Star Seller message Response rate is wrong

[KekooWreaths]

I had only three  messages and responded to all within 24 hours except for one.  It was a scam message.  I did not respond to that message and it took my Response rate to 50 %.   I have a picture of the suspicious message and there is text from Etsy stating not to click on it respond to potential scams. I believe that my response rate should be put back to 100% and my Star Seller Badge reinstated.  

[OmasFabricStash]

You didn’t respond or send it to trash within 24 hours so you got dinged. If it’s spam or a possible fraud scam then putting it in the trash can would have been what most people would do. 

[WitticismsRus · Accepted solution]

Did you mark as spam? If not then that is the reason it is being counted against you. You can't simply just ignore a message. You either need to respond to it in time or mark it as spam. Etsy provides tools for us to use, it's up to us to use them.

The Help center has more info and instructions here

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000343128-How-to-Handle-Scams-and-Suspicious-Messages?seg...

"How to block messages from a member-

If you receive a suspicious message, you can block further communication from the sender by reporting the message as spam. Do not respond to the message. Etsy does not recommend engaging with suspicious messages for any reason. Responding will encourage the scammers and cause you to receive further scam messages. The mark as spam feature is not currently available on the Etsy Seller app. 

If you receive a suspicious message, you can block the sender by:

1. Sign in to Etsy.com and go to Your Account.
2. Go to Messages. 
3. Select the suspicious message from your inbox. 
4. Choose Mark as Spam.

This will move the message out of your inbox and into your Spam folder. You won’t receive any new messages from that member, and they’ll be unable to reply to messages in an existing thread. However, blocked members can still purchase items from your shop...."

[KekooWreaths]

I did not know about the ability to mark messages as spam.  I went ahead and did that today.  Thank you.  Will my response rate change since the message is now marked as spam? 

[TheGemmary]

I sent my to spam, and I still was penalized for it. This is such a ridiculous program. I've been a star seller since the program started, and now my sales have plummeted. I wish Etsy would fix this; it makes selling on here a nightmare. 

[CatsWhiskersCurios · Accepted solution]

Did you send it to spam? You can’t just ignore it - you need to respond or send to spam. 

[michellepatterns · Accepted solution]

Etsy doesn't read the messages. It would be impossible and even if they could, it would be problematic in a few different ways. 

Spam messages (includes scam messages) need to go to the spam folder within 24-hours.  You can try marking it as spam now and see if that improves your percentage. 

If not, try not to worry too much.  The Star Seller badge isn't that important and you can earn in back in the future if you really want it and follow the rules going forward.  

[MixedBagMosaics · Accepted solution]

So many crazy, convoluted, involved rules to obey.  It's like a maze with land mines with no way out because the rules unilaterally change at a moment's notice.

99.9% of sellers on here are hard-working honest people trying to do what's right to get ahead, then not responding to an obvious scam message (which is very much different than a spam message BTW) as most intelligent people would do, and they get a black mark against them trying to get Etsy's golden prize of being a Star Seller.  Then being told that being a star seller is not that important, but to “obey” the rules going forward if they still want it.  Yikes!