Star Seller status effected by personal purchase

[TheReclaimedCrab]

So my shop has had star seller status.  I purchased something from another shop and they messaged me an update on shipping of that order (something that did not require a response).  I did not respond and now my shop status shows that I didn't respond.  This had nothing to do with my shop.  My response rate was 100% until this which in turn took away star seller status.  I do not think that a shop should be effected by messages for personal purchases.  Is they any to separate the messages so that my shop status is not negatively effected?

[CappuccinoLace]

Is they any to separate the messages so that my shop status is not negatively effected?

No.

[PersonalizeStation]

Well, kind of...open a buyer-only account. Problem solved. 

[CarpetCollectionAU]

Of ....use "Guest" Checkout? Another advantage is there are no annoying "Leave a Review" reminders! And .... those Sellers who work outside the TOUs to send promotional material to past Buyers cannot bombard your Shop with Messages (which you have to Respond to or "Spam")

[ChristmasIsLove]

You and 1000s of other sellers have posted the identical issue. The answer is always the same. Read the rules, which are on your Star Seller Dashboard. And read the reply from the SSP guru Admin who's been posting in threads just like yours here:

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/Loosing-your-star-because-of-a-seller-sending-you-a...

[TickleYourWitch]

What?! OMG. How did this happen? Why didn’t anyone tell us this is how it works? You’d think they’d put info on our dashboard or something at least. 

[DesertChains]

@TickleYourWitch 

LOL. I see what you did there.

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

The nerve of them not letting us know how this works!

It's not fair!

[cutebutton]

I guess people are so used to etsy not making things clear that when etsy actually does make something clear it blows their mind and they aren't able to comprehend that etsy in fact can communicate clearly so it doesn't compute.  HAHAHA! 

[JDTotesnDolls]

Grinning

[NanaLetha]

@TickleYourWitch  At the very least in the Sellers Handbook! After all, Star Seller has only been here for a year.

[BagmakerSupply]

@TheReclaimedCrab   For all we complain about Etsy and perhaps even feel the SSP rules may be unfair or wrong they have been very clear and consistent about messages / convos from the very beginning. Just to clarify so people don't think they have to respond to every message and it will be a never ending loop: the FIRST message of a NEW thread must be replied to within 24 hours. 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. By the way, if you are creating a custom listing based on the message, you still need to reply to the message. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory on those messages they consider to be a "new message".

[thePaperFramer]

What everyone else said. If you think they are being hard on you; they are. We have had 7 zillion threads over exactly this same issue. RTFM before you post. Know the rules. It has happened to everyone........................................ONCE. Then we learn, read the forum and move on and don't do it again..........................................MAYBE.

[StitchRoundabout]

What if you bought something, and you receive a notification about reviewing it, but you haven't used the product yet so are holding off on reviewing it until you have.  Is that going to affect the Star Seller status?  Are reviews considered messages as well?

[hbhill]

@StitchRoundabout Reviews are not considered in calculating the message rating. If that were true I would have a negative number. I purchase a lot on Etsy yet rarely leave a review. Don't like leaving a written statement because of the number of words required to submit a review. 

[StitchRoundabout]

@hbhill:  How many words do you have to submit?

[WitticismsRus]

@hbhill 

If you use the phone app then you can leave just a star rating without any words. The 5 word minimum is only a requirement if you review on pc/laptop/full site. Try the app. 

[hbhill]

@WitticismsRus I just don't understand why the app and the other devices are different. This is why it can be difficult to help a seller when they have an issue because of the differences between the different devices. They see something different than I do. 

[WitticismsRus]

@hbhill 

I totally agree. I don't understand why it seems to be so hard for etsy to do anything with any level of consistency. 

[LeorasOfMaine]

Just mark the message as spam. 

[PinkLemonadeDuxbury]

 . . . "I do not think that a shop should be effected by messages for personal purchases."  You mean those personal purchases you make from your seller's account?

There are literally 10's of millions of accounts on Etsy.  What technology could possibly decide which "hat" your wearing when you  make a purchase? Your seller hat, or your buyer hat?   Do you want someone reading all of your convos and making that decision?  I don't.

If you don't want to have to worry about your SSB rating, perhaps open a buyer only account and make purchases from there.

[thePaperFramer]

FWIW, I have separate buying and selling accounts so not replying as a buyer has never been an issue. All it takes is a separate email address to create a buyer's only account. 

[hbhill]

@thePaperFramer That is a solution, yet how hard is it to respond to a message or mark it as spam?

[thePaperFramer]

@thePaperFramer That is a solution, yet how hard is it to respond to a message or mark it as spam?

Judging by the 7 zillion threads we have had on this, it is apparently quite difficult for some.

[hbhill]

@thePaperFramer The vast majority of sellers who started a post about the message requirement did not know how the star seller program worked; even months after the program started. They know their rating changed; yet the guidelines were on the same page as the ratings. Answering a message isn't hard, reading the guidelines seems to be the problem.