Star Seller Message Response Rate -- Seller Message

[OddlyCompelled]

I was curious why I had a low Message Response Rate  when I've replied within 3 hours to the few customers who have messaged me. When I looked into it, it appears that I got dinged for not replying to a generic message from a seller I purchased an item from. I was just curious if there is a way to get that waived, since it wasn't really a Customer Service situation for my own store. Or am I just going to need to learn from this and be sure to respond quickly to other Shop Owners I purchase items from? 

Thanks!

Sarah

[OneEyeCatStudio]

" Or am I just going to need to learn from this and be sure to respond quickly to other Shop Owners I purchase items from? "

Yep. It makes no sense, but there you have it.

You can toss any you didn't answer into your Spam folder, and then they won't count against the Deathstar Tally.

[WitticismsRus · Accepted solution]

@OddlyCompelled 

Unfortunatly the system is completely automated and it can't tell the difference between a message from a buyer or a message from a seller. Etsy did recently update the help center article about star seller to remove some confusion. It used to say "respond to buyer messages within 24 hours...." which was incorrect. They updated it here https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

it now says "... Initial messages from both buyers and sellers on Etsy are counted towards the Message response rate. "

Basically, you need to respond to ALL messages within 24 hours (buyer or seller messages) and by all messages they mean each individual message chain so if a buyer sends you 4 different separate messages asking questions you need to reply to each one. Your other option is to 'mark as spam' as messages marked as spam aren't counted in the percentages.

[TodaysStitch]

@WitticismsRus you need to respond in Messages, correct? You don't need to also go into email and respond there? 

thank you.

[TodaysStitch]

@WitticismsRus please ignore my question - of course Etsy can't monitor our email accounts!.. So we need to respond through Messages if we receive it there.

[phototailor]

Some times customers send simultaneously 2 messages ( second thread message chain)  back-to-back,  exactly the same time, with the exact same text or  with no text at all (blank by mistake)

If  I respond to one of the two messages, the system considers the second message as a "message replied after 24 hours", and this has a negative impact to  my score.

I think that  the system must have  a capping limit  for example : one message chain request per user in the same minute , or even one message chain per user in  in the same hour.

[AlmaSueShop]

Etsy message system is out of whack!  response on APP does not show on website.  Response once to thread still does not count if buyer sends several comments on same thread after a response.  PLEASE FIX IT!

[MelsBohoHummingbird]

I was dinged for not responding to the last message in a thread of messages when the last message was thank you sent to me by the buyer.  That is discouraging. 

[hbhill]

@MelsBohoHummingbird  That's strange. I've never gotten dinged for not responding to a last message in a thread. If the buyer's last message doesn't warrant a response I don't. 

[ChillwolfArt]

We're graded on answering the first Message from anyone who is the Initiator of the Message (so anyone who is not you).  So in the case of the Seller, you could say "Thank You".  Some people Mark the Message as Spam (personally I'm won't do that to a Seller informing me about my Order).  But you can do as you wish.  I did mark one Message as Spam this past Fall.  I don't know who it was from; something about some kind of blogging group.

We also get graded if the Initiator is another Seller starting a friendly conversation.  Or if the Initiator starts a Message on one Thread, then begins another Message on a NEW string of Messages. (Both have happened to me.  In the case of multiple strings of Messages, I would answer the first one, then say "Heading on over to your other Message."

Hope this helps.

ETA:  I'm slow:)

[TodaysStitch]

@ChillwolfArt when you said:

"Some people Mark the Message as Spam (personally I'm won't do that to a Seller informing me about my Order)." it makes me wonder - is the sender aware the message has been marked spam?

[ChillwolfArt]

@TodaysStitch 

That's a great question and one I'm not sure of the answer to.  I've seen some posts say it won't hurt the Seller.  Then I've seen others say the person who Market the Seller's Message (for example), wouldn't get  FURTHER Message from the Seller. 
And I'd imagine the same would apply if they were a Buyer, and the Seller Marked their Message as Spam.

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that.
You know what's silly though.  I send Thank You Convos with info about the order.  And I've had Buyers only reply "Thank You."   That's what I would do.

