Star Seller requirement of 95% message response rate - Message incorrectly counted against me

[ElleBlings]

Hello. I've met all of the other  Star Seller requirements except this requirement of 95% message response rate. I have been responding to all order inquiries and questions in a timely manner. I downloaded my Etsy Messages logs and looked at the past messages that didn't get a response within 24 hours. 

One message was flagged for not responding within 24 hours. This message was sent to me on 6/26/2023. It was from a seller who sent me a promo code for future orders. It was not even about my items in my shop or any questions related to my items and my shop. 

I believe this message shouldn't count against me in my pursuit of being an Etsy Star Seller. The message didn't have anything to do with me as a seller. It was another seller sharing a promo code for future orders on their shop. 

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@ElleBlings: Probably almost everyone on this forum can sympathize with you but as it says right on your Star Seller page, you need to reply to the FIRST message of EVERY NEW INCOMING 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.

If the unanswered new thread is not a Help Request, at least for the time being, it appears that marking an unanswered message as SPAM (even after the 24 hour deadline has passed) will cause your reply percentage to change in a day or two if the original message was within the current star seller period (but not retroactively). Note that subsequent messages from that account may go directly to the SPAM folder.

[RoseTintedNuance]

What if the buyer asked to cancel the order and it was cancelled straight away??? Why do I have to duplicate and spend my time responding if I already responded on my cancellation page and the buyer got a message from there? This is very unfair and time-wasting! And Etsy got another 20 p for relisting from me!

[bradgoodell]

@RoseTintedNuance 

Why?

Because those are Etsy's Star Seller rules.  When your buyer requested cancellation, you needed to respond because it was a NEW message.

When you responded in the cancellation stage, YOU started a NEW message.  

That is two different message threads, unfortunately.  

That is the way Etsy set it up 3 years ago.  It is very black and white and that is how Etsy wants it.  Sorry you were blind-sided by it.  

[LAKEandFELLart]

Not an error its how the metric works , it measures all first messages. It has been this way since the beginning 2 years ago.

Send the message to spam , this could sort it, If it doesn't, nothing you can do about this one, just familiarise yourself with star seller criteria so that it doesn't happen again.( help section above )

[BootifulLabels]

ALL new messages count, this is clearly outlined in the rules and has been since the program was introduced.  Etsy has no way of knowing who the message is from or what it is about, they don't read messages, the filter program simply compares the time stamps for receipt and response and if the timing is over 24 hrs you get dinged.  If this was an unsolicited message from your seller, mark it as spam and it won't count.  You can do that now and it will be reflected in your badge calculation  for the Aug 1 badge, but it is too late for the current badge, Etsy will not retroactively change badge assignments. 

If you want to avoid this in the future consider opening a new account specifically for purchasing and keep the two activities separate. 

[ElleBlings]

Yeah I might have to setup an account just for purchasing.

[WitticismsRus]

@ElleBlings 

It wasn't incorrectly counted against you. 

Etsy is pretty clear about how the message response rate is calculated in help center here https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

There is a highlighted bit under message response rate info that says "The Message response rate only applies to the first message in a thread. Initial messages from both buyers and sellers on Etsy are counted towards the Message response rate. "

That means ALL messages. It also means each individual message thread so if someone sends you 5 different messages with 5 questions instead of putting them in the same message chain you need to respond to all 5 of them. The system is completely automated and doesn't know if the message is from a buyer or another seller. It isn't reading every message and making a decision if it's from a seller or a customer or what it's about. It's a computer program that calculates data. It just sees a message and calculated the response time. That's just how it works.

The info is also right there on the Star Seller page in shop manager. Just go to shop manager > star seller. Once there scroll toward the bottom until you find "Questions? We've got answers." Then click messages. The very first question there says

"What messages count toward the message response rate?

Your message response rate is based on just the first message in a conversation, not ongoing conversations. This means you just need to respond to the first message within 24 hours. This applies to messages both from buyer and seller accounts. Messages from Etsy staff do not count toward your response rate, and neither do messages that you mark as spam...."

If the star is important to you then it may be a good idea to read or review all the info Etsy provides about the star seller program.

Bottom line...you have to either reply or mark as spam. 

It takes just a few seconds to send a simple 'Thank you'. Or you can set up an auto reply every 5 days. Etsy provides tools for sellers to use , it's up to us to use them.

[ElleBlings]

Thank you all for the responses and advice. 

I have been looking at past threads on the forums and similar situations from sellers. 

This system needs some tweaking.

I appreciate all of your help. 

[BootifulLabels]

This system needs some tweaking

You may think so, and I'm sure many will agree.  However it is Etsy's site and they get to set the rules.  If you want the badge, you have to be prepared to meet their requirements.  

I have had the badge once, and that was purely by accident.  I am unlikely to get it again, but it has not made a single bit of difference.  If I wanted to chase their badge I would actually need to lower my customer service levels.  I prefer to look after my buyers and  forgo the ill-conceived badge.

[JDTotesnDolls]

@ElleBlings  If you had read the information on the program you would have noted that answer requires answers to all new messages be they from a buyer or seller.

That's the way it has been for a few years now.

Etsy does some things right and information on this program is one of them.

[NanaLetha]

@ElleBlings  - No one is reading the messages. It's an automated program that just notes if you reply to your messages or not.