Star Seller mistakes

[1goodeye]

I have not shipped an order late EVER and ALWAYS include tracking information. Yet Etsy just dropped my shipping rating to 92% for "failing to include tracking information". I closed December as a Star Seller with a 95% rating for shipping and just today was dropped to a 92%. No way did I neglect to ship on time or fail to include tracking. Something is screwy with Etsy's monitoring...Very frustrating.....

[CraftyCornishMaids]

If you were at 95% end of December,

when you get to January, all of Octobers on time shipping drops off, so if the one/s were in Nov/Dec, then the %age will go down.

The %age will increase, as you send more items on time, through the month.

You can check the CSV, to see which ones, and in what months, etsy thinks they are.

......

if you add tracking numbers after the ship by date, then that will be late

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello @1goodeye and @KeystoneCottageShop,

We've double-checked the orders affecting your Star Seller, and it appears that the tracking events for these tracking numbers aren't also showing on the carrier's website at this moment. It is possible that the number entered may not be the tracking number, or a slight error may have been made in entering the number, or the wrong carrier may have been added or chosen. Please check the carrier and the tracking number match. If the carrier and tracking numbers do not match, this will count as an invalid tracking number. You can check our help center article explaining how to add or edit a tracking number. 

If you're sure that the tracking number is correct, you may want to coordinate with your shipping provider to investigate the issue as to why the tracking events aren't showing on their own website. 

@leinweberstudio & @WhatsNewPussycat1,

We can confirm that your On-Time Shipping is currently at 100%. Please know that it may take about 24 hours after an order has been shipped for this score to update.

@TheArtfulTwig,

It seems that the order that has affected your Star Seller previously, was shipped/marked as complete(October 5, 2022) after the stated ship-by-date(October 3, 2022). Please remember that aside from adding/using a valid tracking number, you also need to ship the order on or before the ship-by-date for it to count positively towards your Star Seller. Moving forward, in the event that you're unable to ship the order on time, you're welcome to update the shipping date of the order which will then update your Star Seller On-Time shipping calculation. You can update the shipping date once per order, and before the shipping date has passed, see instructions here: How to Set Processing Times and "Ship By" Dates

PamsPawsJewelry,

Canceled orders are not counted towards your minimum threshold for orders or sales, and they’re also not counted towards your customer service metrics. However, if you refund an order without canceling it, then this will still count towards all your metrics. We encourage you to use the streamlined process for canceling and refunding orders together if you wish to both cancel and refund an order. Read more about how to do that: How to Cancel a Sale. Additionally, the data for Star Seller are being updated every 24 hours.

PresentAppeal,

Star Sellers can now live chat with Etsy’s support team right from Shop Manager 7 days a week, available from 9am to 6pm ET during the week and 10am to 6pm ET on the weekends. You can visit this link to learn more.

On the other hand, please be assured that all of your inputs have been noted, and we will share them to our Product team so we can continuously make improvements. We thank you all for sharing your feedbacks!

[deemarie13]

Some of my customers don't use the shopping cart and it results in 3 & 4 orders - I combine them into 1 package.

Then I use the same tracking number for all of their order (and refund shipping overages) Etsy says that I have orders with no tracking number- I put the tracking number in the orders!!!!

This results in my STAR seller Shipping to lose points!!!!!! 

And NOW orders that have been sent out and are CLEARLY TRACKABLE are saying that they are in pre-transit!!!

Come On Etsy!!!

[1goodeye]

Thanks for reply. I understand how the system is supposed to work. However, my shipping promise is 1-2 days, and I rarely wait until the 2nd day. I usually ship the same day I receive an order, often within hours of the order. The fact that they state "missing tracking info." is clearly wrong, as I invariably supply tracking numbers.

[BagmakerSupply]

@1goodeye: Presuming that the shipper is supported by Etsy, and the shipped date, tracking number and shipping company show correctly on the actual order usually a day or two after the package has been scanned the CSV file correctly shows tracking and shipment status and the Star Seller stats auto update.

Etsy relies on a third party vendor for tracking (and tracking number validation) and uses the data on the order. Often recent shipments are not correctly / timely updated and we are at the mercy of how often they check and update the data that underlies the CSV files.

[Adorabilities]

Was this a recent shipment? The CSV can be incorrect for several days after you ship. It should correct itself if the tracking information has been entered correctly.

It's best not to look at the scores at all if you can help it, as they can be incorrect often. There's nothing you can do to correct them -- the system just has to go through all the steps to update itself.

[moonbeamgifts]

I just looked at mine for the first time this month and it says I'm missing tracking for 3 orders.    I'm not so it will likely update either later today or tomorrow to be back to 100%.    It doesn't make any sense but that's the system....I know I ship on time if not early so that's what I figure is important.    

[Former_Member]

All you can do is write to customer service and basically beg for help. It is up to the person you get, if they will send it to technical department. Most often they are a service person answering calls for many companies, and it is quite frustrating since they rarely know what we are talking about.  Sad that is the only way. When you get back an email saying they received your request, add to it and send again. Hope they respond for you. Good luck.

