Speedy reply badge - wrongly calculated

[DigitalDreamsCreativ]

Hi,

I just noticed that my ranking for the speedy reply badge (and so also star seller), has dropped from 100% to 95%, however I replied to everyone within a few hours.

I checked and apparently it counts a message I got from a purchase I made from another seller, who then sent me a thank you message, as a message that wasn't replied within 24hours. Is there any way I can rectify this? As this is in no way part of my own customer support.

Thank you in advance!

Kind regards, Jessica

[NanaLetha]

You can mark as spam 

[GieseDeseiGns]

Since its inception SS requires you to initially answer all incoming messages. The messages aren't read, thankfully" so there is no way to verify who the message is from, so ALL first messages must be replied to. If you want you can create a buyer only account so that you do not have this problem in the future, otherwise, realize that all messages need answering, whether you believe they do or not.

[bradgoodell]

It was calculated correctly.  Etsy's Star Seller program states "all new messages from buyers or sellers".  Etsy support won't help you, since it is spelled out in the requirements for Star Seller.  Sorry.

[BootifulLabels]

The rules clearly state that all new messages require an answer or to be marked as spam within 24 hrs in order to qualify for SS. It doesn't matter who they are from or what they are about, no-one reads your messages, the system is automated and simply compares the time-stamps for receipt and response to determine compliance. If you mark that message as spam now, it should update your stats within a day or two, but it will not help with the badges already awarded.

If you don't want your purchases to affect your SS status, you have a couple of options.

1. You can use Auto reply to send a "thank you" or an "I'll get back to you shortly" message. This counts as a response for SS, but needs to be reset every five days.
2. You can create a few snippets with various messages and send quick responses that way in just 3 clicks, Snippets/Select/Send.
3. You can create a new, buyer only Etsy account and keep all your purchases separate from your shop.

I recommend number 3.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@DigitalDreamsCreativ: 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. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory (blue banner on desktop, and a blue dot on mobile) on those messages they consider to be a "new message" but should semantically be called a "new thread".

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.