Star seller glitch?

[ReClassifiedTreasure]

I was not granted Star seller status for what I fear may be a glitch in the system. 

Twice, and only twice have I failed to respond to a message within 24 hours. Both times it was when a SELLER  had messaged ME to thank me for an order from them. Because I did not reply to THAT within 24 hours, I got penalized.

My rating as a responsive SELLER has nothing to do with me not responding to a seller who is thanking me for their order.

I understand this is probably a glitch in the system (a message doesn't discriminate between buying and selling transactions?) but when I get VERY few messages in general, these quirks take a very long time to wash out of my stats. 

I am a very small seller with GREAT customer service and this has been frustrating.   

Thanks for hearing me, 

Cindy Kuhn 

ReClassified Treasure

[NancyQstudio]

I'm sorry to hear this happened.  It's not a glitch. It is the way the system works.  We have the option of responding to every message or sending them to spam.  Any seller who has achieved the star will likely loose it periodically due to situations out of their control.  I've lost it gained it back and so on due to hand delivering local items via requests.  The program does penalize this too.  I found there was no difference in traffic or sales due to having (or not having) the star badge attached to my shop.  So this is not a worry.  

[HtoHdesign · Accepted solution]

Hey There!

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.

Thanks!

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

It's not a glitch. It's been stated since the beginning (almost a year) that ALL messages must be responded to within 24 hours. 

[BagmakerSupply]

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 natter, 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. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory on those messages they consider to be a "new message".

[HtoHdesign · Accepted solution]

Hey There!

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 understand some things can impact scores that might be out of control, and/or mistakes can happen. We have taken this into account making the percentage reach 95% instead of 100%. Star Seller is not a disciplinary program and sellers will not be penalized for low scores. Additionally, having the badge doesn't give sellers an edge over other sellers in search ranking.

Thanks!