Star Seller Message Percentage not accurate

[GrahamCalferDesigns]

I am so frustrated with the star seller messaging ratings. My percentage is missing many conversations I have had with customers. I always respond to messages within the first day but there was one that was a scam message so I did not reply and now I can't come back from my ding! this is ridiculous! I feel like Esty just gives it the run around because when I chatted with Esty support they routed me here to the discussion board instead of actually fixing the issue.

[LeParisMetro]

There is nothing for them to fix. The program has always required a response to every message. Etsy is very clear on that in the rules for the SS.  Send it to spam now and see if it will update your stats.

[FallenAngelBrass]

Mark that message as spam.  If it's a recent message, within the evaluation period, your score is likely to go back up.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

You have to reply to each new message thread, it doesn't matter who it's from, or what it's about

it's always been this way, so there is nothing for etsy to fix , it's working as advertised

we are only other sellers, so we can only tell you the same thing, 

If you have a spam message, you can mark it as spam, but don't do it with real customer messages, as you will then miss any future correspondence with them.

[BootifulLabels]

You must respond to ALL messages within 24 hours, either by replying to the message, or by marking it as spam.  Etsy does not read our messages, they do not differentiate between messages from buyers, messages from other sellers, or straight out spam messages.  You have to tell them which messages are spam by marking them as such.  You have to respond to messages that are not spam, by sending a reply.  If the buyer sends two or more messages in a row you must reply to each one.  You can create a snippet that says "answered on previous message" and use this to respond, it only takes a couple of clicks to add the snippet and send. 

If you are being dinged for a spam message, mark it as spam now and it should correct your stats in time for the badge to be awarded on September 1.  

Stop stressing over the badge, it means nothing as far as sales and placement goes and its relationship to customer service is spurious at best.  If you are already providing great service to your customers you don't need a badge from Etsy.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@GrahamCalferDesigns  : 

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 you are also caught in the end of month warp.

Etsy has have been very clear and consistent about messages / convos from the very beginning. 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 the message, 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".

If you have not yet done so, you might want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

[PlanetSusan]

The Star Seller Messages Percentage is SO bogus.  If a good seller gets only 2 messages and somehow doesn't reply to one, their % drops to 50%.  If another seller gets 100 messages, because maybe they don't have good explanations on their listings, and doesn't reply to ten of them, they are at 90% status.  That is ridiculously BOGUS.  I had a cancellation on a sale a few minutes after the customer says they changed their mind (I also have a "no return policy), but I hadn't sent it yet and I immediately refunded it and replied to the Customer on the Refund Form, which clearly says "Message the Buyer", thinking that would take care of it, and my % dropped to 50% because I didn't reply twice (on the Messages).  Really a stupid frustrating program with no oversight to correct issues that are obviously occuring to a lot of people and absolutely no help from Etsy Support who I tried to reach out to and give a full explanation.  Now I just ignore the Star Seller program because it is so frustrating and meaningless and dysfunctional.

[SugarTaffySoap]

@PlanetSusan just reply to all of your messages or move them to your Spam folder and the percentage will adjust at some point. Also, the auto reply message option is useful on some occasions.