Star Seller Lost Due To Message Response Failure For Personal Purchase!

[pewtermoonsilver]

I am writing this as no other way to appeal. I have had my Star Seller status taken away this month becuase I bought an item as a customer (being loyal to Etsy). The seller sent a message to acknowledge my purchase. It said only "Thanks Mary". This did not warrant a reply, so I did not. How can not replying to this message affect my SELLER ratings???!!! I shouldn't care, but felt I have to highlight such unfair behaviour, presumably by AI

[ChristmasIsLove]

See the replies to the same question on this thread:

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Star-Seller-status-dropped-due-to-buying-on-Etsy/m-p/...

There have been 1000s of posts asking this question since the program began. The answer is always the same: ALL initial messages count. You must reply or mark as spam.

[FallenAngelBrass · Accepted solution]

Because most sellers are also buyers on Etsy, many sellers have separate buyer accounts.  You can open another account just for buying and then your buying activity will not influence your shop. 

[pewtermoonsilver]

Dear FallenAngelBrass,

Thank you for taking the time to address my concerns. I may well consider doing that in the future!

Best Regards

pewtermoonsilver

[FourSonsWoodworking]

If a customer message really doesn't require a response I'll respond with a "thank you" or "your welcome" in order to satisfy Etsy requirements.

[AutumnHollowStudio]

Responding to all messages within 24 hours has always been part of the star seller requirements. If you receive a message from a seller you purchased from regarding an order, then respond to it. If you receive an unsolicited message from anyone (coupon offer or whatever) then mark it as "spam" and it won't count against you.

[SugarTaffySoap]

@pewtermoonsilver Unfortunately, the System cannot determine who is a seller and who is a buyer, it just knows that a message was NOT replied to.  Many are losing their SS badge because of not replying to messages but the good news is you always have an opportunity to get it back. You can always place your message in Spam if you don't want to reply to a seller "thank you".  This way it does NOT count towards star seller.

In your dashboard below the 3 percentages are videos and Q&A which you should read and watch. You can also read it from the Help Center. Hope this helps.

[PinkLemonadeDuxbury]

You made a purchase from your seller account.  Etsy (thankfully) doesn't have anyone reading through our messages to determine which hat we're wearing when we receive a message.  Regardless of the message sender or content, your seller account received a message and you didn't respond.  Nothing unfair about it.

[PriddeyThings]

The star seller criteria have been set out in shop manager for 2 years and the messages criteria haven't changed:

"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 you care about the star, it's a good idea to familiarise yourself with the rules.

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

My Mom taught me that when someone says, Thank you" that you reply by saying "you're welcome".  When did it become okay to ignore someone?  

When it became possible to hide behind the internet.

If the person saying "Thank you" is in your presence are you going to just ignore them or walk away?  99.999% of the time you will say "you're welcome".  Why do we think it's okay if they are out of sight?