Last Fall, I Marked one Message as Spam.  It was not from another Seller (I don't know who it was; for some group).

But I'd never Mark a Seller's Message about my Order as Spam.

[OddlyCompelled]

Thank you all for your responses! I assumed this would be the case, but I figured it was worth exploring…

[WhiteBirchLaneDesign]

 I am only missing out on star seller AGAIN because of my messages rate.  When I receive messages or coupons from purchases I make it should not be counted towards my star seller status. Especially since when you initiate help from the help center, and send an email it is not responded to for a few days. This change needs to happen, and not just for me but for all people who are having this issue. The excuse "etsy cannot tell the difference between a buyer and a seller messages" is completely ridiculous. As sellers in this community we work really hard. As small business owners we spend hours perfecting our products, our customers service, and every little thing in between. Star seller should reflect that, and it's not. My purchase from another shop, and those messages should not be part of the determination process of star seller.  Please implement a new system or do not make messages apart of the process until it can tell the difference between a purchase and a buyer messaging a seller. Thank you.

[Bostoncharm]

The same thing happened to me!   I buy and sell on Etsy.   One person that I buy supplies from always sends me a message that she shipped the item.     This step is not needed, but I don't have the heart to say anything to her because she is being kind.      (I buy from her a lot).  So.. Im not sure HOW, but I missed it one time. Now I may not get my star status for April.    I think I typed my response but got distracted and didn't send it.   I called the number to have Etsy CALL ME and I got a message that that service is no longer active.   So.. how to we dispute an infraction?   

[AmericanPie]

I just got dinged for not responding to a message that was a thank you for a purchase I made.  So I'm supposed to write thank you for a thank you?  So I tried to get it removed and I got a generic response saying yeah, we know sometimes its a message you get as a buyer not a seller but too bad.  It did say you could set up an automated response message so you  never get dinged, but that to me is robotic, not what etsy should be about.

[myprimitivehandmades]

Its ridiculous, which is why I couldn't carless about star seller.  

[ARTandDecorations]

I always keep my auto reply on 5 days, and have a 'thumbs up' image that I send rather than 'thanks for the thanks' etc. Even with never missing almost immediate replies to customers,( from my phone etsy app) I've still been dinged so many times for other things that '' you have to learn the hard way'' about. Incredibly frustrating !

[LilysNurseryShop]

Just another way to have to work even harder than we already do. I lost my SS rating apparently this weekend. Didn't even know why until I started reading all this.

[RedefinedKreative]

This happened to me this month too on one of those generic thank you for your order messages. I just don't understand why messages from my personal shopping should impact my business statistics. It sort of makes me not want to shop on Etsy which is sad. Lesson learned...there goes my seven month star seller streak....

[RetroRoseAU]

This happened to me too. A seller sending me a thank you messsage.  Etsy increased their fees and said they were going to put more into helping Sellers.  How is an automated technical glitch helping us.  And having to set up an auto reply defeats the purpose of the personal shopping experience.

[wigdesignsbyfriston]

I lost my Star Seller rating because of my "response rate".  Come to find out it's my customers sending me "thank you for your speedy response" or just an "excited to receive..." messages.  Etsy is simply a robot and cannot tell the difference between an actual question from a customer or sending us a compliment for the product we make.  I swear I read that we're not to worry about the thread of conversation as long as we responded in a timely the FIRST TIME.  So, now I see that's not true.  We have to respond to every message...so we basically have to thank the customer for thanking us and then thank them again if they respond with another thank you/your welcome...and so the cycle continues.  The Etsy robot needs to be fixed.  Why does customer service even exist...it's no wonder too they make it so hard for us to get some kind of human contact from the robot that is Etsy. 

[MelsBohoHummingbird]

Me too. 

[maggiemaybecrafty]

We have to respond to the first thread in EVERY message whether it is from a buyer or seller. It does not matter if it is a customer service issue. You might be able to mark the message as spam and maybe it will fix your message response rate. There is no way to get it waived, we are all subject to Etsy's rules.