Star seller messages

[TheLandingParty]

I am incorrectly being penalized for failure to reply to a message on Oct 31.  I asked a buyer to confirm their shipping address.  They did, using message.  This should not require me to reply to their confirmation, but since I didn't give that superfluous reply, my response ratio was dinged, and it has cost me a star seller status at holiday sales season!  BOO!

[ChillwolfArt · Accepted solution]

If you Initiated that Message string (asking the Buyer to confirm shipping address), and they responded on the same string of Messages, you shouldn't have been Marked down.  Now if the Buyer responded in a new string of Messages, that's different.  Then they become the Initiator, and you would be required to respond (Hope this makes sense; while typing it, I began confusing myself:)

[BagmakerSupply]

@TheLandingParty: Probably everyone in this forum can sympathize with you but as you will see by the innumerable threads about the exact same issue in this forum it is not likely to change.

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.