Star Seller % wrong

[BowsbyLeahDesign]

I received a message about a purchase I made from a shop. It didn’t require a response. 
why is my shop counted against as not responding in 24 hours? 

[Former_Member]

It's ALL initial messages, not just those from your buyers.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@BowsbyLeahDesign: "It didn’t require a response." Unfortunately Etsy does not agree. 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 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.

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.

[michellepatterns]

It does require a response.  Etsy makes up the SS rules not us sellers.  Make sure to read how it works so you don't make any other incorrect assumptions.  

[NanaLetha]

They all require a response!

[Glitterplacedesigns]

I had the same thing happen showing that I did not respond to a comment.  It was a shop asking me to give feedback on my purchase.  It did not require a comment and I took the hit. Etsy needs to fix this, if they are going to hold us to high standards we should expect the same from Etsy. 

[hbhill]

@Glitterplacedesigns  IMO there is nothing to fix since Etsy doesn't read through a seller's messages to determine which messages are from buyer's or seller's and I'm glad they don't. How would Etsy know if a message is from a buyer or seller since sellers also make purchases? It is now easy to determine which messages you need to respond to since Etsy alerts you if it is a first-time message. 

[WitticismsRus · Accepted solution]

@Glitterplacedesigns 

There is nothing for Etsy to fix. It's working as intended. 

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.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

@Glitterplacedesigns   Etsy is quite clear on the rules.  They are worth reading to have a clear picture on what Etsy requires.

They are not going to read every message to determin if it buyer or seller. Frankly I don't want them to read unless I ask them to.

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

The criteria have been clear from the start and are set out in the star seller dashboard in shop manager. The rules haven't changed since the programme started 2 years ago.  It says:

"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. You can also now find a breakdown of your message response rate score by downloading a CSV."

The the star is important to you, it would be a good idea to familiarise yourself with the rules.

[1960sDollHouse]

SPAM it now. You still have time in the month before it will count against you.