Star seller badge and message response

[VintageJewelryverse]

Hi, 

After having a star seller badge for 2 months in a row I lost it this month due to not replying in a timely manner to all messages.  I always reply to customers within 2 hrs max.  Etsy noted that I had one message that was not replied to within 24hrs.  I looked into it and it was phishing message from someone claiming to be an old seller on Etsy venting a long list of reasons why they no longer sell on Etsy stating this was a warning to other sellers.  I never responded to this message (I didn't know them at all)  and now I'm being punished and lost my star seller badge.  This is so unfair!! Has this happened to anyone else? is there anything I can do to appeal this? 

[Former_Member]

It's ALL messages.  Mark it as spam now to help you get back on track for next month.

[audreytherese]

How would Etsy have known what the message was about and that it didn't need a response?

By marking it as spam, that's how. 

[VintageJewelryverse]

I assumed because it didn't come from a particular listed item or order # as all my other customer messages have so far and was just sent out of the blue. 

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@VintageJewelryverse  :  Etsy has been very clear and consistent about messages / convos from the very beginning of the Star Seller program. 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. 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".

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 be aware that doing so may cause you to miss other messages from that account.

[WitticismsRus]

@VintageJewelryverse 

"I never responded to this message (I didn't know them at all)  and now I'm being punished and lost my star seller badge.  This is so unfair!!"

You aren't being punished and it isn't "so unfair!!!". Etsy is pretty clear in help center and on the star seller page in shop manager that ALL message count. YOU didn't respond or mark it as spam (it was spam) so that is on you not etsy or a flaw in the system.  Etsy provides the tools for us to use, it's up to you to use them. Mark the spam message as spam. That's what the 'mark as spam' button is for.

[VintageJewelryverse]

Ok..... Thank you for your responses.  I'm relatively new to Etsy in my first year and I failed to read all the fine print and did not know I had to mark the message as spam.  I will do so from here on. 

[VonlenskaVintage]

I got a 100% response rate for messages as well as hitting all the other targets and my message response badge and star seller badge weren't awarded   this would have been my first month ever

[BagmakerSupply]

@VonlenskaVintage: It appears that you are only missing the messaging badge. Did you check the appropriate CSV file to see which messages Etsy thinks you did not answer on time?

[VonlenskaVintage]

yes, in the "replied within 24 hours column" all are marked "yes"

the calculations are off