Star Seller percentages down because I bought a digital download and didn't respond within 24 hrs!!!

[alaboouk]

What is this world coming to ... as an etsy seller for 3 yrs now, I have worked really hard to keep my business at the top of its game!! You all know how hard it can get guys!! well it seams that I will fail at being a star seller for February for two things

1.  I bought a digital item for a gift from a fellow seller on Esty.  -supporting each other as we should! yet I have been punished for doing so... ETSY deem that the seller sending me the download, and me not replying back within 24 hours is a Star Seller negative performance!!!! What the flip is all that about?? 

2. one or two of our buyers asks us a question, and we try our hardest to stay on top of those messages, whatever time of day or night our buyers ask a question... but they message through a certain way, and we reply through a different track (unbeknown to us of course) within the 24 hrs as required. Yet it still counts as a none reply. However, the thread of that conversation doesn't show in our message board, therefore not contributing to our excellent service we are giving our customers - my question is... why is there two ways of our customers messaging us yet only one of them contributes as a positive to our star seller status but they both count towards as a negative towards star seller... surely this is extremely biased and weighted towards failure?? 

is this just me that feels this way?? 

Regards

Sammie

[EnergyPeace]

A message is a message according Etsy...it doesn't matter what it is or if if we are buyers and the seller sends us a note. It sucks but it is how it is. 

We have to respond to ALL messages or send them to spam. 

I think we all feel like you!

I check messages throughout the day because there has been times when I didn't get a notification that there was a message. So I just keep checking to make sure I am not missing any. Only way to stay on top if it.

[BagmakerSupply]

@alaboouk: Probably almost everyone on this forum can sympathize with you but a quick search would show you innumerable threads about your exact issue. As it says right on your Star Seller page, you need to reply  to the FIRST message of a NEW THREAD. 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.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

The messages that count, are the ones that come through "messages",

each new message thread is in blue, so you don't miss it.

...

contact through the actual orders, are separate, and nothing to do with messages

....

I have bough some instant downloads, and not had a message - that is probably the seller thinking they are being helpful, and sending you additional info, so it's the seller just messaging you themselves - mark it as spam

[BootifulLabels]

The only way Etsy would know if a message was from a buyer or a seller is if they read every one of our messages.  Would you really want Etsy reading all your messages? I know I wouldn't and I expect not many sellers would.  You have a number of choices going forward:

• Turn on auto reply with a simple Thank you for your message, I will get back to you shortly".  You will need to re apply it every five days.
• Create a snippet that says "thank you" or "you are welcome" and use it to respond to messages that don't really need an answer.  It only requires 3 clicks and should be manageable.
• Create a separate buying account and switch to that before making any purchases.  Then your buying activity won't affect your selling.
• Stop worrying about SS, it doesn't come with any special treatment or rewards, nor does it have any real affect on your shop.

[TheArtfulTwig]

My issue with star seller calculations is that Etsy did not count all of the messages I replied to during the past month, so I fell short on their calculations.  They cut off messages on the 28th of the month in December.  If they had included all of them, I would have met the threshold. 

Why are they not following their own stated period of responses between 10/1/22 - December 31/2021??  I don't get many messages, so one mistake (replying immediately, but not realizing that help requests open a new thread) cost me SS for January, one of my biggest months.

I do care about SS, because as a buyer I pay attention to it, and expect many other buyers use it as a seller quality metric as well.

If they are going to do these stats, I wish they would do accurate and complete accounting of the actual numbers.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

etsy counts them all,

but ones towards the end, are counted in the following month, as they have a delay anyway, and don't want a message in one month to be counted against, because the reply is iright on the wire, or next month, so not counted together,

so they are all counted, but just offset a few days

so you will have ones from end sept, that are counted, but not end dec,

the ones from end dec, will be counted next time

[OmasFabricStash]

I think this is the first time I read about a download being considered a message and probably the first one that I agree is a valid reason for not knowing you needed to respond.  

[FallenAngelBrass]

@OmasFabricStash 

Sounds like the seller sent the purchased image via Etsy messages.  The OP bought the image as a gift for another seller.  So it is indeed an Etsy message that was not responded to.