Star Seller rating affected my message string

[BluePigVintage]

So as per the policy or guidelines you only have to respond to the first message in order for it to count.  I made the mistake not realizing the criteria was SO strict when a friend whom I was speaking with on FaceBook was talking about depression glass, which I sell so I invited her to visit my shop, she did and left me a compliment via the message center. As I was speaking with her on the other platform that's where I responded never realizing that Etsy would now take my star rating for 4 months! I just received it back. Had a message come through that resulted in several responses back and forth. Well, as it turns out I didn't even realize that the last response from the interested party must have come through as a new message. I didn't respond as it was that person ending the conversation. Just so you know, I had my account set up for auto response and somehow that was removed so it didn't respond! I have set it back "on" again so let's see if it stays!   Now today I look at my dashboard and here I am once again with a lower rating on my message responses! And of course, you cannot contact Etsy and they say they cannot change your rating! This is THE WORST concept, and it hurts sellers! They say it doesn't affect your sales, but it does! mine dropped to nearly nothing and then once I got it back for June my sales began picking back up. Now it looks like I will be starting all over again for another 4 months! This is my livelihood and if Etsy is going to create such a rating, they need to have a system in place where they can review and correct issues such as this! Small shop owners are wiped out by ONE misstep! If anyone has a solution for this situation, I would greatly appreciate the information. Definitely unhappy with this whole new "Star Seller" program!

[BootifulLabels]

All new messages require a response within 24 hrs, even if they are duplicates.

If you have one that you missed last month, you can try marking it as spam now, it should exclude it from the July badge stakes, but will not retroactively give you the June badge back.

Auto-reply was only ever meant to be a short term measure for weekends and short absences.  It only lasts a maximum of 5 days, you have to keep resetting it to keep it on  longer.  Depending on volume of messages received, it may be simpler to just create a snippet with a general "I'll get back to you" message and reply with that, it only takes a couple of clicks.

The badge gives you no increase in visibility or advantage in placement, and probably never will.  I choose to ignore it rather than stress over it, it is just not worth the aggravation.  

[UppNorthCo]

Is there a reason you don't mark those messages a spam, rather than suffering through another 4 months, which is actually 3 months?

This solution for this situation has been available from day one of the star seller program.

[DesertChains]

It doesn’t matter whether or not you answered questions or provided information. It doesn't matter if a message doesn't need a response. It doesn't matter if the message you received is a duplicate. It doesn’t matter if you just overlooked it. The system only determines whether or not you replied to an individual message. If you didn't respond or send a message to your spam folder, you are going to get rated down. That's how it works.

Right or wrong, the program has worked this way for nearly a year! The instructions for meeting this metric are clearly stated and easily accessible. Daily posts in the forums also discuss this exact topic.

Send the missed messages to spam. Your stats will update in a day or two.