Shipping rating dropped though I received a 5 star review

[MezmerisedGems]

I'm from Australia and I get a lot of orders from the USA. Though my shipping times are 1-3 days, I work through midnight after long days of work just so I can get my orders out sooner to avoid shipping delays and losing my hard earned Etsy seller badge.

I received a 5 star review from a customer who stated that the shipping took a little longer (got stuck in customs USA, took a total of 13 days) but they were overall happy. Etsy dropped my shipping rating from a 5 to a 4.9 stars. I may not sound grateful due to a 0.1 drop, but I try so hard to keep my customers happy and keep a perfect score also. 

I have 2 more orders on the way to the USA which have also been delayed, so I'm afraid that my rating will keep falling. I've reached out to Etsy support but they can't fix it as the system has made the change. I don't know how to avoid these unfortunate delays and protect my badge.

[BagmakerSupply]

@MezmerisedGems: A customer's review will have no effect on your shipping statistics and neither will delayed delivery. You need to check the applicable CSV file on your Star Seller page to see what Etsy thinks shipped late or otherwise has something wrong with it. In particular make sure that *Had processing time?* = yes, *Ship by* has a date, *Tracking/label date* has a date, and *Shipped on time?* = yes. Remember that Star Seller dates / times are in UTC not your time zone. The shipped date you selected when you marked the order as complete will be the controlling date for Star Seller.

[MezmerisedGems]

Thank you for your response. I had thought that customer reviews had played a big part in the ratings, as I've been cautious knowing that the time zone is USA based, therefor had adjusted my shipping dates accordingly. I've had a look at the csv file and all boxes are marked with a 'yes' and my shipped dates are earlier than my 'ship by' dates. I still can't seem to find the answer.

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

I think the 4.9 you are seeing is the broken down ratings a buyer gives when they leave a review, nothing to do with your star seller shipping ratings. If you look at an individual listing it shows 4.9 for delivery in the ratings above your all-time ratings graph. That is separate from star seller and is the buyer’s view of their shopping experience.

[MezmerisedGems]

Yes, I see what you mean. I did message the customer apologising for the delay and sent a specific discount code in their name. I did request them to make changes to their review only if it was okay with them. Hope it works. It's unfortunate that we receive ratings for something that we can not control.