Star Seller and Responses

[SEWINGtheABCs]

Etsy assured us that we did not need to reply to multiple customer threads. 

I received 2 messages at the same time from a customer.  A help request and regular message.  I responded quickly, but Etsy did not recognize the 2 threads as one.  I was surprised to see my percentage was under 95% and then frustrated to see why.

Please make sure this is corrected.  It does not sound like we can request a correction to our stats for these situations.

[OmasFabricStash]

If it was 2 separate messages then you need to answer both of them. If the message is from a seller about something you ordered you need to respond. EverIf you received 2 new messages then you need to respond to both of them. 
Just wanted to add that if you get a message from a seller about something you ordered you need to respond. 

[JackisJustVintage]

All initial messages, no matter what the circumstance, need a reply or they need to be marked as spam.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@SEWINGtheABCs  :  The Star Seller metric is that 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. Subsequent messages from the same account (a buyer may have multiple accounts) are supposed to be combined into a single thread.

Help Requests always start a new thread. By the way, if you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, 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" but should semantically be called a "new thread".