off!) can show all the repeating issues that crop up on Etsy.

[ChillwolfArt]

Just wanted you to know.  Even if you receive a friendly Message from another Seller ("Hey, how's it goin'?"), that still counts a Message you must answer.  *Any Message which was initiated by someone other than you, must be answered or Marked as Spam (I'd only do that with true Spam though, and a Message from the Seller isn't Spam in my opinion).

[SugarTaffySoap]

@CassyCustomCreations  yours isn't a technical issue but simply go to your Shop Manager > Star Seller > scroll to the bottom and read all of the questions and answers. Or search in the forums where you'll find hundreds or thousands of threads like yours with responses...that's if you want to obtain a Star Seller badge.