Seriously need this corrected

[EclecticHomeSouth]

I pride myself on staying a star seller.  This buyer emailed to confirm she was getting two globes because the listing said quantity 1 of Set of 2.  She was very confused.  Then 3 minutes later she messaged me the same question.  I thought it was the same thread.  I replied immediately but to through the first thread then again on the second thread I messaged her that I had already confirmed that.  Come on Etsy!!!!

(REMOVED)

[NanaLetha · Accepted solution]

Mark the second one as spam 

[PawprintIllustration]

This concerns me too when customers message twice and both somehow count as the first point of contact. I always just copy & paste the same response twice, but it would be helpful if Etsy could mark it as already responded once one of the messages is replied to.

[BootifulLabels · Accepted solution]

If she sent two separate messages, BOTH require a response within 24 hrs or to be marked as spam.  The two messages were sent within 3 minutes of each other, possibly not enough time for the system to pick up the duplicate and combine it in the same thread.  Your response to the second  however  was over 24 hrs from receipt (looking at the info you posted here).  You can mark the second message as spam and it will correct for next month's badge allocation  but it is probably too late for the November badge. 

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

It is correct, you did not answer within 24hrs.  The bots don't know who it is from, it is simply another message and all messages must be answered. 

[cutebutton]

I think if someone sends one regular message and then also a message using the help request they don't combine in that case. If they just send 2 messages the regular way they will combine.   Super annoying and confusing but now that you know you can be aware that you have to answer both in this situation. 

As others have said, you should be able to mark one as spam and then the stats should update. 

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@EclecticHomeSouth  : 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. Subsequent messages from the same account (a buyer may have multiple accounts) are supposed to be combined into a single thread. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory on those messages they consider to be a "new message" but should semantically be called a "new thread".

Help Requests always start a new thread. If you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, you still need to reply to the message.

Cancellation requests must be replied to in the actual message - replies using the cancellation form do not count as a response.

At least for the time being, it appears that marking an unanswered message as SPAM (even after the 24 hour deadline has passed) will cause your reply percentage to change in a day or two if the original message was within the current star seller period. Note that subsequent messages from that account may go directly to the SPAM folder.

[GlassyFields]

as @BotifulLabels states in her response

all messages must be answered or marked as spam

marking messages spam after the fact will correct the star seller stats.

[BaubleShoppeBeads]

I had a similar thing happen to me this week.  The customer asked a question about an item using the "Help Request" feature, then minutes later she sent another note - in a different message thread - stating to nevermind, she figured it out herself, and I immediately responded with "no worries".  I didn't realize she sent the second note, which is the one I responded to, in a different thread, and guess what, I got dinged for Star Seller for not answering the first message.  Lesson learned!!

[UppNorthCo]

I thought etsy was lumping all messages from the same person into one thread.  No?

[Adorabilities]

Help requests come separately.

[PillowDetails]

Sheesh - and once a person is a Buyer, all messages revert to the "help request" format, no matter how they try to contact you on Etsy.

[UppNorthCo]

oooh.  it's hard to keep up with all the 'improvements'

[BagmakerSupply]

@PillowDetails: We get lots of additional messages from existing customers and they do NOT come as Help Requests. For us all the messages being lumped into a single thread is a much bigger headache than having multiple new threads.

[UppNorthCo]

I had one of those combined messages recently.  The first message was years ago and I had to kinda figure out what is going on here.  

[Adorabilities]

I'd also prefer that message threads not get combined -- there's a "message history" link in every message after all. 

I guess they thought it would cut down on sellers complaining about missing second messages and losing star status. It would be best if we all could decide how we wanted our messages to be displayed -- combined or as individual conversations. 

[UppNorthCo]

I was going to say that.  Messages have all the previous messages and order history in the side panel that we can click on.

[UrbanDharma · Accepted solution]

If you just place the message in your spam folder it removes the lowered mark. Hope you get to do it in time for Nov.

[ModMatt]

Hi there,

We ask that you do not post the private correspondence or details in the Etsy forums. Therefore, the OP has been edited.

This point is outlined in our Community policy:

https://www.etsy.com/legal/community

Thank you!