Star Seller

[JoyfulStitchesEtsy]

I have had star seller status since this became available. Yesterday, I received an email from Etsy stating that I had one unanswered message last month preventing me from star seller status this time. I followed their link and it was not a message from a buyer for my shop. It was a message from a seller that I purchased an item from... she was just saying thank you and it did not warrant a response from me. Is there any wat to have etsy review this? Thanks!

[WitticismsRus]

No, etsy won't review it or change it. 

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. "

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..."

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. 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 mark spam as spam or send a quick thank you reply for nonspam messages. Or you can set up an auto-reply every 5 days. Or better yet, set up a new buyer only account and then you won't have to worry about the star seller bits for that account.

[JoyfulStitchesEtsy]

Thanks so much for the info.

[BagmakerSupply]

@JoyfulStitchesEtsy: "... and it did not warrant a response from me" Unfortunately Etsy disagrees. As it says right on your Star Seller page and elsewhere, 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.

The Star Seller metric for messages is very simplistic and binary - either you replied to (or marked as SPAM) that first message of a new incoming thread within 24 hours or you did not.

[Natalya1905]

This is from Etsy:

"Your message response rate stat is based on:

• The percent of initial messages that you replied to in 24 hours or less, including by auto-reply"

Each and every first incoming message should be either replied to, or marked as Spam. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

all accounts are buyer accounts, some buyer accounts also have the seller option enabled.

Etsy is not going to read millions of messages a day, to see if the message was about something you purchased from them, or, now that you are on their radar, if they have seen something in your shop, and are asking about that,

etsy says reply to each new message thread, or mark as spam, they now highlight it in blue, saying it's a buyer account and you need to respond - so just do it.

[FeltOnTheFly]

I wonder how many times this question has been asked now….  

[CraftyCornishMaids]

to infinity and beyond......