Star Seller Removed for not replying - but I did reply and resolve issue with the customer

[SavoringEachMoment]

I have a question about why my star seller was denied for June. When I look at my messages, I have two message threads from the same person about the same order. We got it all resolved as you will see from the message thread and I replied to her very quickly through the phone app. I didn't reply to the second message thread as it came a day later after we had it all resolved. I'm not sure why the second message was sent.

Can you please review this and reinstate my star seller badge for June?

Thank you very much
Karen Carlton

[BagmakerSupply]

@SavoringEachMoment: Did Etsy Support or the Help Pages send 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).

Was the second message a Help Request? Help Requests always start a new thread (because it starts the clock ticking on a possible claim).

Probably everyone in this forum can sympathize with you but there are innumerable threads about the exact same issue in this forum. The Star Seller metric is that the FIRST message of EVERY NEW INCOMING 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.

Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory (blue banner on desktop, and a blue dot on mobile) on those messages they consider to be a "new message" but should semantically be called a "new thread".

If the unanswered message is not a Help Request, 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 not retroactively). Note that subsequent messages from that account may go directly to the SPAM folder.

[CostumeCoutureNaomi]

The 2nd message was likely sent because of the way messages are set up on Etsy's end.

If you purchase from anyone on Etsy,  and try to send them a message or respond to a message, the text box is entirely blocked by a big box asking the customer to open a help request, which starts a brand new message thread. 

You have to respond to both (or all) of these messages.

The big yellow box says:

Have a problem with your order?

Instead of messaging the seller, submit a help request here. You won't be able to open a case until you try this first.

Request help

A buyer must know to scroll down to the bottom of the page to send a regular message.  Many buyers don't know to do this (because Etsy obscures the option to just answer the message without a help request.

[moonbeamgifts · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, you have to reply to any messages sent as a first reply.    After the initial message, your box is checked and you don't need to keep responding.     Etsy has no way of knowing the sentiment is the same, just that you didn't reply to one.

I noticed that happens especially when a buyer places an order and then either needs to change what they ordered or increase the quantity because they saw it renew.   They'll send a message from the item page itself and then the order page after.     What I've started doing is responding to the first, copy and paste to the second - then whichever they pick to reply to, we carry on the conversation there.

[SavoringEachMoment]

Thank you!  That helps.  I will do that in the future.  I didn't reply to the second message because we already had 8 messages going back and forth and had resolved the issue.  Next time, I'll respond anyway!

[CraftyCornishMaids · Accepted solution]

etsy says you have to answer ALL new message threads for the badge, you didn't , so you don't get it

the "help requests" are doubly important, so they are separate, as they start the clock ticking to open a case, don't reply to that, and a case is opened, etsy will refund in full, and recoup from you - immediately, via a bot

[mommawhazelsquilts · Accepted solution]

That second message was as important for SSB as the first one.  Respond to all messages and this won't happen again.

[hopeandjoystudios · Accepted solution]

Spam the second message now and it should come off your record in a few days. You won't retroactively get a star but you won't be fighting it for 2 more months.

[TheIndustrialFarmer · Accepted solution]

On the message page, find it and click the box next to it and up top click Mark as  spam.

[hopeandjoystudios]

That was me..forgot to log out of my husband's shop.