Star Seller Badge- Many NEW, first time messages did not update for November resulting in lost badge

[VintageBloomsByEllen]

I spoke to Etsy Help who confirmed that many of my NEW messages were not reflected on the star seller stats download for November and thus were not calculated for my star seller badge. They said my only recourse was to post here and that someone would look into the situation. Please look into my messages. There are 4 new ones from first time people reaching out that were NOT reflected. If they are counted my badge should be restored. Thank you for your assistance. Ellen

[ChillwolfArt]

For one thing, Etsy Help should not have told you to post here and someone would look into the situation.  This isn't your fault either BTW.  The thing is, we are all other Sellers here, and we can't do anything to restore a S Seller Badge, and they know this.
Those 4 new Messages from people reaching out for the first time, did you Respond (or Mark as Spam if they were indeed spam)?

[VintageBloomsByEllen]

They said ETSY technical people come to this forum and would help. I replied very quickly to all 4 messages and did not mark as spam. 

[FallenAngelBrass]

@VintageBloomsByEllen 

Etsy tech responses appear in threads where there is a site wide issue involving many sellers - and this kind of response is a rarity.  They do not respond to individual situations.  Most of the discussion in the Technical Issues section is among sellers.  Unfortunately, the chat people seem to work from scripts and only know what the scripts say.  

[PrimFun]

@VintageBloomsByEllen   They were wrong.  The outsourced chat have this habit of doing this.  Etsy tech seldom if ever comes here. 

[HantiquesBoutique]

I had a buyer ask to cancel a sale after buying which I did and duly refunded.  However the sale was still recorded on my etsy star seller rating as not being sent out on time.  Luckily it only reduced my stats to 99% but still infuriating !

[dippeldiundscribble]

@HantiquesBoutique 

Make sure that you have actually canceled the order and not just refunded the full amount.

[dippeldiundscribble]

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@VintageBloomsByEllen  There are 4 new ones from first time people reaching out that were NOT reflected. If they are counted my badge should be restored.

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It takes 19 new messages to compensate for an unanswered message.

[WitticismsRus]

@VintageBloomsByEllen 

When were those messages received? Was it on the last couple of days of the month? If so then that is the issue. Messages fro mthe last couple days of the month aren't counted.

Help Center explains here https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller-?segment=selling

scroll down to the bit about messaging and click to expand. It says "Messages sent on the last two days of the 3-month review period may be excluded from the current review period and counted towards the next period instead. This is to allow Sellers a full 24 hours to respond and not be penalized for messages received late on the final day of the review period."

[mommawhazelsquilts]

@VintageBloomsByEllen   Had you previously lost your badge and was trying to get it back?  If so, it would take 19 responded to messages to offset the 1 not responded to.  For the 3 month period, you have to have 19 responded to and only 1 not responded to, to attain 95%.

[VintageBloomsByEllen]

I would have a total of 20 messages, I received 4 new messages in the last 3 days. None of these new messages have updated. Etsy staff said to post here after looking at my messages and agreeing with me. So frustrating.

[PrimFun]

@VintageBloomsByEllen   TYhe last 2 days of the month do not count for the next month star seller.  They will count for January but not for December.

It is always this way. The last 2 days Etsy stops calculating because the system is on UTC time.  

[TexasBlessedBoutique]

I also am having the same issue,I not only responded but I refunded I'm less than 24 hours but it says I didn't respond at all. Who helps with this . Carla 

[dippeldiundscribble]

@TexasBlessedBoutique 

Have you replied to the original message / help request* or have you sent a message from the refund page? The latter does not count as a response.

Sometimes a buyer sends both ( a regular message and a help request). In this case, you must reply directly to both messages.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

You have to respond to the message, in the messages section,

adding something when you cancel the order, does not count

you have to respond to the message thread

and etsy doesn't count the last few days of messages in the month they are received, they count them in the following month.

[TexasBlessedBoutique]

Thank you for the information, I had just replied on a regular message not the help request. I'll do better next time 

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

Carla - Bless you for accepting responsibility for your mistake.

Mostly everyone wants Etsy to change the rules for them...lol

[JackisJustVintage]

The new messages will not count until the 24-hour reply time has passed.

[BagmakerSupply]

@VintageBloomsByEllen: A new thread is not included in the stats until after the 24 hour reply window has closed regardless of when you replied. Star Seller stats seem to update only once per day so it may have occurred after this month's calculation. Remember that Star Seller is in UTC not your time zone.

[PrayerCollection]

Thank you Ellen,

I just noticed there are 5 messages in November that were not counted in November’s count.  My message download stopped at November 28 and excluded the 5 new messages from November 29-30.  I will need someone from Etsy technical support to look at my Star Status also.  I hope it gets restored.

janie 

[WitticismsRus]

@PrayerCollection 

Messages from the last 2 days of the month aren't counted. Help center explains here

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller-?segment=selling

If you click message response rate  to expand it says " Messages sent on the last two days of the 3-month review period may be excluded from the current review period and counted towards the next period instead. This is to allow Sellers a full 24 hours to respond and not be penalized for messages received late on the final day of the review period"

Unfortunately etsy support can't/won't fix it.

[PrayerCollection]

I did not mark one message as Spam.  And it was the only message that I did not respond to.  I lost my star seller status as I did not know I was supposed to mark it as Spam.  This is not right at all.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

You have to reply, or mark as spam

you have to do one, or the other

It is very clearly stated, so it is correct

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

The rules are clear - respond or mark as spam.

[BagmakerSupply]

@PrayerCollection: "I lost my star seller status as I did not know I was supposed to mark it as Spam." Sorry that this caught you, but as it says right on your Star Seller page 'Messages that you mark as spam don’t count'. You may want to reread the Star Seller rules so that you are not surprised by something else.

While it will not help for the December Star, if the unanswered new thread is not a Help Request, at least for the time being, it appears that marking an unanswered new thread 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.