Star Seller Message Responses for purchases unaffiliated with my store

[LittleRitualsCandles]

I had someone message me about shipping for an order I placed, and I was under the impression that messages from a seller having nothing to do with my products weren't being calculated in my star seller score. This has removed my star seller status which I worked so hard to get. How can this actually be a part of the process? l have to literally respond to every message a seller I've used in the past sends me? Is there no way to fix this?

[VintageRescueSquad · Accepted solution]

ALL messages count. Go back and familiarize yourself the rules. Etsy doesn't read our messages to differentiate.

The way to "fix" this is mark it as spam. It might be too late, as there is a time limit. Alternatively, open a buyer-only account that you use for purchases.

[LittleRitualsCandles]

They wouldn't need to read the messages to know what messages concern my shop. They have the capability of knowing whether a message is being sent from a seller or from an item page. 

[BootifulLabels]

Unfortunately, you are under the wrong impression.  ALL new messages are included in the Star Seller calculation.  You need to answer within 24 hours, or mark the message as spam if applicable.  It doesn't matter who the message is from or what it is about, this includes all new messages whether from buyers or other sellers, regardless of the subject matter.  It is right there in the Star Seller information files. 

[FlippinBroadsJewelry]

If you read the metrics for Star Seller you will note it does state you must respond to EVERY FIRST message within 24 hours.  Etsy does not know what messages concern your shop or what messages concern buying from another shop.  You must respond to every FIRST message in a thread that you receive.  I'm sorry you lost your star seller, but best to read through the metrics so you know exactly what is expected!

[nineteen27]

What messages count towards the message response rate?

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.

[moonbeamgifts]

Etsy has no idea why a message would come into your inbox since so many sellers are also buyers.   They've said that star seller status' will not be modified for any reason so you'll just have to work on next month if that's important for your shop.

The way to avoid this in my opinion is to set up a buying only account.    I did this long ago when "feedback" existed for both buyers and sellers.   So much retaliation was going around (why Etsy dropped it, LOL) that it wasn't worth playing the games.   It's very nice to have the separate account especially at tax time because so many of those purchases are personal, it keeps things uncomplicated.

[BagmakerSupply]

@LittleRitualsCandles: "l have to literally respond to every message a seller I've used in the past sends me?" The Star Seller metric is NOT all new messages but only the first message of all new incoming threads.