Star Seller

[Ellyonart]

Hello,

I haven't been awarder star seller this month because of response rate. It says I haven't responded to one message over more then 24hrs but I have responded to every single message the same day.

[NanaLetha]

We are only other sellers here and have no way of helping you.

[Former_Member]

There are five qualifiers for the star seller badge.  If I were you, I would be more concerned about trademark violations in your shop than a badge.  Using the words "inspired by" doesn't get you off the hook if a trademark holder comes after you.  

[HouseofWhisperingFir]

Additionally, "mystery items" (boxes, packs, etc) are not Etsy allowed. You are just baiting yourself for a "not as described" get something for nothing buyer.

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

@Ellyonart You seem to have skipped right over this sage advice.  Anything Warcraft is counterfeit and inspired by is not going to help - it's just going to prove you know it's wrong and just don't care.

[hbhill]

Download the message CSV file to determine which message supposedly was not responded to within 24 hours. I personally don't think the Star Seller badge means much. It doesn't stop me from purchasing from a seller if they don't have the badge. I look at the reviews to determine if I make a purchase. 

[Ellyonart]

There was one I responded to from my mobile, basically responded to in a new message instead of a reply, but did respond  
I know it doesnt determine anything about the seller whether you're star seller or not, it is just painful to see something I am constantly working on without missing a day.

[ChristmasIsLove · Accepted solution]

It doesn't count as a reply if you sent it as a separate message, rather than as a reply to the message you received. That's common sense. It would be literally impossible for Etsy to check all of every seller's messages to see if a message initiated by the seller is in reply to a completely different message. 

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

As mentioned before, you might want to spend some of that time working to making your shop Etsy legal.

[CastleCurios]

I have this same issue, downloaded the message data and the one it states I didn't respond to was responded to within 24 hours and was part of a chain conversation. I am so frustrated.

[Ellyonart]

Isn't it. I know I did it by accident somehow, but it's so frustrating to work towards it for months and then loose it for something that stupid. Oh well at least now I can go for holidays and put holidays mode without stressing too much about it.

[4WingsandaDream]

Star seller messaging has had major glitches since the update the week of June 30th 2020. 

Please fix it Etsy

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello there,

Star Sellers will be evaluated on the first of each month, and the evaluation period for Star Seller will look at the last 3 months of data prior to the evaluation date. You should see two tabs in your Star Seller, the Current review period and the Last review period. Your current review period is your performance toward Star Seller this month and your last review period is what determines if you currently have the Star Seller badge.

We recommend checking the CSV file for the Message Response rate and On-Time Shipping to better understand what leads to that percentage. More information can be found in this Help Article. As for the 5-star rating metric, you may check the reviews on your shop homepage or download your reviews into a JSON file. You may visit this link for more details.

Thank you very much!

[BarbsCuriosityShoppe]

I have been working SO hard to make Star Seller status and had 100% on everything except for the total $$'s sold because my items are low ticket items. However I've been selling more lately and was hopeful to reach the $300 threshold. However all of a sudden my response rate, which has been 100% for a year, went down to 67%! I checked and discovered that the message in question was from me (as a buyer) to a seller. I purchased something and emailed the seller with a question. The seller then responded and since I had my answer, I didn't reply back and now it shows as a "non response" on me as a seller. That seems unfair! Shouldn't Star Seller stats be on me as a Seller and be kept totally separate from me as a buyer?? The Star Seller program is REALLY frustrating and, in my opinion, needs reforming. I hope Etsy is looking into it. 

[TonsOfPaper · Accepted solution]

Hello @BarbsCuriosityShoppe,
 

The Message response rate counts initial messages from all Etsy members, both buyers, and other sellers. This is because fellow sellers could be potential buyers for your shop. If it's not a spam message it requires a response within 24 hours. If it is a spam message you can mark it as such and it won't count towards your score.
 

We also suggest using the Forums' Search function prior to posting (just be careful to not bump to an old thread that hasn't seen any activity in the last months/years), as questions regarding the Star Seller Program have been extensively covered by our fellow members since its launch, as well as our official Star Seller Guide, which contains in-depth answers to some of the more common questions regarding Message Response Rate, Shipping, Local Pick-Up, Digital Orders, and other topics. You can check it out here:etsy.com/starseller.

Having said that, this thread will be closed to prevent it from going off-topic.

Thank you!

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@BarbsCuriosityShoppe  :  We can all sympathize with you, but how is Etsy supposed to know the nature of a message? Do you want some bot reading every one of your messages and guessing? Etsy has been very clear and consistent about messages / convos from the very beginning of the Star Seller program. The Star Seller metric is that 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. Subsequent messages from the same account (a buyer may have multiple accounts) are supposed to be combined into a single thread.

Help Requests always start a new thread. By the way, if you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, 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" but should semantically be called a "new thread".

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.

If you have not yet done so, you might want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling