STAR SELLERS: DO NOT INITIATE CORRESPONDENCE THROUGH A PACKING SLIP MESSAGE

[AirandWeather]

Hello to all, if you are a Star Seller, please do not do what I have done (Cue in:  "House of the Rising Sun"):  I initiated correspondence with a client by sending them a message that I wrote **on their packing slip**, which was emailed to the customer after I fulfilled their order.  Enthusiastic, the customer replied to me by the regular message center.  To be clear, the customer was responding, so it was the END of the conversation.

However, I had to find out the hard way, because I *did not reply* to what was the end of the conversation, Etsy's AI that calculates the Star Seller rating decided to dun me for not responding to what is clear to any intelligent human being as the end of a conversation.  Ety's Star Seller calculating machinery will assume you are being a bad, bad, very bad seller, indeed, for not responding to what might appear to be a first message from a customer, even if they are, in fact, responding to a message that was on their packing form.

Do not expect any help from Etsy customer service.  They say their hands are tied and they cannot alter your messaging response rating, even when it is plain as day what happened.  I was told that this circumstance would be "taken into consideration" for any future upgrades to the Star Seller system.  In the meantime, Etsy does not care to rectify my score for this coming August, even after I've provided excellent, prompt and dedicated customer service.  So I am writing this here to let you know of this inherent glitch within their Star Seller calculations as well as the grave unfairness that I shall be sadly punished for a flaw within their programming design/system.  

[PillowDetails]

This is confusing to me, because once you purchase something, all the messages from the Buyer's end revert to that "ideal resolution" form, no matter how you try to message the Buyer.  Maybe that's a test?

Also - I'm seeing a blue banner on all new messages on laptop, and a blue dot on mobile.  Maybe that's a test too?

[UppNorthCo]

blue banner and message it has within is so annoying.  blue banner hovers over the box when you are trying to respond.  hope they do away with this soon.

[LynnsLittleShop]

@UuppNorthCo I just clicked on "got it" on the  blue banner and it went away.

[SignandLetterShop]

"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. Messages from Etsy staff do not count toward your response rate, and neither do messages that you mark as spam. You can also now find a breakdown of your message response rate score by downloading a CSV."

Etsy is pretty clear on answering the first message in a conversation. 

[Akhesia]

NON , le fichier ne prends en compte tous les messages que j'ai reçu. je regarde chaque jour et il ne se met pas à jour

Je vais perdre le badge Top vendeur à cause de cela

[AirandWeather]

Hi Sign and Letter Shop:  I was the one who initiated the conversation via packing slip.  The customer responded through the messaging center to thank me for my email and tell me they were pleased.  It was the end of the conversation.  So I did not respond.  It's a programming error that assumes I'd left my customer unattended, when, in fact, I had not.

[SeasideRoseCreations]

Our messages aren't read by Etsy (human or bot).

We are to answer initial messages within 24 hours.

[mommawhazelsquilts]

It was NOT the end of the conversation.  It was the BEGINNING because it was on another network.

She sent you a message thru regular messaging and you did not respond.  It's not a programming error - it's a user error for not responding to a message in the messaging system.

[UppNorthCo]

mark it as spam.  take control yourself.  it is available to you.  all done.  star seller status restored.  it's no wonder there is no seller support for real issues.

[mommawhazelsquilts]

Ain't that the truth!  I have been saying all along that it's no wonder Etsy is so hard to contact - they have to be in order to protect themselves from these sorts of "problems" which aren't problems that Etsy needs to fix.

[mommawhazelsquilts]

ADVICE TO STAR SELLERS: DO NOT FAIL TO RESPOND TO A MESSAGE THAT YOU THINK IS NOT IMPORTANT.

[nguhpjyhih0bo0e5 · Accepted solution]

Hello! Please avoid starting multiple threads on the same or very similar topic, as this can cause confusion for other members. I've gone ahead and closed the corresponding duplicate threads. Please keep the conversation here where many fellow members are helping you. Thank you!

[AirandWeather]

Thank you.  I was correcting a spelling error.

[ChillwolfArt]

@AirandWeather 

Others posters are correct.  You did not post your Note to Buyer in "Messages".  However, your Buyer responded IN Messages (which makes THEM the "Initiator" of the Message (the first person to start the "Message"). *"Notes" don't count as a "Message".

So you could send a Note to every single Buyer.  IF they Reply via "Messages" you must always respond.  Even if they respond with, "Thank You" (remember, they Initiated the Message).

Sorry about this; hope I've explained it well to you.

[AirandWeather]

Yes, you explained it well.  However, I disagree with the robotic approach of having to reply just because you MUST reply when it's the end of the conversation.  "Thank you,"  "No, thank YOU!"  "No, really, I insist, thank you again."  I mean, at what point must you have the last word for the sake of having the last word.  It become ridiculous.

[ChillwolfArt]

@AirandWeather 

You don't really have to have the last word.  *Example: If you sent me a Note on the Packing Slip and I send you a "Message" saying "Thank You", you could just say "You're Welcome".  That's it.  You don't have to respond further. 

*Example again: If I say "Have a great day" after that, you can disregard it. (You've already responded to the first Message).

I have had Customers (also Sellers who are friends), come back and Message me later (maybe it's beyond the 24 Hr. mark).  I'll Reply to that Message; not because of the SS Metrics. I  would have replied to them anyway.

Hope this is helpful.

[SimplyInvitingLLC · Accepted solution]

Did your packing slip message show up in your Etsy Conversations? If not, then they are most likely not connected in any way within their system. They are probably two different departments within the company, so there would be no way of them knowing you even sent that original message to your customer. If it did show up in your message history then it's a glitch that Etsy should have fixed. Lesson learned. Definitely create an auto reply though, it really helps not having that extra stress of dropping what you are doing to respond in 24 hours, especially on a weekend.

[SimplyInvitingLLC]

The easiest fix is to set an auto reply in your Messages every 5 days that basically thanks anyone who contacts you for reaching out, that you'll be in touch with a human response during your shop hours, or whatever you feel you want to put in this message, etc... Then you can take your time responding back, or not respond to them in this case, and the stress of the 24 hour reply isn't looming over your head as Etsy counts that auto reply as the response back to the initial conversation.

[ChillwolfArt]

@SimplyInvitingLLC 

I've never used Auto Reply until recently (fam. and personal emergencies).  I kept having to reset it (because it lasts for 5 days).  I may end up using it again.

[CloversFinds]

Yes, it is a good tool in general, many people today are looking for immediate responses to inquiries (which is ridiculous and often not possible) so having an auto response letting them know you will get back to them as soon as you can is a good way to assure them that you care.

[AirandWeather]

Thank you to everyone who responded!

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello there,

The Message to Buyer/Note to the Buyer/Note in the Packing Slip and Etsy Messaging are different programs and they're not connected. Only the 
initial message is taken into consideration for the Message response rate score, not ongoing conversations. You may check the history of the message thread to see if it is a new message or an ongoing conversation.

I'll be taking this as feedback and will be sharing it with the team to consider for a future update. Please know that we take comments from the community to heart, and we make many changes to the site based on what we hear.

Thank you very much!

[AirandWeather]

I came to realize they are different programs after the horse left the barn.  In my own head and way of doing things, a message is a message is a message, whether under the door or over the transom.  However, I am fully chastened and clarified.  Thank you to everyone!

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

It is actually very simple and just to clarify so people don't think they have to respond to every message and it will be a never ending loop: 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 really SPAM then it should be marked as such and reported. Those have always been the rules.

By the way, if you are creating a custom listing based on a new message, you still need to reply to the message. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory on those messages they consider to be a "new message".