Star Seller Message Calculation Error

[JennaralCollectibles]

I had a customer regret making a purchase on my shop immediately. They messaged me they needed to cancel the order and also requested a refund. Etsy sent a second message conversation for the refund. I responded to the customer on only one of the message threads and Etsy penalized me for not responding to both by lowering my star criteria percentage. For a website that says they are about helping individual crafters instead of selling mass produced items, you sure do love to use automation yourselves. 

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@JennaralCollectibles: "Etsy sent a second message conversation for the refund." Odds are that the buyer messaged you and also started a Help Request - then each would be a separate thread and the first message of each required a reply.

Depending on how long ago this happened, you can confirm this by looking at the applicable CSV file from your Star Seller page. Messages actually sent by Etsy should not affect your Star Seller stats: "Messages from Etsy staff do not count toward your response rate ..." https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/me/star-seller

[JennaralCollectibles]

The customerand I were able to have a back and forth conversation on the request thread. If that isn’t going to count as a message with the customer,I don’t think that should be allowed. And your automated system should account for that. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@JennaralCollectibles: You are correct in theory, but unfortunately Etsy has been very clear that you need to reply to (or mark as SPAM) 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.

"And your automated system should account for that." Just so you know, even if Etsy Support or the Help Pages sent you here this is a seller peer to peer forum, and should not be considered a way to contact Etsy, if that is your hope (although Etsy does sometimes read and reply to posts).

As an aside, if you are only reselling the unpainted version (which your listings imply) have you read https://www.etsy.com/legal/sellers/ ?

[JennaralCollectibles]

@BagmakerSupply  My bad I didn’t even pay attention to where I was posting. It just gave me a link when I was trying to get help from Etsy and went to a text box. It’s also frustrating we don’t get help from Etsy but have to rely on each other. I really think I’m going to quit with Etsy before I really get going because the way they handle things is so backwards. 

And I put the unpainted in the title since etsy only shows the lowest price on search pages which is for unpainted but all my listings are printed and assembled by me and painting is optional. I’ll just let them take the store down if that’s a problem and I’ll go somewhere else. But I appreciate you looking out for me. 

[audreytherese]

There are 3 types of messages, and none of those 3 talk to each other, so a response is required in each place a message was received. 

First there's the regular inbox messages. 

Then there are help requests. Most times I get a help request it's right after I've received a message from a buyer, who was then prompted by Etsy to also send a help request. I have to respond to both, even if they say the same exact thing. 

The third is a message sent along with a refund. This one trips up many shops because they'll get a help request to cancel an order, and they'll do so, while leaving a message here saying that it's been taken care of. Except that doesn't satisfy the requirement to still respond to the original message. 

You can't receive a message the third way, but you can receive messages in both of the first two ways, and any response in the third place does not satisfy the response requirement.  

[BootifulLabels]

When a customer opens a Help Request there is a 48 hr window for the buyer to resolve the situation.  In order to ensure prompt action the Help Request also generates a regular message to the inbox, in case the seller doesn't notice the Help Request.  Even if you see the Help Request and respond to it, that response is separate to the inbox message, which for SS purposes requires a response within 24 hours.   The easiest way to avoid a strike for a non response is to respond to the Help Request first, take whatever action is required (usually a refund), then  respond to the inbox message with "refund complete" or whatever action you took.  This is a basic CYA rule to ensure all the t's are crossed and i's dotted.  You can set up snippets in the message system that allow you to send the appropriate response with no more than 3 clicks.  That is considerably less time than it took you to write this thread, and it's the best option if Star Seller is important to you.

Sure Etsy could just not send the inbox message, but then there would be angry sellers complaining that they didn't see the Help Request on time.