Star Seller removed due to not responding to a junk message someone trying to sell something to me

[ERACreatives]

I recieved a message that was someone trying to sell me designs and I did not respond to that message as it was junk/spam and now I don't have my star seller badge because of it.  Etsy needs to look into these messages because it wasn't a customer message to respond to it was junk spam.  Very dissappointed.

[CappuccinoLace]

Did you actually mark it as spam though or just delete it?

Marking as spam will not count against you, and can take a couple of days to update the stats once you do so.

[ERACreatives]

I did mark as spam

[TinTeddy]

The guidelines for Star Seller, including the summary that appeared on everyone's Dashboards, said that you need to respond to EVERY message, or mark them as spam.  The algorithm can not differentiate between legitimate correspondence and junk/spam, it just sees that you got a message and didn't respond.

You can retrospectively mark it as spam though.  If you do that now, the stats should adjust by tomorrow, so hopefully that will mean you get your star seller status.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

Again, if sellers would take some time to read the forum they would have a lot fewer surprises.

There is a thread like this almost every day.

[hbhill]

@OneEyeCatStudio ^^THIS^^

At the first of every month, when a shop doesn't receive their Star Seller badge, there are dozens of threads like this one. I understand the disappointment of losing the badge, yet I don't understand how the Star Seller guidelines were missed by so many sellers when it was on the Dashboard for how many months?  

[TickleYourWitch]

Nine months later I have very little sympathy for people who are still surprised by how SS works.

If you’re so invested in achieving it, why not read the material that is on your SS dashboard and has been for all this time?

Maybe we need a badge for reading your business-related info in a timely way. Lol

[howtobooksandmore]

Are these the same sellers who complain buyers never read descriptions?

[ERACreatives]

Didn't ask for sarcasm guess you weren't taught if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all, I marked it as spam that is why I was concerned that it was counting against me, maybe I didn't clearly state that above but I don't need snarky remarks, I fully read everything I'm a serious business person thank you.

[howtobooksandmore]

And I don't need to be scolded by someone with no sense of humor.  You may be a serious business person but you are taking yourself way too seriously.  And this isn't nice at all so according to you, it shouldn't have been said.

[SunMoonJewels]

My on time shipping rating has gone down because I didn't send an order on Monday which was a postal holiday.  Etsy needs to look into this.  Would etsy send us our money to the bank one day before the day they are supposed to pay because of holiday?  Etsy takes our money as soon as we make sales but wait to pay us.  

[FallenAngelBrass]

Sellers have always been responsible for minding our own shipping dates and holidays.  Etsy has never monitored the local post office holidays. 

[DesignsbyCher]

I had two orders scheduled to ship Monday, so I just updated the ship date until Tuesday, and they were still considered on time.

Etsy uses your processing times to set the ship date, and if it falls on a postal holiday, then it's up to you to change it and notify the buyer.

As for those who aren't using the auto reply feature in your message center, set it up for heaven's sake... it's easy! Just set a general "Thanks for visiting, I'm sorry I missed you, but ask away and I'll be back to answer your question shortly" and your bacon is saved.

You can set it up for a few hours or up to 5 days... I usually choose 3 days, so it will include the weekend.

As mentioned above, junk mail or spam marked as such will not count against you, so after your auto reply responds, you're covered with Etsy's star seller and you can mark as spam the next time you blow thru.

I don't get as many messages as some shops, but I got 5 or 6 from one buyer last week who could not figure out how to order from me, and at night when I wasn't online to check or answer... thank goodness for the auto reply. BUT answering them all was still a PITA so I'm glad Etsy has decided to fix that.

I don't like their interference unless it's useful, not just for sake of keeping someone busy.

And, I know it's a bit silly, but for once Etsy made me happy by changing the pink cloud in my shop now to lilac to match the purple star seller icons. With all that Etsy does to irritate me, now and then the smallest thing can make me smile, lol

OK, Happy June 1st everyone, now it's back to the salt mines for me!

[anythinggoeshere]

Next time move out the delivery date when it lands on a postal holiday.  It is important to know how things work on Etsy.  Read the forums daily.

[ERACreatives]

You can always extend your shipping date so that doesn't happen to you.

[TickleYourWitch]

It is up to you as the business owner to plan for holidays. It wasn’t a holiday for me. Etsy is global.

On the one hand people complain Etsy micromanages us, on the other they cry “why doesn’t Etsy DO something about…!”  

[WitticismsRus]

@ERACreatives 

"...I did not respond to that message as it was junk/spam and ..."

If it was junk/spam did you mark the message as spam? If not then that is why it's being counted in your rating. You need to either reply or mark messages as spam.

"Etsy needs to look into these messages because it wasn't a customer message to respond to it was junk spam. "

Etsy doesn't need to look into the messages. It's up to you to mark them as spam if they are spam. The system isn't reading your messages and deciding what is spam and isn't when it calculates things. It's up to you to mark as spam if it's spam. Etsy provides the tools necessary to deal with such things. It's our job to use those tools.

If the star is important to you it may be a good idea to read through all of the info etsy has provided about the program. 

[ERACreatives]

I did mark as spam.

[hopeandjoystudios]

I think you can undelete  it and spam it ( if you deleted it) Otherwise just mark as spam now and it will come off your 3 month total. Won't retroactively give you a star but live and learn.

[SunMoonJewels]

Etsy is big business.  They should accommodate all sellers.

[GieseDeseiGns]

They give you the tools to change dates for holidays, they give us a spam button, they put messages in our shops that tell us what we need to do to achieve the star seller, so it’s their fault we can’t be bothered to be proactive in our business.

[ForeverWindingWool]

@SunMoonJewelsThere are 195 countries in the world.  How can Etsy "accommodate all sellers" when it comes to bank/postal holidays (each one having different customs and time zones)?  
We need to take responsibility for our own shipping time-frames and adjust accordingly.

[ExpatriateVintage]

We have 2 options:

1. reply to ALL messages within 24 hours 

2. mark as Spam messages that are anything other than questions / comments from buyers / potential buyers.  I also get junk messages, messages trying to get me to buy something, messages asking me to appraise something or what did this item sell for, thank you messages from sellers, etc.  If I feel like answering, I do.  If not, it goes directly to Spam.

Another note:  by now, hopefully ALL etsy sellers know how unwelcome these 'thank you' or 'shipping update' messages are for buyers who are also sellers.  Your buyer will receive enough messages from etsy regarding their order, they do not need to hear from you personally.  Check the Forum for all the threads about 'I lost Star Seller because I didn't respond to a thank you message from a seller.'

Just put a thank you note in their order, that won't ruffle anyone's feathers.

Under the Star Seller program, these are really our only 2 options.  Deleting a message without responding to it or marking as Spam will count against you NO MATTER WHAT.

[TickleYourWitch]

@ExpatriateVintage 

I communicate with all my customers and they seem to like it. Not going to change because of SS.

I expect if buyers are also sellers they should know how things work. I’m not going to change business practices for all my customers in case a few fellow sellers get ruffled feathers over SS. Usually a message leads to a friendly exchange with fellow sellers anyway. 

[AAANativeArts]

You have to either respond or mark as spam EVERY message you receive.