[TickleYourWitch]

Did you just send the package? Star sellers stats are often 1-2 days behind. They'll update and all will be well....unless it's the 29th or 30th of the month and then you're screwed. lol

[leinweberstudio]

@1goodeye 

If this helps, I can assure you that it wasn't you, but them.

I saw the same thing this morning; the 3 orders I sent yesterday and whose tracking # I entered immediately, showed up today as having no tracking, lowering my percentage.

I just got off chat about this; I was told he can see the tracking info, that this is a well-known Etsy error and they are aware of it (but for some reason refuse to fix it), and my problem will be forwarded to a specialist who will correct it, and not to worry.

Sadly, to me "specialist" sounds like the good old circular filing cabinet of yore.

ETA, and just for fun, my tinfoil hat theory is that "the program" does this to shops that don't use Etsy shipping labels, to "nudge them" toward using it. If this tracking problem has happened to anyone who does use Etsy shipping, I ask them to reply here, so I may be disabused of my theory.

[Adorabilities]

@leinweberstudio 

I tried to test this theory a few weeks back. I shipped 3 orders with Etsy labels and 4 with PS labels and monitored the CSV.

Downloading the CSV daily, none of those orders showed up at all for 4 days, and then they all were correct. So the period when some would have been entered incorrectly was missed altogether.

I don't have the desire to do the experiment again (mostly because I don't want to buy unnecessary Etsy labels,) but I'd be interested in the results if someone else wanted to try it.

[leinweberstudio]

@Adorabilities 

Thank you for this info.

I always use, and always have used, my post office counter and I pay retail rates, just because I don't trust Etsy shipping. So I myself have no other experiences to compare it to.

In my now 13 years here, I've never once had this problem before.

And for the inevitable comments that might come from some about savings with other programs, etc., etc., to that I say we have next to no control left over our own shops, and this is one place where I can be in charge. I like being in charge, especially where my customers' orders are concerned.

[oldbooksandsuch]

How funny as I agree with you completely. My guess is if you don't use their labels your shipping stat will go up and down (as mine has). At first it bothered me as I always ship on time and add the tracking, now I just don't care.

[HominyCreekMarket]

OK, we were thinking the same thing about being penalized for not using Etsy shipping labels.  We're expierencing the very same issues with tracking numbers using usps. If this is true and Etsy is purposely penalizing us I'm not very happy about it. We work hard on our shop! 

[WhatsNewPussycat1]

@1goodeye  you are not alone I got clipped yesterday for 3 items shown as no tracking uploaded and late out of a group of 8. I don't miss but my no risk business partner run their end of the operation like a drunken sailor on shore leave with a pocket full of cash....

[ForgetMeNotShopCA]

How frustrating for you.  I am new to having a shop and am really enjoying all the forums and assistance that is available.  I have not yet had a sale but I did not realize that every order should be tracked but that makes sense.  I am wondering if the shipping options that are available for the buyer to select should be reduced to only tracked mail.  I think I should do some more research regarding shipping as I thought that the buyer selects the option.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

no way,

we should be allowed to have non tracked - and on our heads be it.

..... and only 5 countries have etsy labels anyway, you can't for the other 190ish countries to buy tracked from their post offices

[PrimFun]

Etsy wants tracking on orders because it is the only way they can be assured the seller has shipped.

They have made a few allowances outside the US for some countries to ship without tracking  if the item is at or under a certain price point.  For Canada it is $05.oo CAD.  The US has no such allowance.

And unlke Crafty I firmly believe in tracking.  I know what is said but since the US has very high shipping costs than many countries due to UPU  than other countries who seem to be able to have tracking even though they argued it was too expensive some time ago when Etsy announced tracking was necessary, I believe ttracking can be worked into cost.

I know it's a no win argument so let me say I believe in tracking and leave it at that.  A seller can choose not to use tracking but then be aware seller protection would not be had and the seller would on the hook to refund or reship.  

The buyer does not choose.  You set up the shipping parameters.  You decide what services for posting you want to use. 

[Lionfishvintage]

My star seller status was taken away because i was on vacay for a month.It was because i had no sales and therefore no revenue for Etsy.

( they informed me i had lowered my sales status )

I was upset at 1st but it's O.K. because the star seller system is flawed. 

As long as we provide good products/ customer service, our buyers don't care about S S.

[PrimFun]

That may change as star seller has been added as a filter to search.  Buyers may start to become more aware of the program.  How it will affect. I have no idea.

[KeystoneCottageShop]

Same thing happened to me.  I don't know if there's anything that can be done about it.

[WhatsNewPussycat1]

@KeystoneCottageShop  nothing much can be done it will either be corrected or will just be ignored. I took a bucketful of etsy star reviews to the grocery store and tried to trade for a loaf of bread. They Forrest Gumped me ask me if I was stupid or something...

[FunkyJunkyVintage]

Oh Joy!

And this just in time to coincide with their new Star Seller filter!

Isn't it great that legit Star Sellers are going to be penalized by yet another brilliant idea gone awry!

Whoot! Way to go, etsy!

[leinweberstudio]

If I had a penny for every new thing that launched flawlessly here I would have exactly nothing.