Star Seller Error.

[LyndaleBay]

Why would I get dinged for not answering a message that came from another shop after a purchase I had made?? That is the only message I didnt answer, and it was because they were sending some sales pitch. I read it but did not reply. This should not count against a seller if they do not respond to a different shop after purchase. That is just plain silly.

[NanaLetha]

How would the automated program know the difference?

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

You have to respond to all initial messages regardless of whether they come from a buyer or seller. If you don't want to respond you need to mark it as spam.

[WitticismsRus · Accepted solution]

@LyndaleBay 

It's not an error if you didn't mark it as spam. Etsy provides a tool for sellers to deal with spam messages, it's up to us to use it.

Etsy is pretty clear about how the message response rate is calculated in help center here https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

There is a highlighted bit under message response rate info that says "The Message response rate only applies to the first message in a thread. Initial messages from both buyers and sellers on Etsy are counted towards the Message response rate. "

That means ALL messages. It also means each individual message thread so if someone sends you 5 different messages with 5 questions instead of putting them in the same message chain you need to respond to all 5 of them. The system is completely automated and doesn't know if the message is from a buyer or another seller. It just sees a message and calculated the response time. That's just how it works.

The info is also right there on the Star Seller page in shop manager. Just go to shop manager > star seller. Once there scroll toward the bottom until you find "Questions? We've got answers." Then click messages. The very first question there says

"What messages count toward the message response rate?

Your message response rate is based on just the first message in a conversation, not ongoing conversations. This means you just need to respond to the first message within 24 hours. This applies to messages both from buyer and seller accounts. Messages from Etsy staff do not count toward your response rate, and neither do messages that you mark as spam. You can also now find a breakdown of your message response rate score by downloading a CSV."

If the star is important to you then it may be a good idea to read or review all the info Etsy provides about the star seller program.

Bottom line...you have to either reply or mark as spam.

[maggiemaybecrafty]

It is not an error. As said a million times before, we have to respond to the first thread in every message whether as a buyer or a seller.

[CarpetCollectionAU]

Question: "Why would I get dinged for not answering a message that came from another shop after a purchase I had made?"

Answer: "The Message response rate only applies to the first message in a thread. Initial messages from both buyers and sellers on Etsy are counted towards the Message response rate."

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

[ArtDollsbyJD]

I suggest reading the information on star seller which clearly indicates ALL new  messages have to be answered or spammed.

It's been this way for nearly 2 years now.

[TheArtfulTwig]

Also be aware that Etsy is funneling buyer communications with sellers through the "I need help with my order" link. These messages open a new message thread and you have to reply to the message in that thread, not through the convos associated with the order.  I learned this the hard way.  I replied within minutes from the order convo thread (since that's where the info about the order was), but got dinged because I didn't reply from the new message thread.

By the end of the month, I had enough other messages to put my response rate back up to star seller.  However, again, I learned the hard way - buried in the fine print in the star seller help section it states that message responses for the last 2 days of the last month of the 3-month period will not be counted.  

I find this misleading since the star seller stats page that I check for my status, and download messages and orders, states clearly that that the period goes through the end of the third month of the calculation period.  I have given this feedback to Etsy, for whatever it's worth.