Star Seller Messages

[BabasBlessings]

My message response rating dropped from 100% to 94%, and then overnight to 89%.  I have no messages that I haven’t responded to that I can find.  Only the first message in a thread counts, right?  What if I am the first to message a buyer and they never respond?  Or they respond with a “thank you” and that’s the end of the conversation?  And why am I stressing out about getting a meaningless star seller rating when my customers are happy?

[CraftyCornishMaids]

If you download the CSV, you will see the ones etsy things have been missed

[CappuccinoLace]

What if I am the first to message a buyer and they never respond?

Doesn't count at all, you initiated the message.

[GlassyFields]

It can be hard to find the message that is counting against you in 3 months of messages. The CSV makes finding exactly what Etsy is counting easy. Once you find the message or messages that are giving you a black mark, mark them as spam. SS stats will recalculate w/o counting those messages (can take days).

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@BabasBlessings: Check the applicable CSV file available on your Star Seller page. When you look at the file remember that that the dates / times are in UTC (not your time zone), only the first message of a new incoming thread is included (all that counts for Star Seller), and usually a new incoming thread is not included until after the 24 hour reply window has passed regardless of when you replied. Star Seller stats (and the CSV file) seem to be updated only once per day so there may be an additional day's delay. There is also a link to the actual message thread so you can verify if the data is correct or not.

Keep in mind that the Star Seller metric is NOT all new messages but only the first message of all new incoming threads.

If the unanswered new thread is not a Help Request, at least for the time being, it appears that marking an unanswered thread 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 not retroactively). Note that subsequent messages from that account may go directly to the SPAM folder.

[BabasBlessings]

Thanks very much for the help.  I found the message using the CSV file.  The offending message was another seller messaging me about a personal purchase unrelated to my store.