Star Seller Loss From a purchase I made

[wildfleurdelis]

After 6 mo. straight with Star Seller, I received a message in June from an Etsy shop that I made a purchase from, thanking me for leaving a review.  I neglected to mark it as spam and it went against my message response rate and I lost star seller for August.  Now I haven't had enough messages this month to make up the difference, so I will once again lose it for September.  It is very irritating because I typically respond to messages within an hour and this had nothing to do with my sales or my shop.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

Between crucifying sellers with the Star Seller badge for buying and mercilessly hounding them to leave reviews when they do, it's a wonder anyone shops here at all anymore.

[JackisJustVintage]

All messages need a reply or they need to be marked as spam. That is the way it works. The bots cannot tell why you got the message, they only know you got a message and did not reply. You can try spamming it now, and your numbers may go up, but it may be too late for this month.

[nineteen27]

yes it is a dumb rule.

it is called a star seller badge.. not a star say you're welcome when other sellers say thank you to you badge.

plus if you put all the info into your listings... you will rarely receive messages from buyers asking questions.

but etsy does say you have to answer all messages so what you can do?

[BagmakerSupply]

@nineteen27  :  The only problem with putting all the information in your listing is that Etsy seems to be making harder and harder for buyers to actually find and read item descriptions, especially on mobile (and the app?).

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

@BagmakerSupply 

The Etsy mobile app is no different than any other shopping app. I use several retailers' apps. They're all the same with making buyers click tabs or arrows to find the information they need. 

[Suniq]

That's why I never send a message to Etsy sellers if I have to say something about shipping or the item I send an email.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@wildfleurdelis @JackisJustVintage  :  Just to clarify so people don't think they have to respond to every message and it will be a never ending loop: the FIRST message of a NEW thread must be replied to 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. Those have always been the rules. Help Requests always start a new thread. By the way, if you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, you still need to reply to the message. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory on those messages they consider to be a "new message".

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 be aware that doing so may cause you to miss other messages from that account.

[anythinggoeshere]

@wildfleurdelis  It is a dumb rule, but if we want to be star sellers we have to follow it.  Many sellers don't care about being star sellers so they do not have to reply or mark message as spam.

Joan@anythinggoeshere

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello @wildfleurdelis,

Please know that the Message response rate counts initial messages from all Etsy members, both buyers, and other sellers. This is because fellow sellers could be potential buyers for your shop. If it's not a spam message it requires a response within 24 hours. If it is a spam message, you can mark it as such and it won't count towards your score.

Thank you very much!

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello @wildfleurdelis,

Please know that the Message response rate counts initial messages from all Etsy members, both buyers, and other sellers. This is because fellow sellers could be potential buyers for your shop. If it's not a spam message it requires a response within 24 hours. If it is a spam message, you can mark it as such and it won't count towards your score.

Thank you very much!

[maggiemaybecrafty]

We have been told by Etsy and in the forums over and over since before SS started that "the first thread in all messages must be replied to within 24 hours". ALL messages, as a buyer or seller. What about that statement do sellers not understand?