Spam Message Counted Against Star Seller Badge

[GrandRiverCollection]

In mid-September, I received an unsolicited spam message from another shop requesting me to favorite their shop and/or items. This was not a potential customer and we had never connected before in any way. Unfortunately, this was the one message that counted against me on the "24-hour" rule, despite it being marked as spam. I've met all the other markers to get a Star Seller badge this month. How do I proceed with getting this corrected? Thanks in advance for any advice!

[mommawhazelsquilts]

Did you mark it as spam?  Etsy does not make changes to Star Seller because of our failure to do something.

It also looks like you didn't get the shipping badge either.

[GrandRiverCollection]

Yes, it was marked as spam. The shipping badge isn't applied to my shop in any case, as I sell only instant download items.  

[PrimFun]

All NEW messages must be answered.  To answer, reply or spam.  Spamming is the same as answering.  The guidelines are clear about this.

If you have not read the information on star seller, it would help to do so. 

[GrandRiverCollection]

That's correct: I marked it as spam. I've read all the details on Star Seller and it appears there was an error in how my messages were counted. Every message had an answer within 24 hours or was counted as spam. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@GrandRiverCollection: Why didn't you just mark the message as SPAM at the time? As it says right on your Star Seller page, you need to reply to the FIRST message of EVERY NEW INCOMING THREAD 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. Remember that the Star Seller metric is NOT all new messages but only the first message of all new incoming threads.

A controversial workaround : if the unanswered new thread is not a Help Request, 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 (but not retroactively). Note that subsequent messages from that account may go directly to the SPAM folder.

[GrandRiverCollection]

Yes, I agree, and that's why I'm puzzled. As I had noted in a response above, I marked it as spam. I've read all the details on Star Seller and all initial messages in any given thread have been answered or "spammed" within the required 24 hr period. If I'm interpreting that information correctly, then it appears there was an error in how my messages were calculated for Star Seller. Thank you for your detailed reply. Hoping to get this ironed out soon...